The PS5 is set to release Holiday 2020, and Sony is busy setting up their release calendar for the coming years. There's plenty of iconic series for Sony to use, and one of its biggest is easily Gran Turismo. The storied racing franchise has consistently hit a mark of quality, and it's a no-brainer that Gran Turismo 7 would be a great display of the PS5's power.
Recent rumors have unfortunately been debunked, but even though nothing has been confirmed it's very likely Sony has Gran Turismo 7 in the works. Sony may not put out a Gran Turismo game as often as Microsoft does with Forza, but it's always a flagship title when a new game does release.
With all that being said, there are still a few potential pieces of info out there about Gran Turismo 7, and the PS5. Here's everything we know about Gran Turismo 7.
Gran Turismo 7 Release Date
A recent, now-debunked rumor seemed to indicate that Gran Turismo 7 would launch in 2020. While that's not true, in 2019 it was confirmed that a new Gran Turismo was in development. The last game in the series was Gran Turismo Sport, released on the PS4 in October 2017. Since then developer Polyphony Digital hasn't released or announced anything else, lending more credence to the rumor that they've been hard at work on a new Gran Turismo.
In terms of past releases, there were three years between the release of Gran Turismo 5 and 6 and four years between the release of Gran Turismo 6 and Sport. Assuming development time would be roughly the same, that would put Gran Turismo 7 right around the launch of PS5 at the end of 2020, or likely in the first half of 2021. Of course, fans will need to wait for an official announcement from Sony to be sure.
Gran Turismo 7 Gameplay
Gran Turismo 7's core gameplay will likely remain mostly the same but see some incremental overhauls or changes. The big question, of course, is how the next game will benefit from the upgraded technology of the PS5. At CES 2019 an 8K tech demo of Gran Turismo Sport was shown off, but Polyphony Digital CEO Kazunori Yamauchi stressed that might not be the direction the series goes.
According to Yamauchi, the "next-gen" Gran Turismo is aiming for 240fps and 4K resolution. In an interview reported on by GTPlanet Yamauchi stated "I'm more interested in the advancements we can make in terms of the time resolution... I think that’s what’s going to be changing the experience from here on forward."
With a racing game that requires quick response time, a better frame rate would definitely have a bigger impact than an 8K resolution. Past that, there's still a lot of unknowns about Gran Turismo 7's gameplay.
Will Gran Turismo 7 Have PSVR Support?
In 2019 Yamauchi also talked about the potential of VR, and how suited for the genre he thought it was. In an interview with GTPlanet, he said "The first thing that’s going to be affected by more power is VR. I don’t think that there’s anything else that requires that much processing power. I really like VR; I’m one to believe in the possibilities of it, and it’s very suited for a driving game.” Of course, Gran Turismo Sport included a VR mode of its own.
Sony has continued to support PSVR over the years, even having a hefty exclusive in 2020 with Marvel's Iron Man VR. There have been rumors about the company working on PSVR 2, and while nothing is confirmed, Gran Turismo 7 would be a fantastic title to debut alongside a new headset. Given Yamauchi's fondness for VR, it seems likely that the next game would include a VR mode, or at least introduce a VR mode with an update after launch.