Gran Turismo 7: PSVR2 upgrade confirmed.

[Shimmyhill]

Its a 2 speed auto, you can’t shift it manually at all.

 

I just had a quick bash and got a gold time in the Fuji TT - thats a fun combo with my 911 RS, not the quickest car it seems but the one I know best, hopefully no one will make a massive improvement as it ends tomorrow and my time is up!

[Polmon]

I similarly had a go on the Fuji TT, it's one of my least favourite tracks, but managed to sneak 300ms inside of gold once I'd switched over to the huracan over the new AMG (the Lambo has much better traction for accelerating out of corners, I found). 

 

Also managed to get into gold on the Grand Valley one, but only by a couple of milliseconds, so I don't expect that to last very long. I felt there was loads of room for improvement, but I really wish this had the same penalty system as the Fuji one. Having it invalidate the current lap AND screw your next one with a slow down is just rubbish design. 

[LaveDisco]

So I never expected this to happen, but I've finished my first Sim(ish) racer and completed Menu 39. I wrote it up in the 'Games I completed Thread' but thought I would cross post it here - in short, this game has fundamentally changed my opinion on racing games. I've loved it.

 

9 minutes ago, LaveDisco said:

 

Turns out there was one more in me before Zelda. And it's the game I least expected to finish in 2023.

 

14. Gran Truism 7 - PSVR2

 

I've got a long history on this forum in saying that any racing game which requires you to use the brake has no value whatsoever. Outrun 2, Mario Kart, Excite Truck, Pure - these are the racing game that have found a hold on me. The nearest I've got to enjoying a 'Sim' game is Burnout: Paradise, because at least they look like proper cars. I despise the core game at the centre of Forza Horizon (although maybe I should go back to that now...) and I actively despised this kind of Sim game. On top of this, my double vision meant that I couldn't learn to drive as a child. So not looking good.

 

But I really like my VR headset, and until SEGA see sense and make Outrun 2 VR edition, I took a wild swing of £70 to play GT7 in VR, because of all the good feedback I had heard of it as an experience. And to say it's been transformational in my outlook is putting it mildly. Let's skip the praise for the superb VR implementation and I want to talk about two things.

 

1) In playing these kind of games I just can't judge how to effectively take corners - I've just no idea how to even understand how to approach it.

until....

2) VR and the Haptics have really helped me finally start to understand. The difference it makes is huge. When physically inside the car, and crucially with the immense feedback through the controller means I can feel the car start to slip out, or go, or whatever, and I can skirt that edge, in a way I never could in any other game. It's really made an inexcessible game wide open for me. If I play on screen, I'm noticeably, significantly worse and it's just a result that was so unexpected. I also turned that awful follow line off, and that really helped.

3) It was so easy, and straightforward to play in VR. Genuinely relaxing, and refreshing in a way that VR games aren't normally. I must have completed about 80% of the game in VR.  Superb.

 

Admittedly, I'm playing on easy (and this is testament to the existence of difficulty levels) but it's also kind of proves the point, this feels so polished, so expensive, so resourced, that it meant they had had the time to really, give me a nice, rising challenge, where I had to develop skills to progress.And indeed I did make steady process through the, actually very enjoyable 'cafe menu', for last couple of months.  The busy icon chaos of Forza Horizon just made everything feel worthless, but this gave a really interesting tour to me that I felt really guided me through both skills, cars and concepts.

 

I've loved it so much, I bought at wheel (G29) and it's brilliant, but in many ways I still understand the track better through the sense controller, it really is superb.

 

I've got to the stage where I've a fledging interest in cars, something approaching opinions and might even attempt to learn to drive (as pointless as that is where I live). For example, I heard of the AE86 from Initial D, and won the Levin sister car, but realised it wasn't the 'proper' one, so I bought the proper version and it was great. But then I tried and fell in love with the Levin. It's so much fun to drive, and crucially, the interior and accelerometer look so fucking vapourwave/synthwave cool it's untrue. I mean just look at it:

 

 

I found ever opportunity to use this car in the races, because it was so much joy to be sat inside it. Absolutely bonkers.

 

Also, and I'm reluctant to say this, due to the MS-hate-athon we've got going on at the minute, but I have to talk about the tone of it all. I love Forza's open world, it's incredible world building. But the DJ's, chat, avatars and the like are so painfully 'I'm a business manager designing what I think the kids think is cool' feel to it all. Where GT7, with all it's old men in cafe's chatting about cars, and slow pans across lawn chairs and the general ethos of 'crossword user' is so nerdy that it kinda loops back round to cool. It's made with a genuine passion that shines through versus a fake committee feel of the Horizon games. It reminds of how teachers, as long as they can communicate their passion with authenticity, can make you relate to them and bring you with them, but the ones that try and act cool and 'with it' just push you away. And actually that resonates with how I feel about MS's PR approach in general at the moment.

 

It's the easiest 5/5 I've every awarded - EXCEPT - the credit, and roulette system is so fundamentally, intentionally broken. As a casual player, who just wants to get a few cars and drive, it's great, but you can tell (with it's always award the smallest item on the ticket) it only exists in order to sell credits for real cash. Fundamentally disgusting and unforgivable. So 4/5 for casual players who just want to play through the menus, but knock another point off if your going to go all in on this because this issue will get real. 

 

[Shimmyhill]

Nice review @LaveDisco, I dont have the new VR hat yet and GT7 is the only reason I own a PS5 - I can’t wait to try it in VR at some point.

 

Speaking of the roulette….

 

 

Its a miracle!

[LaveDisco]

Cheers! I got that for completing the game. I assumed it was a by default one. Otherwise I got the top left, smallest prize one, every single time, except three times I got a random upgrade for a car I didn't own and once a a car).

[Shimmyhill]

2 hours ago, Polmon said:

I similarly had a go on the Fuji TT, it's one of my least favourite tracks, but managed to sneak 300ms inside of gold once I'd switched over to the huracan over the new AMG (the Lambo has much better traction for accelerating out of corners, I found). 

 

Also managed to get into gold on the Grand Valley one, but only by a couple of milliseconds, so I don't expect that to last very long. I felt there was loads of room for improvement, but I really wish this had the same penalty system as the Fuji one. Having it invalidate the current lap AND screw your next one with a slow down is just rubbish design. 

 

Are you Polmon on PSN? Join our little TT leaderboard!

 

Fuji is a frustrating track as it has the makings of a decent track but a couple of corners really are crap - the double apex sweeper being the main culprit as it seems to go on forever and I still dont really know how to take it well consistently - lack of anything to use as a marker doesn’t help. Its easily my least favourite ‘decent’ track and im sure im being overly generous calling it decent but there is something about it…

[Corranga]

You're all mad, Fuji is one of the best tracks in the game

The technical sections and long straights make it great for overtaking opportunities, and also mean that it's not immediately clear if it's a high speed or better handling circuit.

 

On the other hand, that time trial, being on hard tyres, makes it a bit of a nightmare that can make even the most tail happy cars understeer.

[marsh]

Not dipped into GT7 with the VR hat yet, too busy playing Gorn. Anyway, said game involves a fair amount of forehead sweat, is there some sort of head band I can get so when I do venture into GT7 I can capture my salty beads of excursion? Or do I just add it to my list of 'racing driver excuses'?

[Shimmyhill]

9 hours ago, Corranga said:

You're all mad, Fuji is one of the best tracks in the game

The technical sections and long straights make it great for overtaking opportunities, and also mean that it's not immediately clear if it's a high speed or better handling circuit.

 

On the other hand, that time trial, being on hard tyres, makes it a bit of a nightmare that can make even the most tail happy cars understeer.

 

Its a better race track than TT thats for sure, thats mainly because no one knows how to take the sweeper so hilarity ensues! 

[Stanley]

47 minutes ago, marsh said:

Not dipped into GT7 with the VR hat yet, too busy playing Gorn. Anyway, said game involves a fair amount of forehead sweat, is there some sort of head band I can get so when I do venture into GT7 I can capture my salty beads of excursion? Or do I just add it to my list of 'racing driver excuses'?

I just bought a three pack of regular sports headbands from Amazon for a tenner or something and they do the trick. You can get actual VR ones that cover more of your face but I didn’t fancy that - the regular ones do their job for me, and I get pretty sweaty playing the likes of Synth Riders. 

[Corranga]

4 hours ago, marsh said:

Not dipped into GT7 with the VR hat yet, too busy playing Gorn. Anyway, said game involves a fair amount of forehead sweat, is there some sort of head band I can get so when I do venture into GT7 I can capture my salty beads of excursion? Or do I just add it to my list of 'racing driver excuses'?

Nomex balaclava for realism?