Retrospective: Gran Turismo

By Joao Diniz Sanches Published 28 November, 2010

Rear view.

When Jeremy Clarkson's great-great-grandson ponders the key automotive-related events of the late 20th/early 21st century, sighing wistfully while gazing upon a once-blue Earth as he whizzes silently in his fuel cell powered podcar through a Martian Google-built biosphere, he's likely to single out 23 December 1997 as a momentous date.

It wasn't the day Fiat produced a car with a set of electrics that remained fully functional for longer than it's taken you to read up to this point, or the moment Porsche suddenly realised it had been looking at its engineering blueprints back to front and thus been building the 911 with the engine at the wrong end. Rather, it marks the release of Gran Turismo for the PlayStation in Japan.

The background of the first Gran Turismo should be well known but briefly, for those asleep at the back, it goes something like this. Development by Polyphony Digital - then still Polys Entertainment - began in 1992 and would take the team of just seven half a decade to complete. Rather extreme by game development standards (Sony can't at least claim it didn't know what it was letting itself in for with the series) but not bad when you're accomplishing history. In its defence, the studio did also have to get a game ready for the Japanese PlayStation launch at the end of 1994 - Motor Toon Grand Prix - along with a sequel a couple of years later. Although neither title proved exceptional, they provided an opportunity to sample the handling model at the core of the GT series in its most primitive form.

1

Gran Turismo replays set a new standard that all driving titles would try to emulate (with few succeeding).

Aside from a quick detour to play with robots and then motorbikes, Polyphony has gone on to do nothing but Gran Turismo, steadily refining the concept and pushing each iteration to new heights (while dragging Sony's financial directors' blood pressure along for the ride). So gradual has been the evolution that little has changed with regards to the essence of the GT games - if you've played any Gran Turismo, the content and structure of the series' originator will feel very familiar.

That makes it easy to easy to forget just how much impact the first Gran Turismo had when it rolled into retail. The series has been around so long, in fact, that there's a whole generation of gamers that will have missed its inception - all they've ever known is the post-GT era and they'll no doubt find it hard to realise what all the fuss was about. But as the best-selling PS title ever, with overall sales of 11 million, GT caused something of a phenomenon within the gaming community and beyond - Nissan UK felt it necessary to write to gaming mags attributing the vast increase in the general public's awareness of its Skyline GT-R model to the game's massive popularity, for instance.

2

The car's the star - never before had a console game placed such emphasis on recreating the driving experience.

Ultimately, it came down to content. GT's 170-odd licensed cars made a mockery of every driving game released up to that point (even if most appear to be made up of variants of the Mazda MX-5, Nissans Silvia and Skyline, and Subaru Impreza), while its graphics provided the then most realistic depiction of four-wheeled awesomeness (as you'd expect, perhaps, given the team's privileged insight into accurately estimating the power of PlayStation). Supporting the realism was then the most detailed and convincing handling model to have graced a console title, with intricate real-world dynamics such as weight transfer, suspension response, and understeer/oversteer characteristics expertly conveyed via exquisite use of the DualShock's rumble function.

Weld the whole lot together, throw in an almost overwhelming tuning system bolted onto a hefty RPG-like structure, and a selection of delicately designed tracks, then wrap it up with the most cinematic replay system seen at the time - and the result ended up rather magnificent. Players would systematically finish a race and then sit through the playback of their performance, admiring the unprecedented visuals and authentic physics at work.

But to fully explain Gran Turismo's astronomical success, we need to look at the bigger picture. The timing coincided with developers becoming increasingly au fait with leaving 2D gaming behind, and with driving games - as is so often the case with new generation of hardware - very much at the forefront of this polygonal transition. Efforts such as V-Rally and, subsequently, TOCA Touring Car Championship signalled the arrival of technically advanced, reality-based driving experiences on console. By the time GT turned up, the road it sped away on was pretty well paved.

Undoubtedly the car selection, which included everyday models just about anyone could identify with, played a massive role. At a time when nearly every driving title featured just race-prepared or supercar examples, here was a game that enabled Joe and Jane Average to jump into the virtual interpretation of the car they had parked on their drive.

The automotive theme ensured widespread appeal, too (there's a reason why driving games have traditionally always remained in the top three most popular genres) but the level of realism and the nature of the content brought on board car lovers who dabble in games, not just gamers who are into cars. And the RPG tuning structure, aside from instigating an urge to screech onto the tarmac to find out how a newly installed part now made your ride sound, handle and perform - an intrinsic attraction at the core of the GT experience - also acted as a natural difficulty curve by getting players to progressively work their way up to more powerful machinery.

True, arcade driving aficionados at the time pointed out that if what you wanted was realism, you should get into one of the cars and go for a drive. They argued video games should be about pure unadulterated fun and escapism, not boring pseudo recreations of everyday life. The key flaw in that argument - other than the obvious irony at the heart of such criticism, which we'll deal with in a moment - is that you can't thrash cars on real roads without running the risk of being booked by the police, killing yourself, or worse, killing others.

3

Roll with it: GT's then exemplary car mechanics at work.

Alternatively, not everyone can rent, let alone buy an Aston Martin DB7. Even those that can wouldn't be able to experience a Mitsubishi FTO LM Edition, regardless of how much money they were willing to spend - available only as a reward from one of Gran Turismo's championships, this memorable 4WD beauty is a fantasy creation by the GT team in a bid to come up with the perfect race vehicle.

By today's standards Polyphony's early effort may have been some way from reality, but for those willing to strap themselves along for the ride, Gran Turismo offered a glimpse of what it might be like to own one of these machines and beyond - tinkering long enough in the tuning shop could see you create a 1000bhp monster from a family saloon to then find out what it would take to tame such a beast.

Perhaps most crucial, then, is the game's aspirational quality. Not only could you drive your dad's Honda Prelude without having to beg him for the keys, you could stick 20 or 30 thousand under the hood, fit a zaust the size of the Eurotunnel, wrap the rims in race rubber and head down to a circuit of your choice in order to decimate the competition.

4

In case you forget what's important in GT's world, check out how much space the HUD is taking up.

Like any game, it isn't perfect. Turning up at events with massively overpowered machinery and winning effortlessly is actually one of the game's key failings - both structurally and morally. Then there's the crushingly drone-like AI (even by the day's standards), the limited number of cars per event (just six, forcing artificially induced close pack racing), and the overall cold, impersonal feel.

On a more serious note, GT's influence - or specifically its success - was such that it sparked an overzealous response from publishers keen to emulate the revenues Sony enjoyed. The resulting efforts were mixed to say the least, but the most undesirable effect of this was that it took far too long for arcade-styled driving examples such as Burnout to break back into the limelight.

Unquestionably, though, when it comes to this game the positives annihilate their counterparts. The driver/car/track purity at the heart of GT's engine ensured a driving experience that captivated players in a manner that no other console title had previously managed. It may be difficult to appreciate now, and if you were too young to have witnessed the pre-GT era, know that it wasn't a desolate, Iron Curtain-styled epoch. We had fabulous fun with Chequered Flag, Pitstop II, REVS, OutRun, Formula One Grand Prix, Virtua Racing, Daytona, The Need for Speed, SEGA Rally, TOCA and countless other favourites.

But know also that the titles that followed Gran Turismo, the titles you grew up with - be it Metropolis Street Racer, the Project Gotham series or the Forza family - not to mention those that your children will subsequently come to cherish, owe their existence to a revolutionary game that, when it first appeared on a cold December day in 1997, both redefined what could be achieved with the genre on a home console while fundamentally altering the course of driving game development forever.

Picture of Joao.

About Joao Diniz Sanches

Joao has written extensively about video games since 1997. Heis a former editor of Edge and the author of The Video Gaming Manual and The Driving Games Manual.

Read more articles from Joao by visiting the Joao Diniz Sanches archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (73) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • dagas #1 2 years ago

    Loved it back in the day. However I was only good nough to get the B-license so I could only drive the early cups again and again. Must have completed Sunday Cup 100 times.
    Edited by dagas at 28/11/10 @ 08:16

  • DoctorFouad #2 2 years ago

    GT1 was a revolutionary racing game,

    for me GT5 too is a revolution (never a console game has a so realistic driving physics, or driving an edurance race in nurburgring or le mans with dynamic day/night/weather !!! incredible experience) but the game is unfinished, with future patches hopefully things will change (especially with the introduction of mechancial damage)

    I think reviewers are simply underestimating the importance of the game for the racing games industry due to their disappointment and long development. But GT5 will be regarded in the future as a new millestone for driving games...the citroen by GT, the X1 or the dashboard of nissan GT, or the sebastien loeb events, top gear events, nascar events...they all show the incredible relationships between polyphony and the manufacturers industry...who know maybe one day in the future sony could enter the world of manufacturing or designing cars thanks to polyphny digital...(the modelling of cars is becoming so realitic to a frightning point, if polyphony could design a car in the game from the ground up, than this could be trasformed into reality with sufficient financing, will, and good management...)
    Edited by DoctorFouad at 28/11/10 @ 09:29

  • stuntmaster #3 2 years ago

    spent many a night after the pub with mates trying to do the licenses ,great game

  • KarlosFandango #4 2 years ago

    One of the few games that truly left me mouth wide open wondering how on earth this world was being generated by that console under my telly. Just reading the article makes my spine tingle!

  • CaptainQuint #5 2 years ago

    A game series so great that even the elitist pc crowd don't troll all over it. Because they can't.

  • Antaios #6 2 years ago

    Gran Turismo is out now on PSOne. :)

    Great game, great times had with it.

  • RodHull #7 2 years ago

    Absolutely fantastic game in its day, there really was nothing that came close to rivalling it for many a year. Alas, playing it now it really is far too aseptic and joyless, with the woeful AI being all too apparent.

    Overall though definitely a milestone racing game, up there with the likes of OutRun, Indy 500 and PGR2.

  • 43n1m4 #8 2 years ago

    I remember playing the first game on a borrowed PSone. It was magnificent, and really gave a glimpse of the future for not just driving games, but consoles in general. Nowadays I play Forza 3 (a game which more than nods to the legacy of GT whilst changing the formula in other directions), but I haven't forgot about the great gaming the original GT gave me back in the late-90's or the importance of it. Good memories.

  • earobus #9 2 years ago

    Still play now and again when i bring out the PS1

  • CaptainTrips #10 2 years ago

    I got everything - EVERYTHING - there was to get in this game. For me, it was like Pokemon for grown-ups, where the Pokemon were bad-ass cars that I could never hope to own in real life.

    This game, the first MGS and FFVII almost resulted in me failing not only my A-levels, but my degree after that, such was their re-playability and longevity.

    Good times indeed.

  • Red-Moose #11 2 years ago

    It's essential to get another article that says Gran Turismo on the front page. Gran Turismo BTW. Yes, I really think today's weather is Gran Turismo, but despite that I'm going to Gran Turismo Gran Turismo.

  • Scimarad #12 2 years ago

    I loved Gran Turismo! My strongest memories of it are all those Demio's you'd sell off for cash and the sound of that TIE fighter screaming overhead at the beginning of that Ash song:)

  • cherryuk #13 2 years ago

    I used to love the OTT Gouraud shading used in Motor Toon Grand Prix, love that game!

  • blicko #14 2 years ago

    Cheeryuk: +1. Loved that game ... go go go motortoooon.

    I did play countless hours of the first GT. One thing that bothered me was the "boost" in the game. It sucks the satisfaction out of a game for me when they do that (I'm looking at you, Oblivion).

    Does this still have opponents whose speed is relative to your position? If so, can you turn it off?

  • Mcstrife #15 2 years ago

    Not sure if it was this one or GT2, but I remember that when you scratched the disc it would smell like burnt rubber.

    Classic!

  • jtodroc #16 2 years ago

    @Mcstrife

    That was GT2, it had 2 discs, one for GT mode & one for Arcade mode. The GT mode disc I think was the one with the tyre smell I think.

    I never owned GT1, I used to get a lend of it off a mate & not give it back for weeks! But GT2 I bought on release day.

  • CampoX #17 2 years ago

    I remember seeing it in Edge (still have the issue) as a preview - I just kept looking at the wide shot of a field (six) cars, not believing it wasn't arcade. Never really played any versions since (in GT2) - but might pick this one up (didn't have a PS2).

  • weebl #18 2 years ago

    As a fan of the series it is quite depressing to see how far (ie. not very) we've come with GT5. Special events are just specialist license tests, the AI, whilst improved markedly, is still fairly poor and the less said about playing online the better. They're dogged determination to be the flagship 3D 1080p experience has reduced tracks to slight upgrades of GT4, screen tears, poor shadows and particle effects, etc. Many of you will say that this doesn't matter. I'd say that it absolutely matters as immersion is everything for a simulator.

    The overall sense that I get looking at the game now, is that it is the same core number of people writing the game, and taking nothing away from them, they are struggling to meet the demands of producing a current-gen game.

    Anyway, GT's 1-4 are absolute masterpieces. GT5 could be great after a years worth of patches, but it feels like a step backwards at the moment.

  • sfp_noodle #19 2 years ago

    Whilst the importance of the original can never be understated, I still found GT3 to be the pick of the pack. It did pretty much everything right. The visuals were unbelievable. They stand up on an SDTV even now. I think KY should have taken some of the lessons learnt from that game and applied them to GT5. GT3 only had 150 cars yet I still don't think I came close to driving even 100! If KY added just 300 premium models to GT5 and focussed on making a realistic damage and collision model, as well as a robust online mode from the get go, I strongly believe GT5 would recieve much more positive reviews.

    I hope GT5 is PD's wake up call. Fewer cars with a more realistic damage/collision model and an extensive online mode will fix GT5's main problems. Do that and I will be one extra happy gamer :D

  • mrStones #20 2 years ago

    Ahh my very first international A licence. Last test was Trial mountain with a viper if i remember correctly, denfinately one of my proudest gaming achievements even if it did take a couple of hundred or possibly thousand restarts.

  • Tetsuo_Shima #21 2 years ago

    Haha, I remember me and my brother playing this game all those years ago. Someone in my dad's work gave us a loan of it shortly after it came out, and me and my brother thought at first 'what do you mean no weapons?' 'you mean you have to use the brakes?' 'this is a little bit stale', but then we bought a lovely used Mitsubishi GTO and cracked the racing mods on it and all of a sudden the full potential of the game blew open in our minds. I think it's safe to say I learned everyhing I know about cars from the GT games.

    Good day, retrospectives on two of my favourite games ever!
    Edited by Tetsuo_Shima at 28/11/10 @ 13:09

  • DrStrangelove #22 2 years ago

    "They argued video games should be about pure unadulterated fun and escapism, not boring pseudo recreations of everyday life."

    Probably the same people who argued that people want to play happy colour worlds and avoid games containing violence. Or that no one would want the DS since the PSP was so much better.
    Edited by DrStrangelove at 28/11/10 @ 13:11

  • QPRHOOPS81 #23 2 years ago

    I loved full race modifying cars. Remember taking a crappy (first car i could buy) GTO and upgrading it all the way to paying the 180,000? to fully race modify it. I wish they hadnt removed that ability in all other GT's

  • Beek4257 #24 2 years ago

    I bought GT in tandem with a Dual Shock. I remember the first time the rumble feature kicked in I grinned so wide it nearly split my head in two.

  • Zerobob #25 2 years ago

    "Weld the whole lot together, throw in an almost overwhelming tuning system bolted onto a hefty RPG-like structure, and a selection of delicately designed tracks, then wrap it up with the most cinematic replay system seen at the time – and the result ended up rather magnificent. Players would systematically finish a race and then sit through the playback of their performance, admiring the unprecedented visuals and authentic physics at work. "

    This paragraph about sums it up for me. GT is a combination of so many great factors.

    I think what the GT games are missing now is some way to break up the vastness of it all with regards the progression system, while also avoiding the overused (and frankly unimaginatively boring) calendar season system seen in Forza, Tiger Woods etc. to make things fresh and the progression crisper and less of a grind.

  • RobTheBuilder #26 2 years ago

    I was so excited by this when it first came out. It was the first game I ever pre-ordered.
    One aspect of GT that I think is often overlooked was the soundtrack, driving round with the music blazing made it feel much more like being in a real car. The tracks from Feeder and Cubanate were great to race along to.

    The opening video with the Chemical Brothers remix of Everything Must Go was the most exciting bit of video I'd ever seen on a game at that point.

  • Machetazo #27 2 years ago

    "Players would systematically finish a race and then sit through the playback of their performance, admiring the unprecedented visuals and authentic physics at work."

    I often watch back GT replays, but it's usually more about seeing where I'm losing time, and checking my driving style during a run. There's some thing about GT replays, though, in the way they're presented that it's entertaining to view. The vibration feedback of gt1 was exempliary. I always loved how you could take a sporty, smooth car, and stick with and evolve that one car, and get in to the tuning, until with enough dedication, you found that your favourite was still able to provide an enjoyable race running against cars that compared to the stock, on paper, would otherwise dwarf it.

  • MontyBrewster #28 2 years ago

    @DoctorFouad

    Le Mans 24 Hours, released on the Dreamcast in the year 2000 offered the chance to compete in a full 24 hours, real time version of the race. It also featured day/night time racing and variable weather.

    Yes, it was superb.

  • GreyBeard #29 2 years ago

    Motor Toon GP 2 was awesome back in the day. It looks really dated now, but it wasn't much of a looker in screenshots back then... BUT it ran at 60fps and the handling was really fun and responsive.

    Omega Boost was the business too. Its always disappointed me a little that Polyphony have become almost completely about GT.
    Edited by GreyBeard at 28/11/10 @ 14:25

  • RobTheBuilder #30 2 years ago

    @GreyBeard I agree, Motor Toon GP2 was great fun to play. A much underrated game.

  • DoctorFouad #31 2 years ago

    @montybrewster :
    what a selective quote...

    what about nurburgring ? or you didnt read that I mentioned it in my comment ? and what about realistic driving physics ?

    it is funny how some people select what they like and dismiss what they dislike in the same idea-paragraph...

  • HistoryTeller #32 2 years ago

    Worked in a computer game store at the time it was released. Bought a PSone after playing the damn thing in the store. Absalutly amazing - as I remember it. Childhood fantasy tales about the Viper GT that nobody but yourself could drive :)

    And now I'm playing GT5 - what wonderful world it is!

  • Breach #33 2 years ago

    i got a brand new car/
    its like a jag-u-ar/
    its got leather seats/
    and a cd player/player/player/player ;)

    i think that was GT3 actually, but best one they used imo

  • Breach #34 2 years ago

    Memory may be fuzzy here,
    I'm sure i remember putting my favourite car onto a memory card and taking to a friends with the intention of showing him how awesome my creation was.

    lol

  • specular #35 2 years ago

    One of the few games that was more famous than it's hosting console. Also, one of the few where you would let the replay run fully. Many laughs with friends.

  • King_of_Hyrule #36 2 years ago


    I loved Gran Turismo, one of the best games of all time.
    but:
    V-Rally was the start of "technically advanced, reality-based driving experiences on console" ?
    Are we talking about V-Rally 1 on PSX here? Maybe in an alternate reality where rally cars have no weight and roll over as soon as you drive over a twig on the road :-)

  • MontyBrewster #37 2 years ago

    @DoctorFouad

    Lol, I didn't quote anything, I was making a point.

    Yes, it did have good physics for the time (not GT standards), no it didn't have the ring.

  • Azazel #38 2 years ago

    Everything must go.

  • butler` #39 2 years ago

    I remember the licences and the endurances races most prominently, being a stickler for challenge. Even as 11 year olds we used to do all-nighters. No racing game will ever come close to gt1/2 for me. Forza 3 aint a bad effort though.

  • fr05t #40 2 years ago

    i will never ever forget the the first time i started this game up and tried racing on grand valley speedway, the first corner had me in blind panic trying to keep the car from going off. [i'd only every played ridge racer]

  • ant72 #41 2 years ago

    GT 3 was my favourite. When I span the demo disc from OPS magazine for the first time, I nearly spat my tea out.

  • EVERYGAMER #42 2 years ago

    Very nice article. It definately stirred the old memories of when I first got it on its UK release and would just watch the replays for hours. It was and still is the game I most loved on my PSX (Even more than Metal Gear Solid or Final Fantasy VII).

  • DoctorFouad #43 2 years ago

    I agree that GT3 was the highest peak in the series (it also sold more than any other gt game with 14 million copies sold worldwide + it is the second highest scoring GT game with a 95/100 metacritic score second to the legendary GT1 with 96/100 score)

    But I think all this has to do with lack of real competition at the time (F355 challenge, MSR and sega GT for dreamcast were the only real challengers, but they were far far away in terms of content and graphics compared to GT3) also the jump in graphics between PS1 GT1 and PS2 GT3 was simply mindblowing...the lack of great PS2 exclusives at that time played also a huge role, imagine if the same GT5 that we have today has been released just one year after the ps3 release ? I am sure people would consider it as being even more legendary than GT3, simply the greates racing game ever created...

    but after Forza2, forza3, Grid, Dirt 2 and NFS shift...people's expectations were off the mark for GT5....



    Edited by DoctorFouad at 28/11/10 @ 20:59

  • graz68 #44 2 years ago

    This is still one of my favourite trailers and the game still looks pretty good today, like a bad mobile video of the later games.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tyTxbYWW...

  • RobTheBuilder #45 2 years ago

    It appears someone has gone through this post today and negged everything.
    Almost every post has got one less score than it did earlier today.

  • handsonhips101 #46 2 years ago

    Staying up all night with a mate repeating the same race on trial mountain to get enough money to buy an impreza wrx. Being 14 was the best.

    Gt blew me away, that and 2097 are the reasons why I've owned playstations.

  • Diogo_Ribeiro #47 2 years ago

    "Alternatively, not everyone can rent, let alone buy an Aston Martin DB7."

    I think this has always been my key criticism of GT. Games like Outrun ask the question "wouldn't it be great if you were driving a Ferrari?", while GT asks "wouldn't be great if you had to drive something else for hours until you could afford to buy and do maintenance on a Ferrari?".

    It's not really a question of arcade vs. simulation, but of the difference between design philosophies. While people like Suzuki were in love with the dream of driving (how else can one describe that indelible mix of Sega blue skies and ever changing scenery in Outrun, other than "going places"?), PD always seemed in love with making one work for their driving pleasure. And while I may recognize the virtues in PD's work, I can't recognize the fun in that. Maybe it's a combination of their mentality with the grind, because I also can't stand grinding in RPGs (unless it's actually interesting, which is rare).

  • MadSnip #48 2 years ago

    It's also the only GT game with some memorable and overall, good music. What a monumental game it was and well, still is.

  • Rev.StuartCampbell #49 2 years ago

    "The key flaw in that argument – other than the obvious irony at the heart of such criticism, which we'll deal with in a moment – is that you can't thrash cars on real roads without running the risk of being booked by the police, killing yourself, or worse, killing others."

    Which is exactly why GT doesn't actually give you the experience of driving those cars, any more than wanking over a picture of Jade Goody photocopied out of the Daily Star is an accurate simulation of the experience of boffing Angelina Jolie on a tightrope over an active volcano full of knives and the Ebola virus. The danger is what makes it exciting. Any fucking idiot can follow a racing line, the trick is doing it when your brain is screaming "SLOW DOWN RIGHT NOW OR YOU'RE GOING TO ACTUALLY REALLY DIE!" at you, something it rarely does when you're sat on your fucking sofa.

    I don't mind people enjoying GT games - I enjoy playing those games that simulate steering a metal hoop along a twisty electrified wire, which are a lot closer to what GT is doing. The difference is that I'm not fucking deluding myself that because I can take a hairpin in a Lamborghini Murcielago at 120mph in GT, I have even the most microscopically tiny grasp of what it feels like to do it for real with your life at stake.

  • HistoryTeller #50 2 years ago

    @Rev stuart

    You could end up being quite the liability in the local community.

  • LionheartDJH #51 2 years ago

    @Rev. Stuart Campbell

    If the game gets the sense of speed and the handling of the cars right then I think it can provide probably the closest thing you'll get to actually racing one of these supercars without actually doing it for real. Do you really think anyone who plays racing games thinks they can go out and actually do it for real just because they've done it in a game? Take the recent F1 game for example. It nails the sense of speed and car handling for me, and I find it to be a fantastic racing experience that really draws me in. Sure I'm sat down with a joypad in my hand and not actually sat in an F1 car going 200km/h, but then again when am I realistically ever going to have the chance to do that for real?

    As for GT, used to love it as a kid. Could never get past the A-License test, so was always stuck with the B level races, but it didn't bother me all that much. I remember doing that Sunday Cup race 15 times in a row to earn enough credits to buy an Aston Martin DB7 just so I could race in a James Bond car. Little did I know that the Astons were some of the worst cars in the game as they handled like they were permanently on ice! The replays were awesome at the time though, would sometimes just sit back and take in a race I'd just finished. Never got into 2 really, didn't enjoy it as much as the first. 3 was awesome though.

  • DoctorFouad #52 2 years ago

    @djronz :

    GT5 game is really the kind of game that the more yu play it the more you like it...

    people must really enjoy the game and forget about those unprofessional reviews all around the internet...all these reviews underestimate the importance of great driving physics for simulation driving game...professional drivers consider GT5 to be one of the best and most realistic driving games ever created, unlike most of amateur reviewers who dont know much about driving cars...
    Edited by DoctorFouad at 29/11/10 @ 09:13

  • TheBiGW #53 2 years ago

    @Rev Stuart, and @LionheartDJH

    This <a href=http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/geek-rebooted-2010-11-26?imageNo=0>Top Gear article</a> will be of interest . Yes, different game, but it does seem to show that games/simulators do indeed transfer aspects of the skills required to successfully drive a car at race speeds and on the limit.

    Whilst GT is far from perfect it was at least better than any other game at the time (as the article mentions). It was certainly a better simulator than, say, Cannon Fodder II was a war simulator.

  • Murbal #54 2 years ago

    I remember going into Richmond HMV in my lunch break to buy it, along with a dual shock controller which iirc launched on the same day. If that nugget of information is in the article or anywhere here in the comments, I'm sorry - I haven't read it properly ;-)

    Such excitement, especially after that Edge 10.

  • atomised #55 2 years ago

    thanks,
    that brought back some great memories (and over + screwy tunings).

  • geeza2020 #56 2 years ago

    What. A. Game. I remember seeing this for the first time in the UK Playstation Mag or some such guff, and thinking "that can't be a real game. Theres no way my playstation can handle this." And then I somehow got hold of a a japanese copy of the game, and even though I couldnt tell what I was doing, didnt realise that I had to do the licenses in order to unlock new events, I was just stunned by the visuals and the handling and the quality of the tracks. I remember my Dad entering my bedroom when I was playing it, and that was the first time he showed any interest at all in "those bloody computer games" :D

    This, along with games like MGS, FF7, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Alien Trilogy, TOCA, Twisted Metal, and many others is the reason that for me, the PSone generation will always be the greatest and most important generation of consoles ever made.

  • dadrester #57 2 years ago

    i'd forgotten just how much i loved GT back in the day. i remember dog sitting for my girlfriends folks for a week and going to get it from their local woolworths on day one (the only shop that sold games in their sleepy town). me and the (now) missus spent the whole week getting all the licences and tuning a fiat 500 (iirc). good times!

  • Diogo_Ribeiro #58 2 years ago

    @TheBiGW: I don't think the skill itself is the issue. See: virtual reality training for fighter pilots. Certain studies show it's useful to give them a taste of what's to come (and some skills may be acquired in the process), but there's a world of difference between a wobbling cockpit and red panic lights and a real fighter jet stalling and spiraling into the ground, no?

    Same applies to race cars. You can get an idea of what it's like to drive but no simulator will ever let you know, on its own, what it's like to feel the road beneath you or the feeling of impending doom when you're going so fast you can't even think straight. So, yeah, simulators might be fun and transfer some thing from reality into videogame logic - but ultimately, the "real" in "real driving simulator" is a misnomer.

  • Tiberius_Gracchus #59 2 years ago

    [link url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGH3uG4gGI4
    ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGH3uG4gGI4
    [/link]

    Used to love this intro!

  • kuzanagi #60 2 years ago

    I'm surprised the retrospective didn't mention the fact that despite it being "The Real Driving Simulator" a perfectly viable tactic was colliding with a barrier at 150mph and bouncing your way past the pack in to first place.

    I enjoyed GT and GT2 but it does always amuse me how so many people gloss over the lack of damage model in what's meant to be a super realistic driving simulator. I'm aware that it was apparently due to licence issues from manufacturers in that they didn't want their cars depicted with damage but even so...

  • Rev.StuartCampbell #61 2 years ago

    "This Top Gear article will be of interest . Yes, different game, but it does seem to show that games/simulators do indeed transfer aspects of the skills required to successfully drive a car at race speeds and on the limit."

    Um, it does? It seems to show that this guy who was an absolutely unstoppable killer ninja on a game far more technical than GT couldn't get within three seconds - an absolute lifetime in racing - of even a "solid" time on the real course, never mind a worldbeating one, and had to give up after 15 laps because he'd thrown up into his helmet and couldn't handle any more. Which is pretty much the exact point I'm making.

    Anyone can follow a racing line and work out braking points by trial and error - that's a feat of memory, not driving. (You could of course argue that it's an "aspect" of driving, but then so is sitting down without falling over. I'm excellent at that particular aspect of high-level competitive race driving.) Having to contend with the physical and mental stresses of doing it for real is what separates the men from the boys, because they're not even remotely the same experience.

    I'm willing to bet all the money in the world that despite having done thousands and thousands of virtual laps, the guy never once threw up on his sofa.

  • Rev.StuartCampbell #62 2 years ago

    "If the game gets the sense of speed and the handling of the cars right then I think it can provide probably the closest thing you'll get to actually racing one of these supercars without actually doing it for real."

    Well, no. Something like Resident Evil is probably closer to the *experience* of driving a real racing car than playing Gran Turismo. But even then, it's a bit like saying "If I don't want to leave the comfort of my house, going to the (south-facing) kitchen is the closest I can get to Australia without actually going there for real". It's technically true in so far as it goes, but I'm still one almighty fuck of a long way from Australia.

  • Gecks #63 2 years ago

    admittedly i've only ever raced go-karts (albeit the vaguely fast 70mph ones), the oh-my-god-i'm-going-to-die sensation only ever kicks in during the pre-race briefing - once you're on the track you're not really thinking about anything; you get 'in the zone' and that feeling is something GT does to the best of its ability without making it a rather abstract experience (i've always felt that the 'fusion' mode of wipeout fusion was the closest to how i feel when i'm racing IRL but yeah)

    racing drivers don't worry about death all the time or they would be rubbish. GT isn't an accurate layman-in-a-fast-car simulator but does anyone really want to play that? i think when we say GT (or indeed any simulator) is 'realistic' there is an implied suite of caveats.

  • 00.00.01 #64 2 years ago

    @Rev stuart
    Ghehe "...I'm not fucking deluding myself that because I can take a hairpin in a Lamborghini Murcielago at 120mph in GT, I have even the most microscopically tiny grasp of what it feels like to do it for real...".
    So Rev....How's about the realism in Bible/God/Jezus etc?

  • CHAZBIGPOTATO #65 2 years ago

    Reads like a 9

  • Breach #66 2 years ago

    Before trying to set a Lap Record on the new Silverstone circuit layout, Jason Plato practised his driving and braking lines using the F1 2010 codemasters game.

    Only Idiots think it impossible to transfer any usefull knowledge from a racing 'game', into real world racing.

  • Rev.StuartCampbell #67 2 years ago

    "Only Idiots think it impossible to transfer any usefull knowledge from a racing 'game', into real world racing. "

    It's lucky that nobody said that, then.

  • Kaminari #68 2 years ago

    I still remember the awesomeness of the 640x480 mode you could unlock after completing the game, though it was limited to just one track (Clubman if I'm not mistaken).

  • Breach #69 2 years ago

    Hey rev, are you a professional wind-up merchant or is it just a hobby?
    Just reading back through your posts, you seem to be in the mood for a fine evening at the keyboard.

    Good on you, better than causing trouble in the real world i suppose


  • radlord #70 2 years ago

    stu's problem is that he technically hasn't had sex with a woman for years and years, if indeed at ALL.

  • mooseman721 #71 2 years ago

    I loved the first game, but I never had the urge to visit the sequels. Dont know why.

  • geeza2020 #72 1 year ago

    Rev. Stuart Campbell - Talking gibberish on EG since Gran Turismo relased on PSone.

  • bunglebonce #73 1 year ago

    I used to spend hours tuning the GTO Twin Turbo to an inch of its life, all in an effort to get it closer to the speed of sound around the test track.

    I think I got it up to around 240mph and then once at 255 when the car inadvertently bounced off the wall.

    No-one told me the speed of sound was 343.2 metres per second.
    Edited by bunglebonce at 30/11/10 @ 13:54