A Closer Look at Gran Turismo’s Newest Dirt Track, Fishermans Ranch

Arguably the biggest reveal at Gamescom in terms of GT Sport, Fishermans Ranch offers our first real look at rallying in the game. With the event now over, numerous videos have popped up, giving us a better idea of what this new track will provide players with come November.

The first thing we noticed about the off-screen gameplay up top (via DualShockers) is that this new track is long. Not Nürburgring-long, but the first full lap is over four minutes. Admittedly, that’s achieved with a few spins by the player, but even the Subaru piloted by the AI barely drops below the 240-second mark (according to the track map).

Fishermans Ranch also continues the Polyphony trend of very wide rally circuits. This may be a conscious design decision to better accommodate larger numbers of players in online races, which would give the track more of a rallycross feel. As is, it doesn’t appear to be targeting the WRC-style narrow, point-to-point rally experience offered by DiRT Rally or SLR Evo.

The video also offers our first look at the Polyphony-designed Group B cars in motion. That evocative name surely caught the eyes of players when it was first revealed a few months ago. While these cars don’t match the accelerative force of the 80’s examples, they’re nonetheless quite quick. The Lancer Evo the player is driving hits 100 km/h (62mph) in under four seconds, and crests 160 km/h (100mph) only three seconds later.

Gran-Turismo-Sport_2016_08-17-16_077

Polyphony’s nonintrusive cornering aid features in the video as well, offering clipping points via small green triangles. A simpler approach than the typical on-road driving line, it will be interesting to see how the system helps new players learn the intricacies of fast driving.

Unfortunately, with this being off-screen, we’re not able to get an idea of any improvements to the sound engine. Those will have to wait, it seems…

Gran Turismo Sport arrives on PlayStation 4 November 15 in Japan and North America, November 16 in Australia, and November 18 in Europe.

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Comments (33)

  1. Skidmark68

    So many good comments, people right on the ball with their opinions, and as far as I’m concerned different release date same old game!

  2. Samus

    The concrete tape is laughable. Colin Mcrae Rally 3 had destructible tape as a selling point….13 years ago.

  3. ScotteDawg

    I never have really been a fan of the “rally” stages in the GT series but, I did like the GT4 iteration of Tahiti… I’d love to see that back in the game! It was not wide in all sections and combined dirt with tarmac, giving it a more rally feel – to a degree. Also, GT3’s Smokey Mountain was quite good for the same reasons. And both were heavy on the detail side of things (for their time). If PD were to remaster those two tracks I’d be more impressed than I am with what’s currently on offer!

    As for these invisible barriers… What a load of tripe! If they’re going to be there, at least push them further out to 3 – 5 metres (roughly 10 – 16.5 feet)! Let us make mistakes and damage our cars, be it hitting a ditch at high speed, hitting a sign or even slamming into the base of a grandstand. Of course, in order to keep it age appropriate, spectators will move out of the way at superhuman speeds, but we can all deal with that…

    Also, could Seattle be making a comeback? https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/gt-sport-trailers-videos-and-screenshots.331389/page-154

  4. thegt500

    Wow ! Things still haven’t progressed down at PD. Still the same granite, immovable mesh fencing that we’ve always had ! DiRT Rally at least gives you some leeway when you go wide or cut with deformable fencing or billboards. If you run into a sign or fence in DiRT, it will give a little and pull the car into a ditch, tree or whatever. Looks like it’s the same old story from GT with roadside furniture that WILL NOT yield and if you are unfortunate to touch anything, will either stop you dead in your tracks, or send you into an uncontrollable spin.
    C’mon PD, at least try to make it a bit realistic if you do hit something other than Aramco, steel or stone ! That orange netting wouldn’t stop a kiddie on a bicycle, let alone half a ton of rally car at 100mph !
    If you want to live up to your title of ‘The real driving simulator’ at least try to be realistic in the basics first.

  5. FLX1981

    That has got to be the meh-est racing game video I have ever seen. I cant even begin to say how apalling the physics and course design look. There is no gameplay progression whatsoever, this is GT5 with prettier graphics. But good lighting doesnt make a good game.

  6. Tyger

    Looks like the same wonky grip physics, more like driving a hovercraft than a car, and a track a mile wide to compensate for it. OK dirt tracks offer less grip than tarmac but not THAT much less grip, sheesh. No sign of mud, water and other differences in the surface to mix things up. Same impenetrable plastic netting at the side of the road. I’m not a hater, I love the GT franchise but don’t PD even take on board games like Dirt Rally and even the offroading in Forza Horizon and see how the physics and handling could be so much better?

  7. breyzipp

    LOL @ bumping into these “concrete” nets on the side of the road… Or how to take immersion away almost completely.

    Also what is going on with all this fictional nonsense? Vision GT? Now fictional group B rally cars? What’s the matter Kaz, are you afraid to try to implement a REAL group B rally car so that we have the real sound of these machines as a reference?

    The only thing that looked marginally impressive was the dust from the car ahead of you. For the rest…. boring.

  8. celtiscorpion73

    Honestly, I got bored watching the video. I know it’s always better when you’re the one playing the game, but this doesn’t seem to thrill me at all. Guess I’d have to play it to really get a feel for it though. I would love to see a real-world rally course on here, like the Baja 1000 course, instead of all the ones they dream up.

  9. hardvibes

    Lol we still have the same indestructible barriers. What if there are no barriers? Same as the old GT games?

  10. rallymorten

    I’m actually positively looking forward to this. It generally has a very Safari Rally-ish vibe to it, mixed with some of the ultra high speeds and jumps from Finland and the banked corners from New Zealand. Yes, the roads are still very wide, the speeds may still be just a little high and the scenery a bit bland, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be good, let alone good with multiple cars on the track at once. Besides, surprise! Not every rally is set on a narrow, twisting mountain road.

  11. pascalf1

    To anyone who says this doesn’t look like GT6 : you are fooling yourself big time.

    Yes, graphics will be better, but everything else just looks GT6. And GT6 looked like GT5…

    1. GTEFGHA

      Cars look better, tracks look better, lighting is better… Can you provide examples of some things that look like GT6 or are you just fooling yourself?

    2. pascalf1

      Yes : gameplay looks exactly the same.

      I also appreciate how plastic barriers are still made of concrete in 2016 on a rally course!

    3. Leggacy

      Err… It’s a racing game, what were you expecting in terms of gameplay? Shooting frikin’ laser beams out of the headlights?
      I think you fooled yourself in to thinking you had a valid point. =D

    4. pascalf1

      The feel of the cars in Forza is not the same as GT or the same as Project Cars.

      So even though they all claim to be simulations (specially GT), they don’t all feel the same. Hence gameplay.

      You are, you know, playing a game.

    5. GTEFGHA

      That is true gameplay looks a lot like GT6 with the exception of camera movement…
      But is that necessarily a bad thing?

    6. pascalf1

      I’m glad to see that comments above my comment seem to agree with me… :)

      It looks meh…plain and simple.

  12. karelpipa

    I dont know why they keep creating ”new” tracks, (this looks like from course creator) and dont bring back the old ones?!

    1. Ben Rogue

      Exactly, it looks like it’d take 5min to throw together in course makes, yet heaps of classic circuits aren’t getting any attention. I’m glad they brought back a couple in GT6, we want the rest too!

    2. MeanElf

      Maybe there will be older tracks too – you can’t just keep recycling the same tracks without people getting bored. Also, PD would have access to the stats and figures from the last two remastered tracks they made and so would know how often they got used, ergo: how worthwhile remastering actually is.

  13. Ben Rogue

    I’m really not liking the new racing line markers, they don’t seem very well implemented. Hopefully they’ll still have the GT6 style guiding line. I don’t use it very often, just with new tracks I’m unfamiliar with and when doing endurance races, to help me when I loose concentration.

    1. Ben Rogue

      Also don’t like GT’s rally tracks at all! They just don’t feel realistic in any way. Super wide, flat roads, bland landscapes and poor road feel makes it seem like a second thought

  14. CRXFREAK001

    I swear that I heard the tire screeches in the background on the other machines that were from the last 6 gran turismos, I Really truly hope the sound is improved to a better standard and that my ears were hearing things..

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