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I’ve been an avid player of the Gran Turismo games, from the early days of racing modifications and cracking out gold for as many licenses as possible to taking on endurance races throughout the later games – grinding an Escudo down round 100 laps of super speedway’s outer wall being a real highlight. So you can imagine my excitement when I recently picked up the latest instalment of Gran Turismo 7 almost 9 years after Gran Turismo 6 was released; finally I could revisit the much-publicised Trial Mountain and Deep Forest tracks and drive in the latest generation of extraordinarily realistic cars. But as I began to immerse myself in the latest instalment of the real driving simulator there was one thought which refused to go away: it wasn’t very fun. Below are my main reflections on this game. The game has a restrictive and unnecessary tutorial When you log in you are immediately hand-held to an infuriating degree as you navigate the ‘career mode’ map. Many features like the new car dealership and the tuning shop are hidden and remain so until you are several races into the game, so really you’re getting a walkthrough of maybe 3 features to begin with? Unlike previous instalments of the franchise that feel inherently random and new, you truly feel like you are having the same experience as any other player starting out. Even the excitement of the used car menu is watered down by your limited choice of three hatchbacks which are at least 7 years old. Being steered towards the ‘Sunday Cup’ and having to unlock more tracks as you level (beyond the three you start with) is just a frustratingly restrictive dynamic which I don’t think adds much excitement to the game. The feel of reward and progression is kind of ruined by circuit experience Circuit experience was a good feature from GT Sport in which you could hone your skills at a track, kind of like a specific license test for a track. It feels like it’s been chucked in as an afterthought to GT7 and really skews the (already disappointing) progression arc of the game. In the process of being shepherded to a Sunday Cup race for a specific track to earn a few thousand credits, an experienced player can potentially earn a million credits from a larger track before they’ve completed their first race! Honestly, if you’re going to restrict player choice so much at the beginning, why keep in this completely over-rewarding game breaker? The Café indulges car enthusiasts at the expense of other players A feature called ‘the Café’ is unlocked early on, doubling up as both a hub to learn about cars’ histories and a guide to suggest the next thing the player should do. Initially it proposes an unusual series of tasks, suggesting you do your stopping and starting B license no. 1 (which in itself isn’t really explained why you need to) - after tackling circuit experience and a race, it feels like it’s taking you backwards. The Café has also been positioned as the primary way of winning vehicles, (one of the most exciting features of the GT franchise), historically after completing a race series or cup. All I can say is, I don’t understand how someone could think that providing a car to anyone who comes 3rd in a 3-lap race of Suzuka East is fun, but again I’m left feeling like they’ve botched a particularly great part of the game. Car history was mildly interesting to me with some nuggets of information, but nothing I couldn’t Google if I wanted to. Maybe it’s just me, but I bought the real driving simulator to drive, not to learn! There's more to talk about, just not enough space in a Google review!