Since its inception Gran Turismo has always pushed the envelope for each new console. With the reveal of Gran Turismo 7 at Sony's recent PlayStation 5 event then, we have an exclusive that appears to live up to that reputation: both 4K resolution and 60fps are on display in the trailer, alongside taxing ray traced reflections. And yet despite the technical ambition, it's a true, classic circuit that's used to demonstrate it all: Trial Mountain. After its absence in Gran Turismo Sport on PS4, Trial Mountain's return shows the huge strides developer Polyphony Digital has taken. Not just in comparison to its last appearance with Gran Turismo 6 on PS3, but going all the way back to the original 1997 PlayStation game. Every numbered entry features this track, and so, it charts a clear path of technical evolution for the series - today letting us see how far we've come in seven numbered entries.
Much was shown in the trailer, but what's curious is how Polyphony Digital has chosen a track not available in GT Sport, ruling out a PS4 vs PS5 comparison. There is an overlap in the choice of vehicle though: the Mazda RX Vision GT3 was Kazunori Yamauchi's car of choice, and it is indeed available on GT Sport's dealerships. In theory, most cars could transfer over in a similar manner, with the design of the Mazda making the jump from GT Sport more or less as-is. Much of the internal material-work - chair fabric, the rubberised wheel, LEDs, and even rear-view screen, are matched between the two. Still, GT7's rendering has an advantage: we're getting a native 3840x2160 image from the trailer as opposed to PS4 Pro's checkerboarded 1800p target.
The jump is standout - and ray tracing makes a difference too. An overview of the garage reveals a huge focus on ray traced reflections - rather than simply settling for RT shadows. Chrome materials, and even opaque window surfaces reflect the environment with more nuance than we've ever seen on console. Each vehicle even reflects its own details as we pan around their polished chassis. This is the real deal. The caveat is that these reflected elements run at a lowered resolution of circa-1080p in this trailer. It ends up giving portions of the screen an aliased look, within an overall higher-res picture, with almost checkerboard-esque artefacts. Still, it's a huge leap over the screen-space reflections of Sport - where artefacts could creep in with objects occluding the reflecting material. This is just one example of how PS5 can leverage a form of ray-tracing, while keeping 4K and 60fps, and it really impresses.