My favorite is easy as pie. Gran Turismo 7 is my favorite so far. V.R. + Sophy = 'nuff said.
Gran Turismo: Started the entire genre for all intents and purposes. It began my love affair with Grand Valley and license tests. I remember watching a Viper GTS and singing "As far from God . . . " based on the game. What a memory. It also introduced race mods. My favorite is still the Del Sol which was converted to a mid-engine turbocharged act. Ordered this in black w/ white stripes. Small aside, one of my characters in the world I write about drives this very car. It's nickname is the "De-La-Squirrell" driven by The Black Squirrell. It didn't hurt that Cubanate was on the soundtrack. I've been a fan since way before Gran Turismo was released; anyone who recognizes the KMFDM bumper sticker I have on every livery I create will understand my (musical) background. The family fortune was largely built by MitsuBishimon - my modified Mitsubishi GTO. Still love that car.
Gran Turismo 2: More of what Gran Turismo offered. "My Favorite Game" by The Cardigans (from their album titled
Gran Turismo) captured my view perfectly. There was the Vector W8 which I still miss, and the second iteration of the Del Sol Race Mod. This time the family fortune is built by Silver & Gold (named after a song by TRF) and I had more love for the Skyline GTR than I expected. I felt it improved on Gran Turismo in every way, and it brought in Tahiti Maze if I recall correctly. So far, Gran Turismo is in last place.
Gran Turismo 3 (A-spec): Better graphics, better console, you get the idea. Also my first with a wheel! Sunfire (RX-7 in Sunburst Yellow) was the founding car for me. Every time I hear Stone Temple Pilots I'm transported back to the Seattle track and I'm likely driving the Chevelle 454. The first game on a console meant a quantum leap in graphics and sound. Also I tried to do a 24 hour race with friends. It petered out, but the idea was cool! I drove like 12 hours.
Gran Turismo 4 - The Drive of Your Life: The best on PS2 by far. Rally. B-Spec. The Ford GT was the 'Cover Girl' for that one. B-Spec meant I could do a 24 hour race by myself. There were more cars to drive, more tracks than the previous entry, pictures I would spend hours taking (and exporting - somewhere on these forums is a black and white of Blu - my GTR that built the family fortune and I entered in a photo contest) and . . . just hours of enjoyment. It also has my favorite version of Moon Over the Castle: Synthetic Moon Over the Castle.
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue: Sucka Free Sundays! Finally got to drive with folks on this (and other) forums. While it wasn't a full game, it brought me into the world of online racing and lead me here (and to the TPRA and the Tunas, among other things) and deserves a happy spot just for that. While I was fast among the people I could race against in person, this showed that I was by no means an Alien; Prologue is actually when I learned this term.
Gran Turismo 5: Track Creator. It's the one thing I think
any Gran Turismo game has over the current entry. Also on the PlayStation 3 we have better graphics, but the ability to race online was still a new thing for me. After spending hours in the arcade playing Real Drivin', Race Drivin', Sega GT . . . shoot, even "Driver" on the Commodore Pet against other people, I could finally do that at home vs. someone in a different part of the world. Fabulous. I took the time to learn the Lamborghini Miura to the point that (sadly) I think I'm onee of the biggest reasons that car got banned from 500, 450, 400 and 350 pp lobbies (I was faster in that than any other car I drove.) Only the LFA was more vilified back then. The thing that still resonates in my mind to this day, however, are two tracks I created: Tuscan Crown (couldn't share because it was made before the update) and Thundercloud - my favorite track in the history of ever.
Please bring this back.
But there was also the exploit of sending yourself a car, reloading the save and getting free cars to sell. Save manipulation is why we have the online only situation we currently have. Like it or lump it, this is the reason.
Gran Turismo 6: Expanded on what we had in Gran Turismo 5 and there was the share paint/cars feature/fiasco. This is the edition I feel I got lucky with. There was a thread on GT Planet where people suggested cars for the next game. I offered two: The C2 '63 Corvette Split Window Sting Ray and the Ferrari 288 GTO. Got both of them in the 15th anniversary game. Great game and it brought me "The Girlfriend" aka my '84 GTO.
Gran Turismo Sport: Focused on online racing on PS4. Loved that game. It was streamlined for the online racing - that was the stated focus after all - and the single player aspect was tacked on later. But it did have the Livery editor, and I'm so glad I carried over as many as I did to Gran Turismo 7. It also brought me to my Monday ritual: watching
@Tidgney and the weekly race guides. So much goodness.