Gran Turismo 7 review – the ride of you life

metro.co.uk:

Sony’s second major PlayStation exclusive of 2022 is another stunning technical achievement but is it still the best real driving simulator?

When the original Gran Turismo launched on PlayStation in 1997, driving games were not like those available today. With 3D polygon-based games only recently having arrived in a home setting, the most obvious template for their design was arcade games, where 3D was already well established. That meant PS1 launch title Ridge Racer was every bit the arcade experience, with a handling model that bore only a passing resemblance to steering an actual car.

While that’s not intrinsically a bad thing, standing in an arcade paying money for short, intense bursts on a coin-op is not at all like playing on your sofa, where you have far more time to relax and explore. The need for excitement remains, but those thrills can be built more slowly. It’s exactly this nexus of long term enjoyment, and the demand for greater subtlety, that gave birth to Gran Turismo.

At launch 25 years ago, Gran Turismo was nothing short of revolutionary. Created specifically to be a home console title, it eschewed the instant gratification of arcade driving in favour of something deeper and more suited to long term play. Gone were the insane power slides and stupid-but-fun physics models, to be replaced by something that approximated real driving.

The other thing the original Gran Turismo did brilliantly was to bring an almost role-playing like sense of progression. Starting off in an underpowered compact car, you first learnt the skills of driving using a controller. The game then slowly let you move on to more powerful cars, upgrading them where necessary, as you moved up the scale. It was all about racing, but also