What Is It That Makes Gran Turismo...Gran Turismo to You?

[Terronium-12]

We have the The Little Things That Annoy You, as well as the Little Things You Love About GT, now you have this thread where the key focal point(s) will be what makes a GT game...a GT game to you?

I have quite the history with Gran Turismo. Ask anyone who knows me well enough and they'll tell you GT2 is my favorite in the franchise, bar none. GT4 comes second (I call it GT 2+2 because it's an on-the-nose literal joke, and because I'm a dumbass ), with GT3 in there as well. Probably my personal top three out of everything.

Having said that, Gran Turismo 7 has proven itself less than stellar to quite the bunch of us, even when compared to GT Sport, which very well should have been the measuring stick. How Sport has GT League races — being a primarily esports-focused title — and this one doesn't is an error I simply cannot comprehend. GT7 has virtually everything at its disposal to pick up where things left off, but it trips over its own feet on the way there, and proceeded down a detour and is now lost.

Not the prettiest metaphor but it gets the job done.

What makes a Gran Turismo game to me, you ask? Many things, really. The library of cars, the venue selection, the gameplay loop, knowing where and what to target and the journey to that point. It's also about appreciating cars as a whole and that they're simply more than machines meant for getting a person from Points A to B; there's a liveliness to them. A freedom only cars can afford, and the excitement to go along with it. I feel this is precisely where the current crop of games get caught up, trying to recreate the feeling of owning and pursuing a car with such laser focus that the rest of the presentation suffers as a result.

For a more relative, picturesque example: what makes a Gran Turismo game is its gameplay loop. Take the Dream Car Championship from GT3 for example. A series of 7 races (bring back SSR11, please), with unique LM Edition variants of real-life cars, and of course the ZZII. At the end of the championship, not only do you have a chance at any of the four reward cars (an actual chance because the prize carousel isn't fixed to a pre-determined outcome), you get a championship prize purse at the end — and that's the loop for every championship series in the game. Yes, you can win 6 of the 7 races, skip the last, and focus on getting the exact car you want but that's not the discussion here.

So, now I ask you: what makes a Gran Turismo game to you?

 

[SkyHigh]

the attention to 'useless' detail... stuff you wont see on other games. Before, it was the chill feeling of having your cars and tuning them to beat the faster ones. But since Sport, it's all about the polish for me

 

[05XR8]

.

 

[Darla Starch]

• less focus on supercars and hypercards of the last ten years, more on the oddballs of the automotive world
• slightly clinical presentation
• smooth jazzy music in the menus

 

[RacingFan1]

The smooth gameplay and smooth experience in general. You feel it's a work of love and not some generic game released by some corporation just to make money

 

[NickGuy]

the presentation and the gr3 cars

 

[Tenacious D]

Trying to think of what hasn't been mentioned...

Two more things for me are the way cars are presented to us, as if even the dinkiest of the dinkmobiles is a work of art to be admired. This reveals the heart of Kazunori as a man who is in love with the automobile, all of them.

The second is the music. It's an eclectic mix of stuff in almost every genre but prog rock, and even a touch of that here and there. And finally, the theme song is a rocking rendition of Moon Over The Castle! I've been asking for this for years, many of us have. The music sets the mood for everything from menus to replays and now, the way races are made into a grand production, like a big budget movie. There is nothing quite like it.

An additional thing for me is the atmosphere. The essence and soul of a Gran Turismo game is unique, like an epic Japanese RPG. GT5 was kind of the kibble for me, as outside of the missions and other challenges, we had to challenge ourselves in single player races by using a lower specced car. But even it had that essence that kept me playing for four years.

So now we have GT7, a game which in its core is rather small, but I experience each bit of it with anticipation and some delight, and wait expectantly for the added goodies coming in the future. There really isn't anything like Gran Turismo, and likely never will be.

 

[Animera]

Getting to race in cars I couldn't dream of driving in real life.
Starting with a crappy car and slowly improving it to progress.
Difficult licence tests and missions.
Seeing how good you are by competing in the GTP WRS.

 

[GranTurNismo]

More than anything else, the sheer quantity and variety of cars relative to other racing games.

 

[Supaboost]

Used to be getting cool cars modding them, running then in races championships and so on.

Now nothing. GT7 is hardley GT anymore other then graphics wise. Everything else has been ruined.

 

[SkylineObsession]

Dammit, why'd you have to make such a topic when there's GT fans like me in the room.

Hmmm, where do i start?

+ The car selection; The variety, the supercars, the race cars, the obscure models, the similar in almost every way models (like the S13 1800cc Silvia and the S13 2000cc Silvia back in the early games - personally i loved having a million MX5's, Silvia's, Skylines etc), the fast cars and the slow cars, the 'normal' cars (Demios, Aquas, Primeras, Odysseys etc), the big and the small cars and so on.

+ The tracks; Real ones, made up ones, city ones, gravel/snow ones, small ones (like the indoor and outdoor go kart tracks from past GT games), the silly ones (Toyota POD track, the moon, the indoor neon clad 'go kart' track), big ones (Nurburgring, the 27km long
Circuito de la Sierra etc).

+ The races; Sunday Cup, Clubman Cup, Polyphony Digital Cup, FF/FR/MR/4WD cups, Race Of NA (or Turbo) Sports, Boxer Spirit, Gran Turismo World Championship, Premium Sports Lounge, Like The Wind, plus all the endurance races at real and made up tracks. Here's just a few of the other races that need to come back to the game: http://www.gtseriescenter.com/GT4prizecars.htm

+ GT Auto; Car wash, oil change etc has been a part of GT since the beginning, so it's refreshing to have it return in GT7. With extras.

+ The Music; GT has always had a good variety of music, and doesn't even need to use well known tracks by well known artists - they usually somehow manage to do a great job in each game for the menu, race etc music. Some of the music has a very GT feel about it, since the beginning of the games (like the menu music in campaign mode in GT Sport).

+ The Quirkiness; GT doesn't always take itself too seriously, with a monkey on a branch on almost/every version of Trial Mountain in every GT game (plus a 'loch ness monster' in earlier Trial Mountains in the lake), Jenkins the cat appearing in some photomode locations (even being animated), the silly animations and music in GT Auto, some of the missions/licence tests/coffee breaks featured in the past games and so on.

+ The progression/career mode layout; The way the races are structured in most GT games since the beginning has just worked so well for me, and many others, in that you can choose what you want to do and in what order. You don't have a storyline or any other unnecessary nonsense, it's just choose your race event, choose your car and get out there. It's by far my preferred way of doing things, and unlike some games (Forza 5, 6 and 7) the races don't get repetitive feeling for me. I found them a chore to do in aforementioned Forza games, but not so in GT. And i can't figure out why?

+ The replays; Ever since the first game, GT's replays have been the best and most realistic looking out of every single other driving game i've ever played. They don't just focus on 'fake' floating follow-the-car type views, there is a lot more realistic looking/located trackside camera views which really help with the watchability factor.
GT is one of the VERY few car games where i watch replays, and ever since GT2 i've saved many, MANY replays because they are just so much fun to watch.

+ The racing; GT is literally the ONLY car/racing game where it, more often than not, doesn't bother me in the slightest if i don't finish the race on the podium. So long as i have a good clean race with the AI, i'm happy - in past games - to get fifth place, or - in latter games - to finish near the back of the grid. I can't explain this feeling! Every other game, like Forza etc, i do all i possibly can to get first place, including smashing other AI cars off the track, corner cutting and other such tactics. In GT games though i've never felt this way. I just enjoy the heck of of racing, and am happy to finish the race in whatever position i end up in, even in GT Sport and GT7.

+ The AI; This'll be a controversial statement, but i've found that by learning what the AI does, and is capable of, in each GT game, i've been able to have extremely fun and competitive races against them in every GT since GT2. Yes, they aren't perfect by a long shot, but if you adapt your driving and slow down a bit you too can (after learning their actions) have some pretty decent races. Scoff if you want, but i've been racing GT's AI this way for over 20 years, so i know what i'm talking about.
I know it seems (and essentially it is) like a bit of a backwards step to downgrade your own driving to adapt to the AI, but i've found some damn good races by doing this and as a result have poured hours of my life into playing this way. And if you're like me and love the replays, it's an extra added incentive to try adapt to the AI's way of racing, as it makes some pretty exciting looking replays.
The AI in latter games - aside from the annoying slow-down-when-too-close, and equally annoying rubber banding - has also dramatically improved, particularly in the way of collision avoidance (compared to older GT games where there was none).

+ The car accuracy/attention to detail; I have been saying this for 20+ years and continue to say it. GT has always been at the absolute top of the game in terms of car detailing/accuracy/attention to detail (exterior in particular). In GT1 and GT2, the polygoned car models were of a much more accurate, proportionate and realistic shape than what any other car game at the time was achieving. This trend has continued ever since, right up to the insane accuracy of models in GT Sport and GT7.
I've long thought that Polyphony can detail and 'get right' the car models more than all their competitors, and to date i've been proved right.

I will reference two particular examples when comparing the latest GT's to the latest Forzas.
== The R32 GT-R in Forza is still not proportionally correct. The front headlights are too large and un-detailed looking (even when compared to other cars in Forza that are new to the game) and they've basically looked this way since the early Forza's. The shape of the car also seems generally too round/bulky/bloated. Whereas GT Sport/7's version is the best i've ever seen (i've driven R32 GT-Rs in real life, and actually own two R32 non-GT-R cars myself - hence the name, so i consider myself an expert on this subject of accuracy). The interior is as accurate as i've ever seen too, even down to the silly wee details. I'm still blown away by it.

== And the other car is the Ferrari F50, my ultimate dream car. I've loved this car since the day i first saw it in 1995, and even though i've never seen one in person yet, i also consider myself somewhat of an 'expert' in how this car should look in games. And every single game i've played right up until GT Sport, i've never been happy with how it looks because of one simple part of the car - the back mesh (under the wing, where you can see the engine) with the Ferrari prancing horse logo. GT Sport/GT7 are the only games i've ever played where this mesh looks as close to realistic as i think is possible under the current graphics generation. Every other game seems to mess it up in some way, or 'lazy' out of it with a simple pattern.

If there's another game with those two cars in it that you think looks better/more accurate than GT's versions, please provide photo/video proof as i've yet to see anything that comes even close!
I know other games focus on getting as many cars as possible while GT focuses more on the details, and i'm actually completely fine with that, as it's what i've grown up with.

Anyway, i think that's covered the basics for me. I'd write more but have a two month old seeking my attention, so i guess you're all saved by the baby.
If i think of anything else later, i'll add to this post.

 

[B80]

Dammit, why'd you have to make such a topic when there's GT fans like me in the room.

Hmmm, where do i start?

+ The car selection; The variety, the supercars, the race cars, the obscure models, the similar in almost every way models (like the S13 1800cc Silvia and the S13 2000cc Silvia back in the early games - personally i loved having a million MX5's, Silvia's, Skylines etc), the fast cars and the slow cars, the 'normal' cars (Demios, Aquas, Primeras, Odysseys etc), the big and the small cars and so on.

+ The tracks; Real ones, made up ones, city ones, gravel/snow ones, small ones (like the indoor and outdoor go kart tracks from past GT games), the silly ones (Toyota POD track, the moon, the indoor neon clad 'go kart' track), big ones (Nurburgring, the 27km long
Circuito de la Sierra etc).

+ The races; Sunday Cup, Clubman Cup, Polyphony Digital Cup, FF/FR/MR/4WD cups, Race Of NA (or Turbo) Sports, Boxer Spirit, Gran Turismo World Championship, Premium Sports Lounge, Like The Wind, plus all the endurance races at real and made up tracks. Here's just a few of the other races that need to come back to the game: http://www.gtseriescenter.com/GT4prizecars.htm

+ GT Auto; Car wash, oil change etc has been a part of GT since the beginning, so it's refreshing to have it return in GT7. With extras.

+ The Music; GT has always had a good variety of music, and doesn't even need to use well known tracks by well known artists - they usually somehow manage to do a great job in each game for the menu, race etc music. Some of the music has a very GT feel about it, since the beginning of the games (like the menu music in campaign mode in GT Sport).

+ The Quirkiness; GT doesn't always take itself too seriously, with a monkey on a branch on almost/every version of Trial Mountain in every GT game (plus a 'loch ness monster' in earlier Trial Mountains in the lake), Jenkins the cat appearing in some photomode locations (even being animated), the silly animations and music in GT Auto, some of the missions/licence tests/coffee breaks featured in the past games and so on.

+ The progression/career mode layout; The way the races are structured in most GT games since the beginning has just worked so well for me, and many others, in that you can choose what you want to do and in what order. You don't have a storyline or any other unnecessary nonsense, it's just choose your race event, choose your car and get out there. It's by far my preferred way of doing things, and unlike some games (Forza 5, 6 and 7) the races don't get repetitive feeling for me. I found them a chore to do in aforementioned Forza games, but not so in GT. And i can't figure out why?

+ The replays; Ever since the first game, GT's replays have been the best and most realistic looking out of every single other driving game i've ever played. They don't just focus on 'fake' floating follow-the-car type views, there is a lot more realistic looking/located trackside camera views which really help with the watchability factor.
GT is one of the VERY few car games where i watch replays, and ever since GT2 i've saved many, MANY replays because they are just so much fun to watch.

+ The racing; GT is literally the ONLY car/racing game where it, more often than not, doesn't bother me in the slightest if i don't finish the race on the podium. So long as i have a good clean race with the AI, i'm happy - in past games - to get fifth place, or - in latter games - to finish near the back of the grid. I can't explain this feeling! Every other game, like Forza etc, i do all i possibly can to get first place, including smashing other AI cars off the track, corner cutting and other such tactics. In GT games though i've never felt this way. I just enjoy the heck of of racing, and am happy to finish the race in whatever position i end up in, even in GT Sport and GT7.

+ The AI; This'll be a controversial statement, but i've found that by learning what the AI does, and is capable of, in each GT game, i've been able to have extremely fun and competitive races against them in every GT since GT2. Yes, they aren't perfect by a long shot, but if you adapt your driving and slow down a bit you too can (after learning their actions) have some pretty decent races. Scoff if you want, but i've been racing GT's AI this way for over 20 years, so i know what i'm talking about.
I know it seems (and essentially it is) like a bit of a backwards step to downgrade your own driving to adapt to the AI, but i've found some damn good races by doing this and as a result have poured hours of my life into playing this way. And if you're like me and love the replays, it's an extra added incentive to try adapt to the AI's way of racing, as it makes some pretty exciting looking replays.
The AI in latter games - aside from the annoying slow-down-when-too-close, and equally annoying rubber banding - has also dramatically improved, particularly in the way of collision avoidance (compared to older GT games where there was none).

+ The car accuracy/attention to detail; I have been saying this for 20+ years and continue to say it. GT has always been at the absolute top of the game in terms of car detailing/accuracy/attention to detail (exterior in particular). In GT1 and GT2, the polygoned car models were of a much more accurate, proportionate and realistic shape than what any other car game at the time was achieving. This trend has continued ever since, right up to the insane accuracy of models in GT Sport and GT7.
I've long thought that Polyphony can detail and 'get right' the car models more than all their competitors, and to date i've been proved right.

I will reference two particular examples when comparing the latest GT's to the latest Forzas.
== The R32 GT-R in Forza is still not proportionally correct. The front headlights are too large and un-detailed looking (even when compared to other cars in Forza that are new to the game) and they've basically looked this way since the early Forza's. The shape of the car also seems generally too round/bulky/bloated. Whereas GT Sport/7's version is the best i've ever seen (i've driven R32 GT-Rs in real life, and actually own two R32 non-GT-R cars myself - hence the name, so i consider myself an expert on this subject of accuracy). The interior is as accurate as i've ever seen too, even down to the silly wee details. I'm still blown away by it.

== And the other car is the Ferrari F50, my ultimate dream car. I've loved this car since the day i first saw it in 1995, and even though i've never seen one in person yet, i also consider myself somewhat of an 'expert' in how this car should look in games. And every single game i've played right up until GT Sport, i've never been happy with how it looks because of one simple part of the car - the back mesh (under the wing, where you can see the engine) with the Ferrari prancing horse logo. GT Sport/GT7 are the only games i've ever played where this mesh looks as close to realistic as i think is possible under the current graphics generation. Every other game seems to mess it up in some way, or 'lazy' out of it with a simple pattern.

If there's another game with those two cars in it that you think looks better/more accurate than GT's versions, please provide photo/video proof as i've yet to see anything that comes even close!
I know other games focus on getting as many cars as possible while GT focuses more on the details, and i'm actually completely fine with that, as it's what i've grown up with.

Anyway, i think that's covered the basics for me. I'd write more but have a two month old seeking my attention, so i guess you're all saved by the baby.
If i think of anything else later, i'll add to this post.

Great Post, really encapsulates the series for me as well.

Really enjoyed fh5 and the odd other game, but as cheesy as it sounds GT will always hold a special place in my heart and be the 'one' when it comes to racing/car games.

Played it since GT1.

 

[Arkseven]

Basically this

​

Your car is literally YOUR car. There are a bazillion Camaros, but the one over there? That one is yours. You paint it, you can tune it and most importantly, you can race and feel proud about it!

 

[ScottPuss20]

The thing I like about Gran Turismo is the ownership and gameplay experience. Sim racers are good at providing authentic driving experiences but they're horrible as GAMES. No progression, no economy, no REWARD SYSTEM and no sense of ownership. You pick a car, pick a track and drive on it without any purpose or reason. Gran Turismo may not be as good from a driving perspective but earning money, buying a car, modifying it, taking it to the track, and taking photos of it more than makes up for some of the shortfalls in other areas. GT isn't the first or the last game that allows you to do this but the way in which is goes about it is unmatched in my opinion. The presentation, the odd vehicles, the descriptions, the music, the attention to detail and funny easter eggs add this level of charm that no other racing game has come close to emulating. The game is a celebration of the car and I love it for that reason.

 

[Mercia]

For me with GT it's that the driving experience is second to none and I don't say that from a point of demanding ultra realism, as while it does lean more towards realism than arcade it builds a handling model that embraces and immerses you in the fantasy of driving more so than the mundane realities of it.

While in later life I've come to demand more from the online racing side of the game it's the simple pleasure of taking a stock car onto a track and turning laps that feels so satisfying in GT in a way I've not experienced in any other title.

It's so smooth and every little detail is rewarding that it can be relaxing, calming almost.

 

[Oi Oi JC]

+ The Quirkiness; GT doesn't always take itself too seriously, with a monkey on a branch on almost/every version of Trial Mountain in every GT game (plus a 'loch ness monster' in earlier Trial Mountains in the lake), Jenkins the cat appearing in some photomode locations (even being animated), the silly animations and music in GT Auto, some of the missions/licence tests/coffee breaks featured in the past games and so on.

I've never noticed the monkey in the tree, I'll have to go looking now. I did notice the Kangaroo hopping alongside conrod straight on the 2nd lap of some of the Bathurst races in GT7. 😄

 

[SkylineObsession]

This video proves my point (?) about the rear mesh on the F50 being so realistically detailed compared to the F50 modelled in other games. And this was filmed back in GT Sport.

Fullscreen it for best effect.

 

[gnorman]

GT being car porn - a driving game that’s most in depth aspect is a photo mode.

Promising so much of what I want in a game and then not delivering.

Being a sandbox where you can play how you like.

Doing weird things - music rally, driving on the moon, car wash

Crap ai/poor race structure. No quali laps usually, chase the rabbit meaning you need to have the fastest car to catch up win rather than having similar cars and having close racing battles.

 

[Nagaremono]

The ‘rags to riches’ format. The sense of it being a ‘game’ where you feel invested in trying to progress upward through the car classes and increasingly difficult races and championships.

Having control over such things as choosing which car to buy next, whether to tune or simply buy a better model, which race or championship to enter to best move upward.

Having ownership of these decisions is what makes it so compelling as a game to me. Going at my own pace. Offline relaxation. The online stuff, the custom races, the photos and livery editing, other games do it too, they could cut it all and I’d still be happy playing a good old single-player GT career.

The loss of control (and lack of races and championships) is why I’m so disappointed with 7 and why I can’t really accept it’s a real GT title. I am now Kaz’s caretaker, it’s Kaz’s garage, ‘a’ garage, not mine. I can no longer decide to sell (or even discard) cars I really don’t want in order to a) simply not have to look at them sitting in my garage (Sambabus!) or b) use the money to help buy something I actually do want.

I could go on with many more examples, small things that matter to me, such as being forced by the menus to ruin a car by widening its body or adding a wing. Forcing me to accept 80-odd cars off the bat via the menus just to get going in the game (or so I thought, seeing the credits at the end came as a shock) pretty much ruined everything. And this can never be made better by updates, it’s done. I only wanted one car to get started. That’s what makes it a GT to me. And 7 isn’t.

The graphics, even on the PS4, the weather, the improved AI, are all excellent in 7, but it’s fallen flat for me because the ‘game’ has literally changed.

Edit: I’d add that I was living in Japan back when I started on GT (first a bit of 2 on friends’ Playstations, then lots and lots of 3 and 4 on my own PS2) so I associate it very strongly with the JDM cars I’d see on the streets, and the JGTC/Super GT machinery. Without them I doubt I’d still play GT games at all. They could cut 90 per cent of the US and European cars and it wouldn’t make much difference to me. So I’m really hoping we’ll see some newer Super GT cars in updates very soon, along with some of the old icons making a return - the Escudo, the Calsonic Skyline and loads more.

 

[Razamataz]

The good things about GT:

• A wide and varied car list that draws upon all corners of automotive history, including an always impressive selection of JDMs.
• The best fictional circuits in the business
• Tuning
• An unmistakable sense of prestige and luxury.
• Phenomenal UI design
• Physics that are pitched perfectly as a mass market racer. Not too difficult whilst still possessing a degree of challenge.
• Best in class graphics
• Jazz music in the menus
• City tracks like Rome, London, Citti di Aria and Costa di Amalfi - hence why GT7 doesn't feel like a true GT to me.
• A sense of vehicle ownership and really making it feel like it's your own.

Perennial issues that define GT with every installment:

• Chase the rabbit AI
• The inability to race against cars (road cars specifically, though Group 1 is a notorious example in recent years), vaguely similar to your own, destroying any sense of immersion.
• An over reliance on Daiki Kasho
• Great ideas that are soon abandoned in the next instalment. E.g. shuffle racing, Sierra Time Rally, Goodwood Festival of Speed
• Outdated car rosters
• Terrible damage model
• Byzantine design decisions that make no sense (why can't I select a car from the Events Menu, we had this in GT6!)
• Grinding the same event over and over again due to a lack of events

 

[Harley45]

The Tuning , testing , driving , Liverys , replays and the community support on here .

 

[Suzuki-Cara]

For me, it's always the fantasy race cars. I get the feeling Kaz in the back of his brain always wanted to be a car designer, or engineer, but probably somewhere down the line had a moment of reality when it came to the costs and time it takes to design such cars.

So he did the next best thing, make them in a virtual scape.

Always been drawn to the LM editions of cars in the games, even the Gr.3 renditions in the last two. To me that's what makes the game feel "Gran turismo" to me.

 

[Nagaremono]

For me, it's always the fantasy race cars. I get the feeling Kaz in the back of his brain always wanted to be a car designer, or engineer, but probably somewhere down the line had a moment of reality when it came to the costs and time it takes to design such cars.

So he did the next best thing, make them in a virtual scape.

Always been drawn to the LM editions of cars in the games, even the Gr.3 renditions in the last two. To me that's what makes the game feel "Gran turismo" to me.

This is interesting. It shows that there are very many things that mean a lot to different people. The fantasy cars you like are the kind of stuff that’s always threatened to ‘ruin’ GT games for me.

I wonder if PD ever survey players to find out what it is the like/want?

I suspect they don’t, which could explain why recent games have become what seem to be badly-planned dogs’ dinners. I wonder if people at PD even know what makes GT GT in their own minds, let alone long-term players’. Music Rally, allied with a real lack of race content, is good evidence that they don’t.

 

[MSZ]

Frustrating license test and missions. Best car/lighting graphic in console games, best fantasy tracks/race cars in the industry.

But when it comes to content, GT4 was still the benchmark, and GT7 feels like a cheap bootleg version of GT3 in comparison.

 

[ZGBox]

Absurd attention to detail, stupid UI design, pointless features, the best fictional racing variants of street cars and the ability to use whatever car I want in a race (and maybe win).
And the braindead AI that I've grown to tolerate so much

 

[ICEYOU3]

The series just encompasses Japanese aesthetic, plain and simple.

 

[Suzuki-Cara]

This is interesting. It shows that there are very many things that mean a lot to different people. The fantasy cars you like are the kind of stuff that’s always threatened to ‘ruin’ GT games for me.

I wonder if PD ever survey players to find out what it is the like/want?

I suspect they don’t, which could explain why recent games have become what seem to be badly-planned dogs’ dinners. I wonder if people at PD even know what makes GT GT in their own minds, let alone long-term players’. Music Rally, allied with a real lack of race content, is good evidence that they don’t.

I can see why people think fantasy cars ruin games, since, fantasy generally could lead to some wild car designs (The Vision GTs lol).

Change sucks. That's just the nature of the beast. The Music rally doesn't really bother me in particular, Reminds me of Overtake challenges from PGR2 for some reason.

The lack of race content tells me there was obviously some kinda deadline they were pushing for, not wanting to delay the game like a few other installments.

It's not a good way to release a game, barebones then keep adding. Last thing anyone wants is PD trying to No Man's sky a game.

TL;DR, a mid engine Del sol will always be "Gran Turismo" to me.

 

[Stavwaite]

GT mode, collecting, tuning and modifying cars. Buying my favourites like RX7, GTO, Integra, Clio, Evo’s , WRX, 787B etc etc. On my favourite tracks.

 

[ebadevil]

I like many things about GT, but the one thing that I really associate with it are the license tests

 

[Samus]

Waaay back in 1998, as an 11 year old, the appeal of Gran Turismo was the HUGE collection of road cars that we could take racing. There were cars that I saw driving around on the roads alongside cars that I had on posters or in books, and they all looked exactly like the real thing. It wasn't particularly realistic to drive (Not that 11yo me would've known any different) but there was simply nothing like it back then. You could upgrade your cars, you could enter different races for each type of cars until you progressed to the end races with the fastest race cars including the now iconic Castrol Supra.

The other racing games of that time either had fictional cars (Ridge Racer et al) or a very tiny selection of real world cars (NFS II, TOCA et al). Gran Turismo 1 was truly unique and innovative.

Over time that appeal waned. GT was no longer unique in the marketplace, other games offered the same thing and threw in new ideas whilst GT remained mostly stagnent. I still enjoyed that GT formula with GT3 and GT4 but after that, with the long delay for 5, even more competition came along removing the unique appeal GT had.

Sure, GT games still have their quirks that nothing else does like license tests, car washes, and the general Japanese approach but there is only so long you can do the same thing and be appealing. At least to me.

So what makes a modern Gran Turismo? I don't really know, and I'm not sure PD do either. They just seem to throw a mixture of nostalgia and modern gaming at the wall and see what sticks. It still appeals, but certainly not as much as it used to do.