Both Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport are massive franchises, and their intense rivalry has been going on for ages. The current games of these franchises have brought this fierce rivalry to the modern age of racing games.
Gran Turismo 7 and Forza Motorsport are both track-focused sim racing games, with a focus on realistic motorsport racing. Both games have dedicated fan bases that are ready to fight over which game is better.
To a new player, both games look pretty identical; however, these games are vastly different under the hood, and that’s what this article is about. I am not here to tell you which game is better, but I will compare these games and help you decide which one you should try playing.
Platform Accessibility
The biggest issue with both games, but more for Gran Turismo 7, is the limited platform support. Much like previous GT Games, Gran Turismo 7 is a PlayStation 5 exclusive and cannot be played on any other platform. On the other hand, Forza Motorsport is available on Xbox Series X/S and PC.
There is currently no official news on whether Gran Turismo 7 will be released on PC or if Forza Motorsport will be released for the PS5.
Unless you own both a PS5 and a PC, you can’t really play both games. I know that this fact does not make one game better than the other, but it is a deciding factor for many people.
Graphics And Visuals
The visual fidelity of a game is a major decision-maker for most people. If the game looks good, it’s fun to play as well (well, it doesn’t hurt, at the very least).
In terms of graphics, both games look stunning and ultra-realistic. The car models are detailed, the tracks look beautiful to drive on, and much more. Both games look fantastic. However, Forza Motorsport is slightly better, mainly because of the consistency in visuals over different conditions.
Forza Motorsport has a very desaturated look, which looks like a simracer. On the other hand, Gran Turismo 7 is very vibrant and poppy with its colors. Of course, this is personal preference, but I prefer a raw and desaturated look in my racing games.
But, where Forza Motorsport really shines is in nighttime and wet racing. The game looks phenomenal at night, whereas Gran Turismo 7 is quite poor at nighttime racing. For some reason, the tracks aren’t lit at night, so you can’t see anything if you are racing at night.
It’s pretty much the same story for wet races. The third-person view in wet races in GT7 is awful. Forza is much better in this scenario. To sum up, in normal daylight conditions, both games look great, but Forza Motorsport has the edge in other conditions.
Graphics are quite subjective, so there isn’t much to debate about. You can pick either of these games, and they both look great.
Physics
Driving physics are the most important aspect of simcade or sim racing games. Even if the game looks extremely realistic, if the developers fail to nail the driving physics, it’s not much fun to play.
Both Gran Turismo 7 and Forza Motorsport feel realistic. It’s important to mention that these games aren’t hardcore sim racers like iRacing or rFactor 2, simcade is the term you would use for these games.
Objectively speaking, Gran Turismo 7 has slightly better physics than Forza Motorsport, especially if you are playing on a wheel. The game translates things like kerbs, bumps on the road, and the loss of grip to the wheel better than Forza Motorsport.
With Forza Motorsport, you have to do a lot of tinkering and tweaking to find the right balance of feedback. It takes a lot of experimenting to find the perfect settings.
But the controller experience is marginally better on Forza Motorsport than on GT7. The former somehow has nailed the controller gameplay, which is very fun. Gran Turismo 7, on the contrary, is very much behind in this aspect.
Apart from that, both games have great driving physics. Gran Turismo 7 is great from the get-go, whereas Forza Motorsport requires some tweaking to get it working right.
Content
Both Forza Motorsport and Gran Turismo 7 are massive games filled with content. In terms of cars and tracks, both games have a lot of variety for you to enjoy.
Both games have iconic real-life tracks like Spa, Silverstone, Le Mans, etc, along with their own fictional tracks like Maple Valley Raceway for Forza and Kyoto Driving Park for Gran Turismo 7. Of course, there are some tracks that one game lacks while the other doesn’t. But, overall, in terms of circuits, both games have enough.
In terms of cars, both games are pretty equal. They have a variety of manufacturers and a lot of cars to play with. Forza Motorsport has a slight edge as it features newer models for a lot of cars, whereas GT7 still has older car models. But GT7’s car acquisition is much better than Forza Motorsport.
For single-player content, I personally prefer Forza’s Builder Cup. It’s a Car-RPG style mode where you “level up” cars to unlock parts. Plus, seasonal tours and Challenge Hub add replayable content.
On the other hand, GT7 has GT Café (the “menu books” collect & reward you; the Café is the game’s campaign/progression hub). Completing Café menu books unlocks cars and game features. GT7 also retains classic GT modes (Driving School, Championships, Special Events),
It’s also important to mention that Forza Motorsports Career and single-player content can also be played offline, whereas in GT7, many modes require an online connection. Multiplayer is more or less the same in both games. However, Forza Motorsport makes multiplayer a lot more accessible.
Lastly, car customization, in this aspect, Gran Turismo 7 has always been superior. The game has always been about cars and how you can personalize them and make your own racing monsters. This doesn’t mean Forza Motorsport has poor customization, but GT7 is just better in this regard.
The Little Things
There are a lot of other things that can’t have their own headings but are worth talking about. We have already discussed the key differences between both games; this is mainly little things that one game does better than the other.
For example, Gran Turismo 7 has a better UI compared to Forza Motorsport. Every menu and screen has a consistent design and looks racey. Especially, the car customization UI is marginally better than Forza’s. Similarly, when you are racing, the HUD is much better in Gran Turismo 7 than in Forza Motorsport. Gran Turismo 7 also has split-screen support that Forza Motorsport lacks.
Another thing is driving assists. Forza Motorsport does a good job of providing enough driving assists to ease new players in without holding their hands too much. It’s one of the things that I personally liked when I started playing Forza Motorsport.
Verdict
In the end, Gran Turismo 7 comes out as the more polished and complete package, with sharper physics, better customization, and that classic GT flair. But Forza Motorsport holds its own with stunning weather visuals, smoother controller play, and a fresh career system. GT7 is the choice for tradition and refinement, while Forza is perfect if you want variety, flexibility, and a modern edge.
