Hands-on with Gran Turismo Gameplay
For years I’ve played video games ranging from sports games to arcade racers. When it comes to racing games I’ve noticed that many of today’s racers stray from what it means to be a serious racing game. I consider Gran Turismo to be one of the most important serious racers out there due to its respectable handling physics, structured career mode and realistic driving techniques required to succeed.
My history with gaming stretches all the way back to 1982. During my years of gaming I have noticed a trend with racers. They have slowly evolved from arcade style thrills to serious simulators. Gran Turismo introduced us to the first serious simulator on a console system. GT boasted over 150 cars with completely different driving styles. There were over a dozen tracks. Gran Turismo featured a career mode that would take you well over 60 hours to complete. This is what serious racing is all about.
Gran Turismo featured driving physics that really weigh heavy on the driver. When you make a move with your car it feels as though it has real momentum. Braking means thinking several turns ahead of where you want to go. Knowing how to corner takes understanding of your car’s capabilities. Things such as suspension set-up and tyre choice will affect your overall performance. These are all factors that will help separate the skill of a driver that know how to race versus one that relies on chance.
What Gran Turismo Actually Does
When you start Gran Turismo you are an amateur race driver working with entry level race cars. As you progress through Gran Turismo you will earn licenses that will challenge your ability to learn how to race. You will learn how to race in different series ( circuit racing, time trials, endurance racing). You will buy better cars as you earn prize money. You will also learn how to modify your cars with the games tuning system. Your goal is to graduate from being an amateur driver to being a professional race car driver.
Gran Turismo doesn’t just throw you into a race and hopes you learn as you go. GT forces you to learn how to race the correct way by structuring your career. You progress through a series of races that will challenge you in every facet of racing. Early races teach you technique while later races will require you to use everything you learned as an amateur driver. Gran Turismo rewards you for playing well and challenges you if you’re dominating races.
The tuning system in Gran Turismo is immense. You do not need to utilize the tuning system to complete the game. If you are an adept driver you can win the game by using stock cars. However, once you learn how to adjust your suspension, gear ratios, and tyres you will feel more connected to your car.
Gran Turismo features a nice variety of tracks that will keep you guessing. You will race on street circuits, road courses, oval tracks, in the rain and even at night. The AI also adjusts to different tracks as well. If you feel like you mastered a track you will learn different racing techniques once you reach higher classes.
Why Racing Simulations are Important
Gran Turismo taught racing gamers that there is more to racing than going fast and drifting corners. Racing is a discipline and like any discipline there are rules to learn. Understanding how weight transfer works on a car, how important braking points are, and learning the correct racing line are crucial to understanding what makes racing so exciting. Excitement comes from the battle you face within yourself. Did I do everything I could to get the fastest lap time? Can I manage my tyres perfectly throughout an endurance race?
Gran Turismo features realistic difficulty settings. If you want to learn how to drive you can set your difficulty to easy and take your time. If you think you’re a master behind the wheel you can set your difficulty on hard and prove your skills. The AI in Gran Turismo also races competitively. They take racing lines, race cleanly, and know when to attack. They don’t just magically receive top speeds when you take away their momentum. The AI represents another skilled driver that you have to beat.
The racing license system that Gran Turismo features is something else I loved about the game. Each license teaches you how to race. You start out learning the fundamentals with the 200cc license. Your upper levels like the 800cc license teach you how to expand on your racing knowledge. 10,000cc is your ultimate test to see if you have what it takes to be a champion. Each license teaches you what you need to know about becoming a successful driver.
Technical Breakdown
Graphically speaking GT isn’t bad at all for a 1997 release. However it isn’t anything breathtaking either. What Gran Turismo does shine at is showing off the cars. Each car model is defined well. Each track is professionally detailed after real life racetracks. Draw distance is great and the frame rate doesn’t suffer either. From a technical standpoint what amazed me about Gran Turismo was the implementation of a serious racer on a console.
Gran Turismo was also amazing at feeding you information on how your car reacts to track conditions. One thing that blew me away about GT was the AI intelligence. These cars took racing lines, handled corners based on the car you were driving, and did not give you an unfair advantage by implementing rubberband AI. Speaking of AI…Gran Turismo adjusted AI driver aggression based on the track you were racing on. This meant that the programmers had to create an extremely smart AI system.
Physically Gran Turismo is massively complex. Tyre grip is affected by the temperature of the tyre itself. Suspension geometry plays a huge role on how your car handles. Weight distribution play a factor in how stable your car will handle. Lastly gear ratio will affect top speed as well as acceleration. All these factors I mentioned take time and effort to learn as a player.
Is Gran Turismo Worthplaying Today?
Yes. Granted the graphics are pretty dated and the cars don’t look as nice as they do today. The game still plays great though. Everything I mentioned above still applies today since no game has come close to recreating the brilliance that Gran Turismo offered. The handling still feels quite heavy. The AI still races with realistic intelligence. The tracks are all challenging in their own way. Gran Turismo is a perfect example of why serious racing games are important.
Career mode is rewarding. The tuning system is something that really draws you into the game. Not only will you feel accomplished by tuning your car, but you’ll actually want to learn how to tune your car. Gran Turismo does an excellent job of teaching you how to tune your ride. The different classes of racing provide a great deal of variety. Gran Turismo sports every type of racing you can imagine. Easy cars to drive such as coupe style race cars all the way to difficult rally style cars. With such a large variety of cars and tracks to learn you’ll never run into a dull moment with Gran Turismo. Graphically it holds up for a game of its age. Difficulty-wise GT is spot-on.
Endurance races will really test your ability to learn. Those who don’t wish to learn how to tune will find it difficult to win endurance races. Last, beating that next race and moving up a class in your racing license will feel that much sweeter because you know how much time and effort you put into mastering your skills.
Why Gran Turismo Was Important to Racers
Gran Turismo proved that arcade racer fans could play a serious game of racing and actually enjoy it. Polyphony proved that you could make a detailed physics racer that was accessible to everyone. Gamers wanted something more than just arcade style racing. GT introduced gamers to cars with handling dynamics that felt real and required players to learn how to race.
Since Gran Turismo was released in 1997 almost every major racing title tried to implement something that Gran Turismo did. Whether it be the attention to tuning, realistic car handling, or career mode style gameplay there have been flashes of greatness that took ideas that Gran Turismo introduced us too. The Gran Turismo franchise continues to this day to push the boundaries of what a racing simulation should be.
Final Thoughts
Gran Turismo took a chance by introducing players to a serious racing game on console. Players who pick up Gran Turismo today will learn that great things come to those who are willing to take a challenge. Gran Turismo features deep racing physics that will keep you on your toes. If you’re new to racing then GT will teach you everything you need to learn in order to be a successful driver. There is something for everyone in Gran Turismo. Experienced racers will enjoy mastering every car and tuning them to perfection. Beginner racers will benefit from learning how to drive correctly.
Gran Turismo cares about your racing ability. The game will push you if you’re dominating and will teach you the fundamentals if you’re losing. Gran Turismo wants you to be a great driver more than anything.
Gran Turismo challenges you, yourself, to be better than you already are. Want to learn how to create flawless laps? Gran Turismo will test your skill by demanding perfection. Learn how to master your tyres during an endurance race? GT will make you earn that top spot on the podium.
Gran Turismo was important because it took chances that most console racers are too scared to take. Gran Turismo showed us that with enough dedication and hard work you can be great at anything you put your mind to. Play Gran Turismo and learn what it takes to be a great race driver.
Rating: 9/10 – A Serious Simulator that Proved Console Racing Could Be Serious
Cheque out our PS1 top ten right here.
Samuel’s been gaming since the Atari 2600 and still thinks 16-bit was the golden age. Between accounting gigs and parenting teens, he keeps the CRTs humming in his Minneapolis basement, writing about cartridge quirks, console wars, and why pixel art never stopped being beautiful.
0 Comments