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Rushed to retail, it arrived shortly after Christmas, helping draw attention away from Sega's impending Dreamcast console. Inevitably, Gran Turismo's follow-up soon saw the light of day. The Real Driving Sequel Gran Turismo 2 (1999) Revolutionary at the time, Gran Turismo remains today a how-to dossier for driving game design. A GT career was a slow, believable rags-to-riches tale of hard gameplay graft, meticulous motor tuning, real racing skill and hours of watching replays and committing tracks to memory. The goal may be to amass a garage of juggernaut autos, but you began in Gran Turismo with the kind of ride ran by many a fresh-faced 17 year-old boy racer. Gran Turismo's release coincided with the launch of Sony's first Dual Shock Controller, giving gamers total mobility and a new appreciation for the bumps, twists and collisions of racing real-life cars.
Gran turismo 1 license#
The seemingly mundane license tests, meanwhile, ingeniously drip-fed the intricacies of GT's handling mechanic, gleaning a new appreciation for the subtleties of each individual auto.Īnd controlling them was a masterstroke. The feeling of accomplishment at collecting a garage of world-beating beasts was similar to that in developing a character in today's MMORPGs. Predicated on the type of tinker-happy, wideboy-pleasing authenticity found in Max Power magazine, Gran Turismo's 178 cars, 11 tracks and myriad modification options set a new standard. Where WipeOut and Ridge Racer piqued interest, GT did away with the fantasy and made driving games at once ultra accessible, and completely cool.
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Released in 1997, Gran Turismo followed Sony's award-winning 'double life' PlayStation marketing, waving lifelike visuals and a commercial licensed soundtrack in the collective faces of a 90's culture still pigeonholing videogames as hi-tech children's toys.Ī symbol of gaming's growing mainstream acceptance, GT soon became the poster plaything for a new generation of teen and twenty-something lifestyle gamers.
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There really was nothing like it, and it's difficult to imagine the gaming landscape had GT not hit when it did. The Real Driving Simulator - Gran Turismo (1997) But even amongst these gamers you'd be hard-pushed to find one that disputes the overall quality and value-for money packed in each edition of this seminal series. There are those, of course, who altogether don't 'get' Gran Turismo - don't go for its lifelike physics and sophisticated seriousness - while others still seem bemused by the lack of vehicle damage. For them, tons of tuning options and a succession of increasingly obscure, exotic car models mean less to than the sheer triumph of passing a license test or making it first to the finish line by mastering gaming's greatest handling and most painstakingly detailed car models. To others, Gran Turismo is just a great racer. For many players, Polyphony Digital's hardcore driving template has been oft imitated, but never bettered.
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Gran turismo 1 drivers#
Fuelled by a vehicular love that borders on obsessive, it has consistently raised the bar for racers, delighting digital drivers with realism, detail, handling prowess and visual polish. For car aficionados it's automotive heaven.
Gran turismo 1 series#
Gran Turismo is one of the most divisive series in gaming. Ladies and gentlemen, casual and hardcore gamers, race fans and car fanatics.
Gran turismo 1 full#
In anticipation of Gran Turismo's next-gen debut with GT5 Prologue, we take a look at the franchise's highs and lows, in this full in-depth retrospective on gaming's greatest driving sim. Its long been a reason to own a PlayStation console and is considered by many to be the pinnacle of its genre, but Gran Turismo has also caused controversy and met with its fair share of criticism over the years.