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

[tonidavid5]

...
The concerns with regard to this DLC are well-founded, for two reasons. One it's baffling that features such as race-weekends, and endurance races get locked to a DLC, and even more so that they are not available to PS4 players.

It was, but are you honestly saying that a version without SOPHY couldn't have been released for PS4 players?

Agreed it is great, but that doesn't change that locking core functionality behind a paywall isn't odd.
...

A version of endurance and/or race-weekends with qualifying and without Sophy, (i.e. with braindead Reggie) would be a total disaster and no fun at all. With the knowledge of the default reggie capabilities in GT7, it would be detrimental to any playability of such events on a PS4 (or a PS5 for that matter).
Are you honestly saying that you'd be racing for 24h beyond, say, the first hour when you'll be a thrillion laps ahead of the competition, which cannot for the life of them make a difference between different compounds or different refuelling pitstop strategies? Who'd want to run for 24h with such unbalance? It would be a 24h time trial, not a race.

Why do you consider this or some other feature to be introduced by the DLC a 'core feature' of the original game? I didn't buy when it was first released but I don't recall it having a list of PD-published features currently missing at that state of the game. This is very different from us, the users, expecting certain features to be in the game because previous iterations of the GT series had them (spoiler, each one demanding full price purchase, how cheeky of them!). We all know that's not how PD work.

 

[psychoazubi]

Paying to sweat is going to suck. IMO. But I’ll definitely give it a go. Don’t want it super easy. A challenge is nice. But don’t want it to be frustrating is all. Sophy ain’t no joke on some cars and tracks. I can beat the current version on hard arcade but still it can be great racing and also annoying. I wish GT7 had a mid race save option.

Its not just about the speed, its also about the racecraft and the strategic abilities. Doing a 24h against a stupidly fast AI that cant actually race or make good decisions when conditions change wont be fun at all.

I agree with the mid-race save, it should be standard option for all games with races longer than 2h. Standby mode helps, yes, but not if i want to play another game in the meantime

 

[Rangeraus]

No PS4 DLC, NO BUY!

I get that pricing is an issue, but the PS5 is now 5 years old. And in two days, the PS4 will be 12 years old. That's a bigger time difference than the PlayStation 1 launch date and the release date of Gran Turismo 4.

If it was up to me, PS4 support for this game would be sunsetted (with an appropriate notice period) so that PD's resources don't have to continue to be dedicated to maintaining functionality on an aging platform, and the rest of the game functionality can be improved accordingly.

 

[jonoholland29]

It was, but are you honestly saying that a version without SOPHY couldn't have been released for PS4 players?

They could - but it would be woefully awful and fall well below the standards people expect.

 

[mef]

The update is good, or dare I say great. It is literally unprecedented in GT to have the option to not rabbit race, so it appears PD are learning.
But the price matters. I think is hard core ppl will pay whatever. But collectively if Sony can’t move the units they expect it will be a failure for them, because they are greedy fat cats… so I just hope they have realistic pricing expectations. Content wise this looks like a 20 euro/usd offering at most

 

[zaxs]

Can't wait, it won't be any problem to purchase one DLC after years of free content...
Last two I remember was Spa GT5 and Hamilton GT6

 

[mef]

yeah they have..

Yes Hamilton DLC wasn’t it?

 

[Dave A]

A version of endurance and/or race-weekends with qualifying and without Sophy, (i.e. with braindead Reggie) would be a total disaster and no fun at all. With the knowledge of the default reggie capabilities in GT7, it would be detrimental to any playability of such events on a PS4 (or a PS5 for that matter).
Are you honestly saying that you'd be racing for 24h beyond, say, the first hour when you'll be a thrillion laps ahead of the competition, which cannot for the life of them make a difference between different compounds or different refuelling pitstop strategies? Who'd want to run for 24h with such unbalance? It would be a 24h time trial, not a race.

Why do you consider this or some other feature to be introduced by the DLC a 'core feature' of the original game? I didn't buy when it was first released but I don't recall it having a list of PD-published features currently missing at that state of the game. This is very different from us, the users, expecting certain features to be in the game because previous iterations of the GT series had them (spoiler, each one demanding full price purchase, how cheeky of them!). We all know that's not how PD work.

Who knows, but it could have been an option for them to offer it with normal AI.

On the AI in Gran Turismo games, I find in many of the titles, particularly GT5 and GT6, if you go into the games files you can tweak the AI's settings per event/race. It's just simple values that determine how aggressive they are, how skilled at acceleration, breaking, etc. But you can make the AI much better than they are in the game as standard. For example, the skill values the game uses in the events as standard aren't that high, you can set them much higher (though setting some of them too high can lead to odd results too).

What is clear, is the core gameplay of GT7 where you start well behind at the back and claw your way up the grid with AI that isn't that great is deliberate. To create a closer race would probably only require adjusting certain values in the background. Of course that still has limitations and won't turn the AI into Einsteins, but you can create close races in GT5 and GT6 that way.

 

[Nattefrost]

If Polyphony really needed three extra years for GT7 just to create qualifying, endurance races, and an additional 50 races on the existing tracks, then I think they would have rightfully gone under.

None of this is new to them and was core content (with the exception of qualifying) from GT1 to GT6. I'm deliberately excluding Sophie here, as she's not implemented in the standard offline races (unfortunately).

Furthermore, I felt like every update was already paid for, since neither the number of races nor the number of cars and their variations still doesn't come close to the predecessors.

(No station wagons / FAR too few cars from the last 5 years (it almost feels like playing a classic car game) / instead of hypercars, sports cars, or current models, we got clunkers / hardly any pickups / no MR or FF races for everyone / no races for supercharged cars)

Now making us pay for endurance races feels like a slap in the face.

You paid for what was in the game when you bought it. If you were not satisfied with what you would be getting for the price, you had the choice of voting with your wallet and not buying it. Buying a game does not mean you get to demand or expect that everything you personally feel should be in the game, will be given to you for free. In an industry where companies usually charge for every little bit of extra content, PD has constantly added to the game for over 3.5 years without charging for it once.

As for the argument that GT7 has fewer cars than previous games and thus we're entitled to all new ones for free, that is just silly. GT7 launched with over 400 of the most detailed car models in any game out there, more than its direct predecessor GT Sport. Fewer than GT5 and 6, yes, but that's par for the course when you go up in generations, unless we want a repeat of the standard vs premium debacle. GT3 went down to around 180 from the 650 in GT2. And you know what? PD gave us over 100 new car models free of charge in GT7 anyway.

There are a lot of things I'd criticize PD for, but the amount of content they've given for free or the fact that they're finally charging for one block of content after more than 3.5 years is pretty much at the bottom of that list.

 

[Cayit]

Like I said before some of the ''Power Pack'' events should have been already(day one)in the Game.
But I will be getting that (paid) DLC anyway...

 

[GlamFM]

It was, but are you honestly saying that a version without SOPHY couldn't have been released for PS4 players?

Probably could have. But it won’t be. That’s precisely the cutoff point I’m talking about.
SP content is apparently about Sophy going forward - forward is also the direction of PD.

They can’t face backwards forever and drag a 12 year old hardware around for a user- and installbase that is only getting smaller.

They do so with tracks and cars which they should be applauded for - they don’t deserve the criticism for not reworking this very optional DLC to work with an AI that they have left behind.

 

[mef]

There are a lot of things I'd criticize PD for, but the amount of content they've given for free or the fact that they're finally charging for one block of content after more than 3.5 years is pretty much at the bottom of that list.

Well said. I want to highlight PS2VR mode was added for free in spec 2. That was never promised and it was an industry first type feature. If the games industry had a Technical achievement category for OscarS this would’ve won it and we got to enjoy it for free. And if you haven’t experienced gt7 in VR - save money!

 

[GTRedman]

The GT7 webpage says that Sophy 3.0 is only available with the power pack DLC, so I wonder what this means for the base game, will we stop getting new Sophy tracks???, that also implies that B-Spec would be locked to the DLC too.

Hopefully they'll just release Sophy 3.0 to the base game at a later date.

 

[Nakano219]

The GT7 webpage says that Sophy 3.0 is only available with the power pack DLC, so I wonder what this means for the base game, will we stop getting new Sophy tracks???, that also implies that B-Spec would be locked to the DLC too.

Hopefully they'll just release Sophy 3.0 to the base game at a later date.

My speculation on this is that the 3.0 model is going to be a less general, more specialised AI model built to support this mode and is focused specifically on training the cars that are the opponents in the Power Pack on the tracks they appear on only.

 

[Lomic]

Who knows, but it could have been an option for them to offer it with normal AI.

On the AI in Gran Turismo games, I find in many of the titles, particularly GT5 and GT6, if you go into the games files you can tweak the AI's settings per event/race. It's just simple values that determine how aggressive they are, how skilled at acceleration, breaking, etc. But you can make the AI much better than they are in the game as standard. For example, the skill values the game uses in the events as standard aren't that high, you can set them much higher (though setting some of them too high can lead to odd results too).

What is clear, is the core gameplay of GT7 where you start well behind at the back and claw your way up the grid with AI that isn't that great is deliberate. To create a closer race would probably only require adjusting certain values in the background. Of course that still has limitations and won't turn the AI into Einsteins, but you can create close races in GT5 and GT6 that way.

On top of that, I'd add that there are some events in game with good AI (not Sophy) and longer race formats (like the endurance missions), so I am not entirely sure longer endurance races could not be interesting without Sophy. Sure in custom race AI is dumb and there is not much interest designing endurances that way, but regular AI seem to be quite capable when setup right (like in some missions and chili events).

 

[manou]

Odd that you would cherry-pick two titles that have long been called out for egregious pricing models and ignore everything else.

It's a complete fantasy to say that no-one has complained about Rennsport and iRacing for their pricing, many, many people have (and yet neither charges for what is core gameplay functionality).

I paid 10 euros for one (ONE!) track in ACC. It's NOT cherry-picking, I don't know what you are talking about. Grid Legends or Dirt 5 had very expensive DLCs. If you bought all ACC dlcs day one (as did every dedicated ACC racer), the overall price would be insane.

We have had 3 years of free updates, with ~100 additionnal cars, several new circuits, and so on.

I couldn't care less about having to pay the very first non-free DLC. I'll pay it and will enjoy the new content to its fullest.

 

[MroczMR]

My speculation on this is that the 3.0 model is going to be a less general, more specialised AI model built to support this mode and is focused specifically on training the cars that are the opponents in the Power Pack on the tracks they appear on only.

And I think this is some kind of misunderstanding and we will get normal sophy 3.0 in gt7

This one sentence could mean that this new events with sophy 3.0 are rxlusive to power pack not sophy 3.0 alone.

 

[Nattefrost]

Well said. I want to highlight PS2VR mode was added for free in spec 2. That was never promised and it was an industry first type feature. If the games industry had a Technical achievement category for OscarS this would’ve won it and we got to enjoy it for free. And if you haven’t experienced gt7 in VR - save money!

Oh absolutely, I play GT7 in VR myself so I'm acutely aware of how much value that update added. It turns it into probably the best virtual driving experience I've ever had. That alone makes me a lot more forgiving of GT7's and PD's flaws.

 

[GlamFM]

I paid 10 euros for one (ONE!) track in ACC. It's NOT cherry-picking, I don't know what you are talking about. Grid Legends or Dirt 5 had very expensive DLCs. If you bought all ACC dlcs day one (as did every dedicated ACC racer), the overall price would be insane.

Yeah. Same goes for Forza - Horizon AND Motosport. I don't think it's cherrypicking at all.

As I said a million times: The free support for GT7 is almost unprecedented in the medium and certainly in the genre.

I think it's fair if you are disappointed that it's not free and not coming to PS4 (even though I'm obviously not cause I get it) but the entitlement rubs me the wrong way.

 

[rich1]

It is literally unprecedented in GT to have the option to not rabbit race

Long time fans remember it isn't unprecedented in the series....

People that bought the game in the last couple of years have been paying about €15 in Europe for it, so more than that for DLC would be a non-starter for those that aren't hardcore fans. They're doing things in the DLC they should had done for years (or decades), though, which shows they're finally listening to some extent.

 

[Met Entso]

This is great, and for sure I'm going to get it, but how much have they abandoned VR.

 

[Lomic]

This is great, and for sure I'm going to get it, but how much have they abandoned VR.

Hopefully with those endurance races, they will think twice about VR HUD so it can be more useful than it is currently.

 

[Elytre]

I paid 10 euros for one (ONE!) track in ACC. It's NOT cherry-picking, I don't know what you are talking about. Grid Legends or Dirt 5 had very expensive DLCs. If you bought all ACC dlcs day one (as did every dedicated ACC racer), the overall price would be insane.

We have had 3 years of free updates, with ~100 additionnal cars, several new circuits, and so on.

I couldn't care less about having to pay the very first non-free DLC. I'll pay it and will enjoy the new content to its fullest.

Thats how Ppl work:
It's free = "i don't like the Cars and overall content"
If its not free = "why we have to pay for this"
If it was Power Pack for free = "why is the enter Car Name here or the enter Track Name here not included in this DLC"

GT7 is one of the very few games i know wich get more or less regular free content updates without a DLC you have to pay for.
Like you made the point, 3 Years of free content... imagine every content update beeing a DLC and every "3 Car Pack" costing (only) like 2-3€... Additional Tracks going 5€, yh good luck with that 🙄

 

[MagpieRacer]

I guess the thing with the cost is, if PD had released Gran Turismo 8 this year, with these extra circuits, new career mode, new AI, improved online, new cars, etc and charged us £70 for it, we would have all bought it in a heartbeat.

 

[SimTourist]

Yeah. Same goes for Forza - Horizon AND Motosport. I don't think it's cherrypicking at all.

As I said a million times: The free support for GT7 is almost unprecedented in the medium and certainly in the genre.

I think it's fair if you are disappointed that it's not free and not coming to PS4 (even though I'm obviously not cause I get it) but the entitlement rubs me the wrong way.

GT has the advantage of very strong overall sales, GT7 sold over 10 million already while others are lucky to sell 1 million and have to make money through DLC. I think this allows them to give away free cars and tracks, others can't really afford to.

 

[Elytre]

I guess the thing with the cost is, if PD had released Gran Turismo 8 this year, with these extra circuits, new career mode, new AI, improved online, new cars, etc and charged us £70 for it, we would have all bought it in a heartbeat.

except for the PS4 Veterans, as i'm 99% sure GT8 won't release for the 12 year old past-gen console 😂
also i don't see a problem PD charinging some cash for a DLC after 3 years of work for free

Maybe this DLC is just a small cashgrab from PD to buy the Lotus license for GT8! c'mon guys 😁

 

[venom85]

You paid for what was in the game when you bought it. If you were not satisfied with what you would be getting for the price, you had the choice of voting with your wallet and not buying it. Buying a game does not mean you get to demand or expect that everything you personally feel should be in the game, will be given to you for free. In an industry where companies usually charge for every little bit of extra content, PD has constantly added to the game for over 3.5 years without charging for it once.

As for the argument that GT7 has fewer cars than previous games and thus we're entitled to all new ones for free, that is just silly. GT7 launched with over 400 of the most detailed car models in any game out there, more than its direct predecessor GT Sport. Fewer than GT5 and 6, yes, but that's par for the course when you go up in generations, unless we want a repeat of the standard vs premium debacle. GT3 went down to around 180 from the 650 in GT2. And you know what? PD gave us over 100 new car models free of charge in GT7 anyway.

There are a lot of things I'd criticize PD for, but the amount of content they've given for free or the fact that they're finally charging for one block of content after more than 3.5 years is pretty much at the bottom of that list.

And this is precisely where the problem begins.

The "I got what I paid for" principle no longer applies to most games.

Why?

Because the games aren't completely finished at release.

This was also the case with GT7. At launch, there was a patch to fix problems.

Furthermore, PD announced that some content was still missing and would be added later.

The scope and duration of this addition have not yet been addressed.

Due to Product Development's lack of cooperation, customers like myself were able to build their ideal GT7 experience based on what they knew and were used to, thus raising expectations.

Added to this are updates that have made using some cars almost impossible, as well as the constant nerfing of Performance Points. To this day, I don't understand how the wing settings fit into this. Depending on the track, it can be advantageous or disadvantageous to raise or lower them.

In short... My expectations have not yet been met, and given the path PD is currently taking, they probably won't be in the future.

 

[Dave A]

Thats how Ppl work:
It's free = "i don't like the Cars and overall content"
If its not free = "why we have to pay for this"
If it was Power Pack for free = "why is the enter Car Name here or the enter Track Name here not included in this DLC"

GT7 is one of the very few games i know wich get more or less regular free content updates without a DLC you have to pay for.
Like you made the point, 3 Years of free content... imagine every content update beeing a DLC and every "3 Car Pack" costing (only) like 2-3€... Additional Tracks going 5€, yh good luck with that 🙄

There is some truth to this, you cannot please everyone, and you shouldn't try to, but when it comes to cost it's far more complex. There's no doubt GT7 has received more than a fair number of free updates that would make a £20 DLC like the Power Pack a no-brainer, if you consider the cost of that along with all of the free updates recieved to date.

But the issue is far more nuanced than that, giving one thing for free that is worth something and then asking for money for something else that isn't, doesn't really balance out. If I give a friend £10 and then ask him to buy a blank peice of paper off me for £5, he's going to say no, don't be stupid. The fact I gave him a gift prior doesn't make a £5 piece of blank paper a good deal, the two things are separate transactions and should and will generally be treated as such. Not that the Power Pack isn't worth anything, I'm just making a point. We will have to wait and see how worthwhile the Power Pack is and I am interested to find out more.

 

[Fezzik]

I know this DLC on this own probably won't persuade people to upgrade from 4 to 5 (if they have the funds), but for anyone considering it the various PS5 systems will likely be £100/$100 off for Black Friday.

Black Friday 2025 : voici les réductions attendues sur les consoles PS5 et PS5 Pro

Découvrez l'ensemble des offres attendues du Black Friday 2025 sur les consoles PS5, y compris sur la PS5 Pro.

www.dealabs.com

 

[PSN:And-War]

PD please don't do a Renn sport, we expect better from you. 40 use seems pricey no? Why does it seem all company's are trying to squeeze us consumers for everything!!!