Gran Turismo 7 and Me: An Autoethnographic Approach toLudic Subjectivity

Building on the concept of the implied player (Aarseth 2003) as an element of a game's structure of meaning, the theory of ludic subjectivity (Vella 2015; 2016) highlights how, through its formal structures, a game establishes a ludic subject-position from which the player is invited to inhabit and engage with the game.Drawing upon phenomenology and existential philosophy, this theory considers how, by inhabiting this subject-position and existing in, and towards, the game from this position, the player enacts a ludic self that takes shape through their actions and choices, and that embodies a particular comportment or way of being equally determined by the game's formal structures and the player's disposition.