Gran Turismo 7 Reveals Key Difference Between PS4 and PS5 Versions
With the upcoming release of Gran Turismo 7, we will have some key differences between the PS4 and PS5 versions of the game
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The upcoming racing video game, Gran Turismo 7, is scheduled to release on March 4, 2022, making it the first-ever Gran Turismo game to have a dual console release — launching both on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. Of course, fans can expect several notable differences imposed by different system specifications. Still, those looking to obtain the physical copy of the PS4 version of the game should know that it ships on two Blu-Ray discs, in contrast to PS5’s version of the game that ships on a single disc. No, there’s no difference in content, or quality of the game, apart from the obvious differences in graphics. The difference lies in the discs themselves.
The news comes from GTplanet, a website dedicated to the Gran Turismo gaming series, stating the aforementioned differences in disc count, as reported by Comic Book. The reason behind the said difference is quite simple — PlayStation 5’s Ultra Blu-Ray discs have significantly more storage capacity when compared to PS4’s regular Blu-ray discs. For those who aren’t acquainted with the technology, PS4’s Blu-Ray uses standard single-layer and dual-layer Blu-Ray discs capable of storing 25GB and 50GB of data. However, PlayStation 5’s Ultra Blu-Ray (UBD) is slightly different: its pits and lands aren’t narrower as those of a standard Blu-Ray, but shorter, which increases the capacity of each layer from 25GB to 33.3 GB, allowing PS5’s triple-layer UBD’s to store up to 100GB of data per disc.
In addition to needing just one disc to play Gran Turismo 7, the game will take full advantage of PlayStation 5’s immense processing power. Gamers can expect 4K resolutions running at 60 frames-per-second, haptic feedback, and ray-tracing. PlayStation 4 version might miss some of these features, but Sony’s 10-year-old system’s graphics are still nice-looking by today’s standards, so we can expect to see an aesthetically pleasing game when Gran Turismo 7 launches in approx. two weeks. The game was previously leaked during its beta state, labeled as “PS5 only.” Then, however, Herman Hulst, head of PlayStation Studios, suggested that there might be a PlayStation 4 release — and his suggestions came true.
The dual release of Gran Turismo 7 is unprecedented in the series, as we previously had two GT games released on a single console due to their decade-long life span. But we never had a single Gran Turismo game dually released for different generations of Sony’s gaming hardware. This can be attributed to the fact that Sony’s latest gaming hardware, the elusive PlayStation 5, is quite difficult to come by due to the ongoing shortages of semiconductors, which are likely to extend into 2023. As a result, Sony decided to continue with dual releases of its titles, while PlayStation 4 console still remains in production, though only the Slim version.
Microsoft took a different approach in addressing the ongoing shortages by shutting down its production of Xbox one, the previous generation of its gaming hardware, and prioritized its production efforts on Xbox Series S over the Series X, which requires more semiconductive material to produce. That way, the company managed to keep at least one of its current consoles on the market, which could give it a competitive edge over Sony’s elusive console. Unfortunately, the upcoming Gran Turismo 7 won’t be available to Xbox gamers since it only launches for Sony’s gaming platforms.
