Gran Turismo Sport is the latest game in the long running series of Gran Turismo games which aim to give players a realistic driving experience. This game series is also one of the biggest names when it comes to exclusives on the PlayStation platform, having been present as part of the platform’s lineup since the PlayStation 1. With this, comes a lot of expectation for it to be something great and unlike back when the series was new, it’s not the only racing simulator out there in the market anymore and it has big competition from other racing games which also boast high quality graphics. Is a Gran Turismo game still one of the best out there to choose in 2017?
I’d actually have to say that actually this game is one of the better picks when it comes to racing games this year, or even actually for this current console generation. While many long time Gran Turismo fans would know what to expect from the series, newcomers are in for quite a bit of fun with this.
For those who are long time buyers for this franchise, the only downside I saw to this particular game was that there is quite the shortage of cars for something from the franchise. There’s still a lot of cars in Gran Turismo sport, but back on the PS3, Gran Turismo 6 had over 1,000. In this game, we get 162 cars to play with, but while at first I thought that maybe this was some short cut taken by the developers, it actually wasn’t. You see, with less cars in the game, I believe they were able to focus on gameplay and they were able to deliver a much better and much more well optimised product than they had the last time they released a game, which on the PS3 ran incredibly slowly in the menu’s and had high load times.
What’s best about Gran Turismo sport is the challenge they’ve been able to create when racing. With now 162 cars, I believe they were able to focus on making the racing experience on each of these feel quite unique. There weren’t really many cars in the game that felt the same for me to drive, each handled differently and had a different drive style. Some had poor handling, other had great handling, some would skid and slide easily and some just wouldn’t, some were fast, some were slow, this mixture made each race feel different and unique.
What I noticed that was different in this game to much of the series, was the use of the driving physics in the game to make races much more challenging. When you first start your Gran Turismo Sport experience you’ll be put into a series of challenges that teach you how to drive in the game, it’s kind of like getting your racing license. There’s stopping challenges, speed challenges, cornering challenges and much more. These things, while at first seemed trivial to me, actually weren’t. They were teaching me a valuable in game lesson that would help me when I was racing at the harder difficulties. No longer can you just speed through everything in game, the way you approach a corner does matter, your control of your speed matters. If you put too much speed before turning you won’t be able to brake quickly enough to turn and when you crash it’s pretty much over. This was really the heart of the game.
The driving physics and the challenges of cornering, speed control and your overall approach to the race made things quite challenging and enjoyable. I had been waiting for a racing game that provided something like that and I loved this aspect of Gran Turismo Sport. The game only got better as I became a better master of the approach one must have to win races there. Slowly it became more and more satisfying and even more so when i was winning.
The graphics are another highlight of the game. This is one of the most impressive games on the PS4 and as a racer on the console it is second to none. On other platforms, Gran Turismo Sport does have some competition from things like Forza which do offer a similar graphical experience, but I think in this instance, Gran Turismo Sport is slightly above Forza’s graphics. But this might change soon after the release of the Xbox One X, but as always, games of the future are usually always better graphically anyway. At this moment in time, this is one of the best graphical experiences you could get.
The music in this is okay. There weren’t too many tracks in this that really caught my attention. But most were chosen it seems to give a relaxing gaming experience.
It seems to me that rather than being a game that you play for 5-6 hours a day as some type of hard core gamer would do, this one instead is something that I think people would enjoy a lot if they played for just an hour or maybe two sometimes, do a couple of races or driving challenges, test out a few cars, then come back to it a few days later. There’s also online racing which offers this type of experience as well where you can go up against other people, which provides a different challenge to the AI opponents. I found going in every few days, having some races and doing a couple challenges quite relaxing and the game does reward you for this behaviour with a daily login bonus to your points.
The point system is something that is present in the game and as you race more you get more points or xp. Doing more things will mean you get more points and you unlock things as you go. I found it okay, but this isn’t really a game that I play for unlocking things in this way. I’d rather either have everything unlocked, or just use the in-game credits to unlock things like cars or tracks I’d like to use.
Overall Gran Turismo Sport is one of the best racing games out there at the moment. It offers a significant challenge to players, it has a great variety of cars that are all uniquely different and the driving mechanics are interesting in that they create a challenge with every corner in the game. With time you can master the art of driving and things only get better after that. Once you will start winning a lot and when you’re confident enough, you can take your skills online and see how good you really are or maybe you need more practice. Gran Turismo Sport is a massive step up when compared to Gran Turismo 6, the game runs better and is better optimised on the system. Gran Turismo Sport delivers to players a realistic driving experience that is second to none on the PS4. It’s certainly worth taking a look at if you like racing games or have a thirst for one at the moment.
