Gran Turismo 7 on PS5, entering 2026, is not just a car game; it is the ultimate "digital temple" of motoring. After dozens of free updates from Polyphony Digital, the game is now at the best point in its history.

Is it worth buying in 2026?
Undoubtedly, YES. It is the "must-have" simulator for every PS5 owner. Whether you are a casual player who wants to see beautiful cars or a hardcore driver, GT7 offers hundreds of hours of content that is constantly updated.

### The Positives ###
1. Visual Perfection: The car models are the most detailed ever seen on a console. The lighting, reflections (Ray Tracing), and dynamically changing weather are breathtaking.

2. The "Feel" of Driving: The handling is top-notch. Every car has its own personality – a '60s Fiat 500 drives completely differently from a Bugatti Chiron.

3. DualSense Magic: The game makes the best use of the PS5 controller. You feel the ABS on your fingers through the triggers and the texture of the asphalt (or kerbs) through the haptic feedback.

4. GT Cafe & Collection: The "Cafe" structure teaches you the history of motoring in a very beautiful and relaxing way, continuously giving you new vehicles.

5. PS VR2 Support: If you have Sony's virtual reality headset, GT7 turns into the most immersive driving experience you can have at home.

### What "New" Has Been Added Up to 2026? ###
1. Sophy AI: Sony's revolutionary artificial intelligence (GT Sophy) is now available on more tracks, offering a driving experience that feels like racing against real professional drivers.

2. Over 500 Cars: Through monthly updates, the garage has grown significantly, including everything from classic legends to the latest 2025 hypercars.

3. New Tracks: Historic routes and new locations missing at launch have been added.

4. Improved Event Directory: Now it's much easier to find races that suit your level and garage.

### Main Drawbacks ###
1. Always Online: Like The Crew Motorfest, it requires a permanent internet connection to save your progress, even for the single-player portion.

2. Game Economy: The rarest and legendary cars cost millions of credits. If you don't want to buy microtransactions, you'll need to do quite a bit of grinding (repeatedly running the same profitable races).

3. Penalty System Online: The penalty system in Sport Mode (multiplayer) sometimes remains unfair, punishing you for contacts that may not have been your fault.

4. Static Campaign: For some, the "Menu Books" system in the Cafe is too linear and lacks the feel of a "Career Mode" from older Gran Turismo games.

### Pro Tip for New Drivers: ###
1. Don't spend your first credits on buying cars! Complete the License Tests and the first Menu Books in the Cafe. The game will give you dozens of excellent cars for free, allowing you to save your money for upgrades (tuning) or your dream car later.

2. To fill your wallet in Gran Turismo 7 and buy those ultra-expensive 20-million "Legendary Cars," there are three races considered the game's "gold mines." All these races share a common secret: the Clean Race Bonus (+50%), which in GT7 is very easy to get even if you make minor mistakes.

a. Sardinia - Road Track (World Touring Car 800)
This is the most popular race for quick money in 2026.

Profit: ~$727,500 (with Clean Bonus) in about 25 minutes.

Strategy: You need a Gr.3 car or a detuned Gr.1/Group C (e.g., Mazda 787B).

Why it's worth it: The weather is always stable (never rains), so you don't have to worry about changing tires. It's the most "relaxed" way for farming.

b. Circuit de la Sarthe - Le Mans (World Touring Car 700)
The 30-minute race loved by all players.

Profit: ~$825,000 (with Clean Bonus) in 30 minutes.

Strategy: Use a car around 700 PP (e.g., Honda NSX GT500 or a well-tuned Porsche).

Caution: Here the weather is unpredictable. You must have bought Intermediate or Heavy Wet tires. As soon as you see rain coming on the radar, pit immediately, or you'll lose control.

c. Tokyo Expressway - East Clockwise (World Touring Car 600)
The most difficult but most profitable race if you learn its tricks.

Profit: ~$825,000 in about 26-27 minutes.

Strategy: Here the "meta" is to use road cars with high top speed (e.g., Lamborghini Huracan or Suzuki Cappuccino with engine swap).

Caution: The walls are your "enemies." If you hit the barriers or other drivers hard, you may lose the Clean Race Bonus, so careful driving is needed in Tokyo's tight corners.

3. The "Trick" of 2026: AFK Farming
If you have the Abarth 599 with the Pikes Peak Engine Swap, there is a method on the Daytona Tri-Oval where you can set up a race (Custom Race) against very powerful cars. Due to a glitch in Credit scaling, you can earn millions almost "automatically" (AFK) if you set it up correctly.

Personally, the graphics didn't blow me away on the PS5. Not that they aren't beautiful, they're just not the wow factor that Gran Turismo usually has in this area. For example, GT4 on the PS2 had amazing graphics for the console's standards. On the PS5, they're just okay. Additionally, I was disappointed that it doesn't have the huge car catalog that GT4 had; I think it has even fewer than GT5. Lastly, the Cr it gives is very little, and like all games in recent years, if you want to fully enjoy the game, you have to get into the process of microtransactions. It's a disgrace for such expensive games.

On the positive side, it's Gran Turismo with everything that entails throughout the series' history. Very realistic driving, great sound, super music, you can customize the car, learn the history of various models, and with the missions in the Cafe, it puts you in a process to play races in a specific order, etc.

Overall, it's worth it, but it certainly doesn't reach the levels of GT4, which I consider the best of the series.

Nice graphics on the PS5, I would say they're impressive!

2. The online is decent, with lobbies to join with friends and randoms, and a ranked system with mainly GT3 - GT4 races that change every week... very basic in my opinion :P It could be better, but it is what it is.

3. Lots of cars and tracks and the customization is pretty good.

4. The gameplay is as others have said, sim-arcade, which is both positive and negative. Positive because it's accessible to people who don't have sim racing setups, etc. and are using controllers, and negative because it "loses" in some details compared to hardcore sims like iRacing and Assetto Corsa, but those who haven't played those titles won't have a problem.

5. The sounds of the cars are not at all realistic except for a few that are few and far between... and that's why I give it 4* and not 5. Such a big title and the most basic part is quite below average... still.

Overall, it's a very nice game, with plenty to do and keep you playing for endless hours... especially those who have setups with steering wheels, etc. and take it a bit more seriously, like trying to get gold on all the tracks, race times, etc. That's where the game shines and is worth every penny. Those who are crazy about cars and motorsports, (like me :P) will like it. Of course, as I said, the sound issue is huge and can disappoint people.

Enjoy playing, guys!

Since it was one of the few games I had played on the PS3, I had pre-ordered GT7 on the PS5 and received it last Friday, which was the official launch day (to be precise, I received it on Thursday afternoon).

The total size is 108GB, of which the first ~25GB is on the disc, and the remaining 85GB is downloaded from the network. While it's downloading, you can play the Music Rally, which is a new mode, quite funny and enjoyable.

After about 30 hours and having completed the - let's say - "main" game mode of GT7 (the Cafe, which includes 39 "missions"), I am still at 35% of the total game, trophies, races, and cars, so it wouldn't be wrong to estimate that it will take about 100 hours for 100% completion. And of course, this is only for the single-player mode, as you know, GT7 never ends.

Was it worth the €80 pre-order and the wait? Definitely yes. Is it a big step forward compared to GT6 and GTS? Also yes, although personally GTS never excited me. Is it worth getting the PS5 just for GT7? It depends, if you are a fan of racing sims and GT7, then yes, if not, then you can find similar games with cars on other consoles or PC.

I won't do a detailed review, there are hundreds of those, even in Greek, I just want to note that the extremely difficult tests and challenges obviously remain, some additional modes have been added, of course, it is much more difficult to set times with the controller (which is amazing, of course), and generally, the deeper you go, the more difficult and demanding it becomes.

Edit: I should also mention the biggest downside, that Gran Turismo has also fallen victim (and quite heavily) to in-game purchases (IGP).

Until the end of the Cafe (the 39 missions), you can manage with the money you earn from races, especially if you are careful and get the bonuses for "clean race" and first place in individual races of the championships. In other words, you can progress through the missions without struggling with buying cars and necessary upgrades (hint: always start with a racing tire, it makes a huge difference, you can win races with just one set of racing tires).

However, the problem starts as soon as you complete the missions and have to start collecting cars. If you're not a completionist and just want to pass the time, no problem. But if you want to buy the available cars, it's simply impossible with in-game credits. There are dozens of cars that cost from one to several million (especially the Legend cars), so to buy even some of them, you need to grind for several hours (roughly 1-1.5 million per hour), let alone to buy the 400-something cars. The other option is obviously to buy credits, which costs about €20 per (expensive) car!!!!

I may be a fanatic fan of GT and quite a completionist, but (a) I don't want, can't handle, and don't have time for such a grind, and (b) I can't tolerate paying €80 for the game and wanting another €20 for some cars in the ALREADY purchased game.

Edit2: I am modifying my rating and evaluation of GT7 after the recent events and Kaz's ridiculous announcement. Almost 30 hours offline, so not even the single-player mode was working, even worse with the microtransactions (which are not "micro" at all) and of course Kaz's funny announcement practically saying "this is it, if you want, we'll see later". It's a shame such a good game is being destroyed by such bad -financial- choices.

Edit3: (and last!) after the latest updates, the in-game economy has improved, new cars, new tracks (at least new layouts) and new events have been added, so it seems like it's starting to find its pace. Now I would say "get it"

It's really perfect!!! I have played the following Gran Turismo games:
Gran Turismo 5 (at a friend's house)
Gran Turismo 6
Gran Turismo Sport
Gran Turismo 7 is top-notch! Besides things that were missing from Gran Turismo Sport, it also has things we have NEVER SEEN BEFORE! For starters, the game's graphics are incredibly realistic! You can just sit in the cafe's landscapes (I'll explain later what that is) and marvel at the realism. The number of cars is greater than in Sport. Unfortunately, it's not more than in Gran Turismo 6, but more will come through updates. So be patient. The driving school can teach you everything about racing, even if you're playing a racing game for the first time in your life. Something we've never seen in another Gran Turismo is the fact that you communicate with people no matter what you do. You have people who guide you through the game, people who give you information about each of your steps, and more. It's nothing like Gran Turismo Sport, which left you to figure things out on your own... The cafe is a function through which the cafe owner, Luca, tells you various information about different cars and gives you various missions (such as collecting cars through races). If you succeed, you unlock new tracks. There are a total of 45 tracks in the game. And you know what the best part is? Kazunori Yamaguchi, the game's founder, has stated that even more tracks will be added to the game through updates! The realism in driving is better than ever! I play the game with a steering wheel and it has left me speechless! In every turn, when I turn the wheel, I feel the tires pulling me to the asphalt! Car modifications have returned and are better than ever. Also, GT Auto service has returned, where you can wash your car, change its oil, fix its stiffness, and repair its engine. To understand when you need to do this, when you enter the garage, it shows you the condition of the body, engine, and oil of the active car. When it shows you that they have started to deteriorate, you need to take the car to GT Auto. The last thing I want to mention is the Online Multiplayer, which doesn't lag, doesn't give you unfair penalties, and makes sure to put you with drivers of your level, not with any drivers (as happens in other games). So, what are you waiting for? If you're a fan of racing games, buy it without a second thought!