Playing video games has always given us the opportunity live the life of our heroes, as was the case in the F1 2020 video game where we could strap ourselves into Ayrton Senna’s 1988 world championship winning McLaren MP4/4 and blast around our favourite circuits. But, with the launch of Gran Turismo 7 in 2022, we now have another avenue to fulfil our Senna impersonation needs, but which is better?
Well, from outside the car, it looks as though both games have built realistic clones of the Interlagos circuit in Sao Paolo, with spectacular lighting casting shadows over the circuit and the car itself, which looks to have been modelled from the same data in both instances. Heading into cockpit view brings about the most obvious differences though. The sound design first off is far more immersive in Gran Turismo. You can hear the clunk of the manual gearshift, while ‘your’ hands are actually changing gear on the stick, while the camera shake provides a feel of the G-forces as you turn into the corners. Cockpit view in the F1 game, however, is far less satisfying, with flat engine sounds and far less feeling that you’re actually driving a car.
Grand Turismo 7 was of course released two years after F1 2020, so it’s to be expected that there will be some technological advancements in the gameplay. Which would you pick for the most immersive F1 racing experience?
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