A forefather of the racing game genre, there’s a reason why Gran Turismo has sported a tagline of “The Real Driving Simulator” for 25 years. The series is considered the pinnacle of simulating the feel of driving at high speeds on race tracks, and Gran Turismo 7 on the track is no exception.
Still, with a large career mode and plenty of options in front of you, knowing where to start and what to do during the course of the game will make your life much easier, especially when the races get faster and the competition gets harder. If you’re after some great beginner’s tips to help you succeed in the world of Gran Turismo 7, this is what you need to know.
1. Turn Off Auto Drive Immediately
One of the first actions you can take in Gran Turismo 7, aside from altering your screen settings and picking your preferred performance mode, is to toggle your auto drive settings. As the name would suggest, Auto Drive controls certain aspects of driving like steering and braking to ensure you don’t spin off into the dirt every corner. They’re useful tools if you need the assistance for whatever reason, but they can feel like a hindrance if you know what you’re doing, especially if you’re looking for lap times.
2. Menus Are A Priority
The World Tour career mode allows you to live the life of an automobile fanatic, collecting cars and travelling to race days across the world. You also spend some time in a cafe, where the owner will give you menus to complete. Menus are essentially quests that introduce you to the different mechanics and car types in Gran Turismo 7, so it’s worth completing them as you unlock them. More features emerge as you progress through the menus, so the earlier you get them done, the better.
3. Earn Your Licences
After completing a handful of menus, you’ll unlock the famous Licence Centre, where players compete in challenges that teach you how to drive effectively. The menu tied to the licence centre will task you with simply completing the first trial, but it’s worth completing all 10 trials to earn yourself a B licence, and even move on to the A licence before doing anything else. Later championships require you to possess these licences, so they’re required for progression, but they also give you a decent amount of money and new cars, especially if you complete all the gold requirements, so they’re worth doing as soon as possible.
4. Go For Gold With Ghosts
A tip that will help you when completing the Licence trials in the first place is to complete a dry run of the trial first, especially if it’s a trial surrounding proper racing lines and turning. Gran Turismo offers demonstrations for you to get a sense of what to do, but completing the trial with any time/score will allow you to see the ghost of your best run, which gives you infinitely more feedback regarding how fast you’re going, whether you’re braking too much on the corners and more. Give yourself something to compete against, and it’ll help you nail down the best times.
5. A Fine Addition To Your Collector Level
As you complete the career mode and amass a horde of cars, your Collector Level will increase. At first, it’s not immediately clear what the benefits of your Collector Level is, but after obtaining a few cars, you’ll be given access to better upgrades at the tuning shop, along with new missions to complete at the Missions pavilion. Of course, this then means more opportunities for money and cars, so it’s worth upping your collection.
6. Check Your Events And Your PP
As you make progress through the game and the menus, you’ll compete in events that have a few more restrictions than usual, like Japanese front wheel drive cars only for instance. Events will also have a recommended PP level, which is a shorthand system to assess how quick and powerful your car is. Going through the menu from the cafe, you’ll always have access to an eligible car to compete with, but check the PP level and make sure the car can compete.
7. Upgrade Your Cars Wisely
Unless you plan on grinding for cash, money can be a bit tight in the early going, so upgrading can be a bit of a risk. During my time with the game, I put money into car upgrades only to find out that the next series of events were for a different type of car, and also wasted credits on trying to upgrade an old Mini that just could not compete with the proper competition. Try to be smart with your upgrades, and don’t blow all of your cash on upgrading one car, because it could blow up in your face.
8. Try To Avoid Buying Cars Early
Despite that advice though, try to avoid spending too much money on cars, unless you’re planning on grinding out for credits to do so. Completing the menus and claiming the rewards will give you plenty of cars, but the cash can be better served for other purposes, namely upgrading your cars. As you progress, you’ll need to buy some upgrades in order to keep up, so you’re better off keeping hold of your credits to upgrade the cars you earn as rewards. Later on, you might need to buy a car in order to progress through your menus due to event restrictions, but you should have some decent savings by then.
9. Race Clean Where You Can
Considering that Gran Turismo is a simulation of motorsport, smashing into your competition like a normal game of Burnout is considered a bit of a party foul. In the online GT Sport mode, it’s actually considered bad sportsmanship, but that’s besides the point. Gran Turismo 7 has systems in place to encourage you to race without trading paint or smashing your competition into the gravel pit, with the player earning an extra 50% of their winnings if they complete a clean race. If you’re looking for extra cash without going too far out of your way, try to avoid making your opponents wipe out.
10. Get Your Daily Miles In
Like most games these days, Gran Turismo actively encourages players to engage with the game on a daily basis with its daily workout system. Essentially, you just need to drive for 26 miles, the equivalent of a marathon, each day in order to earn a roulette ticket, which offers random rewards from cars, tuning parts and cash prizes. 26 miles isn’t all that much if you’re completing multiple races a day, so make sure you go that extra mile to get some easy rewards. Bonus point: every restart and attempt during missions and licence tests count towards your mileage, so even failure has its own reward.
Gran Turismo 7 is available on PS5 and PS4.
READ MORE: 20 Best PS4 Racing Games You Should Play
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