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It’s official: Gran Turismo 7 will get PSVR 2 support when the headset launches next month.
Announced by Sony at its CES 2023 press conference, the PS5 premiere racing sim will receive VR support when PSVR 2 launches on February 22. no extra costs.
Presented by Jim Ryan, president of Sony Interactive Entertainment, the announcement was accompanied by a short clip of Gran Turismo 7 running on PSVR 2.
That said, it’s unclear what graphics compromises developer Polyphony Digital will implement to meet PSVR 2’s 2000 x 2040 (per eye) panel resolution. But we expect the game to take a hit for overall visual fidelity to smooth performance to keep. Hopefully not too much.
Warning yellow flag
I’m equally excited and nervous about Gran Turismo 7’s PSVR 2 support. I’m glad it’s a free upgrade and has the potential to be a remarkably immersive racing experience.
On the other hand, racing is extremely hard to get right in VR. Frequent turning, pushing, and camera movement make VR gameplay virtually impenetrable to those prone to motion sickness. And God help you if you misjudge a corner and spin off course.
But apart from my own constitutional issues, what I’m most nervous about is the amount of content that will be VR-ready in Gran Turismo 7. The series has previous experience in VR, with Gran Turismo Sport offering a mode for the original PSVR headset.
It wasn’t great. GT Sport’s VR mode felt more like a proof of concept, offering only a handful of tracks and cars to race against AI opponents. A half-hearted “yes, we probably can do this.”
I’d like to see GT7’s VR support cover most aspects of the game. Most of the single player content has to be accounted for, including the cafe and those more menu book race objectives. Access to the online Sport mode in VR would also be a plus, and maybe even a revamped showroom to allow PSVR 2 players to get a closer look at their favorite bikes.
There’s huge potential here for Gran Turismo 7’s PSVR 2 support to instantly make it one of the best VR games on the market. So I hope Polyphony decides to go the extra mile to create an experience that isn’t a simple afterthought.