It is turn based. Each turn taking anything from seconds (early in the game, knowing only the immediate surroundings of the single city, with zero known opponents) to multiple minutes (late in the game, having a complete planet as play area and >100 opponent cities). But in aggregate it's terribly easy to play for hours on end, often into the next morning.
I was asking more specifically why Civ 6 was worse than its predecessors, but I appreciate your answering. I see that there are now many comments detailing the shortcomings of 6.
