Gran Turismo 7 is the most realistic series entry yet, says director

Gran Turismo 7
(Image credit: Sony)

Gran Turismo 7 on PS5 sees the series achieving "a level of realism that's kind of tangible", according to Director and CEO of Polyphony Digital, Kazunori Yamauchi.

In a new behind-the-scenes trailer for Gran Turismo 7, Yamauchi explains that the game will take advantage of the DualSense controller's haptic feedback and adaptive trigger features. One example Yamauchi gives is that the triggers will simulate the brakes on a car. "When brakes are effective to a certain point and they lock up, the resistance of the trigger is canceled," he says in the trailer.

Yamauchi also points to ray-tracing, which he says will improve the visuals for the in-game vehicles. He's certainly not wrong; some of the still images of cars shown in the trailer could easily be mistaken for real photographs at a first glance.

Yamauchi closes the video out by saying that this "natural feeling" is something the Gran Turismo series has always strived for and he has found it pretty moving to have finally achieved it.

PS5 exclusive realism

As a reminder, the PlayStation 4 version of Gran Turismo 7 will not support any of the features mentioned in the video. While this arguably makes it the inferior version (at least technically), there has been no mention of console-exclusive content. Cross-gen play will also be possible, so PS4 and PS5 owners can play together online.

With the PS5 console remaining difficult to get hold of, Gran Turismo 7 releasing on PS4 as well as Sony's latest hardware means fans of the series won't have to miss out on the newest entry. Unfortunately, unlike previous cross-gen releases, you won't be able to upgrade to the PS5 version for free.

Sony confirmed earlier in the year that, for future first-party cross-gen titles, you'll need to pay $10 to upgrade from the PS4 version to the PS5 version. This covers both Gran Turismo 7 and God of War: Ragnarok, but not Horizon Forbidden West. The PS4 version for that game can be upgraded for free.

This isn't the only complaint some fans have taken with Gran Turismo 7. Following its September trailer, it was discovered that the campaign mode will require a constant Internet connection. Whether or not these complaints will have any tangible impact on Gran Turismo 7's sales when it releases on March 4 remains to be seen.

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Michael Beckwith

Michael is a freelance writer with bylines at the Metro, TechRaptor, and Game Rant. A Computer Games Design and Creative Writing graduate, he's been passionate about video games since the Game Boy Color, particularly Nintendo games, with Xenoblade Chronicles being his favorite game ever. Despite everything, he's still a Sonic the Hedgehog fan.