Gran Turismo 7’s online offering is near identical to that seen in the multiplayer-focussed Gran Turismo Sport - hence the multiplayer mode being called simply Sport - in that there are daily races that rotate in and out with various requirements. Previously, these races were typically subject to a Balance of Performance, or BoP - a term borrowed from real-life GT racing that operates along similar lines, with the game ensuring all cars entered have a similar performance to ensure close racing.
Since Gran Turismo 7’s launch, though, the only races available require players to tune their car to set guidelines - putting the onus on the player to tune their car to hit certain limits such as the 147bhp and 1000kg limit on one of today’s daily races at the High Speed Ring.
It’s a somewhat tricky business, though, even for someone who pretends to understand how a car works like myself - there are many different ways to hit those restrictions, and not all of them are as efficient as each other leading to a big disparity in performance in online races. And that’s before you account for the sizeable number who turn up to these races in a stock car and get left for dead at the startline.
Perhaps it’s an intended quirk of Gran Turismo 7’s retooled multiplayer, and I’ll admit there’s a part of me that enjoys being forced to tinker under the hood of a Toyota Aqua to seek all potential gains. It’s not exactly beginner friendly, though, and in the early days of Gran Turismo 7’s life a more open-armed approach that had players all starting with the same performance would surely be a smart idea, even if it was just in one of the daily races.
Right now, getting a front-running car in Gran Turismo 7’s multiplayer is as tricky and involved a thing as in something like iRacing - and at least there you’ve the option to magpie set-ups from more educated sorts on services like Craig’s Setup Shop.
Here’s hoping Polyphony Digital moves quickly to put some more beginner friendly racing in place in its Sport mode - because as much as I appreciate tweaking my race ready Toyota Aqua, I’d certainly appreciate something a little more approachable right now.
Gran Turismo 7 came out last Friday, and is by all accounts a good time. Well it is in mine anyway, and despite a few issues here and there I had plenty of nice things to say in Eurogamer’s Gran Turismo 7 review.
