Gran Turismo 7: State of Play recap and your first few hours with the game

Thanks for tuning into our in-depth look at the modes and features of Gran Turismo 7. You can view the full VOD below, which contains more than 30 minutes of new gameplay footage, insight into various modes, and more.

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As you can see, there’s a lot going on in GT7 and there is something for everyone regardless of whether you a new player, or an existing fan of the franchise. This is the purpose of GT7, it was produced to celebrate the idea of car culture in the modern day and inspire people to want to be a part of it, whether you are interested in racing, scapes and photography, livery design, tuning, or collecting cars. 

Now let’s get into the detail. Once you get behind the wheel on March 4, how do the modes seen in State of Play reveal themselves as you play? Here’s a quick rundown of what you will experience when you first access the game.

Music Rally

The first thing you’ll do is hop into a Porsche Carrera Speedster ’56 and race through the Music Rally. On the surface, it’s an arcade-style race where you enjoy some motivating, up-tempo tunes while trying to reach checkpoints before time runs out. For new players, this is also a way to experience GT’s driving simulation gameplay and an opportunity to set your steering and pedal operation type and driving assist presets (Auto Brakes, Braking Zones, Driving Lines, etc.).

Purchasing a car

As seen in State of Play, the World Map is your home base in the resort-themed world of GT7. The first task to complete is using some provided in-game credits to purchase a used car of your choice (in this case, a Toyota Aqua S ’11). With a set of wheels at your command, stop by the Garage and then head to the new Café.

Café

This comfy locale offers you “Menu Books” of activities to complete for new cars and other game-progression goodies.* The first Menu Book request is to acquire three Japanese compact cars, one of which you already purchased earlier. So that’s one down… but how do you obtain the other two? By winning them from specific races called out in the Menu Book. Venture out to those courses in the World Circuit area of the map, fulfill the placement requirements (3rd place or higher in this case) and voila, new cars are yours.

License Center

Next you unlock the License Center, featuring rigorous driving tests know to GT veterans all over the world. Luckily, obtaining the initial B license isn’t too demanding, so even novice players can tackle this in time, and obtain the B license. Getting B, A licenses (and so on) will teach you valuable skills you can apply throughout your GT7 journey.

Tuning

With a handful of cars now in your garage and new skills at your command, a Café menu will direct you to the newly opened Tuning Shop. As you can imagine, this place is loaded with parts of all shapes and sizes (peep some of them in the full VOD), with even more to be unlocked as you play. As you acquire new cars, for instance, you build up your Collector Level, and hitting level 4 unlocks the “Club Sports” category in the Tuning Shop.

So race, collect, unlock, tune… whatever you do, you’re probably helping build out some other element of the game. The Café Menu will also guide you to new areas and modes, so fulfilling those is a great way to ensure you’re taking advantage of all the sights & sounds of GT7.

All this content is experienced within the first hours of the game (depending on winning races, fulfilling Menu Books and so forth), at which point you’re off to a special championship event at the High Speed Ring. This will open the Brand Central, where you can purchase brand-new vehicles from over 50 car manufacturers and tuners.

This is just the tip of the iceberg though, as you progress through the game you will open many more features to explore, such as the GT Auto where you can dress up your cars and perform maintenance, the Livery Editor, Scapes, Race photos, and more. Watch the full State of Play VOD for more information.

I hope having seen this update into Gran Turismo 7 you are as excited for this latest installment as we have been to make it! Releasing on March 4th, you can pre-order Gran Turismo 7 at the PlayStation Store for either PS4 or PS5.

And the 25th Anniversary Edition not only includes the PS5 version but also comes with the digital code for the PS4 version, so it’s perfect for those who only have a PS4 now but are thinking of purchasing a PS5 in the future.

*Internet connection required for game progression to access most vehicles, races, and tuning features.