It’s no secret that Gran Turismo 2 is my absolute favorite in the series, I mention it whenever the opportunity presents itself, however, the one thing I regret when I met Kazunori Yamauchi during Jalopnik’s inaugural Film Festival wasn’t talking to him about GT2, it was forgetting to bring my imported copy of Gran Turismo 4 with me to have it signed by him.
Why Gran Turismo 4 you ask? GT4, to me, was the closest the series has come to emulating that indescribable formula found within GT2 that just works despite its age. A formula that’s so inviting that it can re-played in full today and you’re just swallowed into that world representative of 1999 all over again; it’s a real nostalgia piece.
That’s just the thing, is nostalgia leading us afoul and preventing us from appreciating what we’re given today, or are these memories really as vivid as we believe them to be and we really would like things to be a little more straight-forward?
GTPlanet Picture of the Week
This week’s featured image, coming to us courtesy of fagnerpc, features the 1971 Ferrari Dino 246 GT touring the Goodwood Hillclimb.
If you like what you’re seeing and have a suggestion for next week’s featured image, start a conversation with me, entitle it “GTPlanet Picture of the Week” and fill it to your heart’s content with suggestions and they’ll be featured in upcoming Community Spotlight articles. NOTE: You cannot elect your own work.
GTPlanet Gallery of the Week
This week’s featured gallery is Safoo71 -Image Gallery- and is brought to us by, you guessed it, Safoo. Opened on the 19th of February of this year, the gallery approaches GTPhotography using a combination of action shots, close-ups, and one of my personal favorites, mood shots.
You can find Safoo’s gallery here in all of its splendor if you want to look through an entire catalog of photos that haven’t been touched up, with the latest update being this past Tuesday.
– Lamborghini Diablo GT2 at Syracuse, February 23rd, 2015.
If you like what you’re seeing and have a suggestion for next week’s featured gallery, start a conversation with me, entitle it “GTPlanet Gallery of the Week” and fill it to your heart’s content with suggestions and they’ll be featured in upcoming Community Spotlight articles. NOTE: You cannot elect your own gallery.
GTPlanet Thread of the Week – What Does GT7 Need to be the Best?
Gran Turismo 7 is on the way but when we’ll be able to enjoy the game is currently unknown, which is precisely why this is the perfect time to discuss what we think would be necessary for GT7 to be “the absolute best Gran Turismo game”.
A couple of things spring to my mind and are as follows: the return of Route 11, Seattle Circuit, Grindelwald (Polyphony, please), Red Rock Valley, and a richer variety of racing modifications.
The thread, started by our own Shirrako, is looking to foster discussion on what we think will make Gran Turismo 7 the best ever, even go one step further in asking us to remove ourselves from the equation and take sales numbers and ratings into consideration as well. It should make for quite the discussion so you’ll definitely want to stop by the thread and share your thoughts!
Sounds of Driveclub, Part 3 – Renault Alpine A110-50
GTPlanet Member of the Week
It is once again time to acknowledge a member of the GTPlanet community is upon us. A member who has stood out among the hundreds of thousands of members already here, both old and new alike for all that they’re worth and all they have contributed to the community.
This week’s particular inductee is someone I knew for quite a while here but got to know even better after playing, you guessed it, Destiny, and shouldn’t worry about that funny GT5 incident many moons ago because I totally don’t remember that. Having said all of that, let’s give the warmest welcome to the newest member to find vacancy in the ever-expanding Member of the Week madhouse, Clark!
You’ll be able to read the full interview in the official thread right here the minute it’s available!
Greaves Motorsport Z11SN LMP2 Coming to GT6!
Discovered by our community, the Zytek-Nissan car driven by Jann Mardenborough and Lucas Ordonez at the 24 Heures du Mans in 2013 seems to be on its way to Gran Turismo as a part of the upcoming 2015 GT Academy challenges.
You can view the original discussion thread here, and view the original news article here for even more information.
GTPlanet Vehicle of the Week
Project CARS Has Gone Gold!
After experiencing two delays, Project CARS has finally entered ‘Release to Manufacturer’ status, or in other words the game has gone “gold” and is on course to release May 7th/8th in Europe, and May 12th in North America – the wait is truly coming to an end.
Project CARS will be a unique racing simulator in the core sense that it was entirely shaped by the World of Mass Development (WMD) community, and as a result is a direct reflection of what many want to see and experience in a racing game.
Let the countdown begin…
Ferrari LaFerrari Coming to Driveclub This Month!
The surprises are never-ending for Driveclub and this month is no different, albeit with one slight alteration: this month is arguably the most surprising to date because not only is Ferrari’s first hybrid sports car making its way to Driveclub, it’s coming to the game for free.
All you’ll need to do is have obtained level 5 for the “Ferrari Owner’s Club” driver accolade and you’ll have instant access to the LaFerrari when it’s made available in the upcoming 1.14 title update. For a car of this magnitude to be offered for free (with an option to buy) is practically unheard of.
More information to come as it’s made available!
GTPlanet Tune of the Week
This week’s featured tune is all about the GTi Supersport brought to us by ImToLegitToQuit of Legit Tunes Garage, and is tuned to tackle any 600PP challenge you set in front of it.
This car has a lot less understeer than the factory setup. it is great for tracks with sweepers like Spa and Grand valley. It was tuned on sport softs but should go back up to racing tires very easy. it ran a 1:57.1 at the GP/F. it is just over 1 sec behind my Gallardo but it is much more easy to be consistent. Still very competitive.
Stop by the Legit Tunes Garage and simply decimate the competition in this monster of a Golf.
The Last Lap
So I’ve been playing GTA V on PC lately and I’m just taken by the improved everything in comparison to my old copy for the PS3. The first-person camera can be a little on the jarring side of things if you haven’t adjust the Field of View, but even then it’s just intuitive and makes the game feel completely new on that one aspect alone. I won’t talk too much more about it because the more I talk about it, the more I want to throw myself back into it. I’ll just leave you with an image.
While this isn’t my picture I can tell you that this absolutely is from the PC version of the game and it just looks…fan-damn-tastic.
That’s about all out of me for this week’s festivities, so if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go play this time-sucking game for the next hour or so. Until next week, keep racing!
Photomode images by [Nor]McLarenF1, at1503, Whistle Snap, R8TEDM3, and RaY29rus.
See more articles on GTPlanet Community Spotlight and GTPlanet Member of the Week.
forces the back came in grand Turismo 4 where do you think the logitech driving force g_t came from which I’m still running today n prefer to the newer ps3 version of the will especially the pedals
Nostalgia. A word l seldom use. But one that best describes why l’m so flustered with the GT series as a whole. I’m not one to play old GT’s often. When l did boot one up, in the past, l would marvel in what the was the shiznit of the times. But who said it wasn’t worth being brought along with the new versions?..
Cars like,
Vector W8, Jaguar XJR-15 and FedEx 300ZX Turbo and Lotus Elise GT1
Tracks like,
RedRock, Seattle, Rome at Night (my fav) and the Complex String… the original course created?
Events that had,
Qualifying, shared b-spec (online and in career), an arcade mode that would match your PP and a challenging career mode.
I understand PD needs to evolve. But l miss sooo much of what it used to be… years ago. Still the best racer for me. But those mentioned ‘sacrifices’ did not have to happen. Wanna keep me happy? Quit throughing away what was not broken!
I agree with you Snake. I just can’t play GT6 for reasons that their are missing features that made GT5 great and unbeatable. Those features being Acceleration Test, Speed Test, course maker, more in depth tuning like GT5.
This is what it will take to bring GT6 back to life for me. Even the career and gameplay in general was no where near GT5. The Vision Gran turismo cars are not appealing to me and I could care less to buy it or win it and play a few laps either.
I just let the game gather dust. I occasionally boot up the game some nights to drag race with GT friends and that’s it. Theres nothing else I like about the game. I spend more time playing Forza 5, Forza Horizon 2 or any game but GT6.
I completely agree with everyone. It’s a common feeling right now, that sense of desolation in Gran Turismo 6.
They need to show us something promising this E3. Actually, if I worked at Sony, I think that would be like my first thing in mind, even if America doesn’t care as much as Europe about the series, it’s still the best selling series they have.
PD needs to stop with the awards and the laurels, I’m kind of tired of GT6, even being the fan I am, I’m just waiting for the course maker and that would be it….
I’m getting used to a certain level of fidelity, talking mainly about sounds, and when you go to GT6 it’s like a bullet directly to your ears despite some delicated selections.
I want to keep playing the series, I want to feel the same I felt the first time I played every single entry in the other games…. I played GT5 the hell out of it, but GT6, even with the physics, has surpassed me…. and I don’t know why.
Project CARS it’s looking great but I’m not impressed, like AT ALL…
The same happens with Forza…….. damn it.
Driveclub appears to have all the personality I want out of GT but none of the gameplay. I want the DC sounds, LaFerrari, and the damage simulation.
For GT7 to be a real threat it would need a complete overhaul,throw out everything and start over fresh,as of right now standard cars are probably the biggest issue as well as PD not releasing the track editor.GT7 would need to look as good as Driveclub,have the physics of ProjectCars and the customization of Forza.
Another problem that GT has is the unnecessary amount of cars,now I’m not saying that I didn’t enjoy using all those cars but there definitely needs to be some give and take,having so many cars either there going to run into detail issues or sound issues.
At the end of the day GT7 will need to be jaw dropping to make up for GT6 and keep up with Forza 6 and Project Cars.
Well personally for me with Driveclub looking and feeling good to play as well as Project Cars “looking” good, Yamauchi San will have to make GT7 walk on water, part the Sea of Galilee and turn bread and water in to fish and chips. Gt6 imho was like Gt5 and gt5 prologue a let down.
The lack of an event creator (like I believe GT2 had), competitive AI, I mean AI that will fight for a position, run you off the road…. It just does not have it.
Don’t get me wrong I love GT6, but there are so many things wrong with it. As to what tracks I would love to see in GT7…,, hhmmmmm easy for me:-
Seattle
Shanghai F1 Circuit
Yas Marina
Hockenheim (including the old circuit)
I looked at a few Project Cars Videos captured from the PS4. One had 43 cars running in a race. Ouch and no visible frame rate drop. Now that has impressed me. As a race fan I usually like nothing more then to set up a 10 – 20 lap race in GT6 or Driveclub and just drive….. What GT6 and most defeinately Driveclub and Project Cars need is an event creator where you can say have a choice of ten tracks to race on as a championship. It will have me hooked.
GT6 also needs to get the course creator up and running. It’s been stuck in reverse too long.
GTA5 it does look great on the PC, however my PC just about gets away with playing Elite Dangerous so I think I will stick to GTA on the PS4 :)
Wow…! Thanks for using my photo as the headline image. I’m honored! :D
Should GT7 emulate GT4, that would be the decision maker as to whether or not I buy a PS4. GT4 was, by far, the best of the series and it would take something similar to keep me playing. I’m now over 40, but Gran Turismo has been what has kept me interested in playing. So, should GT7 be truly great and add Project CARS to the mix, I’ll probably play a few more years…
Great read seeing all these different games in the Spotlight.
You bet.
Nice to see pCars go gold. Now it’s AC, rf2 and pCars … so little time!
I feel like a kid in a candy shop. So many great sim options, you’d have to play full time to really explore all the possibilities. I hope PCars brings a real breath of fresh air to the console players, able to enjoy a true racing simulation on console for the first time, with next gen graphics, sound and physics. I wish SMS all the success in the world!
I also think Gran Turismo 7 must be the BEST game of its series. I rather wait longer for a complete game. GT has come a long way and top notch is what I expect in GT7. Just my opinion though.
You young guys feel nostalgic about GT2 like I feel nostalgic about ‘Adventure’ for the Atari 2600. Trust me, the newer GT games are better. Model T or GT40?
Ah, Adventure. Many hours spent toting that key around. I’ll still take Skyrim over it though. I’ve never been able to play backwards (go back a title or generation). Having been raised in the 70’s, I just appreciate the new stuff and I want to keep going forward, never back.
@ccaranna:
I’ve actually been playing GT2 lately and GT6 may have better physics and prettier graphics, but to me, it’s missing the most important thing: fun factor, which GT2 does better.
GT2 has a more diverse carrer mode than GT6 with rally events, manufacturer events, and REAL endurance races. GT2 also rewards me way more often with prize cars for winning races, giving me a reason to keep playing. There are also racing modifications for many of cars, making me interested in cars I wouldn’t consider otherwise. I can go on.
GT2 may be an older game, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth going back to.
@MW:
GT2 is definitely worth going back to. Don’t get me wrong. But day/night transitions, a much larger library of tracks and cars, wet conditions, Ferrari, Lambroghini, on-line playability, better wheel options, better AI (don’t laugh, it’s true), and physics are what makes the PS3 era games much better. Yes, GT2 had a more expansive and deep career mode with more rewards, but you can’t fault GT6 for allowing easier and quicker access to the large catalog of cars in the game (something I think players have always wanted). While each title has its strengths and weaknesses, I believe one of GT6 strengths is that it gives some imgaination back to the player.
You could say that GT6 allows for faster access to more of the cars, but I don’t think that’s the problem with the GT6’s career mode. As it is now, you can progress pretty rapidly to the advanced races, and buy the cars needed there, but the problem is that the career mode doesn’t even include all the game’s locations, and that there are hundreds of cars that have no real event to race in. You could easily have doubled the amount of races in the career mode without slowing down credit gain or difficulty progression.
I also forgot FFB in the modern games. The beloved GT4 didn’t even have that if I’m correct.
You’re wrong, GT4 Does have FFB, and it feeels way better than in the last generation Gran Turismo games, it also includes some of the best tracks that mysteriously dissapeared when they made the jump to PS3
I stand corrected on GT4 FFB. As far as mysterious tracks, well I don’t know. If we never got any new tracks there’d be backlash and complaining about that, too.