GTPlanet Weekly Rewind

The inaugural race weekend of the 2014 Formula One season is finally here, and while I maintain a gross of reservations regarding the new engine formula and some of the new/amended rulings, it’s a level of excitement that I couldn’t feign if I honestly tried to.

Twelve days are all that stands between me and the beginning of the 2014 Formula One season, and I’ve kept myself oblivious to most of what has already been unveiled because, well, to be perfectly honest it’s rather confusing. For example, gone are the days of teams preserving their tires throughout the final qualifying session, because now the drivers that get through to Q3 will start the race on the tires used to set their fastest lap times in Q2, should they choose to not run Q3.

The community here at GTPlanet has been as active as ever, if you haven’t taken notice by now, we have a new GT Suggestions forum where you can let your imagination run wild and list your suggestions that you firmly believe would make Gran Turismo the game of your dreams – whether it be with additional vehicles, tracks, or features. There’s plenty of activity already so I’ll take a moment to list off some of my favorites:

It seems that with every new month—some could even say every new week—we’re playing the waiting game until the next big thing comes to Gran Turismo 6, and the aspect itself may have inadvertently become a game within a game to some; being on the lookout for the newest feature or improvement that will further the overall enjoyment of the game itself. It’s devilishly clever and often results in a think-tank of untold proportions.

What a week this has been, evolution has become a recurring topic of interest for GT6 not only in the Rewind but the entirety of the news page here at GTPlanet and this past Tuesday Update 1.04 was released providing continual proof that Gran Turismo 6 is a game with a clear intent: to evolve. There are now four new vehicles to race to your hearts content, but the big news – or should I say bigger news is tomorrow is the first of February which means GT6 is preparing to undergo evolution once again. It’s a cycle that’s seemingly never-ending.

It appears things are slowly beginning to heat up if this past week’s festivities are any indication, we are quickly closing in on the final days of January and will soon be welcoming the 1st of February, which means an update is on the horizon. What next month’s update(s) will contain is anyone’s guess, but if you tuned in to the roundtable discussion earlier this week then you’ll know what’s been teased, and if you don’t know you’re in for quite the surprise so continue to read on.

Gran Turismo 6 continues to evolve and this past week’s 1.03 update is proof of that, adding in yet another new vehicle and breathing new life into the previous update’s newest addition, the BMW M4 Coupé by way of adding a fully-detailed interior. There’s no telling when the next major update will hit or what it will contain, but one thing is for certain: it won’t disappoint. With the remaining Red Bull X Challenge events due at the end of the month who’s to say we aren’t counting down to the next big thing?

All has been quiet on the Gran Turismo front for the past several weeks and one has to wonder what’s going on behind the elusive doors of Polyphony’s office. The days of January are still at their earliest, but with two updates currently scheduled for this month it shouldn’t be too long before the wheels are turning at a steady pace again.

Gran Turismo 6 has been available for a month now, and in that short amount of time the game has evolved from its vanilla offering to that of something that has been host to first-time experiences and the rekindling of those in the past: The 2014 BMW M4 Coupè, a vehicle that won’t even be on sale until sometime this year, the Hudson Hornet that served as Mario Andretti’s “first love”, and the introduction of the all-new Red Bull X challenges – all of this within a 31 day time period.

This is it ladies and gentlemen, the final Weekly Rewind of 2013! Where has the time gone, it seems like just last week I was telling you all about how much evolution the Rewind would undergo during the 52 weeks that comprise 2013, and now here we are the final Rewind of the year. Time flies when you’re having fun is what they say.

Gran Turismo 6 has been on store shelves and in many of our homes for the past three weeks now, and it has evolved quite a bit since its vanilla release. We’ve gone from version 1.00 to 1.01 on release day, the inclusion of the BMW M4 Coupé, and most recently update 1.02 which brought together a slew of improvements and refinements to the game’s character, as well as Mario Andretti’s 1948 Hudson, a car Mario was reunited with courtesy of the “First Love” campaign.

Gran Turismo 6 is finally here and the one thing that needs to be pointed out right away is the fact that GT6 is the first full-length entry in the franchise to be released on time without any form of delay or setback. Could this be a sign of things to come? We can only hope!

Seven days are all that stand between us and Gran Turismo 6; seven days until we’re all fitted into racing attire eager to experience the improvements and masterful execution GT6 brings to the table; seven days until the final Gran Turismo scheduled for release on the PlayStation 3 alerts us all to the fact that despite the next generation of possibilities already becoming more and more prevalent with every passing second, the previous generation will not subside without a last hurrah  – Gran Turismo 6 will be that hurrah.

We’re two weeks away from experiencing Gran Turismo 6 and the timing is impeccable; with the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One out and about, the established platforms — the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 — are slowly going to regress into anonymity. Of course the platforms will continue to be showered in exclusive releases, but it won’t be much longer until the lion’s share of the focus is aimed toward the future.

The PlayStation 4 is here! If you were one of hundreds (thousands?) of people waiting patiently in line to get your hands on the PS4 at the stroke of midnight, there’s no doubt you were excited to get back and play whatever selection of titles that interested you most. Now that the PS4 is here, there is one thing we all should be aware of: where one countdown ends, another begins – Gran Turismo 7 is imminent.

Instead of waiting until the very end of this article to find the members responsible for this week’s featured images tucked away in the footnotes, I’ll save you the trouble of doing so, especially due to there being two individual images used for this auspicious occasion. The image of the 670-4 SV that greets you is another fantastic panorama put together by HaerBev, and the stellar image of the majestic Ferrari F40 belongs to The R!CE Guy.

Happy Halloween! I know this will be published on the first Friday of November but I’m writing this on Halloween so there’s a technicality there that only I can attest to, so once again, Happy Halloween!

I assure you I’ve had this particular image earmarked since last week, the fact that there just happened to be a “Lamborghini Exclusive” Seasonal Event this past Wednesday was a pure coincidence. A coincidence that almost swayed me from using this, but aren’t you glad that I decided to use it anyway?

What you’re looking at is the championship-winning Ferrari 312T driven by Niki Lauda, and the game is yet another gem – Assetto Corsa. AC is another game in the long list of simulation racing games that expands their scope beyond what most of us are really accustomed to, and while the game has yet to officially release you can check out the tech demo and judge the game for yourselves, and I have to say that you’re in for quite the surprise.

Last week saw a modest evolution in the Weekly Rewind, mentioning over a dozen racing games, fully acknowledging that while those of us who enjoy the thrill of going fast may be but a niche crowd, with so many options readily available the scene for racing games isn’t as much of an empty void as some would be lead to believe. In the grand scheme of things Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport are the centers of our world; a world where they are but a grand representation in the racing ecosystem; a world that expands far beyond their perspectives.