Gran Turismo 7 Wants You To Love Car Culture Again

gamespot.com:

Gran Turismo is 25 years old. Over a quarter of a century, and more than 80 million copies sold, longtime producer Kazunori Yamauchi has strived to create a virtual driving experience as close to the real thing as possible. A month before the seventh numbered entry in the series drops, Yamauchi has revealed how he and his team are attempting to bring realism to Gran Turismo 7 and how he intends to bring car culture to the masses.

After Gran Turismo Sport had a somewhat bumpy beginning, GT7 will launch with a number of ways to enjoy single-player racing. Starting from a new world map (cross your fingers for a return of GT's signature smooth jazz menu music to go with it), players can leap to Licence Tests, Missions, World Circuits (34 to choose from, and over 90 layouts--including the legendary Trial Mountain), a tuning shop, custom modes, multiplayer, a used car lot, Brand Central (to buy and read about most cars), a Legendary Cars store for the iconic stuff, Sport, Scapes, Showcase (for sharing and downloading content), your garage, and, most interestingly the Café.

…players can, just like the old days, leap to the game’s core features from there.

Plenty of features are carried over from previous games, and the basic premise remains the same: buy a car, do your license tests, race, buy better cars, race more, win more, keep driving until GT8 is a thing. But Yamauchi seems to be thinking more about the wider world than simply of racing. He said in a pre-recorded video: «Today you won't find as many people talking about car culture anymore. Less people are talking about the beauty of cars, or focused on the fun of driving.»

It's here that the Café comes in to play. Players are invited to sample 30 'menus,' each featuring