Gran Turismo 7 review friv game: The car is the center of the universe

While most racing games from an online game developer Friv2Online focus on keeping the player entertained by flooding them with a variety of tracks, modes, and challenges, Gran Turismo 7 puts the genre's essential attribute, the car itself, at the forefront. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of content in the game, but there's so much to tell about automotive history and culture that it's enough for a dozen other titles, or even a good encyclopedia. More details - we tell in the review.

Gran Turismo 7 isn't shy about a long intro; a long video shows the history of the automotive industry, from the appearance of the first self-propelled units to the creation of ultra-modern hypercars. The friv game immediately makes it clear: it is first of all about cars, and already in the second, third and following - about driving, racing and entertainment.

The first race of the "Musical Rally" introduces you to the gameplay - this is a mode in which you have to drive along the track to one of the soundtrack tracks : there are both classic and modern tracks - "VROOM" from Fanatix, Idris Elba and other artists will be registered for a long time in my Spotify library.

The essence of the mode is as follows: while the music is playing, the player must race along the track, overtaking other cars. The pace of the track affects the speed of the timer - if it reaches zero, the race will end. Passing checkpoints, the rider adds points to the timer, and by the end of the track he needs to cover as much distance as possible.

It may sound a little confusing, but in reality you just need to drive fast and manage to pass checkpoints while the countdown is running. Although the last races in this mode throw a pretty serious challenge. However, the Musical Rally proved to be fun and entertaining between normal races.

Once you've completed the opening race, you'll buy your first car - used to start with - and head to the cafe. This is the key location in the career: it is here that tasks are issued that will gradually introduce you to the basics of the gameplay, modes and key locations of the Gran Turismo 7 global map.

Most of the tasks are dedicated to collecting cars: cafe owner Luka offers to collect several cars from the same manufacturer, from the same country or category. For example, sports cars Nissan or BMW M3 of different years. Cars can be obtained by racing as part of the collection, they go to the garage, and Luka will tell you a brief history of them.

Other quests, such as tuning a car, decorating it with a non-standard wing, going to a car wash, and so on, demonstrate various game mechanics: tuning and styling, car care, passing a driving school and tests, using photo mode, and much more.

The idea of ​​collecting collections is good because it does not allow the player to get stuck on using the same machine. So, for example, to participate in races in Japanese rear-wheel drive cars, you will need an appropriate sports car, and only a “European” will be allowed to race to get a collection of French hatchbacks.

The game will helpfully give you the car you need somewhere shortly before the start of the task to collect the collection, so you don’t have to spend money. More precisely, it will be necessary - but not for a new car, but for tuning: races have a recommended level of technical rating of a car, which consists of power, weight and other characteristics, and participation with a car whose TP does not reach the declared one does not guarantee a prize in race.

Right there, in the cafe, you can go to the championships - they will be admitted upon receipt of a license: national B and A, international B and A, as well as Superlicense. This is a great opportunity to hone your skills: the mentors will tell you how to enter the corner correctly, choose the ideal trajectory, and behave on a wet road. To issue a license, it is enough to have “bronze” in all license tests, but if you want to take “gold” and get a bonus car, you will have to sweat a lot. No wonder they say that in the friv games of the Gran Turismo series, you can learn how to drive a real car.

For completing collections and winning championships, you are rewarded not only with the replenishment of the garage. Luca also gives out lottery tickets - something like loot boxes, from which you can knock out a certain amount of money, car parts or even a new car! Although I rarely managed to win a car, and the cash prizes were minimal - perhaps the reason for this is the explicit offer to replenish the stock of credits in the PS Store.

Finally, prominent figures from the automotive industry, such as well-known designers, will periodically drop in for a cup of coffee in the cozy refuge of Luka's motorists, who will be happy to share with the player their thoughts and memories of the models they took part in creating. It is noteworthy that all the dialogue in Gran Turismo 7 is made very in the spirit of Japanese games: no cut-scenes, only short titles that are scrolled through by pressing a button. It seems that the developers did not have enough budget to create animation videos, but no - the whole game just screams about the millions invested in it. Most likely, these are just design features, a “trick” of the GT7.

After getting out of the cafe, you can go to the tracks scattered across three regions of the world: America, Europe and Japan. Most of the races in Gran Turismo 7 are circuits, and even with all my dislike for this type of racing, I have to admit that here they turned out to be very exciting.

First of all, the authors made sure that the race does not bore the player. Races of five to ten laps are rare here, most of the competitions are short and end quickly. Cars handle realistically, each model is different, and careful driving is encouraged (although there are no collision penalties in the career, except for school and challenge mode). The weather and the daily cycle change in real time: in the rain it becomes very difficult to control the car, and at dusk you have to rely on what headlights snatch out of the darkness.

If you play on high difficulty, the AI ​​opponent will bring a lot of problems: it drives accurately and almost without mistakes. At the middle level, it becomes a little easier, and the minimum level allows you to exhale at all: the riders slow down, skipping the player to the leadership position without much argument.

Those who want to challenge themselves by playing against hardcore opponents will have to tinker with tuning. To get started, buy parts in the parts store ; the higher the level of the collection, the more advanced products will be on sale. The list includes air filters, mufflers, suspension, tire sets and more.

You can fine-tune the car for any conditions: rain, a track with a predominance of straight sections, a winding road, a rally race. There would be money: a mechanic will replace the gearbox, lighten the body, hang ballast - in general, he will fulfill your every whim. If you do not have much experience in tuning, you can consistently install parts that increase the technical rating, however, for high difficulty and races online, this path is not recommended.

Additionally, you can look into the auto repair shop, where the car will be replaced with oil, the engine will be sorted out, the body will be washed and the dents on it will be leveled. Styling of your "swallow" is immediately available: you can repaint it, dress it up with various stickers, install bumpers and other visual "gadgets". Visual tuning schemes can be saved and shared on the Internet, as well as, of course, custom options can be downloaded. Most likely, after the release, the library will be filled with a variety of solutions from craftsmen.

In addition to the regular races, Gran Turismo 7 has challenges - races with special tasks. The player is required either to develop maximum speed, keeping in the “air bag” behind other cars, or to overtake a number of cars that received an impressive head start at the start, or even participate in funny “stool” competitions with a capacity of some fifteen horsepower. Prizes - as usual, new models for the collection. There are more than four hundred cars in the game, so there is always something to replenish the garage.

The rest of the activities in the game are focused mainly on the contemplative part. Scapes is a powerful photo mode that offers a wide range of locations in different parts of the world, a wide range of focusing, using the environment, many filters and other tools. In Scapes, you can make realistic pictures that showcase the beauty of the Gran Turismo 7 fleet. For sure, amateur photographers will spend a lot of time here.

Brand Central - the focus of many car brands presented in the game; both an exhibition hall where you can buy any car, and a museum with a detailed history and infographics, archival materials and photos, and a collection of videos about the best models. Those who wish to get acquainted with the brand of interest in detail - the road is right here.

Even in the garage, you can not only change the car, but also admire it in all its glory. If you put the gamepad aside for a while, the interface will disappear, and the virtual operator will begin to demonstrate the car from the most favorable angles. And a separate button "Scapes" will launch the selected model on different tracks of the world.