Sony appears to be attempting its very best Hideo Kojima impression as it announces plans to scan PlayStation fans into its games, so if you're lucky enough, maybe you'll soon have a lookalike living their best life in Gran Turismo 7. For a while, anyway.

In a PlayStation Blog post today, Sony Interactive Entertainment's vice president of global marketing, Isabelle Tomatis, unveiled The Playerbase – described as "a unique opportunity for PlayStation's biggest fans to step into some of the biggest game worlds by having their likeness scanned and appear within a PlayStation game." This idea is first being rolled out to Gran Turismo 7, but "we'll be looking to expand and include fans in additional PlayStation Studios titles in the near future."

Now, as you might expect, this isn't a privilege Sony is granting to literally everyone. In fact, it's incredibly limited, but it's not just a case of being picked in a lucky draw. If you're interested, you'll need to submit an application (which will ask you about your "experiences on PlayStation"), before finalists are selected to participate in video interviews to learn even more about them and their "connection" to the brand. Only then will one person be selected to be given "a special limited-time appearance as an in-game character portrait, similar to how characters are presented throughout the game."

This first example of The Playerbase being used in Gran Turismo 7 doesn't sound nearly as in-depth as, say, the celebrity cameos Kojima put into Death Stranding and its sequel (which include but are no means limited to The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley and VTuber Usada Pekora). In fact, quantity-wise, Kojima put so many famous faces in Death Stranding 2 that the devs apparently ran out of space and ended up having to turn people down.

Compared to those, I imagine that the "limited-time" part of this Gran Turismo 7 fan appearance is going to sound very underwhelming to some after what appears to be such an in-depth application process. But, at the very least, whoever gets picked will also get "invited to a visual arts studio in Los Angeles for a scanning day," and they'll also get to "collaborate with a designer" to make a custom Fantasy Logo, as well as a "one-of-a-kind vehicle livery which will be added permanently to the Showcase menu."

It's got to be said though, it sounds like Sony's bar is extremely high for whoever its winner is. Looking through the frequently asked questions about its criteria, it's stated that a successful application will have to demonstrate your connection to PlayStation, as well as passion for both it and Gran Turismo 7 developer Polyphony Digital, evidenced by "ownership of PlayStation products, subscriptions, games played, hours played, etc.," and things like "ownership of games from those studios, hours played, number and type of game trophies obtained," respectively. This is based both on your initial application and your PlayStation account history.

What's more, anyone who gets through to the video interview stage will have to express an "authentic love for PlayStation" and Gran Turismo 7, and will be judged on how much their interview "includes shareable and entertaining content, while demonstrating that your story is suitably interesting to make further compelling content," amongst other things. I guess it's a positive thing that a huge fan will, in theory, be rewarded for their dedication, but that's a lot of pressure for anyone who wants to throw their hat in the ring.

Anyway, perhaps Sony's Playerbase cameos will become a bit more expansive as time goes on. After all, Tomatis reiterates the plan is to feature fans in "ways that fit each game's own style and world" in the titles of studios that participate in the future. Hell, maybe Death Stranding 2 could even be on that list, considering Sony is the publisher – I'm sure Kojima would be able to show 'em how it's done. For now, though, anyone eligible is able to apply via the official site.

The Last of Us Part 3 hopefuls are convinced Naughty Dog head Neil Druckmann is hinting at another sequel as he teases "the few stops that remain on the road ahead."

Fanatec has announced that support for its proprietary FullForce feedback system has finally come to Gran Turismo 7 in the game's most recent update. This will enable compatible Fanatec wheel bases to give sim racers more detailed feedback in GT7, following the Spec III update, which arrives today, December 4. If you bought one of Fanatec's best PS5 steering wheels and you've been waiting to get your true value for money, your gameplay is about to feel much more realistic.

For the most part, this seems to impact two wheelbases. Fanatec's current lineup of wheelbases only includes two that are PlayStation compatible, the aptly named Gran Turismo DD Pro Wheelbase, and the ClubSport DD+. Annoyingly, both of those seem to be on backorder at the moment if you shop directly with Fanatec, with a quoted availability date set for December 11th. Thankfully, the Gran Turismo bundle is available at Amazon, as seen below.

We're yet to try the Fanatec DD Pro, but it is surprising that, despite its official licensing for Gran Turismo, it's taken this long for it to finally gain in-game support for its homemade feedback system. Then again, Fanatec's rival software to Logitech's TRUEForce only arrived on the track this year. Moreover, support for it in Gran Turismo 7 doesn't seem like it's been a simple one-and-done integration.

"We have worked on the compatibility with the Fanatec FullForce technology, and have optimized the settings for each car", says Kazunori Yamauchi, President of Polyphony Digital.

"The players will now be able to feel the rich and accurate information from road surfaces, tires, and the suspension through the steering wheel. We hope you experience the unique characteristics of each car from the wide variety made available in Gran Turismo."

The race between the best racing wheels for PC has been hotly contested in the last few months, with multiple brands launching new hardware. Logitech has launched its long-awaited mid-range contender, the Logitech G RS50, while Turtle Beach has followed up the VelocityOne with the KD3 (which we're about to post our thoughts on). Meanwhile, Thrustmaster has followed up the T248 with an updated SKU, and Nacon is the new kid on the block with the Revosim RS Pure Bundle.

For Fanatech, it's been a tough couple of years. The brand entered liquidation, much to the despair of the sim racing community online, before it was acquired by Corsair. With this update, Fanatec is reinstating its place in the current sim racing arms race, rivaling Logitech as one of very few brands to have developed its own type of detailed feedback systems.

While support is still limited to a few wheelbases and three games (iRacing, Assetto Corsa, and now GT7) at the moment, Fanatec's compatibility is fairly open. All of its gear is compatible with Windows PCs, its PS-compatible wheelbases can be used on Xbox, and its Xbox steering wheels can be used with PlayStation wheelbases. If you're still following, that leaves you room to mix and match depending on your platform, but it does broaden your horizons as FullForce gains support from other games.

The Spec III update for Gran Turismo 7 is available today, giving players eight new cars and two new tracks, along with other new content and features.

For more, check out the best PC controllers, the best PS5 controllers, and the best Xbox Series X controllers.

Nothing says PlayStation like Gran Turismo. And even though I loved it in my Gran Turismo 7 review and have gone back to it a couple of times since, sometimes I find myself wondering: is it really that good? When the intro starts, with all the nostalgic photographs and video clips of The Beatles, Einstein, the Wright Brothers and Henry Ford's factory line, I remember that Gran Turismo has been known to disappear up its own exhaust pipe from time to time.

But then the black and white pictures leave the screen, replaced with game footage, and I remember. The cars thump over impeccably-rendered kerbs, kicking up dust as they race over bare earth and glide serenely over snow. There's even the Castrol-liveried Toyota Celica as seen in my beloved Sega Rally Championship, looking better than any other game. Better, perhaps, than real life. OK, I'm sold. Let's play Gran Turismo 7 again.

Driving that just works

When you come back to Gran Turismo 7 after a while away, the attention to detail hits home. The crowd cheers through your DualSense controller, and every menu interaction can be felt through haptic feedback in the controller. It's a bit like when Steve Jobs showed off the first iPhone and told us that we'd be able to touch our music. There's a real sense of pride in the user interface, and that shines through in every feature.

The game has been updated many times since I reviewed it back in 2022. I reacquaint myself via the second round of Music Rally stages, ticking them off with just a couple of retries. It's a really gentle way to alight back in the Gran Turismo world, with no penalty for cutting corners or running into other drivers, which is welcome when the game proper is so insistent that we drive in a sportsmanlike manner. By the time the last Music Rally stage arrives and the event starts just before dawn, dashboard dials aglow as I drive through the silhouetted trees of the Nordschleife, I remember why this is such a class act.

Gran Turismo is about the racing, of course it is, and the very precise mechanisms of driving a racing car on the ragged edge of adhesion. But it's also about the things other games overlook when they're trying to deliver the same fundamental experience. It's about the reflections in the windscreen. The way your car's shadow moves around you like a sundial as you navigate a hairpin high on a ridge with the setting sun behind you. It’s about the magic of blood red tail lights moving through the darkness ahead, and the snarl of engines on the start line. Kazunori Yamauchi and his team at Polyphony Digital understand what makes the fundamental act of driving such a pleasure, and this game absolutely captures that essence.

Last time I played the game I was testing a direct drive force feedback racing wheel, and of course that's the best way to play such a realistic simulation of automotive physics. But I've actually enjoyed going old-school and using a standard DualSense pad. There was a time on PS2 where I'd use the right stick for acceleration and braking, but the triggers on the PS5 pad are so good, I don't need that extra waggle space for extreme finesse.

This finesse is highlighted beautifully by the additional license test series. I took great pride in obtaining a gold rank on every original license test, including that ridiculous semi-wet lap of Spa. But the new licenses are ultra-hardcore. The irony is, as 'The Professor' Alain Prost once said, "if it looks like I'm going fast, I'm not". That's exactly what these license tests show you. Slide around corners, bump over kerbs and run out wide on the exit of corners and you'll see that your ghost car is actually way slower than if you just maintain absolute control.

It's remarkable just how much the game teaches you about adhesion, racing lines, and momentum in the form of speed carried through a series of corners. One of the new wet road tests sees you navigating a short sequence of corners through an inner-city track lined with walls. If you touch the walls, you lose. It's hard enough just to get through the track unscathed, harder still to get a Silver time. But Gold? It’s one of the hardest challenges I've ever faced in a game. But then, as always, clearing it makes you feel like there was loads of time left on the table. And when you can feasibly lose 0.7 seconds in just one corner, it makes real racing drivers seem like gods. The whole F1 field is often separated by some 1.5 seconds over a whole lap. It's this constant knowledge that you can always be better that makes the game so compelling as you teach yourself to be more disciplined with your control inputs.

Over time, however, Gran Turismo 7 becomes as much about instinct as discipline. I love the way in a single moment I can gauge the speed of my car, its acceleration, the comparative acceleration of the car ahead, and project those trajectories into the future while computing the adhesion of my tires on this particular track surface as I turn a corner. It's like a complex equation with a perfect answer as I glide past said opponent within 10cm of his rear bumper. In 4K at 60fps it is simply magnificent as all of its calculations resolve in what can genuinely be described as art in motion.

That's what Gran Turismo does that no other racing sim gets close to equalling. Sure, we have amazing racing sims in the shape of Assetto Corsa, iRacing and the rest, and Forza Motorsport 7 was an incredible high point before it was deleted to make room for the disappointing Forza Motorsport. But nobody has managed to recreate racing with as much class as GT7.

Without adding in serious, destructive car damage, I still don't see how the series can feasibly surpass this entry. It needs something big to change if it's going to become indistinguishable from real life because there's just too much perfection in these cars when the game simply won't allow you to destroy them. Real racing is about the beauty and the romance but also the danger, the moment-to-moment risk of losing everything. But until someone makes a bold move and persuades car manufacturers that games need to replicate the extreme consequences of reckless racing, we'll just have to do with perfection. And I will grumble as I say this: perfection's not so bad, I suppose.

Check out our best PS5 games ranking for what to play next!

If you've ever wondered what one of the best racing games ever made would look like with nothing but minivans and whatever terrible compact your grandma used to drive, you're in luck, because Gran Turismo 2: Beige Edition is on the way. This mod strips out all the race cars from the original PS1 classic and replaces them with far more mundane alternatives.

A teaser trailer for Gran Turismo 2: Beige Edition dropped last month, and the creators clearly know exactly what they're doing. The video recreates the opening of Gran Turismo for PSP, with a long build up under an electronic music track. It peaks at a mid-video beat drop that reveals a Ferrari screaming down the street – but here, the Ferrari is replaced with what appears to be a red Lancia Lybra slowly rolling down the road.

More recently, the modders have revealed an 11-minute video running down 120 of the 500 total cars that'll be included, and there's an incredible charm to seeing all these very normal cars lovingly rendered in the best graphics the PS1 has to offer. The video description notes a focus on "the unexceptional cars of the world," and for the more mundane sports cars that were in the original – stuff like the Mustang GT – the devs have even gone and replaced them with basic road trims.

Here's what the developers are currently planning:

• Over 330 brand new cars for over 50 manufactures!
• Over 150 trim and model edits to existing base game cars!
• Completely revamped career mode!
• Redesigned menus, assets and more!
• Universal Used Car Dealerships!
• New in-race soundtrack!
• and More!

There's no word yet on when the Beige Edition mod will be released, but until it does come out you better believe I'm keeping an eye out for every new trailer detailing these awful, beautiful cars.

There's still a lot of life in the best PS1 games.

"Know your lane!" "Finish your lap!" "Always carry a spare!" Exhortations come thick and fast in Neill Blomkamp’s (District 9, Elysium) fact-based racing drama – so much so that there are times it resembles a full-length version of those Armed Services recruitment ads they show before the main feature.

In another life, Jann Mardenborough might well have wound up like that bloke from Blyth who got "made in the Royal Navy". Instead, the Cardiff gamer found a different way to achieve his potential: by parlaying his skill on the titular racing simulator into a real-life career as a professional race-car speedster. How he did it provides the compelling engine for a film that is less a plug for the PlayStation phenomenon than a motorsports Rocky for its 80-million-odd players: a rags-to-riches tale of a plucky British underdog who, like Stallone’s Philly slugger before him, got handed a shot at the title.

Just in case we don’t make that blindingly obvious connection, writers Jason Hall and Zach Baylin give their hero (played by a slightly anodyne Archie Madekwe) his own Mickey in the form of testy taskmaster Jack (a charismatic David Harbour): a former driver turned grumpy garage hand who needs more than opportunist marketing whizz Danny (Orlando Bloom) to convince him that a kid with no experience beyond his bedroom belongs in a Nissan jumpsuit.

And he is not alone either. Jann’s ex-footballer father (Djimon Hounsou) is just as skeptical, as are the pros into whose company he’s suddenly thrust. The plot that follows is aptly structured much like a video game, with Jann facing courses and races of escalating difficulty (Silverstone, Hockenheim, the daunting and deadly Nürburgring) en route to the grueling, 24-hour endurance feat of Le Mans.

Blomkamp keeps the on-track tension revving nicely, but it’s not all gear shifts and tire squeals. Along the way, there’s time for some sweetly PG romance with a girl from back home (Maeve Courtier-Lilley) and some gentle ribbing over Jann’s chill-out songs of choice (Kenny G’s Songbird, Orinoco Flow by Enya). Given his mum is played by Geri Horner (née Halliwell), you might’ve thought that the Spice Girls would have made it onto his playlist. Yet while her (limited) involvement surely counts as one of Blomkamp’s more puzzling directorial decisions, it’s certainly no bar to Gran Turismo emerging as a fun if formulaic thrill ride.

Gran Turismo is in UK cinemas from August 9 and in US cinemas from August 25. You can read our chat with actors David Harbour and Archie Madekwe here.

When David Harbour received a call about an upcoming adaptation of beloved racing video game series Gran Turismo, he was initially skeptical. This was before smash hits such as The Last Of Us and The Super Mario Bros. Movie were released, so overall video game adaptations didn't exactly have the best reputation at the time. Meanwhile, this particular project had been in production hell since it was first announced in 2013, with various creatives departing, including Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski. Plus, there was the question of: what would a Gran Turismo movie look like anyways?

This exactly what Harbour asked himself at the time. So, what changed his mind? For the actor, it was the combination of two things: "When it was pitched to me that it was about the video game, I was like, 'What the hell is that going to be?'" he tells GamesRadar+, speaking ahead of the actor's strike. "But then they told me the director was Neill Blomkamp [best known for the brilliant District 9] which was a big deal as that guy is a real artist. You get big films directed by people who are capable of putting them together, but they aren't artists and not willing to take risks or fight for what they want. And then I read the script which gave me such a swell of euphoria, by the end there was an unconscious [loudly cheers]. I love movies like that and I hadn't gotten to make my version of Hoosiers yet, so I thought this could be that."

The 1986 sports film Hoosiers follows a small–town high school basketball team as they enter a state tournament, a classic underdog tale that is partly inspired by the real–life victory of Milan High School at a 1954 championship. Just like Hoosiers then, Gran Turismo is also based on a true story, that of teenager Jann Mardenborough as he goes from gamer to professional race-car driver thanks to an ambitious competition. It's no surprise, then, that this is being billed as 'Rocky but with cars'.

Archie Madekwe takes on the role of Jann, the enthusiastic yet naïve teen at the centre of this remarkable tale. Upon signing up to the project, it was clear to Madekwe what his first task would be – contacting the real Mardenborough. "As soon as I knew that I had the part I DMed him, just saying how excited I was. We chatted and weirdly I was shooting a film right by where he was training that day – he said if I had time, to come to the track, which I did," he says. "Now, I'm a big boy, I'm six foot five, I remember stepping out and seeing everybody's faces drop, but Jann came in for a hug. His manager then pulled me away saying, 'Let's see if you can get into these cars' – I crossed my fingers and thought, 'By hook or by crook I will fit into it'. From that first moment and throughout, Jann was just so open and gracious with his time, so comfortable about telling me everything I needed to know to play him, his whole story. It was amazing."

Getting behind the wheel

Whilst Madekwe did thorough research and preparation here, he admits that he wasn't ready for just how intense filming the racing sequences would be. For starters, the actor didn't know how to drive, so he was squeezing in lessons ahead of filming. Whilst this indeed was an initial hiccup, it's safe to say though that nothing could have readied Madekwe for how challenging these scenes would be, especially since the filmmakers were committed to making everything in the film as real as they possibly could. 

As Madekwe joked to GamesRadar+, that was "much to [his] dismay", continuing: "It was a real test and education – I'm in the car the entire time! It's funny actually as we did the emotional, heavy scenes first which as an actor is normally what you feel the most nervous about. Then we moved into the racing stuff which I thought would be what I was the most excited about. However, I quickly learned that I'm just a mere mortal and these people are professional athletes for a reason. It's so hard and physically taxing. I was vomiting every day, I'd have to lay low on the floor in the foetal position, I was boiling hot, sweating, I could wring my clothes out by the end of it. I had to try to keep spirits up for everyone but it was really hard." Maybe don't expect to see Madekwe in a race car ever again then…

Finding redemption

Despite not being behind the wheel, Harbour had to get physical too in his role as chief engineer Jack, which came with its own challenges since his character is often found in the pit lane: "Neill was really adamant about making it real and using as little CGI as possible. So, for example, we actually did all the pit stops. The cars would come screaming in at 100 miles per hour, we would put them up on hydraulics, change the tires, peel the windshields off, all in real time."

Harbour's Jack isn't just there as an engineer though, as he becomes Jann's unlikely and reluctant mentor on this journey. Many parallels are drawn between the pair, as we discover that Jann isn't the only underdog in Gran Turismo. For Harbour, he enjoyed peeling back the layers of Jack who hides his deep–seated pain with plenty of crankiness and bravado: "Whilst he repeatedly says that he doesn't want these kids to do this and that they don't have it in them, really he's talking about himself. He desperately wants them to succeed so that he can show both Jann and himself that redemption can be found through this. I mean, even in that one scene, where he talks about how he let himself down, how he wasn't able to see how good he could have been – he sees that through this kid. This is his chance at redemption that he begrudgingly takes after denying it – it's a beautiful thing to watch."

Game on

The duo have natural chemistry, which clearly comes from the actors' own bond off–screen – joining them on Zoom for this interview, that spark was immediately clear. However, there is one thing that could ruin that friendship in a flash – and perhaps surprisingly, it's the game itself, Gran Turismo. Whilst Madekwe trained on the racing simulator for hours and hours, in preparation for the gaming scenes, even he doesn't think he's good enough yet to go up against Harbour. This is why they haven't played against each other yet on the game, as Madekwe knows what the outcome would be: "I remember watching David play for the first time in a hotel room and being nervous as he was scarily good on that very first play, right from the jump. Like, he just got it immediately, but it took me a second. He probably would beat me. He's a gamer, he spends so much time gaming, you know it's just something he's tuned into."

Harbour meanwhile is keen for the competition, although he admits he doesn't think he could ever forgive himself if he lost: "I've never played Archie but I'd like to. I'm pretty good. If I didn't win, I would feel very bad about myself, yeah". Been there David, been there.

Gran Turismo opens in UK cinemas on August 9 and US theaters August 25.

In the meantime, check out our guide to the rest of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2023 and beyond.

A new trailer for Gran Turismo has arrived – and the stakes have gotten even higher.

In the brief clip, which can be viewed above, we see that coaches Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom) and Danny Salter (David Harbour) don't really have that much faith in the GT program – which is designed to turn avid players of the video game into real-life race car drivers. Danny gives an extra dose of tough love to Jann (Archie Madekwe), however, because he thinks he has a shot at becoming a skilled driver.

What's especially cool about Gran Turismo is that it's not just you're average video game adaptation: it's based on a true story, albeit one that feels like a fever dream. In 2008, Sony partnered with Nissan to create GT Academy – a training academy that provided Gran Turismo players with the real-life opportunity to train as professional race car drivers. Jann Mardenborough was one of those players – who would go on to become a successful professional driver. The program, which won several awards and succeeded in producing a number of professional drivers, ended in 2016.

Directed by Neill Blomkamp (District 9), the cast includes Darren Barnet, Dijmmon Hounsou, Geri Halliwell, Emelia Hartford, Richard Cambridge, and Thomas Kretschmann. Jason Hall (American Sniper) and Zach Baylin (Creed 3) penned the screenplay.

Gran Turismo is set to hit theaters on August 11. For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2023 and beyond, or, skip straight to the good stuff with our list of movie release dates.

The Gran Turismo movie has got its first reactions, and they’re very positive. The upcoming movie is inspired by the true story of a teenage Gran Turismo player with aspirations to become a race car driver. 

Directed by District 9’s Neill Blomkamp, the film stars Archie Madekwe as the lead Jann Mardenborough. David Harbour, Orlando Bloom, Geri Halliwell Horner, and Djimon Hounsou all also star in the movie.

"Once it finds its feet, #GranTurismo is brilliant fun!" writes GamesRadar+ entertainment editor Emily Murray. "The thrilling racing sequences had my heart beating so fast, whilst David Harbour brings plenty of charisma having a witty dynamic with Archie Madekwe. An inspiring true story well told as a great summer blockbuster!"

Total Film Deputy Editor Matt Maytum writes: "With the social embargo up, I can say I had a lot of fun with the #GranTurismo movie. Yes, it sticks very much to formula, but it does what it does very well within those constraints. Great racing scenes, and David Harbour adds a welcome dose of gruff star power."

"The Gran Turismo movie is a winner," tweets presenter Brandon Davis. "The shocking true story told here races laps around most video game titles as films. Found myself hooked, especially in the second half. Slick racing with creative nods for gamers. Great work from David Harbour & Archie Madekwe. Good movie!"

Collider’s Perri Nemiroff writes, "Gran Turismo is a solid adaptation! Really dug how they incorporated certain game visuals into the movie – and Neill Blomkamp’s style for the film in general for that matter. Lots of very effective handheld and more intimate camera work with real texture that makes it all feel visceral, and really brings you close to the characters and the action."

The critic continues to praise Madekwe’s performance as "subtle" and "impassioned", adding that Harbour also "nails it". Nemiroff adds, "The film covers A LOT in 2h 15m so some elements of the story are thin, but that doesn’t stop it from being a highly engrossing and inspiring watch with quite a few moments that truly had me on the edge of my seat."

"Gran Turismo manages to combine the unbridled passion of the best sports films, the fun details & references of Video Game movies, and the aspirational drive & belief within great biopics," writes critic Coy Jandreau, "Then [it] mixes them into one of, if not the, greatest video game movie ever."

"Add Gran Turismo to the list of incredible video game adaptations this year," writes Robert Butler III. "A turbo-boosted sports epic that knows precisely when to accelerate & slow down its pace. Star Archie Madekwe channels the nimbly courageous gamer inside all of us. David Harbour steals the show."

Gran Turismo is released on August 9, 2023. For more upcoming movies, here’s our breakdown of every 2023 movie release date we know about. 

Gran Turismo, a hit PlayStation racing-sim series, may not seem like a logical fit for Director 9 director Neill Blomkamp. But as he reveals in the new issue of Total Film magazine  – which is out on newsstands on May 25 – he's more than happy to take the wheel.

‘I'm just obsessed with cars. Totally obsessed. So I was like, 'Yeah, I should probably do this film,'" Blomkamp says of his petrolhead passions. 

Gran Turismo will revolve around the real-life inspirations of Jann Madenborough (played by Midsommar's Archie Madekwe, who you can see in an exclusive image above). David Harbour and Orlando Bloom will be coaching him from the sidelines, in what sounds like Blomkamp's take on the sports movie. 

"I think it probably will ultimately fall into that genre," he admits. "I definitely don't think of it that way but I think it's hard not to. It's definitely the closest that I'll ever get to making a sports film – that is for sure!"

• Preorder the Oppenheimer issue of Total Film now

Gran Turismo is scheduled for release on August 11. The above is just a snippet of our interview from Blomkamp from the new issue of Total Film magazine, which features Christopher Nolan's epic Oppenheimer on the cover. The magazine hits shelves this Thursday, May 25. Check out the covers below:

If you're a fan of Total Film, why not subscribe so that you never miss an issue? You'll get the magazine before it's in shops, with exclusive subscriber-only covers (like the one pictured below). And with our latest offer you can get a free STM ChargeTree worth £69.99. Head to MagazinesDirect to find out more (Ts and Cs apply).

The Gran Turismo movie has recently dropped its first high-octane trailer, but back in November 2022, Total Film was already getting revved up about the prospect of the racing game adaptation on set.

This year is finally proving to be a fertile time for live-action adaptations of video games. The Super Mario Bros. Movie has crossed the $1bn mark at the global box office, The Last of Us is one of the most acclaimed TV shows of the year, and even Tetris offered an innovative way to tackle the classic puzzler (by dramatising the surprisingly tangled rights dispute behind the addictive game’s distribution). But even so, the long-running racing-sim series initially seems like an unlikely candidate for the big screen treatment.

But there’s a great deal about Gran Turismo that’s unexpected. For starters, director Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Chappie) is stepping away from sci-fi genre trappings for a story grounded in reality. And that’s not just the grounded physics of the real-word racing; it’s actually based on the true story of Jann Mardenborough, who competed in the GT Academy - a racing program that courted contenders who were experts in the ultra-realistic driving sim to see if they could transfer their skills to real cars.

Talking of realism, the film is shooting on location at the Hungaroring racetrack near Budapest, Hungary. It’s a crisp autumn day and the track is dressed for a Le Mans sequence. We even step inside a hot set (that’s one that they’ll be filming on - so no messing with the props) decked out like the PlayStation lounge. The triangle, circle, cross. and square symbols are everywhere, and there’s a 10ft tall screen on which to practise your gaming skills.

During the day we’re introduced to the filmmaking team and the cast, and most of our interviews take place above the rumble and roar of engines outside, as stunt drivers take lap after lap in Nissan GT-Rs, pursued by car-mounted camera arms. Here are five key takeaways we learned from our on-set chats with the key cast and crew…

This is Neill Blomkamp’s version of a sports movie

Gran Turismo marks a gear shift away from the genre pieces that South African and Canadian director Blomkamp is best known for. Years ago, he was famously attached to an ill-fated big-screen adaptation of Halo, before District 9 launched his filmmaking career. While Gran Turismo qualifies as a video game adaptation, it is, he admits, the closest thing he’ll make to a sports movie. Even if he doesn’t quite see it that way.

“The things that drew me to it were, I’m always doing science-fiction with a heavy amount of some kind of otherworldly, non-real worldbuilding,” he says. “And so one of the things about [Gran Turismo] was, this is a contemporary, real world, in a way that has this globetrotting, everyday realism about it that I felt, for some weird reason, massively creatively inspired by. So, like, building real-world sets, and mimicking real-world things. Even just bringing the Tokyo headquarters of Nissan to life in Budapest. How do we create that? It’s an interesting, weird challenge I wouldn’t normally do. And it’s super-creatively fulfilling. But that’s how I look at it. I don’t look at it like a sports movie at all. But ultimately I guess it probably is.”

The film will blend video games and real-world racing

Gran Turismo the movie occupies an unusual space between rousing true story and gratifying video game adaptation. Jann Mardenborough’s experiences form the film’s dramatic backbone, but ultimately, self-confessed petrolhead Blomkamp hopes it will also delight fans of the game. “I was trying to think of a way to connect this kid who plays Gran Turismo in his parents’ house who, in real life, ended up racing at Le Mans,” says Blomkamp. “I tried to bring some of the virtual Gran Turismo simulated-reality into reality, almost subjectively from his point of view. Like, this is how he remembers it, and how that overlays into the real world. That was one of the ideas that I wanted to inject into the script, and the way that we shoot it. It was like: how do we do that?”

Another reference point - albeit not a deliberate one - is Netflix documentary series Formula 1: Drive to Survive. Blomkamp hadn’t seen the show before commencing work on this film, but it provides a useful counterpoint. “In the crew, and in people I speak to, things like Drive To Survive had piqued their interest in a good way,” says Blomkamp. “When I speak to them about the film, they’re really into it because they’ve been watching this series that explains how racing happens behind the scenes. And I feel like a lot of the stuff that we’re shooting captures what I’m seeing in Drive To Survive: the way the teams work behind the scenes, the way the pits feel, the way the whole caravan of racing moves from one location to the next. We have a lot of that stuff in the film.”

Working with the car companies is trickier than working with Sony

Collaborating with Sony on one of their crown-jewel properties might sound like a recipe for micro-management and compromises, but not so, says Blomkamp. “That has actually worked in a way that I think has been beneficial,” he says. “It hasn’t really been negative. It’s been helpful to have different departments that are usually not speaking to one another, to communicate. It’s kind of cool. It sounds like it would be a hindrance, but it isn’t.” In fact, it was other collaborations that proved more troublesome. “It’s been more difficult to get the exterior brand committees on board, because that’s something that’s strange about this movie: how many real-world, other brands are involved. You almost need to pull back. When you look at races, there’s just advertising everywhere. It’s too much sometimes.”

And as Blomkamp explains, car companies are only really willing to provide their goods for the production if their car actually wins. “I never really think that product placement ever really works. When you get into it, and you start asking people to give you stuff in exchange for being on screen, it comes with so many different strings attached to it, that at some point it’s not worth it. But when we started off trying to get car companies to give us cars, every single one of them was like, ‘yes, but as long as we win.’ So most of them, I guess, were approached as if we’ll rent them. So that was the biggest weird conundrum. You get a sign-off where no cash really exchanges hands. ‘You get to use the car and you get to use our name, but we’re not giving it to you because it doesn’t win.’ And that’s kind of where we ended up.”

The cast aren’t the biggest gamers

Archie Madekwe (Midsommar, Voyagers) is stepping into the spotlight in the lead role, and coaching him from the pit stops will be Orlando Bloom and David Harbour. Madekwe describes his previous experience of the game as “minimal”. “I did not know much,” he laughs. “This whole thing has been an education. Growing up, I’ve dabbled on the PlayStation. But it was a true immersion [to prepare for this film]. I couldn’t even drive before I had this job. I was filming something else before, I’d wrap, and I’d run straight to driving lessons.”

Similarly, Bloom admits to “honestly not a huge amount” of experience of the games before the film. “I am a fan of speed. So I’ve kind of done countless track days – on motorcycles, mostly. Like Supermoto and then some superbikes and then some motocross.” Bloom plays Danny Moore, a fictionalised version of GT Academy founder Darren Cox. “You know, as a kid, I played Daytona in the arcades. The great hook for this, maybe, is the title. Gran Turismo has an emotional connection for anyone who played the game. It takes you back.

"And then in Neill we have this remarkable visionary who’s done all these sci-fis, and he’s taking that insane visionary, larger-than-life look at moviemaking into a very grounded story of the character of Jann Mardenborough.”

This is a different kind of video-game adaptation

Towards the end of the visit we also speak to Carter Swan, senior producer at PlayStation Productions who previously helped shepherd Uncharted and The Last of Us to the screen. “It's a different kind of adaptation, right. But I think that's what makes it so exciting,” he says. “And that's what we look for at PlayStation Productions… Other video game adaptations in the past tried to copy the game and put it on the screen and you can't do that. It's a 60-hour immersive experience versus a two-hour passive experience. We approach it in a way where we're just trying to tell that real-life story and get everything that happens as accurate as we possibly can. So it'll be compelling and exciting, and people will relate to it out in the world and understand that it's based on Jann, a real person. And I think that's what makes this one special in the space.”

That’s not to say that there won’t be references and allusions for fans of the gaming series. “I also think, to our astute fans - and I am one of them - who has played every game religiously since they started back on the [PS1], if you really look at it, it does mimic the gaming experience a little bit. We've tried to do it. We've been in there very smartly and subtly. And I think it’s in a way that our fans will recognise but doesn't overwhelm Jann's story and take you out of it.”

Gran Turismo opens in cinemas on August 11. You can see what other video game adaptations are in the works via our guide.

Cheats for Gran Turismo 4 have been unearthed nearly 20 years after the classic racing game first released.

Over the past weekend, one enterprising Gran Turismo 4 veteran uncovered some brand new details about the game. It turns out Polyphony Digital's racing sim actually does hide cheat codes to be uncovered, which is the first time a Gran Turismo game has explicitly featured cheats.

How these cheats have remained hidden after all these years, we've absolutely no idea. We've also got very little idea as to how the user actually uncovered the new cheats for Gran Turismo 4 in the first place, as they surely couldn't have just been happened upon by pure accident.

Nonetheless, this is just an excuse to revisit one of the best old-school racing games out there. However, there's one huge catch to activating any of the newly-unearthed cheat codes: a grand total of 365 in-game days need to have passed before any code is eligible for activation.

The cheat codes themselves are a pretty whacky bunch. For example you can instantly gain 10,000,000 CR by inputting Select, left, right, right, down, up, up, left, down, up, right, left, down, L1, R1, and then finally Select. Good luck remembering that without checking it once or twice.

Head over to The Cutting Room Floor if you want a complete list of every cheat for Gran Turismo 4, along with precise instructions on how to activate each one. It'd be brilliant if these new discoveries heralded a surge in players breaking out their old PS2s and booting up Gran Turismo 4 for the first time in years.

Check out our upcoming PS5 games guide for a look over some slightly more modern games hitting Sony's latest console. 

The PSVR 2 has officially launched and the reception has been generally positive, but one game in particular seems to be blowing the minds of just about everyone who plays it: Gran Turismo 7.

Of all of the best PSVR 2 games to play now, we didn't expect Gran Turismo 7, a racing game nearing its first birthday, to top the list alongside the VR-exclusive Horizon Call of the Mountain, but here we are. According to the social media buzz, the racing sim is exhilarating on PlayStation's new-gen VR kit.

"OK, GT7 in VR is unbelievable," said Digital Foundry's John Linneman on Twitter. "One small detail that literally caught my eye - the HDR glare of headlights in your mirrors during night races. It's bright to the point where it closely resembles reality in a similar situation. I've never seen anything quite like this in a game.

Perhaps the most telling reactions are from people recording their live reactions to playing GT7 on PSVR 2. In every video I've seen, it's like watching a grown adult transform into a sugar-high schoolchild hearing the school bell on a Friday before a long weekend. Honestly, the FOMO is almost too much to bear. Here's a clip of the folks from PSVR2 Without Parole clearly enjoying their time with GT7:

And here's The Tech Chap, mouth agape, grinning from ear to ear experiencing the racing sim in VR for the first time:

There's more. Freelance journalist and Future Games Show producer Jordan Oloman called the experience "madness." His clip doesn't include commentary, but it's a good demonstration of the game's performance and visuals. Without a PSVR 2, one can only imagine what it's like behind the wheel with a full racing rig peripheral setup.

It's also worth watching Twitter user Carl Lavery's clip of GT7 in PSVR 2. "It looks just as clear as it does here with a much greater sense of speed," he said.

While these reactions are undeniably tantalizing, it's worth noting that in our largely glowing PSVR 2 review, we do note a lack of support for older PlayStation VR games as well as PC VR games. Ultimately, while we were impressed with the headset, "the question of whether you should buy one will be down to how PlayStation supports it going forward, and whether or not your virtual interests extend into the $500+ price range."

If you're considering buying one, it'd also be good to check our list of upcoming PSVR 2 games to see if there's enough there to justify the investment.

Sony has unveiled the high-octane teaser trailer for the Neill Blomkamp-directed Gran Turismo movie, which is set to race into theaters later this year.

Part sneak-peek, part behind-the-scenes access, the teaser for Gran Turismo offers a glimpse into how the rubber-burning racing will look on the big screen, including specially mounted rigs for racecars that track every twist, turn, and hairpin.

Gran Turismo, the adaptation of PlayStation’s iconic racing franchise, is set to star David Harbour (Stranger Things), Orlando Bloom (Pirates of the Caribbean), and Archie Madekwe (See). The latter’s role is based on the true story of driver Jann Mardenborough, who rose from being a gamer to a professional racer via the GT Academy.

Indeed, Sony describes Gran Turismo as "the ultimate wish fulfillment tale of a teenage Gran Turismo player whose gaming skills won a series of Nissan competitions to become an actual professional racecar driver."

"This movie is made for the cinema," Bloom gushes during the minute-long trailer. Harbour, who plays retired driver/mentor Jack Salter, is keen to point out the "badass racecar action." Gran Turismo isn’t all about the need for speed, though – the teaser also hints at a love story forming the emotional core of the movie.

Djimon Hounsou and Geri Halliwell Horner are also set to star in Gran Turismo, which heads to cinemas on August 11.

PlayStation have several more projects in the works, too. The Last of Us series is arriving on January 15 and a God of War TV show is officially heading to Amazon. There’s even a Ghost of Tsushima movie in the works. After the successes of Uncharted and Sonic the Hedgehog, Gran Turismo might be next in a long, long line of video game adaptations to take the podium at the box office.

For more on what else is coming our way in 2023, check out our guide to movie release dates.

Gran Turismo 7 is "looking into" and "considering" bringing the famed racing franchise to PC.

GTPlanet recently sat down with series creator Kazunori Yamauchi (thanks, VGC) and asked if developer Polyphony Digital would consider making the Sony first-party racer available on PC, too, following the success of other Sony ports like Marvel's Spider-Man Miles Morales - which released on PC earlier this month - and Sackboy: A Big Adventure and Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, both of which made the jump to PC in October. 

"Yes, I do think so," Yamauchi responded when asked if Polyphony Digital would consider doing the same.

However, Yamauchi was keen to stress the difficulties, particularly for a 4K game.

"Gran Turismo is a very finely tuned title," Yamauchi explained. "There are not many platforms which could run the game in 4K/60p natively, so one way we make that possible is to narrow down the platform.

"It’s not a very easy subject, but of course, we are looking into it and considering it."

The GamesRadar+ Gran Turismo 7 review gave the racer an impressive 4.5 stars out of 5, saying: "Everything that made GT Sport so good, plus everything that made early Gran Turismo games so good. A simply stunning driving game and a superb showcase for PS5.

"Fundamentally, this is one of the best driving games I’ve ever played," the review concludes. "Not as bright or arrogant as Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec, nor as gorgeously-presented off the track as Forza Motorsport 7. 

"But the most telling thing is that I just haven’t been able to stop playing it since I installed it, which I find is increasingly rare for a driving game. Gran Turismo 7 is the real deal and every PlayStation owner should buy it."

Looking for something new to get stuck into? Here are our picks of the best PC games right now.

Gran Turismo 7 tips | Gran Turismo 7 Credits | How to sell cars in Gran Turismo 7 | Gran Turismo 7 Menu Book Explained | Gran Turismo 7 best starting cars

It looks like Gran Turismo 7's next update will deliver at least three new cars.

Not much else is known about what's coming in the new update - fans are still hoping that a new circuit is en-route, as well as the chance to sell vehicles - but following a social media tease by franchise creator and producer Kazunori Yamauchi, the update, which is expected to drop next week (week commencing July 25), boasts at least three mystery vehicles:

But as spotted by Gran Turismo specialist site GT Planet, the cheeky sneaky peek at the new arrivals is a little different this month. Whilst previously - specifically in April, May, and June - we got a side-on view of the hidden vehicles in individual images, this time we get a top-down view and they're in a single shot this month. Interesting, eh?

As for what the cars may be? Well, GTP believes we have a 1982/3 Nissan Skyline Super Silhouette - you can see it in the bottom-right - which hasn't been seen in the series since Gran Turismo 2. 

There's also speculation that the top vehicle may be the Maserati A6GCS Spider, or A6GCS/53. The bottom-left car is a little less distinct, but people cleverer than me reckon it may be the Porsche 918 Spyder, the second of the "Hypercar Holy Trinity".

The GamesRadar+ Gran Turismo 7 review gave the racer an impressive 4.5 stars out of 5, saying: "Everything that made GT Sport so good, plus everything that made early Gran Turismo games so good. A simply stunning driving game and a superb showcase for PS5.

"Fundamentally, this is one of the best driving games I’ve ever played," the review concludes. "Not as bright or arrogant as Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec, nor as gorgeously-presented off the track as Forza Motorsport 7. But the most telling thing is that I just haven’t been able to stop playing it since I installed it, which I find is increasingly rare for a driving game. Gran Turismo 7 is the real deal and every PlayStation owner should buy it."

We're no longer in the dark as to what Forza Motorsport will have to offer after a huge info drop during E3 2022. However, we reckon Forza Motorsport will need to add more personality to its racing if Turn 10 wants to overtake Gran Turismo 7…

Gran Turismo 7 tips | Gran Turismo 7 Credits | How to sell cars in Gran Turismo 7 | Gran Turismo 7 Menu Book Explained | Gran Turismo 7 best starting cars

Gran Turismo 7 gets its first batch of post-release content today.

In a post on the official Gran Turismo website, Polyphony Digital announced that the update will add three new cars to the game. These are the Subaru BRZ GT300 '21, the Subaru BRZ S '21 and the Suzuki Cappuccino (EA11R) '91. You can watch these shiny new additions in action in the video below.

Gran Turismo series creator Kazunori Yamauchi recently confirmed on Twitter that the latest instalment in the long-running racing series would be getting an update this week. Now developer Polyphony Digital has revealed exactly what's included in the new Gran Turismo 7 update, which is available for free from today.

Also included is a new track layout. The Spa-Francorchamps circuit now has a 24h layout in addition to the existing full track layout. The most notable difference between the two is the placement of the pit facility.

Lastly, two new Scapes will be added to the featured section. These are the Gassho-style Houses in Ainokura and Cherry Blossoms at Night.

The developer has titled the new update the 'Gran Turismo 7 April update', suggesting that it might be gearing up to release the same sort of bite-sized content updates on a monthly basis.

In a previous Gran Turismo update, Polyphony Digital overhauled the in-game economy after criticism from fans. The racing sim was put back on track with increased rewards that allow players to unlock new cars quicker.

From kart racers to ultra-realistic sims, check out our pick of the best racing games to put you in pole position.

The great paradox at the heart of Gran Turismo 7 is that it's a racing game that wants you to slow down. "Let's go back to the cafe", the game politely suggests when you've completed a menu book (which is itself a rarity when so many modern games give instructions that often feel more like demands), and it's telling that you'll want to take up that offer. Rather than pinballing from one event to another, being bombarded by potential distractions, you're given the space to pause and reflect before moving on to whatever comes next. 

It's a smart move in a number of ways, but particularly because it ensures those new to the series (or even to racing sims in general) are never made to feel overfaced. Where many games simply present a smörgåsbord of options and invite players to pick their way through them, Gran Turismo 7 leads players by the hand, gradually introducing modes and features. If you’re not in the mood for a lesson on the rivalry between the Mustang and the Camaro, Luca's informative takes are text-based rather than vocalised, and can be easily hurried along with a few taps of the Cross button. And, once a few more areas on the World Map have opened up and you're ready to wander off the critical path, a yellow compass icon lets you know where to go next when you're ready to return. It doesn't flash or make a noise; there are no intrusive pop-ups to suggest you should be doing something different somewhere else. Instead, this virtual bookmark simply sits there quietly. 

Burning rubber

On the track, Gran Turismo 7 continues to fly in the face of modern design trends. Each race starts you at the back of the grid and asks you to work your way to the front; even in championship events, finishing first in the opening race doesn't nudge you to the head of the pack for the next. Braking indicators and a racing line are turned on by default on the standard difficulty setting, but rather than combine the two it keeps them entirely separate: thick red lines across the tarmac gradually fade when you've dropped to the right speed to navigate a corner, while the yellow line is a simple, unchanging fixture. 

It's a useful way to encourage you to remove the stabilisers gradually rather than all at once, and indeed you will benefit from doing so. Both steering and braking assists are pronounced enough that they don't actually give you a competitive advantage so much as allow you to acclimatise to a new vehicle or track without spinning out or going off-road. During one of the Licence Tests you're gently discouraged from keeping auto-brake engaged, and removing it makes an immediate difference, allowing you to brake later and giving you a much better chance of beating those gold trophy times. 

While it never explicitly says so, the aim is clearly to reduce your dependence on these features. In a similar fashion, the Licence Tests steadily help refine your racing technique through bite-sized exercises: a typical set might have you negotiating a shallow turn, then a sharper one, then two in short order, and finally a longer stretch of track combining several. Likewise, the pre-race Circuit Experience breaks a course up into individual sections, encouraging you to master each one before tackling a complete lap against the clock. It's worth mentioning, too, that PS5's SSD helps in this regard: the rapid restarts encourage you to replay tests and missions rather than moving on as soon as you get bronze.

All of which makes Gran Turismo 7's always-online requirement especially disappointing. In a sim that's approachable to its very core, it feels like a glaring misstep, a rare example of conformity in a game that otherwise seems keen to buck convention. And most egregiously of all, it ensures Luca's café is temporarily closed for business should the servers (or your Internet connection) fail – and that simply will not do at all. 

This feature first appeared in issue #370 of Edge Magazine. For more great articles like this one, check out all of Edge's subscription offers at Magazines Direct.

Gran Turismo 7 just got its biggest update since launch, overhauling the in-game economy and introducing brand new events.

As posted earlier today on the official Gran Turismo website, the latest game in Polyphony Digital's racing sim has received a hefty update. New events have been added to the World Circuit series, including the World Touring Car 600 Tokyo Expressway East Clockwise, World Touring Car 700 24 Heures du Mans Racing Circuit, and finally the World Touring Car 800 Sardegna Road Track A.

Additionally, the rewards for all races completed in the latter half of a World Circuit event have been increased, and the rewards for Arcade and Custom Races have seen a boost. One of the biggest criticisms levelled at Gran Turismo 7 since launch last month was its in-game economy was incredibly restrictive (something that director Kazanori Yamauchi even spoke about last month), so these increased rewards should help players unlock new cars quicker.

It's not just in the World Circuit that the rewards are increasing though, because you'll also see bigger payouts from the Lobbies and Daily Races modes, and all Endurance Race events. Elsewhere, the maximum cap for in-game credits earned has been raised to 100 million Cr, which should be a big boost for players looking to stockpile their earnings.

Finally, the new GT 7 update actually improves car physics. You'll now see better physics when landing from a jump, especially on off-road areas, and there's also a fix for AI opponents incorrectly being slowed down after changing to rain tyres during a wet weather event. In all, this is a sizeable update for Polyphony Digital's latest, and should go a long way to addressing criticisms of GT 7.

Check out our full Gran Turismo 7 review to see what we made of the PS5's racing game.

Gran Turismo 7's director has apologized for "frustration and confusion" over the in-game economy.

Earlier today on March 25, Polyphony Digital president Kazanori Yamauchi took to the PlayStation Blog to pen an apology to the Gran Turismo 7 community. Firstly, Yamauchi began by apologizing for an update that went live last week, which caused not only server outages around the world, but also adjusted Gran Turismo 7's in-game economy without any explanation to the player base.

Going forward, Yamauchi says Polyphony Digital wants to remedy the frustrations surrounding the tight in-game economy. To do this, the number of in-game events for GT 7 players will increase from April, and the entire in-game economy will be rebalanced to better reward players, with more rewards from the World Circuits, Circuit Experience, and Endurance Race events, as well as Online Races.

Looking further ahead, there's going to be bigger changes coming to GT 7. Namely, there's going to be more events like the World Circuit, Endurance Races, and Online Time Trials, and Polyphony Digital will also be increasing the in-game payouts of participating in limited-time events in GT7. Finally, cars will be able to be sold at some point in the future.

This is all in response to last week's significant update, as Yamauchi previously alluded to. The update ultimately made it harder for players to earn their dreams cars, and some players even built their own AFK credit farm to deal with the massive grind. There's been a big backlash from GT 7's community in response to the stingy in-game economy, and in particular the expensive microtransactions, hence the update and apology from Polyphony Digital.

Check out our full Gran Turismo 7 review to see what we made of Polyphony Digital's latest racing sim.

One Gran Turismo 7 player wrote and released a script to automatically farm in-game credits amid backlash to the recent nerfs that hit the game's economy. 

As Eurogamer spotted, PSN Profiles user Septomor shared a method to "100% AFK farm credits" in order to deal with the "enormous grind" imposed by the new credit bottlenecks, which made it substantially harder to earn your dream car. The double-whammy of eye-wateringly pricy microtransactions certainly didn't help the reception to these changes.  

This is a properly scripted farm, and as a result it takes more doing than most console AFK exploits, some of which boil down to simply rubber-banding your controller's analog stick to the side to keep your character active. The end result involves repeatedly clearing the Pan American Championship race, but there's a fair bit of legwork involved. 

For starters, this farm relies on PlayStation remote play (though Septomor notes the unofficial remote client Chiaki is a viable but fiddly alternative), and you'll need a Windows PC specifically to pull off all the scripts. Septomor also shared three separate scripts and AutoHotKey commands which lay the foundation for the farm; you can find more detailed instructions in their forum post. 

With the newly updated version of this farm, Septomor estimates that you can earn upwards of 550,000 credits an hour, or even up to 625,000 with the PS5's reduced load times. It's probably not what developer Polyphony Digital had in mind for the game's economy, but there's no denying that it works. 

Gran Turismo 7 tips | Gran Turismo 7 Credits | How to sell cars in Gran Turismo 7 | Gran Turismo 7 Menu Book Explained | Gran Turismo 7 best starting cars

The latest Gran Turismo 7 patch has made it more difficult to purchase your favorite cars. 

You can check the official patch notes for version 1.07 over on Gran Turismo's official website, but the good people over on Reddit (thanks, VGC) were able to mine a list of changes to the amount of credits earned from several popular races. In addition, the patch also introduced a fix for two late-game races players had used to farm the credits needed to purchase vehicles.

Players can purchase credits with real-world cash to add cars to their in-game collection. Or they can play long enough to grind out credit by completing races and other activities. However, some of the cars are what can only be called exorbitantly expensive, and require players to spend several hours racing around in-game if they want to save up enough credits for the car they wish to obtain. 

Now, with these new changes from version 1.07, it can take much longer for would-be vehicle collectors to add their dream cars to their cache, with some higher-end cars costing what feel like astronomical amounts of in-game credits. Without the ability to sell cars to earn credits, this turns into an even more difficult feat. 

These changes come at an already frustrating time for players, who have been voicing frustration over price hikes in the microtransaction market. See, Gran Turismo 7 introduced a massive price bump for its real-world transactions, asking for $40 in cash for vehicles that previously cost around $5 in the PS4 entry, 2017's Gran Turismo Sport. 

In response, some players had turned to farming credits by racing on tracks that made it simple to earn more by playing them over and over again. With these payouts cut significantly, the only real option for many seems to be to turn to paying real-world cash to get the cars they desire or to keep racing as long as it takes to earn the credits they would have gotten in a fraction of the time. 

It's unclear if this will change in the future, but it's safe to say that racing fans aren't exactly pleased with the alterations the patch brings. 

Want to give this realistic racer a go? Be sure to check out our full Gran Turismo 7 review. 

If you’re asking is Gran Turismo 7 down, you’re probably having problems logging into the game, and it’s likely because of server maintenance for update 1.07. Because Gran Turismo 7 requires an internet connection at all times, bringing the servers down for maintenance makes the game completely unplayable, save for trying out a few races. We’ve got all the information you need on Gran Turismo 7 server downtime, connection issues, and maybe some potential fixes to keep you up to date.

Gran Turismo 7 update 1.07 server maintenance

The new Gran Turismo 7 update, which aims to fix a major issue with a previous 1.07 update should now be live and the Gran Turismo 7 should be working again, allow you to get back into the game. Update 1.07 also fixed numerous bugs, race rewards, and issues to do with incorrect tires on cars, but had to be pulled at the last minute and extended server maintenance brought the game offline for over a day. In future, this type of maintenance that is intentionally brought on by the developers is not something you need to worry about on your end, and there is no possible fix – you need to just wait until the maintenance ends.

At the time of updating this article, Gran Turismo 7 appears to be back online and a news blog from Polyphony Digital founder Kazunori Yamauchi has explained a bit about what happened. You can read the full news blog, but Yamauchi says that an issue in update 1.07 caused Gran Turismo 7 to not start properly in some cases. Yamauchi also says that the launch of the update was interrupted to preserve save files for players and that update 1.08 should fix the issues.

While it's good that players can finally get back into the game and have received an update from the development team, many players were annoyed at the lack of information during server downtime. The news blog post also has a small update from Yamauchi about event rewards in Gran Turismo 7, and the future of content for the game - it sounds like the way players earn Gran Turismo 7 Credits and optimal strategies for doing so are going to be changing. 

To stay up to date on Gran Turismo 7 server maintenance progress for future patches, keep an eye on the Gran Turismo 7 news page and follow the official Gran Turismo Twitter. Hopefully, Polyphony Digital looks to implement a proper offline racing mode in future to make sure Gran Turismo 7 doesn’t suffer too much during other server outages or updates.

Gran Turismo 7 tips | How to sell cars in Gran Turismo 7 | Gran Turismo 7 Menu Book Explained | Gran Turismo 7 best starting cars 

There's no better way to enjoy one of the generation's best driving games than by getting one of the best steering wheels for Gran Turismo 7. 

With a new console generation, we've seen some new and exciting additions to the racing wheel for Gran Turismo 7 market, and the likes of Logitech and Thrustmaster, in particular, have knocked it out of the park, and are perfectly placed with multiple offerings to enjoy the latest in Sony's premier driving sim series. 

Now, while steering wheels are still investments, to say the least, the days are gone when you'd have to take out a second mortgage to get one - they are as affordable as ever, and deals and discounts are common too. As a result of the market being fuller than ever, and prices being more aggressive than ever, there's a solid range of wheels, pedals, and sets, all vying to be the best racing wheel for Gran Turismo 7 this year.

While PlayStation's controllers have always been some of the best, and the DualSense functionality will be excellent in Gran Turismo 7, there's still nothing quite like a proper wheel and pedal set up to fully immerse yourself in a driving sim game. And that's where these toys come in. Folks familiar with racing paraphernalia will spot a few of these as some of the best PS4 steering wheels, and it's a testament to their forward compatibility that most will work with PS5 too.

Of course, the best steering wheels for Gran Turismo 7 can be pricey bits of kit, but now's the time to invest. We're looking at one of the biggest driving game releases of this generation, after all. Modern tech in driving wheels such as force feedback, and even the additional stick shifts and gear sticks you can add will take your Gran Turismo 7 experience beyond what the DualSense will be able to offer. Some of these bits of kit are so good, and so compatible, that they double up as the best racing wheels for PC too.

Here are the best and latest prices on some of the top steering wheels for Gran Turismo 7. And if you're looking for the best kit on the other side of the console chasm, then check out our guide to the best Xbox One steering wheels.

The best racing wheels for Gran Turismo 7

More racing wheel deals

If you want a bird's eye view of the prices right now then you'll find all the lowest prices on some of the best PS4 steering wheels and the best Xbox racing wheels for reference below too. 

For more simulation equipment, we're rounding up all the best flight sticks available now.

Knowing about the Gran Turismo 7 best starting cars will really help you get off to a good start in your first few hours of racing. You won’t be getting in any Porsche GT racers or Ferrari supercars at the start of Gran Turismo 7, so get comfortable and ease into the racing world with these regular road cars for some Sunday driving down the track. As you complete Menu Books, you’ll expand your car collection and get gradually get better cars and access to higher-speed races, but these starting cars are some of the best you can pick for your first few races in Gran Turismo 7.

Best Gran Turismo 7 starting cars:

In just your first few hours of racing in Gran Turismo 7, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to unlock and buy a variety of lower-end cars to compete in. We reckon these are the best ones to look out to add to your garage, and you can find details on how to unlock each one further down:

• Toyata Aqua S ’11: All-rounder hot hatch for your first few hours of racing at lower PP levels. This car is one of the three you can afford at the Used Car dealership right at the beginning of the game.
• Honda Fit Hybrid ’14: A slightly cheaper alternative to the Toyota Aqua S with only marginally weaker stats. This car is one of the three you can afford at the Used Car dealership right at the beginning of the game.
• Mini-Cooper S ’65: A spry, classic 1960s car that’s great against cars from a similar era but can be outperformed by anything more modern.
• Suzuki Swift Sport ’17: A sportier step up from the Toyota Aqua S with a turbo engine and slightly more power in a similar hatchback form.
• Honda Integra Type R (DC2) ’98: One of the most powerful cars that you’ll get within your first few hours of racing and definitely one to master early on.

Toyata Aqua S 2011

The Toyota Aqua S is a great all-rounder for your first choice of car – when you first go to the Used Car dealership as part of the tutorial, you can buy this car for 14,300 Credits. If you don’t pick it at this stage, you’ll be able to win it as a gift car for placing third or better in one of the races in your first Menu Book.

Out of your three starting options, it’s the most expensive, but has the highest PP rating. It’s got good acceleration thanks to it’s hybrid engine and handles nicely. This car can easily serve you all the way through your first few hours of Gran Turismo 7, and can go further with additional tuning parts.

Honda Fit Hybrid 2014

The Honda Fit Hybrid in Gran Turismo 7 is pretty similar to the Toyota Aqua. Its 1,300 Credits has a lower PP, but still has good stats that won’t make it a bad pick at the Used Car Dealership – it’ll also save you 1,300 Credits over the Aqua. You can unlock this car as a gift if you place in the top three of the Autodrome Lago Maggiore Sunday Cup race.

Mini-Cooper S 1965

You’ll unlock the Mini Cooper in Gran Turismo 7 by placing third or higher in the Goodwood Sunday Cup Classic race as part of the European Classic Compacts Collection Menu Book. Of the three cars in this collection, it is by far the best with a default PP rating of 251.10 compared to the classic Volkswagen Beetle PP of 177.02. Obviously, that’s quite a bit lower than any of the three starting Japanese Compacts, so this is definitely a car to reserve for classic races only, but it’s still good to have.

Suzuki Swift Sport 2017

This Suzuki Swift Sport from 2017 feels like the next step up from the Toyota Aqua S that you may have started you Gran Turismo racing career with. It’s got a bit more power and a lighter body, making it nimbler overall. You have a chance of unlocking the Suzuki Swift Sport as part of a random card draw after winning the High Speed Ring Track Day Championship, or you’ll unlock it by placing in the top three of one of the Japanese FF Sports Cars Collection Menu Book.

Honda Integra Type R (DC2) 1998

The Honda Integra Type R is a classic 90s Japanese sports car that combines good speed with solid handling. This definitely makes it one of the trickier cars to drive when starting out, particularly for new Gran Turismo players – although we’ve got some Gran Turismo 7 tips to help you out. Mastering its cornering abilities will allow you to outmanoeuvre the competition and get that top podium spot.

Like the Suzuki Swift Sport, you have a chance of unlocking this car as part of a random card draw after winning the High Speed Ring Track Day Championship, or you’ll unlock it by placing in the top three of the Japanese FF Challenge 450 race at the High Speed Ring. After unlocking this car, you’ll start to get more modern sports cars with higher PP ratings through the Menu Books, but the Integra Type R can really hold its own and will be great with extra tuning.

Gran Turismo 7 Credits | How to sell cars in Gran Turismo 7 | Gran Turismo 7 Menu Book Explained

Gran Turismo 7 Menu Books are lists of objectives that act as the campaign and main way of progressing. There are a lot of them to complete, and each one will set unique challenges for you to do, including winning Championships, completing small collections of cars, or exploring other areas of the world map. Getting through them all quickly will allow you to build up a good amount of Credits and gain access to some of the best tracks and fastest cars. Here’s what you need to know about Gran Turismo 7 Menu Books and how many of them there are.

How Gran Turismo 7 Menu Books work

Menu Books are the career mode equivalent in Gran Turismo 7. They are your main method of progression throughout the racing world, and you’ll get all kinds of rewards and unlocks for each one. After completing a Menu Book, you must hand it in to Luca at the Café on the World Map to get your rewards, before he’ll present the next Menu Book to you so that you can go off and complete it. There are three broad types of Gran Turismo 7 Menu Book:

• Collections: These objectives task you with collecting all the cars from a list of three. Each car is usually unlocked by placing in the top 3 of a particular race.
• Races and Championships: Win the Championship or races that the Menu Book specifies to complete it.
• World Map objectives: These objectives are very simple and introduce you to the basics of new pavilions that you unlock, such as the Tuning Shop, GT Auto, and the Licence Centre.

When Luca presents you with a Menu Book, you can press the ‘Learn More’ button to get more details on your objectives. You can also click the ‘i’ hints icon to get car recommendations for races and more to make completing your Menu Book easier. When you use the World Map to complete your Menu Book, look for the gold compass icon to see where you need to go. You can also look in the top-left corner of the screen to see your current Menu Book objective in the information bar.

Each Gran Turismo 7 Menu Book you complete will also get you Roulette Tickets for random rewards and will sometimes unlock new World Circuit tracks and other pavilions on the World Map for you to explore. You’ll also get to keep any Gran Turismo 7 Credits and cars you win in races, so completing Menu Books is a great way to fill out your car collection and earn Credits without spending much.

How many Gran Turismo 7 Menu Books are there?

There are 39 Gran Turismo 7 Menu Books for you to complete on your racing journey. You’ll start off small and simple with your first Menu Book that tasks you with collecting some Japanese compact cars. As you progress, you’ll build up your car collection and learn more about the game over time, unlocking new pavilion areas on the World Map and new circuits to race around, eventually ending with the World GT Series Championship. 

Once you’ve finished all the Menu Books, you’ll have everything unlocked except for all the cars. It’s up to you to grind your way through races to earn Credits and fill out the rest of your Gran Turismo 7 car collection.

If you’re wondering how to sell cars in Gran Turismo 7, we’ve got all the information you’ll need here. Unfortunately, it’s not great news if you’re looking to make a few extra Credits by offloading a few of your unwanted automobiles. Don’t fret though, as there are plenty of ways you can make money in Gran Turismo 7 and having as many unique cars as possible means you’ll be boosting your Collector Level. Here’s what you need to know about selling cars in Gran Turismo 7.

How to sell cars in Gran Turismo 7

Unlike previous Gran Turismo games, Gran Turismo 7 unfortunately does not offer players any methods for selling cars to make a few extra credits. You’d think that you’d be able to sell any unwanted cars to the Used Car dealership or auction them off to other players to make a bit of money on the side, but this isn’t the case.

So, you can’t sell cars in Gran Turismo 7, but if you need to get rid of a redundant duplicate car, you can do this by heading to the Garage, selecting ‘Change Car’, and then hovering your cursor over the duplicate car and pressing Triangle. This will bring up a small menu of options, one of which is ‘Discard’. Choosing this will permanently remove the car from your Garage, but you won’t spend or earn any Gran Turismo 7 Credits in doing so. If you try to discard a car that you only own one of, the game will give you an error message preventing you from discarding it.

Gran Turismo 7 has a Collector Level XP system that lets you earn points whenever you acquire a new car for your collection. As your collections grows, you’ll unlock new features such as all levels of Tuning Parts, from Club Sports to Extreme. Therefore, you’re encouraged to collect and buy at least one of each of the 424 cars in Gran Turismo 7 to level up.

While you might want to keep your Gran Turismo car Garage tidy with just one of each car, having duplicates can allow you to test tuning setups more easily. You could even have more radically different setups across two of the same cars. If you had a duplicate of one of the starting hot hatches, you could customize one to be a super-fast, straight-line racer, and tune the other to be a rugged, dirt track car for rally stages.

Use these eight Gran Turismo 7 tips to help you master the tracks in all sorts of cars. Gran Turismo 7 will take you across the world to compete in lots of races, starting at low-end compact cars, and leading to the most expensive and fastest GT racing cars and supercars. With Gran Turismo 7 being the first in the series for PS5 consoles, there are bound to be plenty of newcomers and seasoned pros jumping in, so here are eight tips to get you started on your grand tour.

1. Customize your difficulty settings to your level

While Gran Turismo 7 offers three Assist Presets for players with varying levels of racing game experience – Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert – you might find that Expert is maybe a bit too difficult or that you quickly pick things up and need to increase the difficulty. These assists include things like driving line visibility, braking zones, and auto-drive to help you get around a bit easier. Obviously the more assists you have turned off, the more direct control over your car you have. You’ll be able to push the car harder with full control, but you’ll be left to deal with any mistakes.

You can also adjust the difficulty of the AI-controlled drivers that you’ll race against – which is oddly represented by several chillies. This choice needs to be made right at the start of the game, but you can adjust the difficulty at any time under the ‘Options’ tab of the GT Menu. It’s also worth noting that your Credit winnings from most races you complete in Gran Turismo 7 are unaffected by your chosen difficulty.

2. Beginners should head for the Gran Turismo 7 Licence Centre

If Gran Turismo 7 is your first foray into virtual motorsport, the in-game Licence Centre is a great way to learn to tell the difference between your throttle and brake. You’ll start off with some incredibly basic training drills – literally just starting and stopping – but will move onto racing lines, wet-weather driving, and cornering in more advanced licences.

What’s more is you’ll also make a few Credits while doing the exercises thanks to the medals you earn based on your final times. Getting certain medal types in all the training drills for a particular licence will also unlock bonus reward cars for you. Note that the Licence Centre isn’t available right away in Gran Turismo 7, but you’ll unlock it very quickly after you complete the first Menu Book.

3. Complete Gran Turismo 7 Menu Books to progress

In Gran Turismo 7, the main way to progress is by completing Menu Books from Luca in the Café. This coffee-pouring petrolhead will give you one Menu Book at a time, and each one consists of a few challenges to complete. These can range from simple tutorials, like heading to the Licence Centre, to completing small car collections by completing multiple races.

Once you’ve completed the Menu Book objective, you’ll need to head back to the Café to speak to Luca and collect your reward – usually a Roulette Ticket which has a chance of getting you specific Tuning Parts, Credits, or even new cars. Keep getting Menu Books to unlock a range of cars and tracks. You’ll also be able to speak to Luca and some friendly customers who can tell you a bit more about your car.

4. Circuit Experience is great for learning racetracks

If you’ve played a few races and tried out a few of the Licence Centre exercises, you should try Circuit Experiences next. These are short activities like the ones in the Licence Centre that break down each track into different sectors that you can use to hone your racing technique. This feature is great for new players who want to start learning tracks and is a great starting test for experienced players. Each Circuit Experience test has medals attached to it too, so gold medals are great time targets and will get you some extra Credits.

5. Credits are very easy to get in Gran Turismo 7

The main currency in Gran Turismo 7 is Credits, and you’ll need lots of them if you want to buy plenty of cars to fill out your garage. Luckily Gran Turismo 7 Credits are very easy to get as you can get them from doing almost any sort of driving activity in the game. While your reward payouts for the first few races won’t be spectacular, it’ll all start building up and you’ll eventually start earning bigger Credit sums from higher-level races.

6. Focus on tuning your cars rather than buying new ones at first

It’s tempting to drop all your Credits on a fancy new car you might have spotted at the used car dealership, but we recommend that you focus on buying Tuning Parts for your cars rather than buying new cars at first. Tuning Parts are much cheaper than entire cars, so it’s a good idea to tune one of your existing cars, if you notice it starts to fall behind the competition. A good way to tell if this is the case is to check if your car’s PP (Performance Points) meets a race’s recommended PP. If not, it might be worth a tune.

You should apply a few upgrades to your chosen car that will boost its PP and handling. Changing the tyres to an improved style and compound can give you more grip, and new brakes will obviously improve your ability to slow down, allowing you to maintain your speed for a split second longer as you approach a turn. Once you’ve used your tuned car for a few races, you should have either enough Credits to buy a much better car, or you will have unlocked a better one that can be tuned too. Remember, you’ve got to spend money to make money.

7.  Go in-depth with Car Settings in Gran Turismo 7

The Gran Turismo 7 Garage allows you to change the smallest of details of your cars to create optimal setups. If you really know your cars and motorsports, you can kit your Gran Turismo 7 cars out with “Fully Customisable” Tuning Parts, including suspension, differential, and transmission to make the slightest performance adjustments. When you’ve finished tinkering, you can get simulated data for your adjusted car setup. You can also create multiple setups for a single car and save them all into different Settings Sheets that you can switch between through the Garage.

8. Brand Central is a must-see museum for car enthusiasts

If you’re a fan of cars and motorsport in general, you’ll definitely want to spend some time in the Brand Central pavilion once you’ve unlocked it. This area is not only a showroom for lots of different car manufacturers from all over the world, but also has museum-grade information about all things racing. You can learn about the entire history of Aston Martin or Suzuki, the career of Lewis Hamilton, and watch videos made by Michelin about their tyres. Most players will come to Brand Central to buy the most expensive cars available, but petrolheads have plenty of history to read up on here too.

Gran Turismo 7 microtransactions are now live, and they're significantly more expensive than before.

According to VGC, the hefty price increase reveals prices like $40 for vehicles that once cost $5 in the previous PS4 entry, 2017's Gran Turismo Sport. 

Players can now purchase in-game credit packs to purchase these cars in packs that range from $2.49 to $19.99. Here's a complete breakdown of what's available:

• 100,000 credits: $2.49 / £1.99
• 250,000 credits: $4.99 / £3.99
• 750,000 credits: $9.99 / £7.99
• 2,000,000 credits: $19.99 / £15.99

Right now, it's most economical to purchase the $19.99 package, as it's $2.49 per 100,000 credits. Cars cost anywhere from a few thousand credits to the millions for more valuable rides, but previously, Gran Turismo Sport's selection of vehicles were available for as low as $0.99 to $4.99. Now, players will need to spend a significant amount more if they want to nab some of the flashier cars.

Microtransaction prices weren't accessible during the Gran Turismo 7 review period. That means early players were unable to check how much the final prices would be for in-game credits. Credits are earned in-game by way of completing challenges and races, however, so real-world purchases aren't required, though they will speed up the collecting aspect of the game considerably.

In our Gran Turismo 7 review, we awarded the racing sim 4.5 stars. praising it for its high-quality motion and driving physics and massive load of single-player challenges to complete.

Most recently, it appears the game has been pulled from sale in Russia, though Sony hasn't made an official announcement about the move.

Check out our full Gran Turismo 7 review for our thoughts on the latest entry in the long-running racing sim series.

Gran Turismo 7 is finally here, but if your cockpit (read: couch) is looking a little lacklustre, it might be time to take a look at the advancements in recent racing tech. There's some seriously impressive kit out there, all designed to help you feel every track under your rubber and keep you comfortable while doing so. Just how far can you push the latest developments, though? 

From direct drive steering wheels to eye-watering bucket chair prices, there's a considerable market for premium racing gear. Sim setups are big business, but what's actually available right a the top end of the scale? To check out the rig that could have been, we've put together the ultimate Gran Turismo setup filled with the best steering wheel, gaming chair, and best gaming monitor you can get your hands on for this weekend's release. 

Of course, nobody's bank balance is going to be happy about this (apart from Fanatec's), so while it's nice to dream, we've also specced out some affordable alternatives for the high-end equipment picked out here. So, whether you're returning to the series with a renewed interest in taking over the whole living room or kicking off a new hobby for GT 7, here's our ultimate kit list. 

Wheel - Fanatec Gran Turismo DD Pro

MSRP: $699.95 / £699.99

What's better to kick off your Gran Turismo 7 setup than an official wheel, designed in conjunction with Polyphony Digital themselves especially for the latest release? At $700 you're going to be seriously committed to your track here, but with direct drive, a super low rotational mass, and a peak torque of 5Nm, there's some top of the range specs packed in here. 

An OLED display is fine-tuned to offer key information while you're out on the road as well, and can also be used to further customize your experience. 

Naturally, a lot of your cash is going into that smooth direct drive mechanism, which does away with belts and drives to keep the wheel itself mounted directly onto the motor shaft. That means you're getting pristine feedback, without any drag or force feedback manipulation. 

However, the all-metal build and steel pedals are certainly clocking their fair share into the price tag as well. This is a seriously solid piece of kit that will keep your engines running for years to come. 

Currently the Fanatec Gran Turismo DD Pro is only available at the official Fanatec site, but if you don't need all those fanzy gizmos you can save some serious cash with the Logitech G29 and Thrustmaster T248 below.

Rig - PlaySeat Sensation Pro

MSRP: $2,299 / £1,649

Looking to go all out with a cockpit setup? The PlaySeat Sensation Pro has long reigned over the world of high-end buckets, and with the 2021 model out in the wild (technically) enthusiasts are clambering to get their rears into this Alcantara upholstered seat. 

The Sensation Pro is the top spec from PlaySeat's WRC and FIA endorsed range, and carries the cost to prove it. The main draw behind this price tag is the incredible strength of the frame itself, along with the adjustability of the setup overall. You can also mount a display of up to 55-inches (or a curved screen up to 48-inches) directly onto the rig for an all-in-one setup. 

That's some serious cash to be splashing, though, and the reality is you can get similar features and functions for far less - even from PlaySeat's own range. That, and the fact that it is particularly difficult to find this gear in stock right now, means we'd recommend taking a look at some of the more affordable options on the market. 

Monitor - Gigabyte Aorus FO48U

MSRP: $1,499 / £1,199

Say you did find the PlaySeat Sensation Pro in stock, then - which monitor would you stick up on that mount? We'd go for the Gigabyte Aorus FO48U, a 4K HDMI 2.1 OLED display that plays particularly nicely with PS5. Of course, only the very best PS5 monitors can reach 4K at 120Hz, and you can bet this beast of a screen does it with ease. An OLED panel is going to make sure all those Gran Turismo 7 colors pop and the incredibly low input lag means you'll be flying round the track without a second thought. Plus that built-in USB hub is going to come in particularly handy for any extra peripherals you want to keep plugged in, and you're still getting excellent response times and wide viewing angles as well. Until curved 4K 120Hz monitors with HDMI 2.1 hit the market, this is a solid option. 

The Gigabye Aorus FO48U does carry a significant MSRP to cover all those high-end specs. After all, this is more of a TV-monitor hybrid than a simple panel. It is currently on sale at Amazon US (down to $1,199.99 for $300 off) but if you're not quite looking to break into four figures, there are some cheaper alternatives that are still well geared to GT 7. 

We're also rounding up all the best steering wheels for PS4 and the best racing wheels for Xbox if you're after more kit. Or, take a look at all the best PS5 accessories on the market right now. For more GT gear, we're rounding up all the best racing wheels for Gran Turismo 7 as well. 

You’ll need lots of Gran Turismo 7 Credits if you want to afford the best and fastest GT cars out there, and thankfully there are quite a lot of ways to earn money in-game. Doing almost anything in Gran Turismo 7 is going to get you Credits and great racing will get you even more thanks to some generous bonuses. If you want to rake in the Credits to fill out your Gran Turismo 7 garage, here’s what you need to know.

How to earn Gran Turismo 7 Credits

Credits are the basic currency in Gran Turismo 7, and you’ll be using them to buy yourself tuning parts, customization items, and, most importantly, cars. Unsurprisingly, the most high-end supercars or proven GT racers are extremely expensive, with a few boasting price tags in the millions. If you want to afford these cars, there are a few ways for you to earn money and some tips to bear in mind, although you can shortcut things if you’ve got real-world cash to spend:

• Races and licence tests: Doing any sort of World Circuit race, Licence Centre test, or Circuit Experience
• Medal bonuses: The better you place in a race, the better your payout
• Clean Racing bonus: Driving well can get you a considerable bonus to your Credit pay
• Roulette Tickets: You’ve got a chance at earning some random Credits with these
• Microtransactions: Buy your way to Gran Turismo wealth with real money

Gran Turismo 7 is quite generous with its Credit rewards as you generally get a decent amount from doing any sort of race or driving activity. The rewards vary based on the type of cars you’re driving – simple races in lower-end cars tend to reward fewer than 10,000 Credits but the more complex GT races can reward tens of thousands of Credits – so you’ll earn more and more as your cars get better.

Your Gran Turismo 7 Credit rewards are also based on how well you do and which medals you earn. Placing 1st obviously gets you gold and the biggest reward, while 3rd place gets you the smallest. This also applies to any Licence Centre test and Circuit Experience challenge – you can practice racing school exercises or tracks on a sector-by-sector basis or in timed laps, with your final times earning you medals. Specifically in races with other drivers, be that AI or player-controlled, you can also get a hefty +50% Credit bonus by racing cleanly, so respect your fellow drivers and race well to get the most out of each race.

These final two Credit-accumulating methods are a bit more random and don’t really rely on player skill, so these should be seen as non-essential bonuses. Firstly, you’ll get Roulette Tickets by completing Menu Books from Luca in the Gran Turismo 7 Café and by completing your Daily Workout, which is driving the equivalent distance of a marathon race. Go to your Garage to use any tickets, and you might get lucky and score some extra Credits or even a new car. Secondly, you can also spend your real money on Gran Turismo 7 Credits microtransactions. If you really want that lightning-fast GT car, you can fast track your way there with some real cash.

Gran Turismo 7 has seemingly been pulled from sale in Russia.

As first reported earlier today by Eurogamer, Gran Turismo 7 should now be available worldwide for both PS4 and PS5 systems. However, it's currently unavailable to buy from the Russian-facing PSN storefront, and all the information there is to go on from the page is that the release date is "pending."

Currently, neither Sony or PlayStation has outwardly commented on Gran Turismo 7 being pulled from sale in Russia. It's not known whether this is a new policy from PlayStation that will affect other first-party releases going forward, or whether this is a temporary one-off situation.

We've reached out to Sony and PlayStation for comment on the situation, and will update this article should we receive any information.

This could be a response to Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov calling on both PlayStation and Xbox to temporarily suspend accounts in both Belarus and Russia. Earlier this week, the Vice Prime Minister called on both organizations to temporarily block accounts in both nations, as well as cancel all upcoming esports events taking place in either country.

Just yesterday, CD Projekt announced it would be suspending the GOG storefront, as well as digital sales of The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077, and other CD Projekt Red-made games, in Belarus and Russia. The company announced it would also be halting merch shipments into both nations for the foreseeable future.

If you want to help the people of Ukraine, consider donating to The Ukrainian Red Cross, which is providing vital aid on the ground; Doctors Without Borders, which is working with local volunteers and healthcare professionals; and The Kyiv Independent, a Ukraine-based English-language newspaper which is keeping the world informed on what's happening on the ground.

As we said in our Gran Turismo 7 review, the latest installment in Sony's flagship racer looks incredible in motion, but it also looks amazing in still photographs, and that's partly thanks to its photo mode's expanded Scapes feature. 

Scapes was introduced back in Gran Turismo Sport as a way to place the game's hyper-realistic car models in actual photographs which could then be combined into a single, carefully arranged shot in photo mode. The cars in Gran Turismo 7 look even better, and it's got the Scapes to match. 

You can thank Gran Turismo 7's Scapes mode for many of the incredible screenshots you may have seen overtake social media since the game's launch. The racer uses Scapes to deliver a much more literal photo mode than most games. Rather than photogrammetry, which involves using photos of real environments as a foundation to build digital environments, Scapes can literally add digital cars to photos of real places. 

Thanks to some impressive placement tech and touch-up options, this results in convincing screenshot-photo hybrids which could pass for live-action shots. The actual environments in Gran Turismo 7 aren't quite as realistic altogether, seemingly because more work went into the painstakingly detailed cars, but Scapes still allows for some eye-trickingly authentic presentation. Of course, you can get some great shots even if you just focus on the in-game cars and tracks alone since Gran Turismo 7's exceptional lighting makes just about anything shine. 

Here are the best steering wheels for Gran Turismo 7.

Remember when Gran Turismo 5’s pre-release screens looked too good to be true? They were. Thankfully, PS5 has finally allowed Kazunori Yamauchi and his team to realise that vision with Gran Turismo 7. Best of all, it doesn’t pander to modernity in the slightest, instead delivering thoroughly ’90s game design, only in exquisite detail. The main bulk of the career mode is spent outrunning outwardly slower cars in gameplay more reminiscent of Ridge Racer: Type 4. As the game goes on, the hip hop dies away, leaving guitar solos that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Sega Saturn. Yet it does this all with an abundance of class. It’s playfully silly when it wants to be, yet absolutely serious when the helmet’s on. 

It’s an absolutely gargantuan game. It’s taken me about 28 hours to master all the license tests and all of the menu books in the all-new ‘Gran Turismo Cafe’, but there are hundreds of things left to do after that, let alone play online. It’s some six hours before multiplayer opens up, with a full-on GT Sport mode, as well as split-screen, and two-player local play. Even more solo missions are locked away behind your collector level, which rises as you accumulate cars, whether by buying them or winning them. The cafe menus of automotive delights direct you towards races that will win you the cars you need, which is a great way of leading you by the hand through what would otherwise be a bewildering wealth of racing options. Progression events are clearly marked with a little yellow icon, and the gameplay itself in these races is very short - usually about 10 minutes a race. 

With the ultra-fast load times of PS5 (and not actually over-long on PS4), you’ll be zipping in and out of events, making it feel like - oddly - a handheld game. It’s perfect for quick bursts of fun, though you may yearn for more substantial races for the first 15 hours or so as you focus on piecemeal events, usually striving for gold rankings on short sections of track, whether that’s on the exquisitely precise license tests, the missions (which include drift and drag events) or the new ‘Circuit Experience’ which breaks up the track into a few corners at a time before giving you three-tiered target times to hit for the full lap.

There are, however, longer events too. Try 30 laps of Tsukuba on a track that starts dry before being drenched with rain then partially drying out again. It’s a massive test of your skills. Wet weather tyres help, of course, but if you haven’t got them, you can still get around by sticking to the dry(er) line that emerges. Venture onto the visibly wet portion of the track and it’s like an ice rink. The weather change works beautifully in real-time, as does the accelerated day/night cycle. And it all looks wonderful. The very last licence test takes this to its extreme conclusion with a lap of a half-dry Spa. It’s superb and absolutely hardcore.

A joy to behold

Not enough is made about how games actually move, but Gran Turismo 7 nails it. It’s simply a joy to control, with smooth, ultra-solid driving physics that simulate every element of the car’s interaction with the track surface. The game runs at 60FPS at 4K on PS5, and if there’s any dynamic resolution scaling to maintain the frame-rate, I haven’t noticed it. However, it does occasionally hitch when things are ultra-busy, just going a bit choppy rather than slow. It’s also worth noting that I had one freeze crash and two instances where an incident on the track made the game suddenly seize up, running at a low frame-rate and reduced speed. Restarting the race sorted that out, but it was very strange. Fortunately that was all the trouble in some 30 hours of play, so I’m happy to say the game is an absolute delight for 99.9% of the time.

That’s all on Performance Mode, but I have to say the PS5-exclusive ray-tracing mode doesn’t really do it for me. 30FPS replays with weird edges don’t look anywhere near as good as the standard, super-slick 60FPS action, so unless you’re taking stills, I’d advise leaving it off. It still looks next-gen. In fact going back to the PS4 version after 30 hours on PS5 is like stepping into the past. It looks so rough in comparison, though it’s by no means inferior to the excellent GT Sport. PS5 just makes it look supreme - a showcase for 4K gaming.

With so many modes, talking about them all in depth would take thousands of words, so I’ll be brief. Music Rally is entertaining enough as you pass checkpoints to earn more beats per minute (basically ‘more time’) on a song that’s played with a higher volume than usual, at least compared to the cars. The game gives you three of these - again with Gold, Silver or Bronze awards - to play with while you wait for the full game to install, which is a nice touch, with three more when it has. Music Replay syncs camera cuts to the music that you’re listening to, which is nice but not really worthy of a bullet point on the box. Some tracks also have a new ‘meeting place’ where you can connect to an online lobby and use a text window to talk to other people, share photos and liveries and enjoy just driving around the track.

Events are now collected under the banner of each racetrack, so you would select, say, Brands Hatch, and then decide whether to play an arcade race (with three difficulties), a time trial, a drift trial or a custom race. These go up to 200 laps with a maximum of 20 cars on the screen. You can choose slipstream strength and even the option of switching on mechanical damage. The heaviest setting for this really affects your car handling and engine power, but it’s simply not used during the main game, which is odd. 

Damage (slightly) inc.

However, cosmetic damage is underplayed, though it is present. You can slightly dent up the panels of your shiny car, scratch some paintwork and cause hairline cracks on headlights. Normally I would be up in arms about such things, but this game is not about close contact racing and spectacular crashes. Instead, it’s a gentlemanly affair, constantly reminding you to play nice and leave other cars room. It rewards you with more credits for a clean race. And honestly, the cars look so beautiful, for once I don’t mind them staying that way.

The only other area of consternation is the difficulty balancing. With the ‘pass all the cars’ gameplay of the cafe mode, you’re not going to have a proper race with an AI car for any of the core Cafe menu game, except perhaps some races around the Nordschleife. But the ability to freely modify your ride to boost its ‘Performance Points’ is dubious as it makes you far faster than the rest of the field with no come-back. Arcade mode is better balanced, but the racing feel should be game-wide. 

I’m less concerned about the threat of microtransactions. Having reviewed the game with these not yet enabled, I’m happy to report I always had enough credits to do what I wanted to do, but the option will be there to buy more credits with real money, to spend on cars and mods for them.

Fundamentally, this is one of the best driving games I’ve ever played. Not as bright or arrogant as Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec, nor as gorgeously-presented off the track as Forza Motorsport 7. But the most telling thing is that I just haven’t been able to stop playing it since I installed it, which I find is increasingly rare for a driving game. Gran Turismo 7 is the real deal and every PlayStation owner should buy it.

Reviewed on PS5 with a code provided by the publisher.

Amazon US has seemingly started shipping Gran Turismo 7 ahead of its street date – although its "always online" connection means few players will get much of a head start on the racer.

Shipping a full week ahead of its formal release date, March 4, the racing sim is already in the hands of eager fans, and whilst online activities are restricted, presumably until servers go live next week, players are already feeding back on their experiences. 

"Been playing all morning. Just can’t redeem any codes or do anything online," explained one happy player. 

"Game's gorgeous. Great soundtrack. No B-spec mode, but that always seems to come later anyway. They set it up as a career mode, so you level up and open up new things like races and new parts in the tuning shop by collecting cars."

Not everyone's happy, though.

"It's amazing how many times I preordered games through Amazon only to have them arrive the following Monday, I stopped preordering through then because of this," added another Redditor. "Now they're getting sh*t delivered a week early??? Ffs…"

As for why there's an always-on connection? Although this isn't unique to the franchise – predecessor GT Sport also required an internet connection – Sport was slightly different in that it had been positioned as a competitive racer from the outset. Gran Turismo veterans, however, may have been expecting to access the single-player campaign offline, which has not traditionally required an always-on connection. The reason there's one now, apparently, is to help combat cheating and stop less scrupulous players from trying to modify their save data offline. 

"It’s been many years since Gran Turismo had this air about it," we said in the GamesRadar+ Gran Turismo 7 preview. "Not since its PS2 heyday has the series truly felt whole, complete, and utterly self-assured. 

"Five years in the making, Gran Turismo 7 looks set to demonstrate exactly what PS5 is capable of and, personally, I haven’t felt this excited about a racing game in years. I’ve just seen an hour of the game being shown in exquisite detail and I’m here to tell you it looks magnificent."

Not long to go now, racing fans – Gran Turismo 7 is out on March 4, 2022. It's a significant slip from its original release window of 2021, but development – like so many others – was impacted and delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Read up on our new games 2022 guide for a complete look over all the other games launching over the next few months.

A new AI racer from Sony can beat world champions at Gran Turismo, and it's just the first step to "unimagined opportunities" for using AI in games.

Sony unveiled Gran Turismo Sophy today, the first major announcement from Sony AI and the result of an internal collaboration with Sony Interactive Entertainment and Gran Turismo developer Polyphony Digital. The AI started off barely able to drive in a straight line, but multiple rounds of simulations, each done with tens of thousands of race instances done at once, it got the racing skill of a champion. Well, almost.

Sophy's first debut against pro Gran Turismo Sport players in January 2021 saw it clean up in time trials, but it wasn't ready to contend with rival racers on the same track: "I think we all underestimated how hard it would be to get the sportsmanship side of it right, and learn to do that without being overly aggressive or overly timid in the face of competitors," Sony AI director Peter Wurman said in the announcement.

The AI racer went back to practice laps until its second coming-out in October 2021, when it took first or second place in every race and won the team score with twice as many points as its human opposition. It may sound like Sony made Sophy so it can gun, Terminator-like, for the top spots of its own games - but it's really meant to be the first proof of how AI can make games better for both players and creators.

"We envision a future where AI agents could introduce developers and creators to new levels of innovation and unlock doors to unimagined opportunities," SIE Future Technology Group boss Ueli Gallizzi said. "We could see unexpected levels of user engagement, better gaming experiences, and the entry of a whole new generation into the world of gaming."

And before you ask, no, it doesn't look like there are any plans to make mass production Sophy units your new rivals in Gran Turismo 7. On the other hand, now that the proof-of-concept is here, you never know where this kind of AI tech may start popping up.

Check out our Gran Turismo 7 preview to see how else it changes the racing game.

At least we only have to double-check how to watch the PS5 State of Play on Gran Turismo 7 later today, because Sony was pretty forthcoming about the actual content of the show.

The State of Play will kick off at 2pm PT / 5pm ET / 10pm BT today, February 2, and you can tune in through the official PlayStation Twitch and YouTube channels. Gran Turismo 7 is obviously the focus of the showcase, but Sony hasn't explicitly ruled out appearances or details for other games. 

That said, don't set your hopes too high for any surprise announcements or reveals. This isn't the first time Sony's run a State of Play focusing on a specific game, and in the past, like with the Deathloop showcase, it really was just one game 

 Here are the biggest upcoming PS5 games of 2022 and beyond. 

The Gran Turismo 7 file size has been revealed for both the PS5 and PS4 versions of the game, with new-gen players once again enjoying a slimmer footprint on their solid state drives.

The official PlayStation Direct listing confirms that the PS4 version of Gran Turismo 7 will require 110GB of storage space at a minimum. Meanwhile the PlayStation Game Size Twitter account has cut in with the news that the Gran Turismo 7 file size on PS5 will be about 89.5 GB, with pre-loading set to begin on February 25 (ahead of the release date on March 4).

Update: The official PlayStation Direct listing for the PS5 version of the game says it will also require 110 GB of storage space, though it would be unusual for both console versions of the game to have the exact same file size. Regardless, it's worth taking the 89.5 GB number with a grain of salt for now.

Original story continues:

While it may seem counterintuitive that the PS5 version, with its presumably higher-res textures and similar content would be smaller than the PS4 version, this is actually a running theme for PS5 - and it made for an even more dramatic difference with the Marvel's Spider-Man games. On top of cutting down loading times, PS5's speedier storage also allows developers to cut down on assets which would otherwise need to be duplicated for faster access on slower drives, helping to slim down how much overall space is required.

Despite their marked difference in file size, the two platform versions of Gran Turismo 7 will still be able to get along and play: creative director Kazunori Yamauchi has confirmed that Gran Turismo 7 will support cross-gen, cross-play multiplayer.

If you're looking for some roads to tear up for practice while you wait for Gran Turismo 7 to arrive, make sure you consult our guide to the best racing games. 

A new Gran Turismo 7 trailer explores some of the way PS5 helps the game achieve a sense of realism that's "kind of tangible."

Polyphony Digital director Kazunori Yamauchi walks us through the new trailer, which shows a variety of cars and tracks captured in gameplay and cinematic sequences on PS5. Yamauchi says Gran Turismo 7 breaks new ground for the series thanks in part to Sony's new-gen hardware.

"The performance of the PS5 gives us, for the first time, something we've been striving for throughout the Gran Turismo series," he says. "I personally feel that we've finally achieved a level of realism that's kind of tangible."

Apparently, the PS5 DualSense's adaptive triggers and haptic feedback go a long way in making you feel like you're actually at the racetrack while playing Gran Turismo 7. Specifically, the adaptive triggers mimic the sensation of a race car's braking system by activating a certain resistance that goes away when the brakes lock up. 

Of course, PS5's 4K, ray tracing, and HDR support are key factors in Gran Turismo's visual realism, portraying lifelike shadows and reflections and displaying a crystal-clear image. "I think that images which previously looked like CGI no longer look that way," Yamauchi adds.

Gran Turismo 7 launches March 4, 2022 on PS4 and PS5. Naturally, the PS4 version won't benefit from the same features mentioned in the new trailer, but here's hoping it'll still be plenty fun and pretty.

While we wait to hit the tracks in Gran Turismo 7, here are the best racing games you can play right now.

Gran Turismo 7 will require an extra upgrade fee if you want to take your game from PS4 to PS5, but if you get the 25th Anniversary Edition you'll get both versions and some other goodies too.

Sony laid out all of the purchase options for Gran Turismo 7, including pre-order/launch day bonuses, in a post on the PlayStation Blog. The post reveals that if you want to be able to play both the PS4 and PS5 versions of the upcoming racer as soon as the green flag waves on March 4 you'll need to pick up an anniversary edition. Otherwise you'll have to pay $10 to upgrade (and if you got a physical copy of GT7, you'll also need a PS5 with a disc drive to insert the PS4 disc).

Here's the full list of contents for the Gran Turismo 7 25th Anniversary Digital Deluxe Edition.

• Dual PS4 + PS5 Entitlement
• In-Game Credits – 1,600,000 CR
• Toyota GR Yaris with country specific Livery 
• 30 Manufacturer / Partner Avatars
• The Music of Gran Turismo Official Soundtrack
• Toyota Castrol TOM’S Supra
• Mazda RX-VISION GT3 Concept (Stealth)
• Porsche 917K Living Legend

The physical 25th Anniversary Edition includes a PS5 game disc and a download code for the PS4 version of the game, as well as a limited-edition SteelBook case. Its in-game bonus contents are identical to the Digital Deluxe version, aside from including only 1.1 million in-game credits instead of 1.6 million.

Lastly, here's what you'll get for picking up the Launch Edition of Gran Turismo 7, either in a hard copy or digitally through PlayStation Store.

• Toyota Castrol TOM’S Supra
• Mazda RX-VISION GT3 Concept (Stealth)
• Porsche 917K Living Legend
• In-Game Credits - 100,000 CR

Gran Turismo 7 cross-play means you'll be able to race with your buddies whether they're on PS4 or PS5.

Gran Turismo 7 will seemingly require an always-on internet connection.

Sony debuted a brand new gameplay trailer for Gran Turismo 7 last week. While players were delighted to see the return of fan-favorite features like GT Campaign mode, it was only after eagle-eyed fans scrutinized the small print on a recent post on the PlayStation Blog (thanks, Metro) did they notice that the "newly designed" mode will require an internet connection to play, as well as the Livery Editor, Scapes – the photo mode – collecting mode GT Cafe, GT Auto, and legendary circuits like Trial Mountain and High-Speed Ring, too.

Although this isn't unique to the franchise – predecessor GT Sport also required an internet connection – Sport was slightly different in that it had been positioned as a competitive racer from the outset. Gran Turismo veterans, however, may have been expecting to access the single-player campaign offline, which has not traditionally required an always-on connection.

"GT7 is both the culmination of the series which answers the expectations of GT fans throughout the years, and at the same time it is a title that marks a beginning of a difficult mission to contain the full breadth of car culture from the past into a single video game," said series creator and Polyphony Digital president, Kazunori Yamauchi.  

Gran Turismo 7 will be ready to race on March 4, 2022. It's a significant slip from its original release window of 2021, but development – like so many others – was impacted and delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. Sony's hoping the wait will be worth it, though; Gran Turismo 7 looks set to feature real-time shadows in line with the position of the sun courtesy of PS5 ray-tracing, incredibly detailed and hyperrealistic, weather effects, plus a diverse range of environments.

Don't forget that while it was originally only meant to release on Sony's new-gen PS5, Gran Turismo 7 now also on the way to PS4, too.

For what to play in the thankfully not-too-long wait for Gran Turismo 7, check out our up-to-date guide to the best racing games to play in 2021.

Gran Turismo 7 debuted a brand new gameplay trailer and March 2022 release date during today's PlayStation showcase.

Racing games are often visual showpieces for gaming hardware, and Gran Turismo doesn't disappoint in this stunning gameplay footage captured on PS5. Ostentatious supercars glimmer and cast shadows in real-time with the position of the sun thanks to PS5 ray-tracing, a diverse range of environments and weather effects look as realistic as we've seen in the racing space, and performance looks smooth as butter. And thankfully, we only have a few months left before we can get back on the track, as PlayStation and developer Polyphony Digital announced today that Gran Turismo 7 is launching on PS5 and PS4 on March 4, 2022.

If you're a big fan of the series, you might've noticed several callbacks to Gran Turismo history, including some beautifully remade shots from the first four games. Along with plenty of rubber-burning action and breathtaking cinematics, today's trailer also gave a look at Gran Turismo 7's in-game UI, map selection screen, and breadth of customization options you'll use to fine-tune your ride. 

Gran Turismo 7 was originally due to launch in 2021, but was delayed by Sony in February for pandemic-related reasons. It was also supposed to be exclusive to Sony's new-gen PS5, but a decision was made fairly recently to bring it to PS4 as well.

For what to play in the thankfully not-too-long wait for Gran Turismo 7, check out our up-to-date guide to the best racing games to play in 2021.

A Gran Turismo 7 beta has been listed on PlayStation's website.

As first reported earlier today on July 12 by GTPlanet.net, the PlayStation website has listed a Gran Turismo 7 beta. As verified by GamesRadar+ through the screenshot just below, the PlayStation Experience section of the official PlayStation website now makes mention of an upcoming beta period for Gran Turismo 7 under the upcoming events section.

According to the new beta listing for Gran Turismo 7, users of the PlayStation Experience app need to watch a 10-second live demo to unlock early access to the beta period. However, if you try to watch the video as of right now, you're provided with a generic access code, that has no function when redeemed through the PS4, PS5, or PlayStation website.

Right now, this isn't confirmation that a beta period is definitely happening for Gran Turismo 7, but rather compelling evidence that it could happen at some point in the future. As GTPlanet.net rightly points out, the previous Gran Turismo Sport received a beta period before finally launching on the PS4, so this would be in keeping with past traditions from Sony.

Earlier this year, Gran Turismo 7 was delayed out of its official release window of 2021. The upcoming racing game is now slated for release at some point next year during 2022, and Sony announced at the time that the delay to the game was due to "COVID-related production challenges." Here's hoping this supposed beta period can help ease that long wait until the final game launches next year.

Just a few months later, it was revealed that Gran Turismo 7 would no longer be an exclusive release for the next-gen PS5. Sony revealed in June that Gran Turismo 7 would be coming to the PS4 as well as the PS5, and an insider speaking to another outlet claimed that this decision was actually a relatively recent one, whereas Sony had always intended for other upcoming games like God of War Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West to launch across both the last-gen and current-gen consoles.

For a full look at Sony's other exclusive launches on its new-gen console, head over to our upcoming PS5 games guide for more.

We may finally know when Gran Turismo 7 will make its long-awaited arrival, thanks to an advertisment on YouTube that seemingly shows off more than it's supposed to.

As spotted on YouTube by GT ELIEANOR, the advertisement in question reads in French, "Sortie prévue pour la première moitié de 2021. This translates to "release scheduled for the first half of 2021." This indicates that Gran Turismo 7 is slated for a release somewhere in the next few months. 

Sooner than we expected, though it does rule out the possibility of a surprise arrival in time for the holidays. If it is indeed released in 2021, that will mean a four year gap between Gran Turismo 7 and its predecessor, GT Sport, which debuted on PS4 in October 2017. Gran Turismo 7 is set to take full advantage of the PS5's advanced hardware and horsepower, with DualSense capabilities that will revolutionize the way players interact with the racing classic. The original announcement showed off plenty of high-tech advancements for the series, with crisp cinematics, photo-realistic backdrops and the kind of fast-paced gameplay that the Gran Turismo series is known for. 

Polyphony Digital still has not come out with an official date, so all of this should of course be taken with a grain of salt. Either way, Gran Turismo 7 is somewhere on the horizon, and players who are eagerly awaiting their PS5 might not have to wait much longer to start racing. 

Read up on the initial Gran Turismo 7 announcement, along with all the fun it promises. 

The next entry in the prolific Gran Turismo series has been announced for PS5.

Thursday's PlayStation Future of Gaming stream debuted a thrilling next-gen reveal trailer for Gran Turismo 7, showcasing plenty of breakneck speed-racing before gorgeous, photo-realistic backdrops. There's a bit of gameplay, some footage of the interface and menu screens, and crisp, dynamic cinematics. Do be sure to check out the stunning reveal trailer for Gran Turismo 7 on PS5 below:

Unlike most of the other games revealed during today's PS5 reveal, Sony didn't provide so much as a vague release window for Gran Turismo 7. Seeing as Sony today announced release windows as far out as 2022, it could be quite a while before we play Polyphony Digital's latest racing sim. That said, unconfirmed rumors have suggested Gran Turismo 7 will launch right alongside the PS5 this Holiday season, so we could also be in for a surprise release.

The most recent release in the series was 2017's Gran Turismo Sport. GamesRadar's review highlighted the genuine driving experience, car graphics, and online features, while noting some dated features that contribute to an overall "last-gen" feeling. While we don't know much about Gran Turismo 7 just yet, one thing's for sure: it sure as hell doesn't look last-gen in the new trailer for PS5.

We learned about a slew of super exciting next-gen games today during Sony's big PS5 reveal, and here's our comprehensive round-up of confirmed and likely upcoming PS5 games.

 A new Gran Turismo trademark filing has been spotted, and its timing makes it seem like a shoo-in for an upcoming PS5 game.

As spotted on ResetEra, the Argentinian trademark filings were submitted around June 3, just before the original date for the PlayStation Future of Gaming event. Sony has confirmed that it will use the event to show off some of our first looks at PS5 games, so it's a short leap from there to predict that Sony is getting ready to announce a new Gran Turismo for PS5.

The trademarks are simply for "Gran Turismo", without any numbers or subtitles, which implies that Sony and developer Polyphony Digital may plan for the next game in the series to be a reboot. I mean, as much as any game series that doesn't really have a plot could be "rebooted" - maybe it would just be an opportunity to take the Gran Turismo series back to its fundamentals.

Gran Turismo Sport is the most recent game in the series, having hit PS4 in 2017. While it's still a beautiful sight to behold, Sport didn't feel like a full step forward for the franchise even three years ago. Our review from the time called out its "familiar, last-gen feeling" as one of Sport's primary weak points.

The PlayStation Future of Gaming event has not received an official new date since Sony announced its delay, however the company has said a new date is coming "soon". Hopefully the trademark speculation is right and we won't need to wait much longer for a look at the future of Gran Turismo.

Take a quick look at everything that's on the way with our guide to video game release dates. 

Despite the game being used by Sony to tease the future of 8K resolution, Gran Turismo Sport producer Kazunori Yamauchi says he would rather push the limits of frame rate to as high as 240 frames per second.

"I think, display resolution-wise, 4K resolution is enough," Yamauchi told GTPlanet in a recent interview. "In terms of frames per second, rather than staying at 60 fps, I’m more interested in raising it to 120 fps or even 240 fps. I think that’s what’s going to be changing the experience from here on forward."

The 240 frames per second bar is a high one, and not one either Sony or Microsoft has really talked about yet, though they have both been future-proofing their next generation consoles with 8K capabilities. Currently an 8K television will cost you about the same as a used car, but that was once the case with any flat screen TV too, so it's important to look at how fast prices can fall.

Yamauchi also reiterated what we've heard a lot over the last decade including the last generational leap and the next one; those leaps are just not going to be as huge anymore. "Going from PS1 to PS2 there was a hundred times the performance difference between the two console generations. An advancement like that is no longer possible."

Maybe not, but that doesn't mean the next generation isn't going to look stunning on levels we've never seen before, especially if the latter half of the generation starts delivering 8K gaming. As for 240 frames per second, it sounds like a pipe dream, but we're not going to doubt the unstoppable march of progress.

For a look at what to expect on PS5, here's our updated list on upcoming PS5 games.

With GT Sport fast approaching its second anniversary, and with the PS5 on the near horizon, it's no surprise that questions are being asked of developer Polyphony Digital over its plans for the next generation. Gran Turismo is, after all, an old-school system seller, the type of racing game that can effortlessly demonstrate the graphical prowess and performance of any new console. 

Thankfully, Gran Turismo series creator Kazunori Yamauchi has confirmed that the next Gran Turismo is in development with the studio eager to take its time and learn the right lessons from the release of the somewhat controversial GT Sport. “I think in terms of races themselves and physics GT Sport has really reached the best place that we’ve ever reached – we’re at a very good place,” Yamauchi told gtplanet, going on to explain that its next effort will build upon the technology found in GT Sport but the execution could well shift.

“On the other hand, obviously we’re working on the next Gran Turismo already, and the world of sport we’ve achieved through GT Sport is something I’ve always imagined to be the future of Gran Turismo. We were able to establish that now.”

Polyphony is hard at work creating new content for GT Sport, all in an effort to remedy the lack of single-player content the game initially launched with. That means that Gran Turismo PS5 is the most likely outcome here, although whether it's GT Sport 2 or Gran Turismo 7 remains to be seen. Yamauchi offered only this as a suggestion: “I think the next title that we’re going to create will be a combination of the past, present and future – a complete form of Gran Turismo.”

The only thing we really know for certain is that Yamauchi is deeply interested in exploring more opportunities with virtual reality. "I really like VR; I’m one to believe in the possibilities of it, and it’s very suited for a driving game," he said, noting that he believes the increase in power in the next-generation will open up a new array of possibilities – and that he'll be there exploring them as soon as he can. "We’ll make sure to follow that."

Gran Turismo games tend to take three-to-four years to develop, so expect an official announcement to be a little ways off. Still, given Yamauchi's excitement, it would sound as if a Gran Turismo 7 for PS5 (or GT Sport 2, I suppose) is almost a given. 

Looking to pick up something new to play? Why not check out all of the best Amazon Prime Day deals.

GT Sport is the straight-laced gentleman of the racing scene, and it’s very, very classy. It cares about sportsmanship, even forcing you to watch a ‘Driving Etiquette’ video before it lets you online. If it could put penalty points on your real life driving license for infringements in its online mode, it totally would. What it can do is award you a dynamic ‘Sportsmanship’ rating according to how nicely you drive in races, meaning everyone can see how sporting you really are. It’s quite the difference compared to its competitor, Forza Motorsport, which rewards drifts, drafts and perfect corners; GT rewards you for not being a dick. It’s wonderful, but perhaps a little naive.

• Want the premium GT Sport experience? Check out our guide to the best PS4 steering wheels

Predictably, it handles beautifully. Control input is responsive, though realistically takes a short moment to go from lock to lock if you’re using a pad. The cars are sure-footed and weighty, and feel like they have more grip than those of Forza 7. Indeed, the game is slightly easier to drive than all-out sims like Project Cars, Assetto Corsa, or Dirt Rally, but it will punish you much sooner than Forza 7 will. The way the vehicles react to kerbs is exemplary: you can ride them if you’re brave, but they’ll bite you hard if you misplace a wheel. Push too hard or snatch at the brakes and you’ll also slide off into the gravel. Some cars seem built for oversteer, but most perform an enjoyably tameable 4-wheel drift when pushed over the edge of the grip cliff. The balance is just right - this is an extremely playable game.

But what it really wants you to do is understand what’s actually happening when you drive. The game is all about weight distribution, traction and discipline, to the extent that the single-player mode isn’t really about racing at all (with the exception of the returning-but-somewhat-sidelined Arcade Mode, which is fun but throwaway). If you’re playing solo, this is a driving game. The main mode takes you through an ultra-punishing driving school, requiring absolute precision if you’re to walk away with the complete collection of gold medals. Prepare to get very frustrated when you can’t get gold on a simple ‘turn the steering wheel’ exercise. Never has a tenth of a second felt so unassailable.

Strictly Cone Dancing

Single player also offers a collection of scenarios to overcome, like a lap of fuel-saving while still trying to pass cars for the win. There’s also a nice little track mastery section that grades you on individual sectors on a collection of the circuits. Finally, you’re asked to perform a perfect lap to get one last gold award, which also gives you that course’s map as a decal with which to adorn your car. Most of the mastery challenges are are easy if you know what you’re doing, but the Nurburgring challenge is gargantuan. Six minutes of absolutely flawless driving through the Green Hell? That’s going to take some doing.

However, it’s all rather pedestrian, and not a patch on Forza 7’s Forza Driver’s Cup career mode in terms of excitement and involvement. In fact, it’s closer to the PSP Gran Turismo’s single-player content. Very, very similar. Careful you don’t get splinters from the over-scraped ideas barrel. No, instead you’ll probably spend most of your time online.

The online mode takes centre stage and features two pillars. You can race however you like in the lobby mode, but you won’t earn any reputation. For that, you need to enter into championships in the Sport mode. This is the game’s main selling point - an FIA-recognised, online racing league with the potential for real-world acclaim. The game keeps you playing rather than waiting in lobbies, allowing you to post ever-faster qualifying times while you wait for entry to start, then allowing you some practice in the couple of minutes prior to the green light. 

It works very well and, if your room is full of people who respect the rules as much as you, the racing is awesome, with clean, close races full of defensive maneuvers (but not weaving, we promise, Mr Turismo). The subtle proximity indicator is clever, adding a vignette-like shadow to your left or right when there’s a car nearby. Much cleaner than the mess of coloured arrows flying around the screen in Forza 7. Winning a slipstreaming race around an oval against real opponents is far more exciting than any offline mode. And with the real-world calendar of events taking place at set times, it all feels like it really means something. 

I’ve hidden your car keys

But that’s when it’s working. If at any time the server goes down for maintenance, or you lose your own internet connection, you can only play Arcade Mode, as the game will not allow meaningful progress in any form if you’re not connected to the server. The game is essentially off-limits until the server says hello again. Presumably this is to keep an eye on cheaters, but it would be nice to be able to at least browse the garage, take a photo, or design a new decal while you wait for the connection to come back up.

It takes itself very seriously, but that can come across as po-faced. It feels like a premium product, certainly, but there’s a hint of that Gran Turismo 5-era pomposity that looked to have been eradicated with Gran Turismo 6. And sometimes it feels like you’re playing an old racing game from the early 2000s, only with far better graphics. It’s nice in a way, as it’s a reminder of the golden age of racing games. But when the competition is striding forwards, it can feel a tad embarrassing, with the series steadfastly refusing to look over its shoulder at the competition, even when they’ve already gone by.

It’s also less spectacular than you might expect. Nothing major, but a few scrappy shadow edges, the occasional frame hitch, and some very diorama-like foliage make for an unconvincing world, especially when the colours are more gamey than lifelike. It’s still gorgeous at 60fps, and the glass effects are mouth-wateringly good, but the overall effect is not as photorealistic as its competitors.

Preserving that showroom sheen

Gran Turismo Sport is still reluctant to get its suit dirty, too. Damage modeling is extremely weak, and impacts with other cars and barriers are poor. Compared to Forza’s deep-sinking tyre walls, GT Sport’s rock-solid barriers make this feel like a PS2 game. None of this is dreadful, but it is noticeably behind the curve in many areas.

I don’t want to sound down on it because, in isolation, Gran Turismo Sport is a superb racing game. It’s everything it should be. Faithful to its heritage, with gorgeous cars, superb tracks, time-of-day variations, exquisite handling, an ultra-serious online mode and a challenging, genuinely educational single-player component. It’s the best serious racing game on PS4, no doubt. And with Forza 7 on Xbox One and Gran Turismo Sport on PS4, both camps have a truly great racing game to enjoy. But, having played both a very great deal (and Project Cars 2 as well), Forza 7 is demonstrably better than GT Sport in pretty much any area you could choose. It’s now down to the community to see which game provides the superior online experience. See you online.

The Gran Turismo series has always been the number one choice for the kind of hardcore racing fan that can identify a car from the sound of its exhaust alone. Now it's building on that reputation, adding F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton to Gran Turismo Sport as a driving mentor. 

"I have been playing Gran Turismo since I was a child, so to actually be part of the gameplay design has been an incredible experience," says Hamilton. 

What does that mean? From the video above, it looks as though the racer contributed feedback on driving styles, and Polyphony promises we'll get access to "his driving philosophy, techniques, and his way of life through driving images and interviews for the players of Gran Turismo Sport." It might not make you any better at three-point turns in real life, but it'll certainly add a little celebrity glamor to all the talk of oversteer and gear changes.

"From watching Lewis drive on TV all these years, I had an idea of how he might drive, but the experience of watching him drive in person was well beyond my wildest expectations," adds Gran Turismo series producer Kazunori Yamauchi.

The game will be the first entry in the iconic series for PlayStation 4 and will be released on October 17. A special virtual reality mode will be available for PSVR owners, and all of the 177 cars in the game can be driven in VR. 

GT Sport's release date has finally been confirmed: the next game in Sony's flagship racing series will punch the gas and roar into your PS4's Blu-ray drive (or hard drive, if you prefer downloads) on October 18 in the UK and across Europe. It'll hit North America the day before, October 17.

The high-end competition-focused racing sim will arrive with three editions spread across a handful of retailers: the grand Collector's Edition is available on Amazon, GAME, and ShopTo; the SteelBook edition is only on Amazon; and Tesco gets to hand out the Day 1 Edition. The game is available for pre-order now.

You know GT Sport is going to be a real sight to behold on PS4 Pro - while you wait, why not check out our list of every PS4 Pro compatible game?