I preordered it but never installed on my PS4, because I didn't have the room to download it. Figured I'd just hold off until I got my PS5. From the looks of it, I made the right call, as I didn't have to deal with any of the early server issues or money grinding problems the first few months had.

To me, this is what GT Sport should have been. Actually, that may be a little unfair, as Kaz has always wanted to give everyone a real life racing experience and the PS4 got him closer to his overall goal. But the laser focus on a real live online race server sanctioned by a real racing body was at the expense of anyone that didn't care about online racing and just wanted a great single player experience. The tacked on updates feel like they grafted in parts from GT3 but never felt good or fun, overall. But again, it probably never was the point of Sport.

GT7? Everything looks and feels great. The best thing about playing on PS5 has to be those adaptive triggers and the updated haptics on the Dualsense. There is a noticeable difference between throttle and brake pedals for each car, and if you overcook the brakes the trigger loses all resistance, just like your brake pedal hitting the floor. The hardcore will be using a driving wheel (which I'm getting at some stage. I've said this for the last few releases it seems...) but for those still playing on a pad the Dualsense is an absolute gamechanger. Second best thing on PS5? Load times. The game is still super resource heavy which takes a little time to load up between menus. Looking at the comparison with a PS4 the speed difference is immediately noticable, even with a SSD. I couldn't imagine trying on a stock HDD (especially updating a car livery)

A lot of people aren't sold on the whole 'cafe book' progression, but I don't have a real problem with it at all. For newcomers, it guided them into all things Gran Turismo and gives you a history lesson on cars whether you asked for it or not. Again, this has always been one of Kaz's goals, but it's way more noticeable and unavoidable here. That's fine. I love cars too, so go forth and share your passion buddy. It does force you to play through the books to open all the tracks and events, which is fine with me, honestly. You get a better feel for the cars and how they handle. But if you're the kind of player that wants to start out with an overbuilt car and mash out all the championship classes, you'll be a little disappointed. You still had to clear a swath of races to open up the next branch of tournaments and/or tracks. The books are just a different way of doing it, even if it is a bit hand-holdy

Credits, invitations and legendary dealerships also grind peoples gears. The invite system is undercooked, as there aren't a ton of cars that need an invite only and the ones that are don't make a huge impact to the game itself. I'm not super pressed to get, say, the Aston Martin Vulcan, and none of the 'Vision' cars ever wound my watch, so a Lambo VGT doesn't matter. The Pagani is gifted to you at a certain point anyway, making that invite and cash outlay pointless. There's really only 1 that you need to clear any extra menu book. For the legendary cars, I understand, in theory, basing the price of the cars in game to the real world market value. But hell, this is a game, right? Not being able to afford them in game because you can't afford them in real life just for the sake of realism is maybe a step too far. Some of the prices have actually gone UP since launch. As for the credit grind, there are now a few races that net big payouts without a huge time outlay (longest is a 1 hour race at Spa that nets up to $1.5 mill ($1 mill base) that's super fun). It's not a perfect solution, but it works

I love it. I've logged almost 200 hours in gameplay, got the finale and working on the last 2 bonus cafe books now. Hit collector level 50 last week. Currently grinding and saving for a few cars in the extra menu book and waiting for them to hit the legendary showroom (though I don't want to take the 20 million hit for that Jag, or that 9 million hit for the Ferrari, which I may have to do today or tomorrow anyway before it disappears). I've got a collection of liveries (Pennzoil, Marlboro, Gulf, Martini, Coca-Cola, Miller, 7-11 and John Player Special) for all my favorite race cars. I've got a livery for one of my Gr.2 cars that looks just like a 1/10 scare touring car I used to run (it looks absolutely gorgeous in the Scapes mode). I've even done a couple online races (still not my thing, but I get the appeal to many). It's the most fun I've had in a Gran Turismo game since, GT4, I guess? It's a much better blend of single player and online play that continues to celebrate all things cars. It's great, even if it took me a year to get to it (and, apparently, a year for the game to mature)

Those triggers though...

The SixAxis/haptic rumble/trigger resistance combo is so wild.

This is a game I don’t hesitate to uninstall when I need hard drive space for something new, but I also sprint back to it as soon as I need a time killer that’s not MLB The Show.

I wish the content updates would, every once in a while, spotlight the road cars because the I find a lot of the race and concept car events incredibly stressful, but behind the wheel of one of those Dodge Tomahawks I do find that Spa race a great activity to do while listening to a podcast.

I also never really understood the complaints about the economy of the game. Like you said, the way every car feels so distinct on just the controller, the point seems to me to be enjoying or mastering certain cars and the collections will come. By far my favorite moment during the menu progression was the Ferrari book - I could’ve detoured to raise money for a more modern model but I touched it out with the 1975 308 GTB and it was so satisfying tinkering with that car and my knowledge of how it performed on each track to advance from 5th to 3rd to 1st. The wider reaction to the game’s pricing made me realize how broken players have been by battle passes and other live service game structures.

There’s not gonna be another one of these for years, and despite not being a racing fan or gear head it seems to me the point is doing the same thing over and over again chasing improvements a tenth of a second at a time. So what’s frustrating about cars that seem unattainable, or races you’re repeating over and over?

I just wish I could figure out what I fucked up about my Shelby Cobra that causes it to pop a wheelie on every straightaway. Back to the garage.

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

The Porsche sportster showed up, which helped fill out the mid engine book (the 918 is always available and can be bought after one Spa money race). Just need 4 cars for now (the McLaren F1 car, which I never have seen, the Veyron, which I have the invite for through the middle of June, the 'Kenmeri' Skyline, which I missed out on when I started out, and the '62 Vette, which I have never seen). Will pull the trigger on the XJ13 before it disappears over the weekend. That will just leave the '67 GT40 Mk. IV for the legendary car trophy.

Once that's all done I can get back to the Gr.1 races (Daytona took a few tries, I'm saving and dreading Suzuka and I need to run more lap times at St. Croix to get used to that layout) and tackle the Super Formula races (already have the W14 livery on my Toyota chassis. Screw that Honda chassis, because unrelated F1 beef).

I happened to catch that invite and make it my one big ticket purchase early last year.

It doesn't compete in the higher end races its stats imply it might but it looks awesome in replays, sounds great on headphones and drives like a beast.

Unfortunately it eats gas and tires like little else in its weight class so it's mostly a bully car, but I highly recommend it.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

Great on tires, one of the best (if not the best) on fuel savings, and sounds better than anything this side of a Lexus LFA, which isn't in the game. I can probably run other Gr.1 cars faster (962C, R92CP, C9 especially), but that Mazda has always been something special.

Now to throw that engine in a RX-7 just because

Dragon Trail Reverse layout is just a fun race to run and test my Group 1 cars. Le Mans is prime grinding material, so I've run that countless times. I do need to work on setting a better lap time, as where I am on both tracks either starts me in the top 5 (ideal) or the bottom 10 (where there's nothing but carnage). Made a few podiums, had a few clean races. But if something goes wrong? Nothing but pain and punting all over the track.

Track limits are vague, and penalties are still broken (how do I get a time penalty for colliding with a car if I was the one rear ended?) bu tit's massively fun racing against other drivers on tracks you semi have a shot at.

The menu book setup is perfect for me to help navigate through challenges while naturally building up some driving skill and learning about both the cars and the game/series.

I haven’t had this much fun in a racing game since I was a kid.

The adaptive triggers on the PS5 are the business