Gran Turismo (Game Series)

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Gran Turismo
GT logo white.svg
developer JapanJapan CyberHead Polys Entertainment Polyphony Digital
JapanJapan
JapanJapan
Publisher JapanJapan Sony Computer Entertainment
First title Gran Turismo (1997)
Last title Gran Turismo Sport (2017)
Platform (s) PlayStation
PlayStation 2
PlayStation 3
PlayStation 4
PlayStation Portable
Genre (s) Racing simulation

Gran Turismo (subtitle: "The Real Driving Simulator") is a video game series that is available exclusively for the Sony PlayStation , PlayStation 2 , PlayStation 3 and for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) and from 2017 for the PlayStation 4 .

The game series is developed by Polyphony Digital . Gran Turismo (GT) belongs to different game genres depending on the game mode . In arcade mode it belongs to the genre of racing games , in professional GT mode it is a racing simulation . The company Sony therefore advertises in the title with the statement: "The Real Driving Simulator" (The real driving simulator).

The series so far comprises seven titles. The latest part of the series, Gran Turismo Sport , was released on October 17, 2017. According to Sony Computer Entertainment, the entire series has sold more than 76 million games to date. The Gran Turismo 5: Prologue title from 2008 sold 374,607 times in Europe in the first week. Among other things, the racing simulation forms the basis for the GT Academy , a casting and funding program by Nissan and Sony PlayStation , for the alternative recruitment of talented drivers through e-sports .

Gameplay

Gran Turismo 5: Prologue for the Playstation 3

In all versions of the Gran Turismo series, the player begins his gaming career with an initial capital. He first has to buy a car from him in order to be able to take part in the first small racing series against other drivers and thus improve his account balance. With this capital the player can now modify his car to improve his performance and his vehicle behavior in order to be able to stand against the increasingly stronger opponents. Alternatively, there is also the option of repeating the small racing series and thus saving for a new car, for example.

In order to be able to participate in new racing series in the further course of the game, various licenses are required. Starting with the national B license, through national A, international C (new in Gran Turismo 5 ), international B, international A up to the special license, the driver can gradually improve his skills by passing various license tests. If all license tests are passed with at least a bronze medal, the driver wins a car. The difficulty of the races increases as the game progresses, as does the prize money, forcing the player to tune the cars in his possession or to buy new ones. The player can sell his own car in order to receive money for new vehicles.

The gameplay of the Gran Turismo 5: Prologue part is similar to that of the fourth part, but there are predefined missions, some of which include the old racing series.

The new multiplayer missions, which change weekly, are completely new. All participants start in adapted vehicles on a route and there are cash prizes (credits).

With Gran Turismo Sport , the series will for the first time offer support for virtual reality in which every aspect of the game can be used. The function should be available from publication.

vehicles

In the current version (GT S) there are more than 150 vehicles available to the player. The unique selling point of the series compared to other representatives of this genre is the wide range of different car models from real manufacturers. In Gran Turismo 4 , from 2005, the player has more than 700 cars, new and used, from brands such as Nissan , VW , Toyota , Audi , BMW and Mercedes-Benz .

However, it should be noted that the large number of cars is partly due to variations or different years of construction of the same vehicles, so the Honda NSX including Type-R and Type-S is available a total of 13 times, albeit from different years of construction. The Nissan Skyline GT-R with its numerous variants and years of construction (R32, R33, R34) is represented a total of 29 times, not including tuning and racing versions. Nevertheless, the variety of cars is many times higher than in most other racing games, as there are also small cars such as Daihatsu Move, Suzuki Alto or VW Lupo, which are not taken into account in most other racing games. The fastest car in GT 2 & 3 is the Suzuki Escudo Pikes Peak . In the case of GT4, it is the Minolta Toyota 88C-V. For GT 5, it is the Red Bull X1 prototype .

In Gran Turismo 5 , for the first time, players can also take part in kart and NASCAR races.

Tuning

With a few exceptions, all vehicles can be modified in Gran Turismo . For this purpose, the in-house tuning companies have set up a tuning area at the manufacturers (e.g. Nismo at Nissan). There you can get the best engine, gearbox, brake and chassis upgrades that are affordable for a comparable amount in each case. With fully tuned vehicles, the possibilities for use in heavier racing series also increase, so that fewer vehicles are needed overall. In addition, you can buy pre-modified sports cars that are pre-equipped with various tuning parts from the tuning companies and in the tuning department of some Japanese manufacturers . With Gran Turismo Prologue 5 , the vehicles can be tuned using quick tuning before the race. Other tuning items such as other gearboxes etc. can also be purchased in this part. The exception are vehicles that have already been tuned, which can be purchased from some manufacturers.

Damage model

In contrast to other racing games , no damage model was used for the virtual vehicles in the series for a long time . Many manufacturers had strictly refused to display their damaged cars and made this a condition for licensing. Kazunori Yamauchi , chief developer of the GT series, said in several interviews regarding Gran Turismo 4 that the processing power of the PlayStation 2 is not sufficient to depict collision damage as realistically as the development team expects. However, since you don't want any fake-looking features in the row, you have not shown external collision damage. Only the second part of the GT series contains racing modes in which the tires of the player's vehicle are affected in the event of a collision with the lane or opposing cars. Also, Gran Turismo 5: Prologue contains no damage model, but in the full version of Gran Turismo 5, a damage model is what has been officially confirmed by Kazunori Yamauchi in an interview.

A trailer was presented at E3 2009 on June 2nd, which provides an insight into the damage model. This contains a short scene where you can clearly see the damage to a car when it skids and hits a wall with its front.

At Gamescom in Cologne in mid-August 2009, trade fair visitors were able to play a demo version of the game for the first time, which contained a non-final version of the damage model.

The full version of Gran Turismo 5 is the first Gran Turismo part to contain a damage model, the quality of which, however, clearly lags behind that of its competitors Forza Motorsport 4 or Race Driver: GRID .

Racetracks

There are some really existing tracks like Le Mans , Laguna Seca , Suzuka , Motegi , Fuji and the Nürburgring - Nordschleife . Sony also counts minimal variations in a route as a new course. GT4 offered 40 different tracks, some of them in several variations (layouts). The development team's claim to realism went so far that almost all vehicles were driven in the original and the resulting background noise for the respective model was incorporated into the game. The route of the Nordschleife should not deviate by more than five centimeters in any direction compared to the original route. Even the lap times of professional racing drivers in the game do not differ by more than one percent from those who drive them in reality.

Furthermore (since GT2) there are also rally tracks with loose ground, since GT4 there are also snow- and ice-covered tracks. The racetracks can usually be driven in the opposite direction, which means that the various layouts are doubled. Currently (GT 6), 107 different layouts can be used at 40 locations.

Driving physics

In the first part of the series, which appeared in 1997, the developers combined simple controllability with realistic driving physics . Although the vehicle remains at least partially controllable in actually hopeless situations and driving errors rarely have catastrophic effects, the driving dynamics are still able to give the impression of a real race with powerful vehicles due to the realistic elements. In particular, the various properties as well as the advantages and disadvantages of front-axle , rear-axle and all-wheel drive vehicles are presented. Other technical aspects that do not have such a direct impact on the driving dynamics, such as the increase in performance through turbochargers, have been simplified. The decreasing grip of tires is taken into account, but not the wear on the brake pads or aging dampers.

For Gran Turismo 4 , the driving physics was fundamentally revised for the first time within the GT series.

graphic

GT 1 and GT 2 are graphically equivalent and offer a resolution of 240 lines. In view of the possibilities of the Playstation, neither anti-aliasing nor texture filtering is offered. Nevertheless, the graphics received good reviews because the animation remains very fluid in almost all situations, and at that time set new standards in terms of realism. Furthermore, the car models were able to impress with the use of mirroring effects such as environment mapping , which was unusual at the time .

GT 3 and especially GT 4 make use of the Playstation 2 hardware and offer filtered textures. Due to the photo mode (since GT 4), however, sample images got into the media, which do not reflect the actual in-game impression. The PAL version uses an image resolution of 512 × 512 (in 3: 2 format) in the game, the photo mode has a resolution of up to 1280 × 960 and generates images with motion blur and supersampling anti-aliasing, which is what you actually get Play without play.

The NTSC version of GT 4 offers a 480p mode and a 1080i mode for HDTV owners.

GT 5 Prologue offers a fundamentally revised graphic, the image can be output in 576i, 720p and also extrapolated 1080i / p. The full version of the game also offers the option to play the game in 3D on a 3D television.

Controller

The first Gran Turismo made use of the analog controller as an option. Logitech developed the Driving Force Pro for GT 4 . The 900 ° mode, 450 ° steering angle in both directions, is not used by all PC games. Gran Turismo was one of the first games to support the vibration function of the DualShock controller. The controller was delivered at the same time as the game.

PSP version

The PSP version is severely restricted. There are no tuning kits, no career mode and no programmed racing series. The vehicles that can be purchased can only be bought from the “dealerships of the day”. With the PSP version you can drive all racetracks immediately, activation is not necessary. In order to earn additional money, you have to pass “driver tests” or finish among the first places in the various races that you create yourself.

Games

Released versions

  • Gran Turismo (Japan: December 1997, US & Europe: May 18, 1998, PlayStation )
  • Gran Turismo 2 (1999, PSOne)
  • Gran Turismo 2 Platinum (2000, PSOne)
  • Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (2001, PS2 , called Gran Turismo 2000 during development)
  • Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec Platinum (2001, PS2)
  • Gran Turismo Concept 2001 Tokyo (2001, PS2)
  • Gran Turismo Concept 2002 Tokyo-Geneva (2002, PS2)
  • Gran Turismo Concept 2002 Tokyo-Geneva Platinum (2003, PS2)
  • Gran Turismo Concept 2002 Tokyo-Seoul (2002, PS2)
  • Gran Turismo 4: Prologue (2004, PS2)
  • Gran Turismo 4: Prius Edition (2004, PS2)
  • Gran Turismo 4: BMW 1 Series Virtual Drive Dealership (2004, PS2)
  • Gran Turismo 4 (2005, PS2)
  • Gran Turismo 4: Platinum (2005/2006, PS2)
  • Gran Turismo 4 Online Test Version (2006, Japan, USA, PS2)
  • Gran Turismo HD Concept (November 2006, Europe: March 2007): ten cars, each with a tuned variant, one route (Eiger north face) in two directions, free download for PS3 in the PlaystationStore.
  • Gran Turismo 5: Prologue: Spec-I (Japan: Since December 13, 2007 in the Japanese PlaystationStore for download and on Blu-ray Disc . PS3)
  • Gran Turismo 5: Prologue: Spec-II (US and Europe: March 26, 2008, PS3)
  • Gran Turismo 5: Prologue Platinum (January 2009, PS3)
  • Gran Turismo (October 2009, PSP)
  • Gran Turismo Collector's Edition (October 2009, PSP)
  • Gran Turismo 5 (November 24, 2010, PS3)
  • Gran Turismo 5 Collector's Edition (November 24, 2010, PS3)
  • Gran Turismo 5 Signature Edition (November 24, 2010, PS3)
  • Gran Turismo 5 Platinum (October 14, 2011, PS3)
  • Gran Turismo 5 XL Edition (US: January 17, 2012, PS3)
  • Gran Turismo 5 Academy Edition (September 26, 2012, PS3)
  • Gran Turismo 5 2013 Edition (Asia: December 21, 2012, PS3)
  • Gran Turismo 6 (December 6, 2013, PS3)
  • Gran Turismo Sport (October 18, 2017, PS4)
  • Gran Turismo 7 (PS5)

GT Academy

The GT Academy is a casting and funding program by Nissan and Sony PlayStation for the alternative recruitment of talented drivers via e-sports . The GT Academy enables Gran Turismo players to transition from virtual racing simulations to real motorsport in a Nissan motorsport team.

The GT Academy is a combination of esports tournaments and racing driver school and was launched in June 2008 in collaboration between Nissan Europe, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and Polyphony Digital.

The program consists of four different phases. Phase one is only completed virtually on PlayStations, the participants compete against each other as players in the Gran Turismo racing simulation . Phase two is then supplemented by practical exercises. In the Race Camp, the focus is on training. Phase four consists of the driver development program, with qualification for a driver license and entry into real motorsport.

By 2014, more than 5 million participants had taken part in the GT Academy via their PlayStation, and 16 participants had started a motorsport career.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Polyphony Digital Inc .: An update on 'Gran Turismo Sport'. In: gran-turismo.com. Retrieved September 14, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Polyphony Digital Inc .: An update on 'Gran Turismo Sport'. In: gran-turismo.com. Retrieved September 14, 2016 .
  3. ↑ Playm.de: Gran Turismo: More than 76 million copies sold , December 16, 2015
  4. ↑ Gran Turismo 5 - Prologue: Sales record in Europe
  5. ↑ http://www.gran-turismo.com/gb/academy/
  6. ↑ Peter Steinlechner: Race start for Gran Turismo Sport in November 2016. In: golem.de . Golem Media GmbH, May 20, 2016, accessed on September 8, 2016 .
  7. ↑ [1]
  8. ↑ [2]
  9. ↑ page of the game
  10. ↑ http://www.gran-turismo.com/gb/academy/
  11. ↑ Nissan PlayStation® GT Academy goes from strength to strength. In: Nissan Online Newsroom. Retrieved October 8, 2015 .
  12. ↑ Graduates - GT Academy. (No longer available online.) In: gran-turismo.com. Archived from the original on October 13, 2015 ; accessed on October 8, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gran-turismo.com