A few days after the filing of a new apocalyptic IPCC report on climate change, there is something anachronistic in the desire to survey the asphalt aboard energy-guzzling cars. And the Polyphony Digital studio seems to be well aware of this in Gran Turismo 7a newcomer to the PlayStation-exclusive racing simulator franchise.
This is an attempt to reach out to a new generation of car enthusiasts; those who care about their impact on the climate can taste the exhilarating feeling of speeding down a track, guilt-free.
Let’s be honest: your journalist doesn’t have a driver’s license. So here we are before this funny paradox where you have to criticize a car racing game when you have taken the wheel very few times in reality. But, strangely, Sony’s in-house studio seems to be banking precisely on us non-lovers of four-wheeled metal boxes, teaching us all about them… And even managing to win our hearts.
The single-player campaign for Gran Turismo 7 focuses on the Café, a zen place where we are taught the history and idiosyncrasies behind each category of car, from the affordable German sedan to the reliable Japanese speedster, including these handmade Italian racing machines. We discover a fascinating world there – if we are even slightly interested in the mechanics of things, in design and in history.
We are given a short lesson on a category of car and then sent to race in one of them. With each successful event, we add a car from this category to our garage. Once three cars have been collected, we move on to the next lesson. You can modify your car by buying, thanks to the points won at the end of each race, parts that improve its performance.
This method first appears surprising: Gran Turismo, the racing simulator par excellence, is it not primarily aimed at seasoned car enthusiasts, those who already know everything we are taught? But we soon realized that Gran Turismo 7 wants above all to celebrate cars as fabulous animals destined to disappear in front of the climate wall. The opportunity to launch a last hurray for some, and an introduction to motor racing for others who will not have had time to know it.
The races look “realistic”, but it’s hard to verify that when you’ve never raced in real life. Cars are never damaged in collisions, however. We salute the audacious choice that was made not to take the path of a world open to Forza Horizon. Here, Polyphony Digital has instead chosen to produce a serious game, which is consumed in small bites. The online mode is there for those looking for a challenge. Too bad, however, that we are asked to pay to obtain this currency that we normally obtain at the end of each event.
Is it time for us to take the SAAQ exam? We think about it.