Gran Turismo 7 “Power Pack” Paid DLC Now Available: New Races Including Endurance Events, Qualifying, and “Sophy 3.0”

[Monkey Man]

Hilariously, the 1,000 bhp race has rolling starts, but the 2-chili car is the Nissan GT-R R32 NISMO, which benefits from standing starts.

... and does well over 400kph down the straight without a draft, heaps faster than anyone else.

 

[Bonneville120]

Has anyone tried this race since the update, as this was by far the hardest in the entire powerpack for me:



If that GTI has been detuned a little it would be a much less frustrating experience

 

[Tommy_D]

Has anyone tried this race since the update, as this was by far the hardest in the entire powerpack for me:



If that GTI has been detuned a little it would be a much less frustrating experience

I tried it again a couple nights ago. I battle with Hizal a lot in it and actually got ahead of him cresting the hill into the final chicane on the last lap, but he pit manuvers you into the chicane and screws up your entry. Pretty crappy move on his part and should get him a penalty for doing so, but alas the AI can do no wrong in the game. So, I end up in second place just a fraction of a second behind him. I'll try it again another day. Its winnable, obviously, but I probably need to take more defensive lines on the first lap to keep the AI behind me.

 

[DS13_supergt]

My biggest complaint about the power pack and this game in general it's the difficulty, it's way too easy as you can see here:

Only 30 mins into the 24h of the Nürburgring I'm left with basically a 23 hours and a half long time trial. where all I have to do is pitting at the right moment, all of this after starting 11th, it took two laps to clear the traffic and now I'm lapping like 9 seconds faster than them with harder tyres.

I'm using a heavily restricted car too.

But don't get me wrong, I perfectly understand that anyone has his own pace and this might be very hard for someone, I'm just saying we should be able to select the difficulty, so that anyone can a fun and competitive experience, sophy has proven many times that she can be extremely fast, just let us choose the difficulty, like every other racing game in the world.

Yes of course I could make the car even slower, but it sucks to be destroyed on straights just to catch up in the corners, it's frustrating and that's not how real racing works.

 

[art3mis]

My biggest complaint about the power pack and this game in general it's the difficulty, it's way too easy as you can see here:

View attachment 1533174
Only 30 mins into the 24h of the Nürburgring I'm left with basically a 23 hours and a half long time trial. where all I have to do is pitting at the right moment, all of this after starting 11th, it took two laps to clear the traffic and now I'm lapping like 9 seconds faster than them with harder tyres.

View attachment 1533177
I'm using a heavily restricted car too.

But don't get me wrong, I perfectly understand that anyone has his own pace and this might be very hard for someone, I'm just saying we should be able to select the difficulty, so that anyone can a fun and competitive experience, sophy has proven many times that she can be extremely fast, just let us choose the difficulty, like every other racing game in the world.

Yes of course I could make the car even slower, but it sucks to be destroyed on straights just to catch up in the corners, it's frustrating and that's not how real racing works.

Yeah. Pre "use your own cars" I ran the N24 and by the end of Lap 4 I had won the race. I was far enough ahead that I could pit for fuel and tires and not lose a position. It's a good thing the Ring is my favorite stretch of tarmac on the entire planet or I'd have given up.

At least Le Mans was competitive for the first 5-6 hours. The N24 stops being competitive after 45 minutes.

 

[C_Raccoon23]

Since the recent update allows you to use your own cars now, I finally decided to get the Power Pack. I’m honestly glad I waited for this to happen before buying it.

So far, I’ve only done the Civic races. I used my own EK Civic Touring Car upgraded to 570PP like the provided one and did a tune.

The first two Tokyo races were easy, but the race at Suzuka was an unexpected difficulty spike. It rained and I finished 3rd on my first attempt. I’ll come back to win it later since I want to experience everything the Power Pack has to offer before I worry about getting first in all of the races. My overall plan is to at least get a podium on every race using my own cars and then I’ll go through all of them again and win them with the double chili pepper cars.

But from what I played, I like the format of these races. It’s still mind blowing to me though that this is the first time since GT3 that we have qualifying for single-player races.

 

[Tommy_D]

My biggest complaint about the power pack and this game in general it's the difficulty, it's way too easy as you can see here:

<snip>

But don't get me wrong, I perfectly understand that anyone has his own pace and this might be very hard for someone, I'm just saying we should be able to select the difficulty, so that anyone can a fun and competitive experience, sophy has proven many times that she can be extremely fast, just let us choose the difficulty, like every other racing game in the world.

What level Sport player are you? A? A+?

I understand how players of that caliber would say the game itself is easy. I'm at best a low level B driver if not a high level C driver and I find the game to have a lot of easy races but several really hard races when on hard difficulty. For me, the Power Pack races have provided a good level of driving enthusiasm. I don't like that the AI's driving tactics are dirty and that they will crash in to the back of you on corner entry. I think that's a BS way of racing and does not teach players how to actually race faster. It certainly wont help anyone with being a good "Sport" player.

That said, they are not all easy wins for me. A few races have been fairly easy, others have required several attempts to win. I have not gotten to any of the races where you get to choose your own car. I run the 2 chili cars in the races and its good fun. Maybe if I can choose my own car I will find the races to be easier. I'm not sure.

I do find it interesting that the main game has 3 difficulty settings: Easy, Normal, and Hard. There are also 3 chili peppers that are in the difficulty settings boxes, but even on hard difficulty, only 2 chili peppers are assigned to it. It makes me think that PD had thought of adding a 4th difficulty setting to the game. Maybe an "Expert" difficulty where all 3 chili peppers were lit up. Perhaps thats what you are wanting.

 

[ArronWestley]

My biggest complaint about the power pack and this game in general it's the difficulty, it's way too easy as you can see here:

View attachment 1533174
Only 30 mins into the 24h of the Nürburgring I'm left with basically a 23 hours and a half long time trial. where all I have to do is pitting at the right moment, all of this after starting 11th, it took two laps to clear the traffic and now I'm lapping like 9 seconds faster than them with harder tyres.

View attachment 1533177
I'm using a heavily restricted car too.

But don't get me wrong, I perfectly understand that anyone has his own pace and this might be very hard for someone, I'm just saying we should be able to select the difficulty, so that anyone can a fun and competitive experience, sophy has proven many times that she can be extremely fast, just let us choose the difficulty, like every other racing game in the world.

Yes of course I could make the car even slower, but it sucks to be destroyed on straights just to catch up in the corners, it's frustrating and that's not how real racing works.

This is only one race.

The 500 bhp race at Lake Maggiore is a nightmare with the 2 chili car.

I think difficulty is inconsistent. Euro Oldtimers at Nürburgring and Sardegna is "just right" for me, but GT One events in general are on the easier side.

Except for the 1000 bhp race (which I agree has become too easy), the nerfs to the difficulty made sense:

- Euro Oldtimers @ Sardegna was frustrating due in part to the standing start. The Alfas would just zip past you and you had to recover for the entire race. Extra power on the BMW helps too.

- Gran Turismo 500 in general was unfair, with the NSX being ballasted to oblivion and way down on power. It's still as heavy as a whale, but it's got its stock power rating now, which helps @ Fuji.

- Nürburgring Tourist with the BMW made you a sitting duck on the straights. The BMW was already the worst chassis, there was no need to nerf its numbers even further by making its engine very underpowered. Current setting is fairer.

I know there have been other nerfs (as there were races I won that I couldn't before), but I don't recall what was done in the events. Still, I know they were events with unfair opponents (Hachiroku @ Fuji was ridiculous) which have been toned down to give lesser players a fighting chance.

What you said in your last paragraph about being destroyed in the straights to catch up in the corners is absolutely true and part of what makes some races unfair and unrealistic. Gran Turismo 500 @ Fuji would never have been run in reality with a Supra that's so much faster on the straights than the NSX. The discrepancies in power and handling may have been a reality in the 60s... But not in the 90s or even the 80s.

 

[Met Entso]

Has anyone tried this race since the update, as this was by far the hardest in the entire powerpack for me:



If that GTI has been detuned a little it would be a much less frustrating experience

Just tried it today and won, not easily but it's very possible with few practice. I estimate it was high A+/alien level before, and now it's high B/low A level.

 

[Tommy_D]

I'm still working my way through the PP and ran the first couple "tuning" races with the Elantra. They weren't too difficult. Dragon Tail Gardens wasn't even a contest (can't remember lap times but won by multiple seconds), and Willow Springs was barely a challenge (Lap times ~1:20.2 as I'm slow at the top of the hill). I don't know if these races were harder in the previous version of the game, but for a B/C sport racer, I didn't need much practice time to get the pole position.

 

[05XR8]

Got this from my new Power Pack “Challenge”.

 

[Greycap]

I'm still working my way through the PP and ran the first couple "tuning" races with the Elantra. They weren't too difficult. Dragon Tail Gardens wasn't even a contest (can't remember lap times but won by multiple seconds), and Willow Springs was barely a challenge (Lap times ~1:20.2 as I'm slow at the top of the hill). I don't know if these races were harder in the previous version of the game, but for a B/C sport racer, I didn't need much practice time to get the pole position.

Quite a bit harder. The AI and Miyazono in particular drove like madmen and I don't know what, if anything, has been done to the cars since but the no chili Mazda already required serious work to win.

Happened to me too, and just at Willow. Miyazono qualified a 1'19,7 and I did a 1'19,3 so shouldn't be any problems there. Or so I thought. He got stuck behind two others in the start so I figured I'd get away but half a lap later the black Hyundai was right at my rear bumper and not going anywhere. Now I'm not the best FF driver out there but certainly not bad enough to be about 10 km/h slower in the first long right hander if the cars are evenly matched, I was right at the grip limits at 175 or so and he was effortlessly doing 185 without even using all the available steering lock. That wouldn't be a problem if his car was correspondingly slower on the straights but nope, like being in tow all the way from the twisties to the final sweeper. That fastest lap tells a story of its own.

How do you beat someone with superior cornering grip AND equal straight line speed? By blocking a lot. A very big lot.

 

[MisterWaffles]

Has anyone tried this race since the update, as this was by far the hardest in the entire powerpack for me:



If that GTI has been detuned a little it would be a much less frustrating experience

I haven't tried it, but I just find it funny the guy in the video calls it a "guide" but has to resort to ramming to win the race lol.

 

[BlazeTheCat05]

I find myself revisiting the Nurburgring Tourist event quite a bit. This was a blast.

 

[mynameis66]

Incredibly over-nerfed.

Started the 1000hp challenges (Deep Forest and Tokyo) from the back, no practice, no qualifying and still ridiculously-easy wins. Won Tokyo on lap 2 with 8 laps to go.

If ever there were a situation where PD has over compensated, I'm afraid this is it folks.

I predict (and hope) that a patch will be released within a few days. This isn't the "hardcore racing" Kaz had in-mind, guaranteed.

You must be an exceptional driver to get into first by lap 2 with no qualifying.The 2 chilli car just takes off down the straight,by the time i exit the hairpin hes almost at the end of the tunnel.The most I can manage is 2nd with my own car.

 

[Blade_Rudder]

You must be an exceptional driver to get into first by lap 2 with no qualifying.The 2 chilli car just takes off down the straight,by the time i exit the hairpin hes almost at the end of the tunnel.The most I can manage is 2nd with my own car.

I suspect the only way to start from the back with no previous laps with the car and be in the lead by end of lap 2 is by wall riding.

 

[mynameis66]

I suspect the only way to start from the back with no previous laps with the car and be in the lead by end of lap 2 is by wall riding.

I`d like to see a video replay for reference,to see where im going wrong.

 

[Greycap]

There might be a certain case of rubberbanding in play there. At least before the latest update your qualifying time made a very noticable difference.

Early in the power pack I used to run the qualifyings at maximum speed as you usually would, resulting in gaps of three or four seconds if not more in some cases. As a result in every race the couple of fastest AI cars would invariably obliterate me off the line with no logical reason to why they would even be able to do that in the first place considering their cars' capabilities, it was almost like it was scripted to happen. The Deep Forest 1000 bhp challenge was when I had had enough, I mean I was on pole with a stupidly powerful AWD car and had dropped to fifth by the first corner because even some RWD cars came flying past as soon as the light turned green.

And that's when I did a test. Now knowing how fast the AI runs in qualifying, what if I purposely sandbag my lap to be just fast enough to get the pole position, by half a second or so? Surely enough, it made a world of difference. The same car, the same opponents, and when the flag dropped everyone took off "normally" without the rocket boost. The second place got alongside, the third place remained close, but the entire sharp end of the grid didn't come rushing past like I was standing still as before.

I've tried the same tactic in other races since, and the result is always the same. Be on pole with a large margin, unlock some megaboost for the AI, make it close and they'll act normally. Starting from the back of the pack may change things even further, don't know as I haven't tried.

 

[benjoi84]

@Greycap this goes back to the Kaz philosophy of "always having racing action", doesn't it?

If the AI expects you to beat them by 3 or 4 seconds every lap, then realistically it can't expect to ever compete with you if you're on pole. Maybe what you're describing is just another way that GT7 brute-forces the engagement between drivers.

I can't say I personally mind too much, otherwise anything but a 2 chilli race may as well be a time trial.

 

[Tommy_D]

Ran the 300hp tuning races in the Fugu Greddy Z. Slippery car on slippery tracks, so I had to use TC1 on Grand Valley and TC2 on Mt. Panorama. Outran the competition on GV and won by something like 8 seconds. Outran the competition on the mountain and won by 4 or 5 seconds. I could have used my own car, but I couldn't imagine how bad the beating would have been using a 700pp car. Hell, I would have used my Boss 429 at 600pp and destroyed everyone.

 

[Bonneville120]

I've read a few comments of people saying there must be rubber banding because the AI sets a slower quali lap than their pace during the race. But they forget to realise that during quali there are other cars doing their laps too, thus slowing their pace slightly. Once they get pole or close to the front with less traffic, of course they will have better laptimes. I've not noticed any rubber banding

 

[Nebuc72]

Don't think I'll be doing any more of those. That one alone was done over a week.

AI is still fairly challenging in this one, but it is just through you having a power deficit. Their tyre choices are biblically poor, Miyazono pit for Hards with 20 mins to go whereas De Bruin pit for Softs with 30 mins to go (and then had to pit again and lost 2nd).

Bunch of cars also pit for Hards with sub 10 mins to go. Feels like the AI just flip a coin on tyre choice.

 

[BlazeTheCat05]

So I changed my mind for the Spa endurance. What if the NSX GT500 did double-duty in 2000 and also raced in the GT1 class, much like the legendary NSX GT1 from the mid-90s? Thanks to the changes made to the Power Pack it's now possible to live out that hypothetical scenario.

Livery is available for download (BeatBack93). It's perfectly matched against the F1 Longtail and CLK, requiring you to really become one with the car in order to outpace them.

 

[Monkey Man]

I suspect the only way to start from the back with no previous laps with the car and be in the lead by end of lap 2 is by wall riding.

Well I, and I'm sure many others, would be living proof to the contrary bro'.

Are you sure you're thinking of the same event? The 1000hp challenge at Tokyo (forgotten the actual name of the track!)?

FTR I've never wall-ridden. Why peeps feel the need to cheat themselves, I'll never know. Not a great longterm strategy.

You must be an exceptional driver to get into first by lap 2 with no qualifying.The 2 chilli car just takes off down the straight,by the time i exit the hairpin hes almost at the end of the tunnel.The most I can manage is 2nd with my own car.

The 2-chilli car does well over 400kph even without slipstream assistance.

All you need to do is keep it on-the-road and the straight will literally hand you the win.

 

[Blade_Rudder]

Well I, and I'm sure many others, would be living proof to the contrary bro'.

Are you sure you're thinking of the same event? The 1000hp challenge at Tokyo (forgotten the actual name of the track!)?

FTR I've never wall-ridden. Why peeps feel the need to cheat themselves, I'll never know. Not a great longterm strategy.

Yes, I have won both 1000hp races with the 2 chilli car. I qualified 1st in one and 3rd in the other. Whilst I was considerably quicker on the straights I found Miyazono and Gallo (IIRC) were later on the brakes and faster out of corners than me and I had to engage in some serious defending to stay ahead.
I haven’t tried starting from the back. Perhaps they put up less of a challenge in that scenario.

Edit. The other contender was Lopez, not Gallo.

 

[manou]

Can confirm that the Suzuka 6 hours CAN now be done with the Nsx gt500. I'm 1.5h in in, and I lead the race with 20 seconds on the second (De Bruin). I pit every 16 lap, medium tires, lap times 2:01-2:02, 2:03 with tired tires.
So it is now doable. Race is tight though, you can't make many mistakes, or else...
Still, I'm glad I can do it now.

 

[Nebuc72]

Can confirm that the Suzuka 6 hours CAN now be done with the Nsx gt500. I'm 1.5h in in, and I lead the race with 20 seconds on the second (De Bruin). I pit every 16 lap, medium tires, lap times 2:01-2:02, 2:03 with tired tires.
So it is now doable. Race is tight though, you can't make many mistakes, or else...
Still, I'm glad I can do it now.

Ah it's good to hear the weather is different. I had about 20 minutes of dry running, followed by about 4 hours of constant rain.

 

[mastergracie]

I was a bit hesitant to get the power pack, since I didn't want to reward Polyphony for adding features that should've been there from the start, like actual qualifications and starts, you know? But I thought about it a bit more.

They provided us with a huge amount of content for free. There's no competition comparing with the other games. Their support is also amazing.

And in the end, the value you pay for the game has paid for itself, of course, and much more, even though GT has many flaws. I mean, we all know that.

I really wanted to make some quick cash in the game without cheating.
There are many cars that I still haven't gotten, like the most expensive ones. The legendary cars, for example, the McLaren F1—I really want this car.

The prizes and the tickets didnt look bad. But I was conflicted about this too.
Polyphony can give us more value for our money but only if we pay more? Sketchy.

However I think that there is some ridiculous rubber banding. Sometimes I have the most powerful car on a straight.
Okay, I pass the car and they stay behind me all the time. I passed him with some difficult, but I passed them. And like the same car If they pass me on the straight, they just go go and go and they vanish.

Yeah, sometimes they can be quite aggressive. Yeah, even ram your car from behind. But even with this flaws it's definitely better than the standard monotous AI.

Another very annoying flaw is that you can't remove the racer name showing on top of their cars for their races. This is extremely annoying, unnecessary and pure visual pollution.

All in all, I just hope they implement all the positive stuff from the power pack in GT8.

 

[GTvsForza]

Ah it's good to hear the weather is different. I had about 20 minutes of dry running, followed by about 4 hours of constant rain.

I'm halfway through the Spa 8h, and the rain is slowly crawling towards the track. It'll probably hit in the next hour or so next time I jump on.

 

[Met Entso]

One race that is resisting me is the Desert Beetle at Sardegna, the dirty track. I had 5th and barely managed to do 4th yesterday. Anyone tried it after the update? Really fun and lovely car but wants to put itself across the track after the tight corners and then loses a lot of speed.