GT7: Between Passion for Cars and the Limits of Competition

  • Thread starter Thread starter TurismoTalker
  • 3 comments
  • 322 views
Messages
52
Italy
Bologna
Messages
JohnMcLuke
I’ve noticed a constant in my GT7 gaming experience. Physically, I love it; I think it’s the game that best represents the real physics of cars on PlayStation. Both in terms of the physics and the sheer variety of cars it offers, meaning totally different vehicles with similar balance (SUVs, sports cars, race cars of different levels, go-karts, classic cars, etc.). Historically, when you look at how they treat the automotive world and the dedication they put into it, I could talk about their commitment to adding as many different car niches as possible (Le Mans, F1, rally, common cars, supercars, tuning cars, etc.), trying to get as many people as possible passionate about the game and what it offers. Or I could talk about the dedication they show even outside of the game, like with the competitive side.

The constant is more emotional than related to the game itself, maybe it’s personal, but let me explain.
I’m a racing, competition, and motorsport enthusiast. I love all types of racing involving cars. In my opinion, Gran Turismo is dedicating way more space to race cars in the Gr3 and Gr4 categories. I’m not saying that’s wrong; on the contrary, it’s showing results and has gotten me into it, despite my initial skepticism. But I think it’s unfair that certain cars can’t really be used in the right way.

For example, I love the Toyota GT-One. I first discovered it in GT2, and ever since, it’s meant more to me than other cars. The GT-One was the reason I bought the PS5, obviously with GT7. But only now do I realize my disappointment... I’ve never been able to use it against other players online, or against other GT2 cars of the same era, or at least only 1-2 times in the past 2 years. Sure, you can use it against the 16’ cars, you can do that, but it’s clearly inferior, which is fair, but what's the fun in that? I love the Delta Rally, but if I can’t face other players using rally cars, what’s the point?
I disagree with those who want more Gr3 and Gr4 cars, but in the end, those are the only categories actually used in the competitive mode. Again, I wouldn’t personally like them, but at least they’d be cars you could use and face other players with.

Do you know why, for example, there’s no real Drift community in Gran Turismo?
Because players can’t face each other in a structured way like in the competitive mode. Drift can never really excite me if there’s nothing in the game to make me experience it in a meaningful way... why should I bother learning to drift (?), when I can just do qualifying laps with a Genesis Gr3 (which is terrible) because I know it’ll give me the chance to be part of a competitive race in the daily events. Or why should I bother building a perfect 600pp car if I’ll never really get to test it seriously against other players online... and not in some pre-set offline event that’s useless and has nothing to do with a real race.
The game essentially forces players to practice only with Gr3 and Gr4 cars, which obviously brings a lot of attention to those types of cars. But it doesn’t make sense to have just these two categories in the competitive modes — it’s illogical, even though they’re very different.

I’ve noticed in the online Time Trials that often, not always, but often, common cars not only post better times on the leaderboards, but also have players who land on the podium... and that’s obvious, but why does this vast portion of players who feel more comfortable (or simply enjoy) driving “common” cars not have a competitive mode of their own? It would be simple: create a competitive branch with 3 races (500pp, 600pp, 700pp) and relative values. Sure, there could be stronger cars than others and balance issues, but you could create subcategories, so the number of cars you could use and test would increase.
I’ve often heard about server issues, so it might be “unmanageable” to control, and there would still be imbalances, but there’s already that issue.
Right now, I think they want to focus on Gr3 and Gr4 competitive modes because it's obviously going well. Honestly, I don’t think they care about drift players, tuning enthusiasts, rally fans, or even historical Le Mans cars... these categories are basically abandoned, used offline with those boring races where you start last and unless you have a significantly stronger car, you can’t win. It’s not competition; it’s a time trial with other cars, sometimes ridiculous. Most cars aren’t even used, not even as background — the more I love them, the more they’re useless.

I want to understand if there are other people like me, unsure of what to do in GT7, as if there’s everything and yet nothing. What do you think?
 
Join a league with similar minded people or create your own.

You'll be able to propose cars you love, with the tune you want and get other people to race with you.


The league I am in : (but we are at full capacity at the moment)

We use a wide variety of combos, you'll find the list on the 3rd post. Every member can come up with a combo.
 
Yeah GT7 unfortunately completely fumbled its tuning aspect. The return of the PP system and addition of engine swaps makes you think they were really aiming to make 7 a tuner's paradise, and the daily races in the early weeks lived up to that promise, but as soon as people figured out you could detune a Tomahawk to 600PP that all flew out the window.

Ten PP updates, physics changes and leaderboard wipes later, and you'd hardly think this game was made for tuners at all. Meanwhile Sport has been the same Gr.3/Gr.4 garbage for 99% of the game's life. And you can still get a 1200HP Hiace down to 600PP...
 
The main reason that single player doesn't keep me engaged (and inevitably I end up returning to Sport Mode again and again) is the general lack of benchmarking.

My motivation for driving these virtual cars (and as many as possible) is to see how far I can push the limits. Unfortunately, I lack the necessary skill and knowledge to determine the limit by myself, so I require the community aspect in order to help with that. Once I have a target pace, i can start to see if my manual dexterity and speed of thought will enable me to reach it. We have this with Daily Races and Time Trials. In the case of the latter, the very fastest players in the world have their skills on display for anyone to attempt to replicate.

Circuit Experience, and to a lesser extent the Licence tests and Missions do provide a semblance, but they are "one-and-done" (yes, I am a philistine who requires some in-game progress too, so repeat attempts for no extra reward isn't my cup of tea). Make them repeatable!

This is why I'm an advocate for mixing up at least one Daily Race as the week progresses. Why not put us in a slightly more powerful car around the circuit we've practiced for hours already? Why not switch up the circuit, and keep our general handling knowledge in the machinery we're using and transfer it to another venue?

To me, these would be small changes with a huge impact.

Let's all keep our peepers open when Spec III arrives....
 
Back