Gran Turismo 7

Polyphony Digital · Sony Interactive Entertainment

Gran Turismo 7 is Polyphony Digital's 2022 driving simulator for PlayStation, and if a gaming cafe has a racing rig with a steering wheel, there is a very good chance GT7 is the game running on it. It is the series' love letter to car culture: hundreds of real cars, real tracks, tuning, photography and a museum's worth of motoring history. The heart of the single-player is the Café, where you complete "menu books" that ask you to collect certain cars by winning races. It is a gentle, guided way to experience the game, and it suits short sessions because each menu takes only a few races. License tests teach braking, cornering and racing lines step by step. Sport mode is the online competitive side, with daily races and a driver rating system that rewards clean driving. Rig or controller? GT7 plays well on a DualSense, with its triggers giving decent feedback. But on a racing rig with a wheel, pedals and a proper seat, it becomes something else. You feel the car shift weight under braking, and you start to understand why sim racers obsess over setups. GT7 also supports PlayStation VR2 on PS5, so if you find a cafe with a VR2 headset set up for it, the sense of sitting in a cockpit is remarkable. Tips for first-time rig drivers Turn on the driving assists for the first session: traction control, the driving line and brake assist. Brake in a straight line before a corner, not while turning. Be gentle with the throttle out of slow corners, especially in powerful rear-wheel-drive cars. And start with modest cars; a Mazda Roadster teaches you more than a 900-horsepower hypercar. How long to book A single race can be as short as three minutes. Thirty minutes on a rig is a good taster; an hour lets you get comfortable and start improving your lap times. Friends can take turns on a rig and compare times on the same track for a bit of rivalry. Who should try it Car lovers, anyone curious about sim racing, and groups who want a relaxed but competitive time trial challenge. It is rated E, so it is fine for all ages.