Personally, I skipped it more based on my experience with GT6. After GT6 I wasn't really that keen on investing in a PS4 and GTS when I could spend that money on all the other interesting sim and sim-adjacent games that were coming out at the time. Polyphony had no good will left from me, and when the initial release of GTS was of high quality but tiny I didn't feel particularly bad for having not jumped on board. At that point I'd been playing iRacing on and off for years, and I didn't feel like I needed another game to fill that niche.
As far as best feeling GT to date, I find that a bit odd. I don't play GT for driving feel because I don't think it's particularly good. If I want driving feel I have better sims to go to. GT has many things going for it, but neither the physics or the driving feel are reasons I'd hold up for the games being particularly good.