Playstation exclusive Gran Turismo 7 is a pure racing sim, Wylde Flowers is more than your average farming sim, Xbox reveals a mentoring program for women.

Gran Turismo 7 a glorious celebration of auto racing

The latest edition of Playstation’s racing sim, Gran Turismo 7 is made for the purists.

This is not an arcade racer. There’s no larger narrative to provide an excuse to play. Gran Turismo is about driving cars as fast as possible on virtual versions of the world’s most exciting race tracks.

I was stunned by the photo realism in this game from developer Polyphony Digital. There were moments when I was sure I was watching live racing coverage, not playing a video game.

Playing on the PS5 confused me even more because the feeling of accelerating and braking was so tactile due to the adaptive triggers on the DualSense controller.

A true racing simulation, Gran Turismo 7 is available for PS4 and PS5 and you can play together with a friend on the same system, or online with up to 20 players. It’s available now, and if you’re a Playstation owner who likes to race cars, it’s waiting for you.

Wylde Flowers steps out of farming sim stereotype by adding witchcraft

A new game exclusive to Apple Arcade will appeal to fans of Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing.

Wylde Flowers puts players in the shoes of Tara, who has returned to the bucolic island where she grew up to look after her aging grandmother.

The light-hearted game, from Australian developer Studio Drydock, has similar gameplay to other life simulation games. You’ll tend a garden, go fishing, and take care of animals.

Where Wylde Flowers differs, though, is in the depth of the story. And the fact that Tara is actually a witch, complete with broom.

Other new games on Apple Arcade include Shadow Blade, an action-platformer about ninjas, and Monument Valley 2, a puzzle game in which you manipulate the architecture of Escher-like landscapes.

Xbox announces mentoring program for women in gaming

Yesterday was International Women’s Day, and March is Women’s History Month, an apt time for Microsoft and its Xbox division to reveal plans to support women in building careers in the video game industry.

Even before recent commitments by the company to scale the ‘culture of proactive inclusion’, the Xbox group has been supporting and celebrating the achievements of its female workforce through Women in Gaming and Women of Xbox groups in every territory.

And the company has women in key leadership and decision-making roles.

• Bonnie Ross runs 343 Industries, which is responsible for the Halo franchise, and Kiki Wolfkill manages transmedia for Halo.
• Helen Chiang is a corporate vice president overseeing Minecraft.
• Shannon Loftis, who helped create Fable and Viva Pinata, recently retired from leading World’s Edge, the studio making Age of Empires.
• Mary McGuane is a studio manager.
• Kim Swift is in a key role in the Cloud Gaming group.
• Louise O’Connor is an executive producer at Rare.
• Kate Rayner is head of technology at The Coalition in Vancouver.

And that’s only a few. There are many, many more.

The new mentoring program will connect these women and more with “aspiring talent through one-on-one coaching sessions to help foster career development for the next generation of leaders in gaming”.

More details of the program will be announced later this month.