Sports & Racing · 2022 · Polyphony Digital · local · online
Gran Turismo 7
A driving simulator that lets you race each other on the same TV — once you have talked it into it.
What it is about
A driving simulator with four hundred cars, real circuits and a weather model that turns your tyres into a question mid-race. The tone sits between sport and museum: every car comes with a text about where it came from.
Progress runs through the GT Café. A host hands you menu books — 'collect three Japanese compacts' — and each completed book moves you on. That is the campaign, and it is meant for one person.
For two you race on a split screen on the same television, two controllers, one race. Two catches: the mode only unlocks after the ninth menu book, and it demands a connection to the servers despite being local play.
Our verdict for couples
On split screen it is exactly what a television is for: two controllers, one track, no excuses. Getting there is a journey, though — split screen only unlocks after the ninth café menu, and after that it wants an internet connection even though you are sitting next to each other on the same sofa. Clear those two hurdles and you get four hundred cars and real circuits that someone who has never raced can join in on: every driving aid can be switched on, and a race is over in five minutes. That players are considerably less happy with the rest than the press has to do with progression and purchases, not with the driving.
Pros
- Four hundred cars and real circuits
- A race is over in five minutes
- With all the driving aids, a newcomer keeps up
Cons
- Split screen only unlocks after Café Menu 9
- Even local split screen demands an internet connection
- The user score sits far below the press — grinding and purchases
Suitable from
Hobby–Gamer
- Conflict potential
- Spirited
- Cosiness
- Mixed
- When you can stop
- After 15 minutes
- How long it lasts
- No ending
What other co-op fans say
Two verdicts diverge sharply here: the press gave 87, the players on Metacritic 2.7 from 12,400 votes, 73 per cent of them negative. The reason appears in nearly every negative line and has little to do with the driving — it is about the effort of acquiring cars, about purchases with real money, and about the game doing almost nothing without an internet connection. Those who praise it praise the driving. For an evening of two on a split screen the argument misses the core, but it is worth knowing about.
- “Smooth controls, Amazing and perfect game, Perfectly made, Clean and good”
- “This game is amazing. It has a lot of cars and has some history about it and that's a good thing”
- “I can't justify keeping a single-player focused game on my console that becomes unplayable as soon as my internet goes out.”
Summarised by machine from 12400 Metacritic user reviews, not written by our editors. The quotes appear verbatim in those reviews.
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