“I Partly Saved Gran Turismo’s Fate”, Says Shuhei Yoshida

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"Crashing at the first turn". Truthfully, that's every inexperienced GT player's first time, even with the game being toned down. First time my mother and brother both played it they crashed. Admittedly they didn't start playing until the GT Sport, which is certainly much more advanced than the PS1 titles.
 
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Considering most racing games allowed cars to corner at insane speeds and the accelerator and brake buttons were on and off switches, it would have been fun to see those early trials. Breathe. Phwhewww.
 
It's a sad that Kazunori forgot he wanted to create a top-tier simulator and ended up giving the niche away to titles like Assetto Corsa and iRacing. I also hate the claim that "realistic = difficult". It all depends on how controllers and driving assists are implemented. Take the first Assetto Corsa as an example — if you download gamepad assist mod, it becomes no harder to play than Forza Horizon.
 
RobertHammer
i cant even imagine PS1 game having realistic handling , would be that even possible at that time? :D
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There was a now largely forgotten Gran Turismo rival on the PS2 called Enthusia that had much more realistic driving physics than any GT title at the time. Great game but hard to play for any casual gamer. A victim of its own success (as a driving simulator) as it largely sunk without a trace.
 
I wonder if Kaz assured Sony "look there's a whole tutorial called license tests"
But that consumer test meeting must've been real awkward lol
 
TheCracker
There was a now largely forgotten Gran Turismo rival on the PS2 called Enthusia that had much more realistic driving physics than any GT title at the time. Great game but hard to play for any casual gamer. A victim of its own success (as a driving simulator) as it largely sunk without a trace.
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I think it's best to remember these are PS1 and 2 games we're talking about. Meaning with no triggers there's no good way to have three simultaneous analog inputs for steering+accelerator+brake.

So even if the underlying physics were realistic, playing them wasn't because, for the 99.9% of people playing on a controller, your only possible pedal inputs were either X and Square (pressure sensitive, but you'd need impossibly fine motor control) or the right-analog stick (you can't trailbrake).

A game that didn't work with those inputs at the time wasn't "realistic", it would just be a bad game.
 
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Nakano219
I think it's best to remember these are PS1 and 2 games we're talking about. Meaning with no triggers there's no good way to have three simultaneous analog inputs for steering+accelerator+brake.

So even if the underlying physics were realistic, playing them wasn't because, for the 99.9% of people playing on a controller, your only possible pedal inputs were either X and Square (pressure sensitive, but you'd need impossibly fine motor control) or the right-analog stick (you can't trailbrake).

A game that didn't work with those inputs at the time wasn't "realistic", it would just be a bad game.
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That was the real issue with Enthusia. Unless you used a wheel.

Front and all wheel drive cars were easy enough to handle, but with RWD sudden oversteer was tricky to modulate with a controller.
 
Nakano219
I think it's best to remember these are PS1 and 2 games we're talking about. Meaning with no triggers there's no good way to have three simultaneous analog inputs for steering+accelerator+brake.

So even if the underlying physics were realistic, playing them wasn't because, for the 99.9% of people playing on a controller, your only possible pedal inputs were either X and Square (pressure sensitive, but you'd need impossibly fine motor control) or the right-analog stick (you can't trailbrake).

A game that didn't work with those inputs at the time wasn't "realistic", it would just be a bad game.
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Of course with Shu specifically referring to the first game, there were originally no analog sticks.

I'm quite glad of his input. Even with the toned-down realism I still crashed a lot with that first game. It was quite the experience coming from Ridge Racer.
 
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Fezzik
Of course with Shu specifically referring to the first game, there were originally no analog sticks.

I'm quite glad of his input. Even with the toned-down realism I still crashed a lot with that first game. It was quite the experience coming from Ridge Racer.
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By the time the first Gran Turismo was released, in December 1997 in Japan and May 1998 in the West, several analog controllers were already available.
The NeGcon controller, released by Namco almost at the console's launch, had an analog twist joint and 3 pressure-sensitive analog buttons that allowed for simultaneous analog control of steering, acceleration, and braking.
Sony had already launched the Dual Analog controller in 1997 with a dual-stick configuration, and in just about a year, it was replaced by the DualShock, which added vibration functionality to the 2 analog sticks and was included as the default controller in console bundles from that year onwards.
The majority of PlayStations sold included the DualShock (approximately 70% of PlayStations had the DualShock as their default controller).
The first Gran Turismo had specific control profiles for both the NeGcon and the Dual Analog, and GT2 was already designed with the DualShock in mind.
 
Freeman_Cruz
By the time the first Gran Turismo was released, in December 1997 in Japan and May 1998 in the West, several analog controllers were already available.
The NeGcon controller, released by Namco almost at the console's launch, had an analog twist joint and 3 pressure-sensitive analog buttons that allowed for simultaneous analog control of steering, acceleration, and braking.
Sony had already launched the Dual Analog controller in 1997 with a dual-stick configuration, and in just about a year, it was replaced by the DualShock, which added vibration functionality to the 2 analog sticks and was included as the default controller in console bundles from that year onwards.
The majority of PlayStations sold included the DualShock (approximately 70% of PlayStations had the DualShock as their default controller).
The first Gran Turismo had specific control profiles for both the NeGcon and the Dual Analog, and GT2 was already designed with the DualShock in mind.
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No fancy stuff for me, I was one of the digital OGs who played stickless on one of these

PSX-Original-Controller.jpg
 
By the time I bought a PS1 (I'd bought a Saturn first) the original analogue had come out so I got one of them. I've never used anything but analogue controls since then.
 
NIKOLAUNCH
It's a sad that Kazunori forgot he wanted to create a top-tier simulator and ended up giving the niche away to titles like Assetto Corsa and iRacing. I also hate the claim that "realistic = difficult". It all depends on how controllers and driving assists are implemented. Take the first Assetto Corsa as an example — if you download gamepad assist mod, it becomes no harder to play than Forza Horizon.
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I would read differently. Without the success of Gran Turismo, AC and iR likely don't come to console.

Gran Turismo effectively created the genre of the "Driving Game" on console.

Sim racing existed before PlayStation; I'm just talking about the success of this type of game on things like the PlayStation, Sega Saturn/Dreamcast/32, N64, etc.
Fezzik
Of course with Shu specifically referring to the first game, there were originally no analog sticks.

I'm quite glad of his input. Even with the toned-down realism I still crashed a lot with that first game. It was quite the experience coming from Ridge Racer.
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I feel so seen!

That said, my first PlayStation was a gift from a couple I was friends with, and it came w/ Gran Turismo. I've never looked back.

Had the analog sticks by the way. Only way I drove until my first wheel: Logitech Driving Force.
HarVee
So weird seeing a game controller without joysticks. Definitely takes me back in time with that.
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Atari Night Driver would like a word . . . :lol:
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I feel you, however.
 
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Revengel
Gran Turismo effectively created the genre of the "Driving Game" on console.
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What Gran Turismo did (very successfully and to their absolute credit) was codify and extremely popularize the Gran Turismo-style gameplay loop after a handful of developers had toyed with the fringes of that kind of progression structure at much smaller scale (Rage Racer, Road Rash and even Super Hang On). EA famously spent the next 5 years fiddling back and forth with what they wanted NFS to be before finally deciding to have Hot Pursuit II be the franchise' gameplay template; and other publishers doing things like that would have factored into management decisions like Yoshida's with GT1's development considering how expensive it had to be at the time.
 
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Tornado
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This immediately took me back! Thank you for the trip!
Tornado
What Gran Turismo did (very successfully and to their absolute credit) was codify and extremely popularize the Gran Turismo-style gameplay loop after a handful of developers had toyed with the fringes of that kind of progression structure at much smaller scale (Rage Racer, Road Rash and even Super Hang On).
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First off - full marks for Armitage III. Full marks.

Second, these games did exist but were still not as focused on the "realistic" approach as Gran Turismo . . . but they tried to a point.

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E.G. Accolate Presents Test Drive (on Commodore 64 no less!) used what tools were available to provide the experience of driving known cars.

Where Gran Turismo I believe is different isn't as much the endorsements, cars used, etc. it's the (not fully to be sure) commitment to realism that - and I was a fan of Ridge Racer - others didn't exhibit.


Now excuse me while I consider changing my avatar to Priss Asagiri.
 
The amount of just universe timing and stars aligning for any revered game is mental.

There is this small pioneer set of games that do something out there like graphics or game play or marketing or physics or game narrative.

And there are countless games in this space as gaming was still evolving at the rate of computing, pc and console distribution (and power)

Then you have these utter masterpieces that were sometimes the whole package other times something else (limbo/journey/wipeout hd etc)

Having played GT from the first PAL release, it coincided with me subscribing to Max Power, Fast car, Revs and using dial up to watch the top secret supra get pulled over on the newly opened A1 near Peterborough doing 200mph

From then the game sort of grew with me, I got a job I “max powered” (stickers and splinters) my first few cars, went to loads of tuning shows. JDM stuff was still very exotic or farmers had them back then (the Justy 4WD was a very capable little miniature pick up especially in Europe)

Then weirdly we get to this GT4/5 world where my maturity both driving and appreciating cars generally again lined up with a title that had “normal beemers, normal ish Audis, estate cars a couple of performance/concept SUVs” these are things i could relate to and also apply my road driving experience to driving them etc.

All this goes back to both the deliberate and social times in those periods. GT/PD has capitalised massively on that but probably dropping a bit off of the current and near trends now, I’d imagine for game play reasons….nobody wants lane departure warnings, voiced limit warnings and auto braking etc 🤣

The universe will change every generation or 2 I’d imagine but GT while it has a massive back catalogue of iconic cars for loads of reasons not just fast etc. there will be a generation soon where cars aren’t important, the memories we have of these cars will disappear as there are so few examples to drive, the new cars won’t be chasing the characteristics.

PD has been very lucky and smart about riding some of these car and cultural waves, I do wonder where we go after the next game? Drone racing? Full on autonomous racing and we just ride for the show or issue b-spec commands?

Just some idle thoughts.
 
ScottPuss20
I don't really know why this is newsworthy.
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Remember when Kaz said car sounds were too realistic? To players, the cars sounded like "washing machines". Remember those complaints?
I can't recall the exact reason, but I think Kaz said the sounds were realistic for the upper rev range(somebody help me)?

Dialling back the physics was probably like that. We can't even imagine how the franchise would have been had Kaz' vision with the original physics panned out.

Maybe Gran Turismo would have been a flop and the first game may have been the only game. Then, maybe we would only know Kaz as the real Flora and Fauna simulator guy.
 
Back then, I saw the release of the first Gran Turismo as an evolution of Penny Racers (ChoroQ in Japan). The championship system and the mechanics of earning money to improve the various parts of the vehicle, along with the "pseudo-tuning" to adapt to the circuits and the recreation of well-known 90s automobiles (Supra, Skyline, Celica), mainly Japanese ones, felt quite similar to me.

Penny Racers.jpg



In my head, Yamauchi, who at that time was launching Motor Toon GP, saw ChoroQ and said, "I also want my next game to have real cars." Furthermore, Penny Racers is a line of model cars from Takara/Tomica that has been related to Gran Turismo from the beginning. For the modeling of the cars in the games, they now use a laser scanning system or direct 3D models from the manufacturer, but in those days, the 3D models were based on scale models like those from Takara. There are many photos of Polyphony's studios full of boxes of Takara models, and even on one occasion, Takara's copyright mark slipped into the textures of the undercarriage of a car in GT5.
 

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