Remember gaming magazines? Of course you do: unlike floppy disks or cassette tapes, you can still find them new on store shelves. But remember the golden age of magazines? When a 56k modem would beep-static-boop its way to a Geocities page of cheats in an eternity, magazines just made more sense.
Advertising favoured the printed word as well, with big budgets pushing equally big, lavish ads out in front of the eyeballs of gamers. It was in this fertile environment that Sony launched a wee title by the name of Gran Turismo, in the summer of ’98. You may have heard of it.
This five-page ad (yes, five!) is from my personal collection, found in the June 1998 issue of now-defunct GamePro magazine. While it may have seemed a bit of a risk to launch a racing game focusing more on realism, with a car list where supercars were conspicuous by their absence, Sony obviously had faith in Polyphony’s title. Gran Turismo even marked the introduction of the DualShock controller to North American audiences.
While some of the verbiage is dated (“kick major tailpipe” will be the nineties-est thing you read today), the general design of the ad is commendably modern. The car count has been an important feature for the franchise since it began, and the teasing way the lineup is presented certainly lured readers in. In the same year, Need For Speed III had arrived with 8 rides, while Test Drive 5 showed up shortly after Gran Turismo with 28. 166 was simply unprecedented, and Polyphony still has a penchant for this sort of approach.
Another feature to note is how the Racing Modifications have been mixed in with the regular road models. A dearly-departed feature that briefly returned in Gran Turismo 5 before being spun into separate models in GT6, it essentially doubled the number of cars the game had on offer, at least by the current standards of the franchise. Some members of our community are so fond of them, they’ve even taken to recreating them in other games!
We’ll let the images do the talking. Check out each one below in full-size glory, and let us know your favourite aspects in the comments.
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I want (or “we”) this for PS4! GT 2,3,4 too!
Haha, love the bit about holding the controller at 9 and 3. Very cheeky.
IROC Racecar… Never saw that before. Guess I need to get GT1 out again….
I find it neat to see an advertisement on my favorite franchise that is even as old as I am. It sure does make me feel young seeing as others used to own this magazine.
I have a different two page Gran Turismo 1 ad from either Road & Track or Car and Driver magazine.
Sweet ad! However, am I smelling a bit of a hype train building? ;)
I am smelling it too! :)
Nice one, i’m always a sucker for nostalgia.
I’m going to have to remember those savage throwdowns from the Learn the Lingo section. Brutal.
Speaking of past GTs and since you linked the empty GT1 tag, do you have a news archive, and do you plan on showing us at any point? I’d be interested in GT3 and GT4 news articles, for trivia’s sake, and how the future of GT was regarded back then. Currently the Gran Turismo 3 tag doesn’t exist at all, for example. Perhaps an editorial to look back would be interesting?
I didn’t word that too clearly, I mean GTP news in specific. General magazine articles would be interesting too of course.
Hear, hear. +1
“AHHH, WINNING. THE SWEET TASTE OF VICTORY.”
Love it.
I loved this. So much nostalgia.
And now I’m sad.
Makes you feel old, dunnit. :(
Not so much old, no, it just makes me miss the way games used to be.
You’re more Gran Ma material than Gran Turismo.
#rekt
GT1 would be better than GT6 if they just upgraded the graphics and sound.
Sir yes sir! It’s easy as 1 2 3!
And the physics… and the AI… and the menu layout… and added online… and added up to 10 more cars per field…
I’d love to see the original GT remade using GT7 engine and assets for the 20th anniversary.
It would be quite fitting too…. like putting a late model motor and upgraded interior into an old school classic
the best solution would be an arcade regime with gt1 simulation mode physics :) and jumps
Slow news day eh?
I really hope in any new GT offering the ability to modify normal street cars is available.
It would be nice if the interior of your car changes according to the type and amount of racing upgrades you preform.
I hope the engine offers more tuning options that work like real life combined with upgraded driving feel and real life physics. At least as close as a game will allow. GT needs an upgraded, believable damage model along with a realistic tire/brake heating and ware.
I hope the GT experience has more sim racing aspects that what it has now.
PD should go back to the practice of separating arcade and sim racing within GT.
In fact, there should be two discs for each side. The arcade side should not allow detailed tuning options. The roster of cars should be driven mostly as is. The sim disc should allow detailed tuning and upgrades for street cars. And real life tuning options typically used for race cars. Here’s hoping they figure it out.
+1
I was expecting visual changes when you’ve given a car a weight reduction. This should really change for the next GT’s. I agree with everything you’ve said except for the two discs in separating arcade and simulation modes. It would cost them an excess amount of time and money, unless the two discs were actually filled with enough content, making them close to compete separate games.
Wow I was just playing GT1 yesterday and tee findin my mini PS2 and all my GT’s. Megaspeed Championship isn’t easy in a fully tuned Viper GTS.
I personally prefer the racing modifications to be separate cars when they’re based on real cars like most were in GT1-GT2. Maybe is we could just gut interiors in GT7.
Cool article Kyle.
Awesome! Great story kyle!!
I find it very annoying that I can’t see the images :/ just says “page not found” -_-
Can’t seem to be able to view the images in full size. Says “Page Not Found”
http://imgur.com/ejtFOVV
Same here.
That’s odd, it’s working fine on my side, even when I’m logged out. I’ve changed a few things just now, any luck?
@Kyle P. Still showing the “Page Not Found” error.
@JASON_ROCKS1998 – I’ve reuploaded the images. Hopefully they work now.
Images working fine now
GTPlanet is under investigation for assault of a tailpipe.
McClarenDesign is under investigation for a bad sense of humor.
Obelisk & McClarenDesign You should both be under investigation for reporting false stories… lol
Poop
another_jakhole, Obelisk & McClarenDesign should be under investigation for…. ah nevermind