Sony's 30th anniversary is going strong at the moment, and, as part of the celebrations, they released a game called My First Gran Turismo (referred to as MFGT from now on). Today, we're taking a look at the game from the perspective of someone who has no prior experience with the series, and very limited experience with racing games as a whole. In other words, the perfect target audience.
If you want to see the perspective of a series veteran on the game, check out Demonxz95's article on the matter. You'll also get a sneak-peak/comparison of the actual Gran Turismo 7 game. Without further ado, let's get into it!
Tell Me About the Car
This is where the fun start... ed
Let's starts things off by explaining what MFGT. The best way to describe it would be as a vertical slice of Gran Turismo 7. It's a series of tracks, probably taken directly from the main game, and packed together in a way that will give players a taste of the full experience.
The game is split into 5 main game modes:
- Practice Runs - Just drive on a course with any car, good way to get used to the circuit.
- License Centre - Traverse a small part of a racing circuit in an allotted amount of time.
- There are 3 licenses you can get in this game, each with 5 challenges in them including the tutorial.
- Music Rally - Cover as much distance before the song in the background finishes playing.
- Races - Win a race against a number of other vehicles.
- There are 3 difficulty levels for each race.
- Time trials - Complete a circuit in the allotted amount of time.
The last 3 game modes are unlocked by beating a license challenge, and you also unlock cars along the way in all of them. Each "level" aside from the races has Bronze, Silver, and Gold thresholds to beat them, but you only need the Bronze one to unlock the cars (or getting at least 5th place on the easiest difficulty for Races).
Cars you unlock will also carry over to the main game, so that's a nice extra incentive to get the full game. All the levels take place on one of three included tracks that increase in complexity and difficulty: Kyoto Driving Park, Deep Forest Raceway, and Trail Mountain Circuit (I'll get to you later).
There are 18 unlockable cars in the game (though there are a few more you get to drive, including a van). I stumbled on a Reddit post between playing the game and writing this article that showed these cars are faster than their base GT7 models, so I guess you're given modified cars for this. Probably as a way to make it more fun for the player.
How's the Handling Like?
Mazdas are underrated
As someone with very limited experience with racing games, MFGT controls like a dream! The cars are very responsive, and the Dualsense haptics and triggers add a lot to the experience. I started off by using gyro for steering then swapped to using the stick. They both work well enough, though I'd say the stick is better.
Unfortunately, for as much as I enjoyed the controls and presentation, I can't say the same for the gameplay loop. The main thing you do in the game is race and try to be better at it, which is a weird thing to complain about in a racing game, but I just don't enjoy doing the same thing over and over again. If I get a bronze on a track, I'm happy with it and move on to the next thing.
Now, the Music Rallies and Races weren't and issue. I managed get Bronze on all the rallies first try, and I got 1st place on the first 2 races and 3rd on the last one, albeit on the lowest difficulty. And out of all the available activities, the Music Rallies were the most fun, since you have tunes playing in the background for you to enjoy.
The issues were with the later license challenges and especially the time trials. This probably speaks to my lack of experience with racing games, but those were a chore to complete and really didn't like how much grief they produced. I especially came to hate the final two very tight turns (which I have been informed is called a chicane) right before the finish line on Trail Mountain Circuit.
We were on the verge of greatness, we were this close
Wow, the Interior Looks Great!
The regular GT7 has support for the PSVR2, and so does MFGT. It is INCREDIBLE! At moments it feels like you're inside the car, you instinctively look in the rear view mirror to look behind, the only thing that would've made the experience even better is having a wheel.
It's not a perfect experience. You use the Dualsense and not the VR controllers, but steering like that wouldn't be too good I'm guessing. And you're only in full VR while driving, outside the track you're in a black void with a floating screen in front of you. I feel like they could've let you navigate a menu or something while sitting in the car. But when you're driving, it's just an amazing experience.
What's the Milage on This Thing?
The insides of the cars have a lot of detail
So, after all that complaining, you'd probably think I hate MFGT. That's not really true. I can see the game is very well made, and a high quality experience if this is a genre you enjoy. I'm sure if I got more into racing games, and better at them, I wouldn't be as harsh on it as I am here.
Now, the purpose of My First Gran Turismo is to give you a slice on the game and convince you to get the full experience. Did that work for me? The answer is quite simple:
I want to play more racing games. I want to drive around with my VR helmet on and feel like I'm in a car I could never be able to afford in real life. I want to get a decent wheel and fully immerse myself in the experience, since I feel that's how these games are meant to be played.
But I don't want it to be in the challenge-filled environment that MFGT presented here. If Sony offered me a game that let me just drive around a somewhat open world, I'll gladly take it. I played a very small amount of Forza Horizon 5 a while ago, and I feel like a game like that with official mod support would the perfect package for me.
Thanks for the Showing, but I’ll Look Around Some More
Behold! My stuff!
Before I write a conclusion, I just want to point out that I feel this game is on the wrong platform. It's a game that's supposed to make you buy into the GT series and the PlayStation environment, but... If you have a PlayStation and are into racing games, you're already aware of the GT series. I feel like MFGT should've launched on PC as well, so they're shown what the GT series has to offer for them.
As for me, like I said, I probably won't buy Gran Turismo 7. MFGT is a great way to showcase what GT is about, and will probably convince a lot of racing game fans. But if you're like me, and you don't like racing as a genre, this won't do anything for you. It's a great game and I'm sure it's a great series, but it's not for me.
Pros:
- Great car handling and haptic feedback.
- Good variety of game modes and track selection, for what's basically a demo.
- VR integration is flawless and extremely immersive (at least when not driving).
Cons:
- VR experience when not driving is barebones and feels lazy.
- The challenge-based format that just pushes you to get better times isn't for me.
Have you tried My First Gran Turismo? What other games would you like Sony to give a vertical slice of? Let us know in the comments below!
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