Gran Turismo 7 Guide: 7 Beginner Tips

Gran Turismo 7 is finally here and it’s ready for players to burn some serious rubber, no matter whether you need beginner tips.

However, while some players might be used to the arcade racers of the world, Gran Turismo takes itself a little more seriously. In our review, we enjoyed the realistic nature in which it presents car racing, but criticised the way it trades fun for eccentricity. As such, there can be a few stumbling blocks to overcome at the start of the game – especially if you’re a beginner.

Here are seven beginner tips for you to use when starting out with Gran Turismo 7.

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Complete the Menu Books

First of all, you’re going to want to complete as many of the Menu Books as you can. These books are essentially a quest system in Gran Turismo 7, giving new objectives and ways to earn new cars quickly. You’ll start out with a very basic car, but by completing Menu Books, you can very quickly expand your garage.

Completing Menu Books is also the quickest way to unlock all of the features that Gran Turismo offers. When you first enter the world map, you’ll only have the Cafe, a second hand car dealership, and World Circuits. To unlock competitive multiplayer, local co-op, the tuning garage and the photo scenes mode, you’ll need to complete a certain number of Menu Books.

It might feel like a bit of a slog to begin with, but stick with them. If you’re really not a fan of the automotive spiel that the cafe owner bombards you with, you can simply skip through all of the dialogue. It certainly speeds up the rate at which you unlock new features.

Credit: Sony/Polyphony Digital

Complete the Licences

Next up, you’re going to want to prioritise completing the Licence tasks. You unlock this part of the game fairly early on. If you haven’t seen it yet, keep completing as many Menu Books as you can.

Licences are essentially very short challenges that teach you the fundamentals of proper racing. There are challenges that teach you about braking zones and how to properly execute corners. The more of these you complete, the harder they’ll get. Eventually, you’ll be chaining these moves together like a pro.

The Licences range through from B right the way up to Super. Those high tier Licence tasks can be really tricky, so work your way up to them slowly. However, they’re definitely worthwhile. The more licences you complete, the more advanced cars you’ll be able to purchase. The more cars you purchase, the more tuning parts you’ll have access to. It all snowballs into the rest of the content that GT7 has to offer.

On top of that, you earn credits for placing Bronze, SIlver, and Gold. Earning gold status in every Licence will net you some big rewards, so be sure to give each challenge your best efforts! To round it all off, it is excellent practice for the excessive amount of racing you’ll be doing. The higher you place in races, the bigger the rewards. Practice really does make perfect!

Credit: Sony/Polyphony Digital

Complete the Challenges

Once you’ve got the hang of Licences, you should then turn your attention to Challenges. These are kind of like the Licences, but a bit more technical. It requires fulfilling a certain criteria, usually within a short section of track or time. For example, you may need to overtake a number of cars in a single corner move.

Most of these challenges involve you executing race manoeuvres quickly and cleanly. As such, they’re excellent practice to move onto that’s a little beyond Licences tests. However, just like the previous set of challenges, earning gold status on these will net you big rewards. That means that the more you complete, the more credits you’ll earn and the better cars you can purchase.

Credit: Sony/Polyphony Digital

Race In Championships

If it’s credits that you’re after, then you’ll want to look towards the Championships. These are sets of back to back races that will test you across a couple of circuits. In the early game, they usually consist of the same track, once clockwise and once anticlockwise.

While they’ll take a little longer than traditional races, they’re absolutely worth completing. Place first across all of the championship races and you might be able to net yourself a solid 35,000 credits. For around 10-minutes of racing, that’s not too shabby. Keep grinding those out and you’ll have enough for a McLaren car in no time! For more tips on how to earn credits quickly, click here.

Credit: Sony/Polyphony Digital

Tune your car!

There might come a time in Gran Turismo 7 when races start to get a little bit tricker. Your opponents will start to outrstrip you and you’ll need a a bit of a helping hand to get back to the front of the grid. For me, this was around when I was tasked to race with the American muscle cars.

It’s at this moment in time when you should turn to the tuning shop to give yourself an edge. Gran Turismo 7 makes it dead easy to upgrade your car if you’re not familiar with the technical terms. Basically, look for upgrades that are going to significantly increase your PP [Power Points] level. Invest a small amount of credits in your car and you’ll be winning races again in no time.

Credit: Sony/Polyphony Digital

Play In Performance Mode

Gran Turismo 7 can be played in one of two modes – ‘favour ray tracing’ and ‘favour frame rate’. If it’s visual fidelity you’re looking for, then favour ray tracing is the way you’re going to want to go. This will make reflections and lighting really pop, especially in the replay, showcase, and photo mode.

However, if it’s primarily racing that you’re going to be doing, then you’re best off switching this setting to ‘favour performance’. This will ensure that the frame rate is locked at 60 frames per second which makes for a much smoother racing experience. We’ve compared the two graphics settings side by side if you’d like to take a look for yourself. To our eye, though, there’s very little difference between the two – especially when you’re driving at 150mph!

Credit: Sony/Polyphony Digital

Tweak the Assists

Gran Turismo 7 asks you to set up your difficulty and assist settings at the start of the game. There are assistive brakes, turning, driving line and braking zone visual assists, all of which will help beginners get to grips with the game. 

If you’re like me, you might be a little overconfident in your abilities to begin with. If this is the case and you’re having trouble in the later stages of the game, don’t be afraid to revisit these settings and turn the assists back on during difficult races. There’s absolutely no shame in it!

Did you find this Gran Turismo 7 beginner tips guide helpful? Why not give some of our other Gran Turismo 7 guides a read? We’ve got guides on how to master the Menu Books, as well as a complete list of cars and trophies.

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[Featured Image Credit: Sony]