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...