We know the real driving simulator for bringing a deeper understanding of racing to the masses, but also the almost unreal challenges needed to ??prove our newly-acquired skillset.

The challenges in Gran Turismo vary from easy to very difficult, and anyone who wants to achieve all trophies wi?ll need to get ready for these devilish tracks.

10. Laguna Seca Raceway

Laguna Seca was first introduced in Gran Turismo 2 and got a lot? of deserved hype for being a real-lif??e track, but it came with a devious twist.

While Laguna Seca is far from being the toughest track in the game, it introduced players to the "corkscrew," an iconic corner that plays ?like the closest thing a driving game can have to ??a jump scare �this thing will wreck anyone who enters it unprepared.

While it loo?ks like any other turn, it features a very specific drop in elevation at a very sharp angle that you cannot anticipate just from looking at the layout. If you've ever played on this track, I'm sure you haven't forgotten about your first time in Laguna Seca.

9. Autodromo Nazionale Monza

One of the most dangerous tracks is the one you think you'll beat easily. Finishing Monza?? is a piece of cake. Winning a race there, however, not so much.

Monza is as simple as a serious GT track can be. One meant to have players u??se their vehicles' top speed at all times, and that's the tricky part.

Will you know when to stop and turn before it's too late? Or will you cower and waste your speed too early on? Timing and mental fortitude prove the true ?chal?lenge here, and one you should not underestimate.

8. Deep Forest Raceway

Deep Forest is a deceptive high-speed track. It looks simple, but it's filled with intricate corners that will prove race-end?ing for players who underestimate them by going too fast.

Deep Forest has been a staple of the Gran Turismo series since the beginning, likely because it provides the perfect entry point to players looking for a bigger challenge, and it has been made even harder in Gran Turismo 7.

7. Trial Mountain Circuit

Trial Mountain has been present since the OG Gran Turismo and has always proven a great filter. Being an original track allowed the tea?m at Polyphony Digital to do whatever the devs wanted, and the devs wanted a trap for anyone who dared to underestimate its corners.

Trial Mountain is a relatively short circuit, albeit one f??eaturing a large amount of corners in quick succession that might cause players? to cower and go too slow or to go so fast they won't be able to avoid a wall. Trial Mountain is one of gaming's most demanding teachers when it comes to the art of quick acceleration and de-acceleration.

6. Cote d'Azur

Cote d'Azur might look synonymous with the good life, but Gran Turismo's remake of the real-life track will be anythi??ng but nice if you enter it expe??cting a vacation.

While Cote d'Azur doesn't feature turns that, once missed, will have you driving through miles of sand to get back on track, it's an incredibly tight track filled with hard turns that'll force players to drive cautiously if they ar??e to avoid bumping again?st a wall whenever they move the steering wheel.

5. Fuji International Speedway

By looking at its layout, newcomers will probably im?agine the Fuji International Speedway to be a piece of cake �that's how it gets you. While this is not an incredibly challenging track pe??r se, it's a highly punishing one, where each failed turn will earn you a hefty penalty. Never underestimate this track, as the rather simple first and second thirds hide one of the most devious turn sequences in the history of the series.

Still, if you respect Fuji International Speedway and don't spend too much time staring at Mount Fuji, you'll pr??obably ?do just fine.

4. Circuito De La Sierra

This real-life circuit from Spain provides a rather interesting challeng??e. On the one hand, it's a?? high-speed circuit, one that seemingly doesn't demand much foresight to be put into its corners, but it comes with a few traps.

Circuito De La Sierra is one of the lengthiest tracks in the game, making it harder to memorize all its turns. It can easily lull players into a sense of safety, then hit them with turn 36, a very dangerous corner that might cause various accidents. Furthermore, be extremely wary of this track if you're d?riving a kart, as it's infamous for sending them flying at various points across the track.

3. Circuit de la Sarthe (Le Mans)

The real-life circuit behind the most famous racing competition in history is naturally one of the most challenging in Gran Turismo.

What makes La Sarthe a true challenge is the varied types of corners it features and the reliance it will require of players to? beat it, considering how the game uses this technically demanding track for extremely long endurance races.

2. Suzuka Circuit

Suzuka Circuit is one of the most feared not just across the Gran Turismo community, but across many racing game communities, and with good reason. In short, the Suzuka Circuit is a varied collection of incredibly devious low- and high-speed corners that will harshly punish an??yone who doesn't clear them perfectly.

Just staring at this thing's highly confusing layout is more than enough to scare ??players, and I wouldn't blame them.

1. Nürburgring Nordschleife

Nürburgring was Gran Turismo 4's m???ost interesting addition to the series' track roster, and it is yet to be topped �both in its magnificence and difficulty.

It's a monstrously long track based on a real-world circuit that features every nasty trick in the book. Its incredible length makes it feel like a combination of an endurance test and a high-speed corner course. Nürburgring is naturally incredibly hard to memorize and even more so to master. With over 150 corners, it's no surprise this is the track you need to beat in time trial to get the Super License in GT4.

Conquer Nürburgring and you'll be capable of?? beating any other track in the game �perhaps even in real life.

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The PS2 is arguably the best console ever created with many popular franchises like Kingdom Hearts, Devil May Cry, and God of War taking root on the system. Other series really took off during this generation of consoles, like the Grand Theft Auto franchise. Here are the 10 best selling PS2 ?games, ranked by sales numbers.

10. Kingdom Hearts

The strange crossover between Disney and Square truly worked during the PS2 generation of consoles with over 5.9 million copies sold worldwide, as of 2007. Sora, Donald, and Goofy fought against dark creatures called the heartless in Disney worlds we all know and love like The Little Mermaid's Atlantica and Hercules' Olympus Coliseum. The action-RPG system is fast-paced, and lets you summon the likes of Dumbo and Genie to the battle. While the first game hasn't aged the best, the Kingdom Hearts franchise is still beloved worldwide.

9. Final Fantasy XII

After the success of the 10th entry, Final Fantasy XII took us back to the world of Ivalice, featuring kingdoms and olden-style language. It sold over 6 million copies, according to a 2009 interview with Yoshinori Kitase in Gendai. This entry in particular was different from other entries in the series, as it featured a real-time system similar to an MMO. "It was a triumph in many ways with its open world combat flow and groundbreaking (at the time) AI-manipulating gambit system," said our review for the remaster The Zodiac Age.

8. Tekken 5

Tekken 5 is also reported to have sold around 6 million units. This is the fighting game sequel that introduced the fan-favorite characters Asuka and Lili, in addition to the badass Dragunov and Raven. The game has an impressive 88 Metacritic score based on 62 reviews. "Better balancing, a ton of gameplay modes, smarter AI, and high-quality presentational elements are tough things to beat -- but Tekken 5 has all of them," said IGN's review when the game was released in 2005.

7. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

When you combine the reported sales of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Substance, you'll find that a total number of 7.03 million copies were picked up at stores. Launching in 2001, this game was a gigantic step in Hollywood-style storytelling within games. The second title also added a first-person camera for aiming down sights and the ability to hold foes up at gunpoint. Many love this game, despite a surprising switch of ??the main protagonist.

6. Grand Theft Auto III

Grand Theft Auto III revolutionized gaming when it first came out on October 22, 2001 because of its big open world mechanics and mature content. As a result, it sold around 8.3 million copies worldwide. I remember going around my friend's house at nine years old and being amazed at how open the game was, and freaked out by how many atrocities could be performed by the player. A remaster was released for this game, but the less said about that, the better.

5. Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy X was the best-selling PS2 game in the series at over 8.5 million copies, according to a 2013 press release. This was a big deal back in 2001. FFX was the first game in the RPG franch??ise to have voice acting with James Arnold Taylor as Tidus and Hedy Burress as Yuna. The elaborate love story between the two main ch??aracters also attracted many to the RPG. Composer Nobuo Uematsu also constructed a musical masterwork in the game's soundtrack, with standout tracks like "Movement in Green," "To Zanarkand," and of course, the epic battle theme.

4. Gran Turismo 4

The Gran Turismo series was huge during the PS2 generation, as its modern competitor Forza was yet to take shape. It drew 11.76 million racing fans to buy the game from store shelves in 2004. This game was praised for its fantastic graphics at the time and simulation mechanics. "Gran Turismo 4 is the Encyclopedia Britannica of driving, with more than 700 distinct sets of wheels to prove it, and introduces you to it with the restrained reverence of a martial arts instructor," said Eurogamer's review. "It wants you to win through training and discipline, not brute force and chrome elbows to?? the side paneling."

3. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

The Grand Theft Auto series began to take over the industry with its next entry, Vice City. It sold a total of 14.2 million copies worldwide (according to the Guinness World Records 2009 Gamer's Edition book). This entry took us back to the '80s; the theming was exceptional, with a fantastic soundtrack and neon throughout the city everywhere. It also features an engaging narrative following Tommy Vercetti, voiced by Goodfellas actor Ray Liotta. "The game of fast cars and ruthless criminals packs more action and excitement into the first few hours than can be found in the entirety of most games," said IGN's 2003 review.

2. Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec

Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec accelerated excitement from the PlayStation 2 fanbase even more, with almost 15 million copies sold in 2001 and beyond. It brought incredible visuals for racing enthusiasts at the time, and likely convinced many to take the leap from the PS1 to the PS2. The official website says the game added "impairing sunglare, shimmering heat waves, real-time reflections" and more to make this game as realistic as possible at the time. There was also an Arcade mode and a Simulation mode added to Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec to make it as appealing to a wide audi?ence as possible.

1. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Arguably the best of the PS2 trilogy, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is on top of the best selling PS2 games list with 17.33 million copies reportedly purchased by PS2 players around the world, according to the Guinness World Records 2009 Gamer's Edition. Playing as Carl Johnson, you're living in the '90s, trying to save Carl's family after his mother was murdered and trying to flee corrupt cops who frame him for homicide. The game has an amazing 95% Metacritic average rating from 80 outlets.

Game Informer gave it a perfect score, saying "San Andreas breaks the video game mold and emerges as something far greater." (Via Metacritic) Despite a terrible remaster much later on, it seems to still hold a place in many fans' minds as one of the best ??in the series.

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July 25 saw the release of Gran Turismo 7's 1.49 update, which introduced a game-breaking but undeniably hilarious glitch. Instead of moving forward and obeying the top-notch physics that the series is known for, cars in Gran Turismo 7 can now just blast off?? vertically and become mostly uncontrollable.

As originally noted by VGC, the Inte??rnet is already fil??led with demonstrations of the update in action:

Ple??ase note that I wasn't joking when I used the words "blast off into space". That fir??st clip was but a taste to prepare readers to the full extent of the update's "power":

The trail of smoke left by the car almost makes this ?s??erious glitch go from very funny to just plain beautiful.

Most clips tend to feature the VW Van in such predicaments. This originally led me to believe the glitch was only or mostly just affecting this vehicle, but it turns out the glitch has to do with car settings, not with any particular car. It seems as if pretty much any vehicle runs the risk of turning into a makeshift space shuttle. Developer Polyphony Digital has already apologized for the inconvenience and states that it's curr?ent?ly working on a fix.

The weirdest part is that the glitch is so prevalent that it's even affecting Gran Turismo 7's cutscenes:

As well as the VR mode:

Once this beautiful mess gets fixed, Update 1.49 will allow players to properly revisit Eiger Norwand, a popular track from Gran Turismo 6, and gain access to six more cars. U?ntil then, you can give the Polyphony Space Program a ?try on PlayStation 5.

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Gran Turismo is a Neill Blomkamp-directed film based on the popular PlayStation franchise. It tells the tracks the tale of how Jann Mardenborough turned his love of Gran Turismo games into a fully-fledged motors?port career. Though the wide release for the USA is set for August 25, the film has aired in international markets, reception has been good thus far, and it has been reported that the film has already grossed $22.7 million.

[caption id="attachment_395283" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Polyphony Digital.[/caption]

Gran Turismo racing to theatres

The Gran Turismo movie is a star-studded affair featuring Archie Madekwe as Mardenborough, Djimon Hounsou as Mardenborough’s father, and Orlando Bloom as Nissan marketing executive Danny Moore. As Blomkamp has explained, to capture the most cinematic shots, filmographers used FPV drones? to ca??rry IMAX sensor-approved cameras. Several cockpit shots were used which will be familiar to franchi??se fans.

//twitter.co?m/BORReport/status/1693278878792642768

Critical reception to the Gran Turismo movie has been positive overall, which reviewers complimenting the film’s authenticity and sincerity. It has not managed to avoid all criticism, and there has been some controversy regarding the film's depiction of Mardenborough’s Nürburgring crash which led to the death of a spectator. Some have described it as insensitive, with Polygon calling it “a t?asteless reframing of a fatal event.�??/a>

The Gran Turismo movie is but one of several video game adaptations Sony has in store. A Ghost of Tsushima movie is in the works, and fans can also look forward to television adaptations of the Horizon and God of War franchises.

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August is going to be a good month for Gran Turismo fans. The Gran Turismo movie hits theaters on August 25, and you can enjoy some new content in Gran Turismo 7 to celebrate the movie's launch. Update 1.36 goes live on August 7 at 12 AM PDT, and it adds a new livery that’ll allow you to recreate the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 �8 seen in the Gran Turismo movie.

Polypho??ny Digital is also running a gift campaign. From August 7 until September 28, you’ll be able to claim the Nissan GT-R? Nismo GT3 �8 showcased in the upcoming movie.

[caption id="attachment_395283" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Polyphony Digital.[/caption]

Get your engines ready

To claim your nifty Nissan from the Gran Turismo movie, all you need to do is hop into GT 7 and select the special panel on the upper right side of the World Map screen. ?In addition to new movie-related content, new cars have been made available:

• Chevrolet Corvette (C1) â€?8
• Maserati MC20 â€?0
• Toyota GR Corolla MORIZO Edition â€?2
• Toyota Ambulance Himedic â€?1 (Purchasable at Brand Central from late September)

Fukuoka Eastern Fire Station has been added to the Scapes, and the follow??ing Extras Menus have been chucked into the GT Cafe:

• Extra Menu No. 26: ‘Maseratiâ€?(Collector Level 40 and above)
• Extra Menu No. 27: ‘Aston Martinâ€?(Collector Level 44 and above)
• Extra Menu No. 28: ‘Kei carsâ€?(Collector Level 27 and above)

Gran Turismo 7 will also be celebrating the World Series Showdown 2023 Amsterdam taking place between August 11 and 12. With the "Predict the Winners" campaign, you c??an score in-game credits by predicting which teams will win the Manufacturers Cup and Nations Cup at the World Series Showdown.

The Gran Turismo movie, directed by Neill Blomkamp, has been touted as a true story based on the life of Jann Mardenborough and his unusual rise in motorsport. Gran Turismo is one of many PlayStation franchises receiving film adaptations, including Ghost of Tsushima and possibly Days Gone.

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The Last Cardriver

Sony Pictures Entertainment, (yes, really), has released the first full trailer for its upcoming big-screen adaptation of one of the most successful driving simulators of all time, Gran Turismo. The new film, directed by Neill Blomkamp (District 9, CHAPPiE) will arrive in theaters this August.

The picture will tell a somewhat dramatized version of the very real story of die-hard Gran Turismo fan Jann Mardenborough, who won a series of Nissan-sponsored Gran Turismo tournaments, before eventually going on to become a bona-fide championship racing car driver. Mardenborough will be portrayed in the movie by Archie Madekwe (Midsommer) and will be joined by cast members Orlando Bloom (Lord of the Rings), Djimon Hounson (Guardians of the Galaxy), David Harbour (Stranger Things) and former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell.

//www.youtube.com/wa??tch?v=GVPzGBvPrzw&??ab_channel=SonyPicturesEntertainment

'Now that's what I'm talkin' about!'

While I see the potential in this surprising adaptation �great cars driving fast makes for an awesome spectacle, after all �I can't help but wonder if we might not ultimately be looking at a two-hour ad for PlayStation hardware, Gran Turismo games, and car manufacturers. There's a possibility that Gran Turismo, with its real-world storytelling and use of legitimate branding, might give the 007 franchise a run for its money when it comes to product placement. Also, Video Game Fans are Dorks Jo?kes. Well do?ne.

Ah, I'm sure they'll be plenty of sleek and sexy vehicles for car fans, and maybe Geri will give us a few lines of "Wannabe" into the bargain. This whole trailer has a vibe very reminiscent of Top Gun Maverick, but we'll have to see whether Gran Turismo also takes 1.49 billion dollars when it f?inally accelerates into the cinemas this August. I hope CHAPPiE shows up in a cameo, doing some Funny Rap Danci?ng.

For the rest of us "couch-surfing losers", Gran Turismo 7 is available now on PlayStation platforms.

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A decidedly strange selection of esports

The Internation??al Olympics Committee has unveiled a range of games being featured in the Olympics Esports Series, at its official Olympic Esports Week, this year in June. Its selections are,? frankly, pretty odd.

The IOC has occasionally flirted with the idea of including virtual events in its traditionally physical environment. In the past, it's hosted the Olympic Virtual Series, with its 2021 event taking place ahead of the previously-postponed Tokyo Olympics. But there has historically been some resistance to mixing video games, with all its explosions and such, with the Olympic Games.

Enter the Olympic Esports Series 2023, which will culmin??ate in live, in-person finals this June. It's set to feature nine events: Archery, Baseball, Chess, Cycling, Dance, Motor Sport, Sailing, Tennis, and Taekwondo.

To be clear, it is featuring virtual events of those, using specific games. Here's the way that shakes out, ?as well as the organizing body associated with each competition.

2023 Olympics Esports Series titles

• Archery: Tic Tac Bow (World Archery Federation)
• Baseball: WBSC eBASEBALLâ„? POWER PROS (World Baseball Softball Confederation)
• Chess: Chess.com (International Chess Federation)
• Cycling: Zwift (UCI)
• Dance: Just Dance (World DanceSport Federation)
• Motor Sport: Gran Turismo (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile)
• Sailing: Virtual Regatta (World Sailing)
• Taekwondo: Virtual Taekwondo (World Taekwondo)
• Tennis: Tennis Clash (International Tennis Federation)

Now, if you're even a somewhat-lapsed viewer of Twitch.tv, you've probably noticed these aren't the games topping the viewer charts each weekend. Games like League of Legends and Counter-Strike aren't here. Instead, it's a pretty sports-leaning production, and a bit of an odd one at that. Rather than opting for say, FIFA or NBA 2K, those real-world s??ports aren't anywhere to be seen.

Some, like Chess and Gran Turismo, make a good deal of sense, but others are downright bizarre. This isn't to downplay the achievements of anyone who's good at these titles, as my Just Dance scores and Chess.com results will show I have little room to throw stones there. Choices like the simulator-adjacent games even seem in-line with the Olympics, wanting to highlight sports in a virtual environment. But there's also Tic Tac Bow, which some have pointed out has a strangely low download count, and mobile sports game Tennis Clash. It's a strange selection that feels distant from what any regular esports vi??ewer might want to tune in to watch.

The olympics of esports

Even if the Olympics are trying not to highlight the more shooter-focused sides of competitive games though, there's certainly a plethora to choose from. Rocket League is right there, having been previously spotlighted at the Commonwealth esports championships in 2022. Tekken makes a great fighting game entry; though if we're adhering to just one martial art, it would be interesting to see a bracket of Hwoarang mirror matches. (Also, I guess we're not featuring the beautifully bizarre Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 - The Official Video Game.)

It is, ultimately, a strange mixture of games that ultimately doesn't represent the current state of esports. Then again, I wouldn't have really expected it to. Most of the high-tier competitive video games have their own prestigious summits to climb, like The International or Evo. As much as I'd like to see SonicFox take home an Olympic medal, I think these communities were, and will continue to be, best served by the arenas they've built for themselves. But hey, if you want to try your hand at Olympic glory in Konami's eBaseball, registration and qualifying info is live on the Olympics' site.

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25 years of Real Driving excellence

Today is the 25th anniversary of gaming's foremost driving simulator, Gran Turismo. And to celebrate the occasion, So?ny Interactive Entertainment and Polyphony Digital released a video message, thanking the community and the team for delivering over two decades of critically acclaimed racin?g action.

The first Gran Turismo launched on PlayStation on December 23, 1997, kicking off a franchise that aimed to bring a sense of realism and technical authenticity to the racing game genre. With the ever-evolving technology of PlayStation hardware, developer Polyphony Digital has been afforded the opportunity to push the envelope further and further, with sequels boasting i?ncreasingly photo-realistic visuals and immersive driving physics almost unparalleled in the genre.

//www.youtube.com/watch???v=1zIcBFcLM7U&ab_channel=GRANTURISMOTV

A lengthy letter from Polyphony Digital CEO Kazunori Yamauchi, released for the anniversary, reflects on the history of the franchise, while also revealing that a staggering 90 million Gran Turismo titles ??have been sold since the series' debut. Yamauchi speaks of his and the Polyphony team's immens?e pride in the franchise, noting that the studio still carries a sense of revitalized determination into the current and forthcoming gaming generations.

"I can’t ever thank enough the Gran Turismo users and people of the Gran Turismo community who have played our new titles, which at times could be said to have been very experimental, writes Yamauchi. "We are here today because of all the people who supported us. I believe the Gran Turismo?? series have always pursued “beauty.�The beauty of the cars, the beauty of the scenery, the beauty?? of the lighting, the beauty of driving, the beauty of sounds/music and the beauty of the graphics."

"The “pursuit of beauty�is the motivation for creating Gran Turismo."

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Hopper can't drive 55

A Stranger Things actor is getting behind the wheel for a PlayStation picture. David Harbour has been cast to star in the upcoming Gran Turismo movie.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Sony Pictures and PlayStation Productions feature will cast Harbour as a retired driver and mentor. Harbour has garnered notoriety as Hopper in Stranger Things and as the Red Guardian in the Marvel universe.

The Gran Turismo movie will follow a teenage Gran Turismo player whose skills in-game lead to him winning a series of Nissan comp??etitions. And thanks to his skills, he gets a chance to become a professional racecar driver.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQEondeGvKo

Neill Blomkamp, of District 9, is directing the project, with a script written by Jason Hall and Zach Baylin. Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi is executive ?producing, alongs??ide Hall.

It's set for a theatrical p??remiere on Augu??st 11, 2023.

More PlayStation pictures on the way

Sony has quite a number of different media projects and adaptations on the way, alongside Gran Turismo.

The HBO series of The Last of Us recently got a short teaser. A Twisted Metal TV adaptation has wrapped filming for the Peacock streaming service. Netflix recently confirmed its Horizon series is in development under The Umbrella Academy's showrunner.

And that's not counting reports of several other projects in development, ranging from Days Gone to Gravity Rush.

Basically, a lot of PlayStation franchises are getting their shot at the silver screen. Which, given the reception to Uncharted, could be a good or bad thing. What HBO has shown so far for The Last of Us TV serie?s seems to be getting the tone rig??ht, at the least.

As for the Gran Turismo series, Gran Turismo 7 sounds like it turned out pretty solid. Hopeful??ly that bodes well for its media adaptation aspir?ations.

_{Lead image via Netflix}

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The Last Stardriver

Sony Interactive Entertainment's premier driving simulator, Gran Turismo, is getting ready to burn rubber on the big screen. According to a new report from the Tinseltown insiders over at Deadline, Columbia Pictures is scoping a summer 2023 release date for the fast and furious movie adaptation.

Directed by Neil Blomkamp, (the big chair behind the great District 9 and the abominable CHAPPiE), Gran Turismo has something of a strange plot concept. Reportedly, the movie will follow the exploit of the world's greatest Gran Turismo player, who transitions their digital racing skills onto the real-world professional car racing circuit. Think The Last Starfighter, but without the world-saving angle.

As cheesy as that premise sounds, it is, surprisingly, an adaptation of a true story. British racing driver Jann Mardenborough legitimately won a Nissan-sponsored GT Academy contest in 2011, securing themselves a scholarship in the Nissan’s Driver Development Programme. Since the competition, Mardenborough has gone on to compete in numerous major race t??ournaments including Japan's GT Super series and the famous 24-hour Le Mans rally.

Personally, I prefer my driving movies to focus on people in pleather flame trousers stealing DVD players, but each to their own. Gran Turismo is the latest in a series of film and TV adaptations based on PlayStation properties. Live-action takes on The Last of Us, God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Twisted Metal are already in the works, while the Tom Holland vehicle Uncharted launched earlier in 2022.

Gran Turismo is tent??atively scheduled to arrive in theaters August 11, 2023.

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Horizon coming to Netflix is next up in the long line of game adaptations

The video game adaptations to TV and film just don't stop coming, because Sony announced today that they're working in conjunction with Netflix to develop a Horizon Zero Dawn series. The news dropped today following Sony's 2022 business presentation to investors, and was initially reported by David Gibson, a notable video game analyst. While Sony didn't mention Horizon in the presentation documents, the slides did also mention? several other projects that the??y have in the works.

According to the presentation, Sony also has a God of War series in development with Amazon Prime, as well as a Gran Turismo pitch that they are currently working on developing. When you consider the Ghost of Tsushima movie that has already been announced, the Twisted Metal series that reportedly has an all-star cast attached, and the Last of Us show that is filming right now for HBO, Sony is poised to take over streaming platforms with their gaming prope??rties.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO and chairman Tony Vinciquerra said that in addition to these projects, they also have "10 more PlayStation titles in various stages of development for film and TV." 10 more? Seri?ously? I don't know g?uys, maybe let's start with what we have before we go all-in on this one.

I can't help but think Sony is bitin??g off a bit more than they can chew here.

Horizon Zero Dawn is a decent choice for a Netflix series considering it's one of the more cinematic games in Sony's lineup, but that has never been a guarantee before. The recent Uncharted movie was a moderate success at the box office, but other than that, video game adaptations have yet to prove them?selves in the? mainstream.

Unless the crea??tiv??es behind these projects really start nailing down the magic of what a good game-to-TV/film adaptation looks like, Sony could be looking at a whole lineup of series and films that are just okay at best.

I have faith that they'll get it together eventually, but until they prove me wrong, I think I'll just stick to pla?ying their games in??stead of watching them.

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Fine-tuning

Polyphony Digital has released a brand new update for its classy driving simulator Gran Turismo 7. Available to download now on both PS4 and PS5, Version 1.11 brings with it a huge medley of small tweaks, fixes, and balance checks to the title's massive roster of well-worn tracks? and dazzling ??vehicles.

Perhaps the most notable element of the new update is an increase in earned Rewards across the board. As listed in the official patch notes, smart drivers should now rack up in-game prizes more regularly in GT7's World Circuit, Circuit ??Experience, and Lobby/Sports modes. In addition, new objectives have been added to Mission Mode, the in-game credit cap has been raised, and a variety of tweaks have been made to the physi??cs engine and player controls �hoping to provide a tighter driving experience.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCabpb5HRv0

In regards to Gran Turismo 7's all-important audio/visual package, Version 1.11 has fu??rther polished its smoke effects, and removed a bug that caused debris to appear inside vehicles. For those of you with a fancy-dancy audio setup, Surround 7.1 has been better implemented to offer a more immersive experience, with new audio balance sliders added to the in-game audio menu. Now it's like you're actually in a car crash!

In regards to all of the minor tweaks to U.I., race tracks, individual vehicles, and The Livery, (not to mention a litany of bug stomps), there are simply too many to list here, so be sure to pull into the official patch notes for full details on what the new update is bringing to the GT7 party.

Gran Turismo 7 is available to purchase ??now on? PlayStation platforms.

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The developer has also adjusted its event rewards

Gran Turismo 7 servers are back online, after an extended maintenance period kept it offline for over 24 hours. Developer Polyphony Digital announced it has issued Update 1.08, after discovering a ??rare issue before the release of 1.07.

Yesterday, Polyphony Digital announced it was extending server maintenance, with no completion time set. "Due to an issue found with Update 1.07, we are extending the current server maintenance period," the update reads. "We will confirm the completion time as soon as possible. We apologis??e for any inconvenience this may cause and ask for your patience while we work ??to resolve the issue."

//twitter.com/thegranturismo/status/150?4435541038833665

Polyphony CEO Kazunori Yamauchi addressed the maintenance in an update on the Gran Turismo 7 site.

"Immediately before the release of the 1.07 update, we discovered an issue where the game would not start properly in some cases on product versions for the PS4 and PS5," writes Yamauchi. "This was a rare issue that was not seen during tests on the development hardware or the QA sessions prior to the release, but in order to prioritize the safety of the save data of the users, we decided to interrupt th?e release of the 1.07 update, and to make a 1.08 correctional update."

Several facets of Gran Turismo 7, including single-players modes like the campaign, require a connection to GT7's servers. Players were posting about the outages, as well as concerns about the in-game economy, on forums like the Gran Turismo subreddit. And folks like Digital Foundry's John Linneman have noted how this illustrates the issue with required server connectivity for games. User reviews have also been dropping on Metacritic.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCabpb5HRv0

Yamauchi says the event rewards for Gran Turismo 7 were adjusted in the update as well. Describing the team's plans going forward, he says he would like users to enjoy many cars and races "even w??it??hout microtransactions."

He also says it's im??portant for car?? prices to be linked with real-world price tags, to convey value and rarity.

"We will in time let you know the update plans for additional content, additional race events and additional features that will constructively resolve this," Yamauchi says. "It pains me that I can’t explain the details regarding this at this moment, but we plan on continuing to revise GT7 so that as many players as possible can enjoy the game. We would really appreciate it if everyone could watch over the growth of Gran Turismo 7 from a somewhat longer term point of view."

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It's been 84 years...

Back when Gran Turismo was one of the only simulation-heavy racing games, it was an institution: both at large and in my home. Gran Turismo 2 is one of my most-played games of all time, period, over my lifetime. But somewhere around the "Prologue" release of the fifth iteration, I started to get a little more distant. Instead of living in its world, I was merely a frequent tourist. Gran Turismo 7 changed that.

Gran Turismo 7 (PS4, PS5)
Developer: Polyphony Digital
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Released: March 4, 2022
MSRP: $59.99 (PS4), $69.99 (PS5)

One of the first things I noticed about Gran Turismo 7 is that its ??loading screens are litte??red with jazz and basketball facts. Historical facts, actually.

Polyphony Digital is really leaning into nostalgia this time around, and not just for the GT series, but nostalgia as a whole. And you know what? It works. The whole product, from top to bottom, feels like it has stuff packed in, so that something is always going ?on, even if you're looking at brief text on-screen.

The second thing I noticed about the new entry is the visual style. I experienced the game on PS5, where it looks stunning and runs fantastically. A few screens looked like they were real, and GT7 along with the Forza series has brought in a hyper-realistic style that works super well for modern racers. While a lot of ??visual mediums suffer from it, it's a boon for the ge??nre, especially when the weather kicks in.

Since numbers often matter to racing fans, here are the cold hard stats as to what GT7 entails at launch:

• Over 400 cars (in-game I have a "there are 424 cars to collect" notification)
• 60 manufacturers
• 34 tracks (with 97 layouts total) with traditional races and a "music rally" arcade mode

Your main sense of progression is going to come from the hub, which facilitates café questlines (mostly involving completing objectives like a specific race to chase, or collecting a certain array of cars), license challenges (gates that allow you to unlock more content), and general races that up your cashflow [credits] and let you buy more cars to store in your garage. There are a few hubs you can visit in the text-based overworld (like your garage, used car dealerships, the aforementioned café, and so on). That's the loop. And to GT fans, it's very familiar.

The café itself is a bizarre bourgeois location where you acquire literal restaurant menus as "quests," and try and complete them to move on to the next set of menus. It's strange, a??nd I want to meet the person behind the concept because I think they'd have a lot of interesting things to say. You can see this come through in the dialogue from the "car experts" in-universe, where they wax poetic about the olden days of car design and spout car facts left and right.

All of those descriptors are compliments. While GT7 looks traditional on the surface, it can get a little weird at times and strangely contemplative. While I wouldn't? say that I e??ncountered "gates" so to speak in a traditional sense, there were lull periods, where I was expected to dabble in racing cheaper cars for a bit to appreciate them before moving on to the next loose "stage."

Depending on the type of person you are, it can be exhausting at times, and can feel like a drip-feed of unlocks. But GT7 does make it clear that you should stop and smell the roses and not rush: there's plenty to get to. Circling back to those track layouts, there are multiple ways to play a course. You can do a classic reverse racing situation, as well as dabble in parts of the track (to the point where it doesn't even feel like the same location, in a good wa?y), and take on time trials, free play lobbies (where you can just drive around and chill), arcade mode, and events.

If you're concerned that Gran Turismo 7 is going to be too "simmy," you can change that. The difficulty settings have a ton of sliders, and you can alter pretty much every facet of actual driving and how the map presents information. You can turn on brake areas, and have your car automatically brake in those zones. Or you can do a combination of that, put turn markers on so you see how to tackle a course, and have visual cues o?r straight-up autopilot on with several driving mechanics. Tutorials like starting and stopping your car also help you learn the basics.

As time has gone on, some studios (mainly first-party Sony outfits) have started to really justify the DualSense. It started wonderfully with Astro's Playroom at launch, but a lot of developers just kind of...forgot about it. Polyphony Digital on the other hand uses haptic feedback to simulate sliding, understeering, and road conditions. To say it's "immersive" is a bit cliché, but it helps soften the blow for folks who don't want to shell out hundreds of bucks for a racing wheel. To its credit, Microsoft did this a generation ago with Forza, and it was better for it: I like the trend! Fully customizable controls and even full menus for individual racing wheels are going to make a lot of people happy.

GT7 is an approachable sim that will also cater to people who like to just tinker and flip through menus, or look at the cars they picked up at their own pace. That tinkering can get as broad as installing a new air filter to get a slight edge, or changing your oil and giving your vehicle a car wash. And you know what? It kind of offers the same experience as a Tamagotchi pet, and it's still addicting. Gran Turismo allows you to invest in specific ca?rs, and it's easy to bond with these formations of pixels. Picking out cars that can show potential is a skill, and the game makes it convenient to continue to hone in on that intuition.

Which leads me to the photo mode. When combined with the tune-up portion, it really becomes a "game away from the game." For some people, a lot of your time isn't going to be spent actually racing: you're doing side activities that can often lead into more side activities. And it's arguably the best part of some racing games. As sims have leaned more into the "get inside and check out the car" mechanics, I've leaned with it. I'm no car audio expert �and I'm sure some people might have issues with the engine notes �but the 3D audio in Gran Turismo 7 sounds fantastic as well.

Gran Turismo 7 isn't the second coming of racing games, and it doesn't ??need to be. It still captures that feeling of spending hours and hours admiring your garage and flipping through car facts from a few of the best entries in the series, and still feels like a big-budget racer.

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This one's for all the gearheads

The first PlayStation State of Play for 2022 arrives this week, and it's all about Gran Turismo 7.  A new look at the upcoming racing sim arrives this Wednesday, to show what's to come for auto-aficionados in ??March.

This week's PlayStation State of Play will air on Wednesday, Feb. 2 at 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT. The event will air on the PlayStation Twitch and YouTube channels.

If you're going in expecting some big first-party news or surprise reveals, it might be wise to temper expectations. In today's PlayStation Blog announcement, Sony confirms that it's a Gran Turismo 7 show. Sony will air just over 30 minutes of gameplay details and PlayStation 5 footage of Gran Turismo 7.

//twitter.com/PlayStation/status/14880900211229???49120

So don't expect any big updates on other major PlayStation games, like God of War: Ragnarok or the soon-to-launch Horizon Forbidden West. This showcase is g??oing to be for the car fiends out there who have been patiently waiting for the next iteration of Sony's? racing series.

And to be fair, it has been a while. The last numbered entry in the Gran Turismo series came out on the PlayStation 3. And while PlayStation 4 owners got their own entry in Gran Turismo Sport, it sounds like it wasn't everything fans might have wanted.

With the racing competition heating up over the years, there are some more eyes on Sony to see if Gran Turismo will come screaming out of the gate with a strong entry. It still feels like the current console generation still hasn't fully shifted over into the new hardware, but if anything could be a showcase for what a new console can do, it's a racing sim. We'll see if Gran Turismo 7 has it at the first PlayStatio??n State of Play for 2022 this week.

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So much greenery

With Forza Horizon 5 absolutely sucking up all the attention from racing game fans as of late, it's easy to forget we're just a couple of months away from the release of the latest entry in Polyphony Digital's Gran Turismo franchise. GT 7 is the first numbered entry in the series since 2013, and following the less-than-stellar reception of Gran Turismo Sport, I think a lot is riding on this game knocking all of our socks off and showcasing the power of the PlayStation 5. We've seen some trailers already for the racer, but this weekend PlayStation dropped a new look at the game with a lap around the Gran Turismo 7 Deep Forest Raceway.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsvYQd-axrw

Yeah, I can't wait to see that on my big screen in 4K. I remember driving the Deep Forest Raceway quite often back in college in Gran Turismo 4. It taught me everything I needed to know about cornering. If you're familiar with the track, you should have been able to see some of the changes in the trailer that have been made to the track's layout, including more barriers and a hairpin turn i??n the last half of the track. If my experience?? with hairpin turns in other racing games is any indication, I'm going to be slamming into other cars a lot in that spot.

Gran Turismo 7 will release on March 4, 2022, for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. As a reminder, if you purchase the PS4 version and wish to upgrade to the PS5 edition, there will be a $10 digital upgrade charge.

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Accelerated Advertising

Sony Interactive Entertainment and developer Polyphony Digital have released a new developer diary for the latter's premium driving simulator Gran Turismo 7, still traveling the long road to release on PlayStation platforms next spring. Among some very attractive in-game visuals, the new video focuses on the Gran Turismo 7 "Livery Edit???or," a feature that allows for the customization of the decals and advertisements on the sequel's lush garage of speedsters.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNZ_hpAvxAg

The editor will allow owners to scale, customize and rotate any number of decals and sponsor ads, turning your beautiful road-ripper into a 200 m.p.h. tribute to capitalism. Just because you're out in the beautiful mountain ranges and lush valleys of the world, doesn't mean you can't help make the rich that little bit richer.

I jest, of course. The Gran Turismo 7 Livery Editor will also allow for a huge palette of colors to be added to your chosen vehicle, allowing for the creation of the car of your dreams. This franchise has always gone all-in on the top-tier visual elements of its releases, and while Gran Turismo 7 is sure taking its sweet time to reach the starting grid, you can be sure that it will arrive in style, ripped and ready for the green flag. Alongside this new and improved Livery Editor, GT7 also promises smart weather mechanics, a hugely improved photo mode, returning fan-favorite circuits, and a fully re-des?i??gned campaign mode.

Gran Turismo 7 launches March 7??, 2022, exclusively on PlayStation p??latforms.

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March 4 release date confirmed for PS4 and PS5

Gran Turismo 7 was quickly confirmed for PlayStation 5, but we're still waiting, and waiting. It's the natural order of things. During this afternoon??'s PlayStation Showcase 2021, Polyphony Digital brought fresh gameplay and a new release date: March 4, 2022.

We already knew 2022 was on the cards for GT7 �a Sony rep cited "Covid-related production challenges" back in Fe??bru??ary �so really, March isn't too bad at all.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tBUsXIkG1A

"We're aware that long-time fans of the Gran Turismo series strongly desired the return of the GT Campaign mode, and now, having seen the trailer, hopefully everyone will be able to get a feel for the atmosphere of the newly designed Campaign mode," Polyphony Digital president Kazunori Yamauchi said on the PlayStation Blog. There's a world map!

Gran Turismo 7 is even more of a "car collecting game," according to Yamauchi. "Players will progress and ??complete missions in the GT Café by acquiring prize cars from various races within the world, as well as from the Brand Cent?ral and the Used Car Dealership."

A few other notes from the big boss:

• The Livery Editor is said to have better utility and accessibility with a new UI.
• You can take photos of your cars in 2,500+ locations spread across 43 countries, including HDR support, using Scapes.
• The High-Speed Ring and Trial Mountain circuits are returning, as is GT Auto.

And ??a weirdly wordy statement about the weather and time-of-day simulation:

"Referencing a massive amount of meteorological observation data, we have recreated spatial / time of day conditions for particle size distribution and concentration distribution of aerosol particles in the atmosphere on a global environmental scale, in a procedure that is unique to the Gran Turismo series."

If you've tuned out the Gran Turismo news cycle, you might've missed that GT7 is coming to not just PS5, where it's hoping to be a showpiece, but also PS4. That's still the case. The March 4 release date goes for both versions, and there will be a $10 digital upgrade.

Still have room in your heart for GT like the old days?

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'We'll share more specifics on GT7’s release date when available'

Gran Turismo games arrive precisely when they mean to.

As a fan of the series since the start, they're not on? what I'd call a regular schedule, especially after the third game. What was once a two??-ish year cadence became three, then six, then back to three, then four, then....five, as of today.

Yes, the seventh iteration, which was due in 2021, is now delayed into 2022. The news came this morning straight from Sony by way of a GQ interview, which shed some light on multiple new Sony announcements like a new PSVR device for PS5 and "a slate" of PC ports for PlayStation titles. The confirmation actually didn't come from Jim Ryan directly, who was the focus of the interview, but a Sony rep, who jumped in to field the response of when Gran Turismo 7 would arrive.

Here's the full statement: "GT7 has been impacted by Covid-related production challenges and therefore will shift from 2021 to 2022. With the ongoing pandemic, it’s a dynamic and changing situation and some critical aspects of game production have been slowed over the past several months. We’ll share more specifics on GT7’s release date when available."

I'm not surprised. Gran Turismo games are generally meticulousl??y crafted, and with less design-intensive games getting delays, this one is par for the course.

PlayStation&?rsquo;s Jim ??Ryan: ‘We’re making a completely new VR format for PS5’ [GQ]

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Back in the driver's seat

PlayStation's biggest racer will make an immedi??ate?? splash on PS5.

One of the earliest announcements during this afternoon's PS5 stream was the confirmation of Gran Turismo 7. Producer Kazunori Yamauchi took the digital stage to reveal the next Gran Turismo before showing some racing footage.

This is the first mainline Gran Turismo since 2013 when GT6 released on PlayStation 3. However, Gran Turismo Sport launched in 2017 to mixed reviews.

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'I think, display resolution-wise, 4K resolution is enough'

Racing fans can't think about PlayStation 5 without also wondering about the fate of Gran Turismo. What's the next major advancement for this series? What's the biggest priority for Gran Turismo 7?

In a recent interview (as reported by GTPlanet), Polyphony Digital CEO Kazunori Yamauchi made a few forward-looking comments about what Gran Turismo could be like on PlayStation 5 and beyond.

"I think, display resolution-wise, 4K resolution ?is enough," Yamauchi said.

"Rather than a spatial resolution that you're talking about, I'm more interested in the advancements we can make in terms of the time resolution," he said during a roundtable with Australian media. "In terms of frames per second, rather than stayi?ng at 60 fps, I'm more interested in raising it to 120 fps or even 240 fps. I think that's what's going to be changing the experience from here on forw??ard."

It's not a firm commitment or anything, but it's the kind of comment I love to hear as someone who generally cares more about frame rate than visual fidelity. That said, I get the sense that fans are hoping for further refinements and layers to the simulation above all else. GT Sport is super pretty as is.

Obviously, priorities can and will change. I won't be surprised when, one day, after? 4K has adequately settled into place, we'll hear that "it's fine, if you're into that sorta thing, but it could be so much better."

Gran Turis?mo's Future: '4K Resolution is Enough,' But 240fps is the Target [GTPlanet]

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Dad of War now $20

Sony has just announced that seven new games will be joining its "PlayStation Hits" lineup. A collection of various popular and best-selling titles, PlayStation Hits lets late adopters get some great titles on the cheap. I know I've certainly used it in the past since I'm a cheap bastard. I also missed God of War last year, but I can't refuse it for $20.

I wouldn't say everything below is worth playing, but you can't really go wrong with these prices. You're bound to find something worth enjoying in each title, even if God of War is the clear standout. Each new game will be availabl?e for $19.99 (physically and digitally) starting on October 4, 2019.

• Far Cry 4
• God of War
• Gran Turismo Sport
• Rayman Legends
• The Crew
• Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
• Watch Dogs

God of War, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, Gran Turismo Sport, and more, available at ??a gr?eat new price starting October 4 [PlayStation Blog]

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Hopefully it releases in the next decade

In a recent interview with fansite GT Planet at the Nurburgring World Tour event, Gran Turismo series creator Kazunori Yamauchi teased what the future of the racing series may hold. Speaking with regards to the follow-up for Gran Turismo Sport, Yamauchi stated, "Obviously we're working on the next Gran Turismo already, and the world of sport we've achieved through GT Sport is something I've always imagined to be the future of Gran Turismo. We were able to establish that now."

Yamauchi then explains that while he typically doesn't return to older titles, his recent tours in promotion of the series has been met with fans approaching him and showing love for Gran Turismo 2 and 3, specifically. S??eeing that outpouring of support has spurred Yamauchi ?to revisit those titles, to which he said, "it's surprising how much I've forgotten!"

Developer Polyphony Digital's push to redefine the future with each entry has potentially distracted them from what made past entries so good. "Having done all these World Tours, it gave me the opportunity to feel the history of Gran Turismo," Yamauchi said. "It gives me pointers and hints of the things we should make sure that we do in the future of the series. I think the next title that we're going to create will be a combination of the past, present, and future – a complete form of Gran Turismo."

That's all I could really ask for, too. I understand that Polyphony Digital tried something different with Sport, but its laser focus on online competition created a package that felt threadbare at release. Even with constant content updates, the game still didn't improve much a year after release. Maybe a single-p??layer campaign ?isn't the most important thing around, but the lack of vehicles and weather effects created a static game that felt stuck between two different eras of racers. The lack of reason to interact with that content was the real stinger, though.

As for what platform the inevitable follow-up will land on, Yamauchi couldn't say. For him, VR seems to be what he is most interested in. "The first t?hing that’s going to be affected by more power is VR," believes Yamauchi. "I don't think that there's anything else that requires that much processing power. I really like VR; I'm one to believe in the possibilities of it, and it's very suited for a driv??ing game." He explains that VR is something that will continue to get better as GPU power increases, which is what excites him.

So while we're clearly a ways off from Gran Turismo 7, at least we know Polyphony Digital is taking the time to evaluate what made the series so special in the first place. I can only hope they get there because there is no reason why Forza sho?uld be running u?nopposed on the console racing front.

Next Gran Turismo Will be a ?'Combination of Past, Present, and Future' [GT Planet]

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Bring your brolly

Possibly in a move to make British players more immersed in an authentic driving experience, Polyphony Digital will be adding a new "wet weather" effect to its 2017 racing title Gran Turismo Sport.

A recent video posted by the developer lets us see the grim conditions in effect on the game's? Red Bull Ring track. In the video, professional simulation driver Coque Lopez braves the rain to showcase how this weather will effect the game's handling, so don't go gunning through puddles like nobody's business, lest you find yourself wrapped a?round a stand full of innocent onlookers. (Unlikely, I know.)

No specific date has been given for the new weather update to arrive in-game, but its shouldn't take too long before dark clouds start forming, so ??better ta??ke your coat.

Gran Turismo Sport is available now on PS4.

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Update 1.34 available today

Tarmac-melting racing game Gran Turismo Sport has gotten a new update today, courtesy of developer Polyphony Digital. Update 1.34 brings a new track to Sony's ?classy ??driving sim, as well as five new c??ars for you?? to take out for a test drive.

The new track is Autopolis in Japan, the site of recent Super GT and Super Formula races, renown for its twisty sections giving way to pedal-gunning straights. Autopolis comes in both a standard and "shortcut" configuration. Of course, what is a track without cars? GT Sport offers up five new vehicles for your cruising pleasure. Arriving in this update are the Mazda Eunos Roadster (NA Special Package) ’89, the McLaren F1 GTR – BMW ?(Kokusai Kaihatsu UK Racing) ’95, Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren ’09, Pagani Huayra ’13, and finally the Toyota GR Supra RZ ’19. V?room.

Finally, four new GT League events have been added. The Premium Sports Lounge, the All Japan GT Car Championships, the Gr. 3 Endurance series, and finally Rounds 6 and 7 of the Mazda Roadster Cup, so that should scratch your gear-stick for the time being. Tweaks and bug fixes have also been made across the board. You can find the full patch notes right here. Gran Turismo Sport is available now on PS4.

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Still off track

In the year since its release, Gran Turismo Sport has seen quite a few substantial updates. A new career mode, more tracks, a crapton of cars and even microtransactions: Sport is a much hea??rtier title than its 2017 incarnation. Even with those additions, th?ough, the core of the game still feels off.

I booted up the game a week ago to see just how substantial all of these additions would be. In my review from last year, I ended up scoring Sony’s premier racing franchise a 6/10 and citing a lack of content as my chief complaint. While the content factor has definitely been increased, I think the real heart of my problems with GT Sport is just ?that it puts so many odd restrictions on the player?.

Despite having what Polyphony Digital has deemed a career mode now, GT Sport still demands players have a persistent online connection. With more cars coming into the fray, players are still limited in the online “Sport” mode to which vehicles they can drive. Worse still, the “Safety Rating” system has not seen any noticeable change, making for some seriously frustrating moments of tapping a ??rival and tanking your safety score.

In our modern era of post-launch updates and bug fixes, I figured stepping back into the world of GT Sport would yield something more. The game isn’t without its moments, but this is still a shallow shell of what the series’ past had on offer for players. For all the strides made with car customization and minute stat tracking, you still only get around seven cars per manufacturer and no dynamic/alternate time of day settings for ?tracks.

In all honesty, I feel like Polyphony Digital and Sony have failed to bring the racing series up to next-generation standards. The content on offer does match that of Gran Turismo 3, but that game came out 16 years ago. No amount of restarting development or focus on specific game modes should have come to the conclusion that axing series staples was appropriate for the series’ PS4 debut. Despite now boasting 233 cars and 48 courses (a number that is bloated by having alternate versions as different tracks), the game still feels like a tech demo for a proper Gran Turismo 7.

I definitely appreciate Polyphony taking a fine-toothed comb to its car models and creating photo-realistic environme?nts. While the game d??oesn’t really hold my attention for long, I am still quite impressed with how excellent the visual design is, especially on PS4 Pro. You can tell nailing the look, sound, and feel of each vehicle was a labor of love from the design team. Everything comes off super accurate and captures the essence of what racing is all about. That being said, what does this offer for fans that have been there for every entry?

Certain concessions might need to happen to evolve a series, sure, but to cut out basic genre options? Did FIA regulations really force the odd online restrictions, thus eliminating offline play? What reason was there to excise different classes in favor of focusing purely on sports cars? These are still questions I can’t quite figure out, though you can now drive a? Volkswa??gen bus around tracks.

My only real conclusion is that online play was mandated so that microtransactions could come into play. For some wild reason, GT Sport now gives players the option to purchase individual cars for around one to three dollars apiece. This only really impacts the added “career” mode, since “Sport” mode has harsh restrictions on which make, model, and year of vehicle you’ll be driving in. With a super convoluted menu system and some odd requirem??ents the farther you get in, the whole system just seems like a way to strangle people out of cash.

The game doesn’t give you an option to buy the car needed for a career event from the career menu, so you’ll need to click an exclamation point, discover which models are allowed and then back all the way out to the main menu. After that, you’ll navigate the “brands” feature to find the particular manufacturer and then buy whichever car you’ll need. On one occasion, I bought an entirely different car because I confused the model and I had to repeat ??the process.

Maybe allowing the quick purchase of a car was something that just couldn’t be done in GT Sport. Loading most menus brings up a full-sc??ale model of the vehicle and there could be a possible reason doing that from within career mode wasn’t optimal. What I really think, though, is that the menu was purposely made tedious to trick people into wasting credits on the wrong car for the job. Why else would microtransactions be added?

At least in the case of money, credits are given out so regularly that I can’t even envision a scenario where someone runs out of cash. Since career mode wasn’t even a thing for my review, I had a spare 1 million credits laying around for me to make mistaken purchases with. For people starting out, though, this could end up with scenarios where you’ll be making some progress and then get halted because the car you need is far too expensive. You could just slip a few singles over to Polyphony Digital, though, and get right back into the ac??tion.

That is mostly a nit-pick, however. In all honesty, the career mode is so forgettable and barebones that it might as well not exist. It is the bare minimum one would have to do to bring a feature into a game and it still acts mostly as a way to prepare you for online competition. That is the true focus of GT Sport and not much else has changed. The l??obby?? system for custom races is still ridiculously dead and the “Sport” mode doesn’t fill up the way it used to.

Even with all of these additions to the core game, GT Sport is still just limp. Really and truly, I think Gran Turismo’s days are well behind it. It would take a radical re-invention of the series to bring it up to speed for whatever Sony’s next console ends up being. If GT Sport 2 is just this game but with more that really won’t be good enough. More content is nice, but an actual reason to interact with that content would be better. That is truly what is missing from GT Sport and always has been.

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Getcha motor running

An announcement from Sony and developer Polyphony Digital has confirmed that a brand new update is rolling out for sleek racing title Gran Turismo Sport on PS4 today. Update 1.25 brin?gs with ??it a selection of cars and a new track with which to burn rubber.

Among the new vehicles on offer are the compact Mini Cooper "S" '65, the Herbie-like Volkswagon 1200 '66 and the high-performance Ford Mark IV Race Car ?'67. Th??is completely free addition to the title also includes a track based on Austria's Red Bull Ring.

In addition to the new content, three new GT League events will be set live; the Group 3 Cup - Amateur League, the Beetle & Samba Bus Festa - Beginner League and finally the Nostalgic 1979 - Professional League. You can find the full patch notes right here and chec??k out a trailer featuring the new content below.

Gran Turismo Sport is available now on PS4.

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Sony does what Microsoft don't...

Just days after the announcement that Turn 10 Studios would be removing loot boxes from Forza 7, Polyphony Digital has announced that Gran Turismo Sport will be receiving microtransactions for its in-game store. I'm kind of baffled at the flip-flopping that is going on between these two games. Gran Turismo Sport seemed to be on a good path with its added "GT League" career mode and free extra cars, but now we're ??hea??ding back into nonsense territory.

For the most part, the new July update is actually chock full of good stuff. I'm mostly in awe of how Sony just casually throws in the mention that you can outright buy cars in GT Sport now. Anyway, the biggest addition has to be the new "Circuit de Sainte-Croix" circuit that comes in t?hree configurations a?long with more events for "GT League." As well as that, seven new cars are available (and not available through microtransactions). They are as follows:

• Mercedes AMG F1 W08 EQ Power+ 2017 (Gr.X)
• Mazda 787B '91 (Gr.1)
• Ford GT LM Spec II Test Car (Gr.3)
• Ferrari 250 GTO CN.3729GT '62 (Gr.X)
• HONDA S660 '15 (N100)
• Honda Beat '91 (N100)
• Daihatsu Copen Active Top '02 (N100)

As for the microtransactions, a??ll cars that cost less than 2,000,000 in-gam??e credits can be acquired directly through the PlayStation Store. The service will launch tomorrow in Asia and America while it won't launch until August 2 in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Oceania.

You can catch a trailer below for a look at the new cars in motion. I suppose the added microtr??ansactions aren't horrible, but it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Introducing the "Gran Turismo Sport" July Update: The Mercedes F??1 and a New Track Joins the Lineup [Gran Turismo]

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Da-ba-dee da-ba-dow...

Sony Computer Entertainment have announced that June will see the return of the "Days of Play" event, which celebrates PlayStation video game and the PlayStation community. The event will see price discounts on a selection of awesome games - and Bravo Team - as well as a reduc?tion on peripherals and PlayStation Plus memberships.

Centrepiece of the event, however, is a funky Limited Edition blue PS4 console. The 1TB unit is embossed with a gold PlayStation logo and comes complete with a matching controller, which has the famous Square, Triangle, Circle a??nd Cross symbols printed on its touchpad. The console costs $300 USD and?? will only be made available "for a limited time".

Games set to see a price reduction during the event include mega-hit God of War, beloved retro re-release Shadow of the Colossus, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Gran Turismo Sport, Farpoint and m?ore. PSVR packages and DualShock 4 controllers will also be available at discounted prices.

For more information, visit the PlayStation Blog. The Day????s of Play event will run worldwide from June 8 until June 18.

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New cars, events and a new track

It's been quite some time since I thought about Gran Turismo Sport, but developer Polyphony Digital has been trucking along with updates to the game. The newest patch hitting the game, the "May 2018" update, will be landing on May 30 and introduce a whole slew of new content to chug through. In addition to one new track, the famed Circuit de la Sarthe, Sport will receive new G?T League events and nine new cars.

This trailer lays out the new rides you'll be seeing. While I'm ??not particularly big on any of them, I know Destructoid's own Dan Roemer is interested? in the Fiat 500 F. Maybe I can finally play this game with a friend, though waiting around for online events to start is a bit of a drag.

Gran Turismo Sport - May Update 1.19 | PS4 [PlayStation via YouTube]

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