There once was a time when Gran Turismo was . If you visited a video game store at the turn of the century you’ll surely remember stopping to admire the sight of a Nissan GTR splashing its way through a rain-slicked Special Stage 5 demo run, its headlights glistening across the puddles in the ultimate PlayStation 2 powerhouse. For a short while, Gran Turismo was the undisputed king of driving games.
Since its early noughties heyday Sony’s flagship driving series has been many other things, but it’s never really enjoyed quite the same status. Gran Turismo 5 was an awkward, unwieldy and never fully convincing shuffle into the HD era; with Gran Turismo 6 we got a flabby, unfocussed thing that ushered players all the way from the Goodwood hillclimb to the surface of the moon. Its breadth was thrilling, although the countless rough edges to be found in between were often frustrating.
Gran Turismo 7 reviewPublisher: Sony Interactive EntertainmentDeveloper: Polyphony DigitalPlatform: Played on PS5Availability: Out March 4th on PS4 and PS5
After that lumpy excess the logical next step for developer Polyphony Digital was to strip it all back and start again, something it did with stylish resolve in 2017’s Gran Turismo Sport. Here was the first Gran Turismo game that wasn’t so much about driving as it was , taking the disciplined structure and approach of iRacing into the living room. The result has been a hugely successful series supported by well stewarded, closely fought racing, as well as by one of virtual racing’s most vibrant communities.
Excuse the potted history lesson, but history’s kind of important to Gran Turismo 7. This is what amounts to a full-blooded celebration of a quarter of a century of Polyphony Digital’s series, reinstating a 20-hour single player campaign and car customisation while restoring classic tracks like Deep Forest and Trial Mountain. So dense are these callbacks that at times it’s like playing a lavish Demon’s Souls-esque remake of Gran Turismo 2, with the colour and vibrancy of the series in its late-90s pomp switched all the way back on.
Gran Turismo 7 – Find Your Line Trailer | PS5, PS4 Watch on YouTube
It’s about more than a 25th birthday party for Polyphony Digital, though. There’s a pointendess to the heavy nostalgia here, and a play to all those who’ve been turned off by the series’ more wayward turns in the latter part of its history. The result is a Gran Turismo that’s as accessible, open-armed and straight-up enjoyable as there’s been in the series’ history; I don’t think Gran Turismo has ever been as focussed or finessed either.