Gran Turismo 7 took center stage in Sony’s State of Play show last night. Throughout 30 minutes of gameplay, we got a deep dive into the new Campaign Mode, GT Café, Scapes, and much more.
Its massive scale will keep GT fans playing for hundreds of hours. But one of GT7’s standout new features is its incredibly advanced weather simulation technology.
Gran Turismo 7’s weather simulation technology looks incredible
Based on meteorological data, GT7 simulates cloud formations as well as location-specific temperatures, humidity and air pressures. Starscapes also change in each location, with the colour of stars changing depending on the location and atmospheric conditions.
Different times of day also affect the surface temperature of the track. This affects grip levels, engine power, and the strength of slipstream.
When it rains, puddles form in specific track areas like in real life. Dry lines will then form on the track when it stops raining, but areas with puddles remain wet longer. It looks like a cross between DriveClub’s volumetric cloud system and Project CARS 2’s dry racing lines but on another level.
Not every track has dynamic weather
As impressive as this technology is, not every track in GT7 will have dynamic weather. Speaking with Famitsu, Kazunori Yamauchi confirmed that some tracks in GT7 won’t have full 24-hour time cycles or rain. Every track will have day-to-night transitions and dynamic clouds, however.
“First of all, the change over time, but the change from morning to night is in every course. However, the change from night to morning is only used in some courses.” Yamauchi added that full-day cycles will only be available in locations like the Nurburgring where 24-hour races are held.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNwhpSsGsnM
“Also, regarding the change in weather, the change from sunny to cloudy can be experienced on all courses, but it is limited on the course where it rains.”
During State of Play, Sony confirmed that GT7 will have 34 locations and 90 different locations. But it’s not clear how many of these locations have dynamic weather.
Tsukuba and the Nurburgring were the only locations shown with wet weather in the 30-minute gameplay video. Impressively, it can rain in one section of the Nurburgring and be sunny in another in the same race.
This could change if Polyphony gradually adds dynamic weather to more tracks after launch. For now, though, the weather technology is so advanced that it’s too difficult and time-consuming to implement on every track.
“The biggest challenge with time and weather changes this time is not just visual changes, but digital physics simulations,” Yamauchi explained.
“In addition, the time and weather changes will interact with the car running on the course. For example, factors such as lower road surface temperature, rain, and wind are physically calculated and are involved in driving.”