Gran Turismo 7: The new 120 Hz modes change everything

Gran Turismo 7 is one of the most extensive racing games of all time, with hundreds of cars, dozens of tracks and RT reflections on the PS5. However, the support for 120 Hz and explicit VRR was previously missing, at least until the release of the latest patch with version number 1.31. What tradeoffs are necessary to support 120Hz and VRR? And are full 120 fps even possible? We tested the game to find out.

First of all, it is important to approach the matter with the right expectations. When developers talk about 120Hz support, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the game will run at a full 120fps. There are many titles that run at “up to” 120fps, but what you actually get is an unlocked framerate in 120Hz mode, which often falls short of the target. That’s what I expected from Gran Turismo 7 too, but the patch is actually much more interesting than that.

Patch 1.31 adds four new graphics modes to the racing game. One has a choice of resolution or frame rate mode at 120Hz, for two options, but this multiplies to four as enabling or disabling VRR in the system menu gives very different results.

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In 120Hz framerate mode with no VRR, the 120fps target is reached almost the entire time during the race, even in intense 20-car battles, but expect drops down to 80fps in replays or menus. It’s a little frustrating, but acceptable. However, the resolution is significantly reduced in order to achieve this and is often around 1260p, just above Full HD.

It’s quite similar in resolution mode at 120Hz, although more extreme conditions like rain and lots of cars on screen can cause a more noticeable drop in frame rate. Outside of gameplay, frame rates are worse than running, with dips to as low as 50 fps in replays. In return, you get a higher resolution of 1440p.

Unfortunately, both modes are hampered somewhat by GT7’s anti-aliasing, which struggles with the lower base pixel counts and doesn’t result in great-looking cars or environments. Replays look better though, which makes sense given the lower performance, maybe at or close to 4K.

Neither mode offers the RT reflections that Resolution mode offers at 60Hz, although other visual settings are mostly virtually identical to the “full” 60Hz PS5 experience. However, I did notice a slight difference in the apparent draw distance of grass, although this may be related to the rendering resolution. This means that while we’re pretty close to the PS4 version in terms of pixel counts, the density of foliage and crowds in the game world are much more respectable than the last-gen version of the game. In-game UI elements also appear to render at a sub-4K resolution with these modes, with quite a bit of aliasing on the in-game text elements. It’s not too bad, but it’s noticeable.

Enabling VRR doesn’t change much of the basic visual design of the title in most games, especially if the game doesn’t have an explicit, proper VRR setting, but GT7 isn’t like most games. While there is no VRR toggle in the menus, with VRR enabled in the system settings and 120Hz the game runs very differently.

In short, enabling VRR increases resolutions across the board and relies on the display to compensate for any frame rate fluctuations through variable refresh rates, resulting in improved visual results.

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This works pretty well, the framerate mode in VRR seems pretty similar to its non-VRR counterpart in terms of performance, at almost a solid 120fps, only dropping a bit in wet races, while the resolution jumps from 1260p to 1440p. Without special gear, it’s hard to notice these frame drops, so it’s worth it for the slight increase in resolution.

The resolution option in VRR is even more interesting. At first glance, performance may seem disappointing, with typical gameplay frame rates ranging from 70 to 100 fps while replays regularly hit the 50 mark. However, that’s because the game is rendered in full 4K resolution here, offering a seemingly identical presentation as in 60Hz mode. Image quality is generally very nice and sharp, with a bit of aliasing on certain edges, but overall very good looking.

While the increase in responsiveness isn’t huge here, any framerate drift is masked by VRR and it’s still an improvement over the standard 60Hz experience, so it’s worth enabling. The only concession is the lack of ray tracing support, which makes the replays look a little less satisfying than they otherwise would.

Polyphony’s approach to the VRR/non-VRR split is pretty clever, prioritizing image quality on variable refresh rate screens and stable frame rates on more common screens. My only complaint is that this is not made particularly clear to the user. Therefore, more selective players will need to consult online resources to find out that some of these options even exist.

While the patch offers some great new options for those playing on a TV or monitor, VR users won’t benefit. The game still runs at 60 fps and reprojection on PSVR2. It would make sense to offer a higher framerate option given that the headset supports up to 120Hz, so maybe we’ll see that in the future. For now, though, GT7 remains a great VR experience that plays brilliantly.

Interestingly, this patch may in some way result from the work that was required to bring GT7 to PSVR2. Finally, 60fps on two screens can have similar GPU requirements as 120fps on one screen. If that’s the case, it might come as a bit of a surprise that the solution seems so simple. Lower the resolution and disable the ray tracing effect and the game seems to work fine at high framerates.

If you want a recommendation, my personal favorite among the visual options available is the resolution mode coupled with VRR. While you don’t get a full 120fps here, you still retain a high pixel count and the smoother gaming experience is noticeable compared to the regular 60fps gaming experience. For users with VRR screens, this is a very balanced option.

The other visual settings – the framerate mode with and without VRR and the resolution mode without VRR – all target a true 120 fps during typical gameplay. This works well enough, but the image quality trade-offs hurt quite a bit, so I don’t think the typical gamer would prefer these over resolution VRR mode or the standard 60fps options.

However, competitive and professional-minded players may have other priorities. We spoke briefly to the British racing game YouTuber Super GT and he said that with the 120Hz modes (note: he doesn’t have a VRR screen) he “felt the quality was noticeably worse”, so he went back to 60Hz. It will be interesting to see whether we will see a similar mindset from other high-level drivers as the update and its variations become more widely known.

Either way, it’s great to see that Gran Turismo 7 finally supports the PS5’s advanced display capabilities. Note, however, that there are four actual options here, with some very substantive differences that unfortunately aren’t as well documented. This is something that could definitely be improved in future updates to give users the best possible choice of which option they want.

Originally by Oliver Mackenzie, Freelance Editor, Eurogamer.net