Gran turismo sport game review. Overview of Gran Turismo Sport by Polyphony Digital
Gran Turismo is the premier racing exclusive for PlayStation and has been rolling out of the Polyphony Digital workshop for nearly 20 years, boasting the highest build quality and superb performance. In this regard, the fresh part with the subtitle Sport was no exception, but the Japanese beast still lost some familiar details. We will crawl under the hood of this colossus and figure out what it has lost, whether it is possible to ride it comfortably and whether it is worth taking it at all.
Before moving on to the test drive, a little historical background. The first three games in the series were completely self-sufficient projects, without any additions. However, after the release of the wildly successful Gran Turismo 3, the studio released several simplified and stripped-down versions based on it with experimental cars called Concept. Then the developers introduced Prologue, a solid but paid demo of the upcoming Gran Turismo 4. The same approach was taken for the fifth part of the game, which has already arrived on the PlayStation 3. Logic, or rather our love for patterns, suggested that Gran Turismo 6 Prologue was ahead , however, not only was it not there, the game was also parked on the PS3 at the end of its life cycle, despite the presence of a fresh new generation console on the market - an extremely ambiguous and unexpected decision. But the surprises did not end there, because instead of the subsequent numbered part on PS4, Gran Turismo Sport rolled out ahead, turning towards online races. And if you loved the series for its career mode with large-scale championships, then it is not here.
The entire single player campaign is reduced to three areas: "Driving School", "Tests" and "Introduction to the tracks." The first is the usual licenses for mastering certain skills. In training, they will also teach you not to confuse the pedals and change fuel cards on the go and calculate the pit stop. Each next lesson opens only after passing the past at least for bronze, which is generally not difficult, but there is still the potential to get stuck somewhere.
Tests work according to the same rules, but are divided into stages, so the eight curious tasks are provided for you, and then, to the best of your ability and capabilities.
Road exploration is a thing in itself, in which there is even an arcade mode with races against the clock. In the latter, however, not all tracks are open from the beginning, but experience for pumping is credited for completing everything in general - be it regular races, drifting, karting or rallies, so it will be quite simple to reveal the full content potential of the game. Rally, by the way, is mediocre here: the same Dirt is much more authentic and more cheerful.
And that's where the single content essentially ends.
Multiplayer is called upon to compensate for a meager career, on which the main emphasis is placed, and so strong that, attention, Gran Turismo Sport requires a constant connection to the Internet, and without it the game does not save any progress - let me remind you that the servers of Gran Turismo 5 closed somewhere later six months after the release of the six, having lived for about four years (of course, the fifth part was not sharpened for online, but still somehow disturbing).
The local network game tries to be as open and accessible as possible to all types of players - from beginners to motorists and pros. Flexible room settings allow you to ride anything and anything, as long as there are like-minded people - that is, the criteria for joining can be either extremely strict or absent altogether, and therefore the possibility of meeting the same kart in the supercar race is not ruled out.
For more serious drivers who do not tolerate such a circus, a separate sports mode has been organized, where daily competitions and championships are held. To access the elite races, you need to watch two videos about racing etiquette, after which you will be awarded the appropriate certificate and it will no longer be possible to cut your opponents on the track with impunity.
In order not to spoil the pleasure of other road users, cars at the time of collisions automatically become intangible ghosts, but the system fixes offenses and assigns a certain driving culture rating so that roadside hooligans ride separately from diligent racers. And how accurately and fairly everything is calculated, only time will tell.
It will also judge the fans arguing about the independence and self-sufficiency of GT Sport: the old guard whines about the lack of a career, and fans of online battles are happy to burn rubber online. However, it is unlikely that many bypass the feeling of that same Gran Turismo 7 prologue, because here, wherever you look, there are continuous compromises, shortcomings and shortcomings. Personally, I got the impression that I bought a new, but completely empty Nissan GT-R - I will try to explain with examples and start with the good.
Firstly, control - I managed to play with the steering wheel a little, but the races passed at the exhibitions left only positive emotions. Unfortunately, my naive belief that the release of a patch with support for the old “donuts” did not materialize, however, under the controller, with which the majority drives anyway, everything is also sharpened soundly. The cars behave adequately and noticeably change their behavior on the road when the traction control system is turned off or when the torque and brake boost are redistributed to one of the axles. As always, there are a lot of fine settings, and all of them somehow affect handling, as well as the introduced damage system - visually the cars only scratch, but in the same acceleration they lose notably.
Secondly, you can’t find fault with the appearance of the game even on a regular PS4. The quality of the picture and lighting, and the almost stable 60 frames per second easily wipe the nose of the latest Dirt. The pro-version of the console produces almost honest 4K, and the use of a wide dynamic range, according to knowledgeable people, is one of the best in the industry today.
All cars are designed with incredible attention to detail, both outside and inside. However, one of the main compromises is hidden here, because, as you know, beauty requires sacrifice: having hit quality, the artists had to sacrifice quantity and instead of the usual thousand cars, we got just over 160 - all of them can be painted, but styling is limited only by changing disks .
There are also significantly fewer tracks - 17 versus 41 from GT 6. Of course, the presented roads have variations, but the same forced U-turn in the other direction does not always and everywhere work and is more like the laziness of game designers.
Also, the game has lost the dynamic change of time of day and weather. Rain, which racing developers love to brag about, is generally absent as a phenomenon.
Let down and virtual reality. Initially, it was stated that GT Sport will fully support the VR helmet, but in the end, this is just a 1v1 race mode, or a banal looking at cars.
But a cool photo mode was brought into the game with a combination of real shots with computer cars. In dynamics, it sometimes looks very dumb, but the frames are mostly solid.
And now let's sum up our test drive.
Verdict
We are used to the fact that the transition to nextgen is automatically accompanied by a graphical leap, and that this increases the costs of the studio, we are not particularly worried: we want a commensurate, or rather a larger sequel for the same money, only this is physically impossible. But does it justify Gran Turismo Sport? In my opinion, not really, because that very feeling of the prologue is created not so much because of the thinned number of cars and tracks, but because of the lack of such an important career mode for the series. Against this background, even the declared online orientation does not really play into her hands, because in the last part there was also a full-fledged multiplayer. However, the actual run-in of the new Polyphony Digital console was rather successful, because this project has potential, and if the studio, known for its large free updates, adds single championships and finalizes some shortcomings, then we will get an amazing car simulator.
Final score: 7 points out of 10!
This year's game series Gran Turismo will celebrate its 20th anniversary. Over the years, she managed not only to become a world bestseller and an object of imitation of competitors, but also to slightly “bronze”, basking in the rays of her former glory. With the developers tried to change the formula of the "classic Gran Turismo”, adapting to the tastes of modern audiences.
What happens if you take online championships like iRacing, add a pinch of social features from Forza Motorsport and spice it all up with corporate style Gran Turismo? It will turn out - a game that places special emphasis on the competitive component. But first things first.
As usual, it starts with a very stylish intro - this tradition has not yet been dared to break. The introductory two-minute video shows us the whole drama of motorsport: the struggle to the very limit of possibilities, great victories and annoying mistakes on the track. Like, this is exactly what you have to experience in your own skin in the new game, so watch the intro and mentally prepare. Classics were unexpectedly chosen as the soundtrack for the dynamic video. It all looks a little surreal and eccentric, but absolutely sincere. For that GT and love!
At the start, you will find a separate tutorial on setting up the TV for the optimal picture in the game. These steps should not be skipped in any case, especially for owners of modern HDR panels, who for the first time got a convenient and competent lighting setup in the game. At the output, you will find a more accurate image without tonal "blockages". This is extremely important, for example, for night races, where the wrong brightness will simply kill visibility.
The main menu looks incredibly stylish. Most of the screen is occupied by a demonstration of game photos from the Views mode, which are breathtaking. At the same time, everything works quickly and quite conveniently, the garage is loaded instantly, which is in particular contrast with the unsuccessful one in this regard. Gran Turismo 5, which even numerous patches did not help.
Earlier in Gran Turismo we immediately ran to buy the first inexpensive car and start the passage of GT Mode - a very long and intense single player career. But the emphasis has shifted significantly: the traditional GT Mode abolished, which may scare away many fans. However, there are still Driving School, Challenges and Introducing the Tracks in Career Mode.
The first is the good old racing licenses. A peculiar set of tests for beginners and professionals who teach the basics of racing driving. Here you will be shown how to accelerate and brake correctly, how to take corners and turns, how to manage weight distribution and machines with different types of drive. If you haven't played simulators before, be sure to read the race notes and watch the demo replays that are displayed on the right. The latter is very convenient, as it saves you from having to search for guides on the Internet. You will discover a lot of new things and understand how to start driving really fast.
The second point of the career - Tests - is thematic races of several types. This includes 1 lap beat challenges, sector and lap times, solo races, endurance races, cone knockdowns and more. Moreover, the complexity of the missions increases markedly with each level, and in the later stages you will have serious rivals and little room for mistakes.
The third section of the career is a tour of all the tracks in the game, where you can learn all the turns and sections. Each track is divided into several scoring sectors and the final race - 1 lap for the perfect time.
All your scores are judged by the game, which awards you gold, silver or bronze prizes. Closing part of the competition, you can be presented with a new car.
The challenges presented in the single player mode are quite interesting and varied to please players of different levels. Another thing is that an experienced racer will be able to go all this for gold in a week of active play. The career has really been reduced, and this is certainly a minus, because the previous parts, especially GT4 And GT5, spoiled us with a very long and eventful career.
The main innovation was the eponymous game mode with online races. This is nothing more than an attempt to create an analogue of iRacing on consoles: the game constantly hosts online tournaments with live players, and the highest scorers will go to the regional finals and will be able to receive prize cups from FIA! Sounds tempting.
But before you start racing with other players, you need to watch a couple of video tutorials on “racing etiquette”. The basic message is simple: treat other riders the way you want to be treated! It is strictly forbidden to ram and cut opponents, to close the overtaking trajectory for them - in general, you need to sacredly honor the principles of Fair Play.
For a network game, each rider was given a rating of two components - this is the Rider Rating (overall performance in online races. The higher the places taken, the higher the overall rating) and the Safety Rating (how “cleanly” the player drives and follows the rules).
All this is taken into account in matchmaking. The game selects opponents of a suitable level. If you constantly crash into corners, then your rating will drop and you will have to race with the same "Mad Max" as you.
True, there is the following problem: penalties in races are not always awarded fairly. For example, a couple of times I was kicked off the track when overtaking on an external trajectory, and the fine was assigned to my car! Once an opponent flew in from behind with full swing when I braked before a sharp turn after a high-speed straight. Bottom line: +5 seconds penalty and safety rating downgraded to D... Obviously, the penalty system needs to be improved, and so far the chances of getting a penalty for contacting an opponent are 50/50, even if you have nothing to do with it.
So far, it is not very clear what this will result in in the first network championships under the auspices of FIA which will start on November 4th. I would like to believe that Polyphony Digital will be able to provide the highest etiquette and real fair play there.
In addition to the championships, weekly online races in three classes are constantly available in the game - just like the Seasonal Events from the previous parts, only online with other players. Here you drive a qualifying lap, and then participate in the race with the start according to your position. On one track, 20 cars are assembled at once, so the races are hot. The races are held every 20 minutes, so there is always time to practice and qualify. True, there are fears that three races in a week will have time to get bored, especially if you manage to win there quickly.
The online mode really conveys the emotions of a real race: for example, you can often see how the race leader gets nervous and makes mistakes under the onslaught of his pursuers. There are also technical overtaking, and in some races such a tight fight that the eight leading cars go with a difference of 200 thousandths of a second from each other! And if matchmaking fails you and gives you too strong or sloppy opponents, then you can create your own race with friends.
Also pleased with the technical aspects. For example, network races were never interrupted, and they were not thrown out of the game even on the first day of the world launch, which is a rarity for an online project these days. Suffice it to recall the infamous launch drive club to understand that Polyphony Digital much better prepared for the huge influx of players on the servers.
The online focus of the project and the desire of the developers to regulate matchmaking also implies the need for a constant connection to the network in order to ... save progress. The game is saved only when it is connected to an online server. The data about the passage is immediately loaded there after each step. If there is no connection, then GT Sport continues to record your records and accumulated rewards in Arcade Mode offline races, but there is one small “but”: they will be lost after you exit the current game! That is, on the next launch, all progress will be rolled back to the previous successful save. Therefore, if you see that the connection to the server has disappeared, then it is better to pause the game until it is "raised". For example, you can put the set-top box into sleep mode so that the application does not close.
Obviously, such a system was created to protect against cheaters, because saves from previous Gran Turismo learned how to hack in order to edit the characteristics of cars and other important data. If we imagine that players would learn how to edit their rating online, then this would put the entire matchmaking at risk. Online saves in GT Sport- this is definitely an extremely harsh measure that may be revised under pressure from the gaming community in the future.
Say what you like, but Gran Turismo from the very beginning earned itself the reputation of "games about beautifully shiny cars." Over the past 20 years, they have learned not only to shine: in GT Sport the detail is so high that the dashboard gives a translucent reflection in the windshield, which, moreover, changes depending on the lighting. In general, the view from the salon was a success: there are such trifles here that you are amazed. Head unit buttons Mazda MX-5- please. Texture of perforated sports chairs BMW M4- no problem. And how does it all look in dynamics, when colored lighting and dynamic shadows play in the cockpit of the car! As they say, it's better to see once.
Here it is, the very day has come when the owners ps4 finally got a decent racing simulator!
I must say right away that somehow it didn’t work out with cars in my life ... When I was still a little schoolboy, we were driven to a driving school, to pass on categories B and C. And if the broken-down fret was still too tough for me, then the huge ZIL was given hard. Just imagine, a small fragile girl trying to change gear in such a colossus. I had to get up, throwing the steering wheel, and pull the gear lever with both hands. Yes, all my friends came to see it ... Oh, let's not talk about sad things. Maybe finally give me a chance to drive properly.
The game immediately happily announces that there is not enough space on the console. Reluctantly, we delete a bunch of games and click the install button.
56 gigabytes later, we still launch the game. Now we are asked to adjust the brightness of this, the brightness of that, and the brightness of something else.
Very interesting choice of language.
After spending another 10 minutes solving Rorschach tests from Sony, they let us into the game and even give us the first car. It's time for your first ride! So you haven't finished yet?...
After another 20 gigabytes, it still allows you to play with yourself. Phew, that was hard. Let's finally talk about the game itself.
meets us with videos of past races, seasoned with footage from the game itself. The new GT clearly hints to us that it wants to blur the line between the virtual world and the real world. Let's plunge headlong into this amazing universe.
Graphics
As they say, brevity is the sister of talent, so let's not spread our thoughts along the tree. When I first started it, I had the feeling that I had turned on a movie about racing cars. It is almost impossible to distinguish graphics from reality.
Sound
The roar of the engine, the noise of the gearbox, the sound of the exhaust, the rustle of tires, the rustle of the wind and much, much more. You will hear everything. The developers put a lot of effort into recording the sounds of real cars. And during the races you have to listen to a lot of wonderful tracks of famous and not so famous performers.
Smoothly we pass to the description of true iron horses.
Cars
The main and most important part of any car simulator is, of course, cars. And in this matter, Gran Turismo Sport simply has no equal. The 3D car models used in the game are the highest quality and most accurate in the world. And I want to tell you that these models look simply breathtaking. The cars in the game are divided into six categories: from N to X.
Group N: production cars available commercially and some concept cars. The group is divided into subcategories N100 - N1000 depending on the engine power.
Group 4: Cars with basic racing modifications, including weight reduction and installation of additional safety features. FIA GT4 real class equivalent.
Group 3: Cars with significant racing modifications, including widening the body and improving aerodynamics. FIA GT3 real class equivalent.
Group 1: Racing cars with specially designed bodies and engines are sports prototypes.
Group B: Rally cars modified for dirt tracks by stiffening the suspension and increasing ground clearance.
Group X: Extreme vehicles that do not fit into any of the existing categories.
In total, the game features 160 cars. Quite a few, to be honest. For comparison, currently Gran Turismo 6 There are over 1500 car models to choose from. But nothing, DLC will fix it, you just have to wait.
About the main menu. Once in it, the eyes just start to scatter from the number of different modes, but first things first.
Workshop
Here you will be allowed:
Choose another car
Customize the parameters of the machine, of which there are a great many in the game. Tuning, traction control, tires, brakes, suspension... and all this can be adjusted for each type of track: highway, dirt and drift. All in the best traditions of the series GT.
Choose car color
Choose the color of your driver's helmet and overalls
Have a real photoshoot
The last point is not so interesting in the workshop, because the game has a separate mode for photo shoots. Let's talk about it.
Kinds
I have never seen such a sophisticated photo mode in any other game. Hundreds of different backgrounds, including quite real places, free placement of cars, a huge number of camera settings, filters ... And all this is available to you right here and now.
Brand Center
In it you can not only buy a new car, but also:
Visit the museum of brands and learn interesting historical information about them.
Watch videos about all brands of cars.
Take photographs in places associated with a particular brand of car.
Register in the Producer Series. What it is and what they eat with, I will tell you in the section on network mode.
It's time to talk about the game modes of Gran Turismo Sport. The game focuses on the online component, so there is no single player campaign as such.
Arcade
This section includes the following types of races:
Separate check-in
Check in time
drift ride
Own race
Screen split
VR tour
The game will prompt you to customize each button
In the arcade, you will be offered to fight not only with real players, but also with virtual rivals on one of 17 tracks in 40 configurations, for each of which you can choose the time of day and weather conditions. Unfortunately, the game does not have dynamic weather. Tracks open as the level of your driver increases. Each of them is a small masterpiece. Mechanics are running around at pit stops, crowds are raging in the stands, stadium workers are waving flags at dangerous turns. It seems that each track has a life of its own.
The game provides a lobby system that allows you to join existing races as a driver or spectator, or create your own race, since the number of settings will allow you to create a race with any rules.
And if you are the proud owner of a virtual reality helmet Playstation VR, you can enjoy the VR tour mode. Volumetric panoramic view from the driver's seat of a fancy sports car in the format of a one-on-one race, what could be better?
Campaign
I have already said above that this section has undergone major changes, having lost a huge part of the content. So, you will no longer find career mode, championships and A-Spec B-Spec in the game. The single player mode includes:
Driving school
Tests
Getting to know the tracks
Driving school, as the name implies, will teach you the basics of this difficult task. Each of the 24 tasks is accompanied by a video showing how to complete a particular mission. This mode is designed to straighten the crooked hands of novice drivers.
Tests. This is where you have to "sweat". The initial tests will easily be given to any child, but then everything becomes “more interesting and more interesting”. Tears, pain, a broken gamepad... All this awaits you in the trials. But, having completed all the missions, you can easily drive any car.
Well, the last mode - Getting to know the tracks. Here you will simply be given a ride on any of the tracks presented in the game, allowing you to learn each turn, thereby more successfully speaking in network mode. By the way, the developers have marked each turn with special markers, for which many thanks to them.
Sports mode
The main idea of Kazunori Yamauchi, the creator and ideological inspirer of the series of racing games Gran Turismo, there was a "combination" of real races with virtual ones. By signing an agreement with the FIA, the international automobile federation, he was able to add official FIA championships to the game. The winners of such championships will be rewarded with quite real prizes, along with real professional racers. The start of the first season of the FIA Esports Championship is scheduled for April 2018, and the first pre-season races began on November 4 this year.
In order to get into sports mode, you will need to enter your email address, to which you will receive notifications that you have been selected as a participant in the tournament, various awards and items, and other useful information.
Three sections are available in sports mode, and you will definitely have to look into one of them, whether you like it or not. And this section became "Racing Etiquette". It will show you two videos that will tell you how to drive and how not to do it. In a nutshell, don't crash into other cars and don't act like a MP's kid on the track.
Participation in the race is divided into two large sections:
Daily races - here you have to choose one of three classes of cars: monoclass, gr.3 and gr.4. Each race starts every 20 minutes. Register in the selected category, qualify and, if desired, drive a warm-up lap. And this is where the famous physics of the Gran Turismo series comes into play. The difference between warm and cold tires in the game is enormous. So do not be lazy and be sure to roll back the warm-up circle.
Theoretically, the game should match players of your level. And, although each of my opponents had an E rank, they played three heads better than me. Having taken my honorable first place from the end, I came to the conclusion that it’s too early for me to climb online. Some Chinese won the race. I immediately remembered the joke about the fact that somewhere in the world there is always an Asian who does something better than you.
The second part of the online mode is the championships, divided into two categories: the FIA GT Nations Cup and the FIA GT Manufacturers' Series. These modes will change during each FIA World Championship.
To participate in them, you will have to conclude an agreement with the Devil with one of the car manufacturers. Choose your favorite brand, sign the contract with blood and, voila, you will be given as many as two cars of gr. 3 and 4. It is not possible to break the contract until the end of the season, that is, until the end of the real FIA World Championship.
Playing in Gran Turismo GT, you will receive 3 types of currency, increase the level of your driver, and in network mode, you will also fight for a rating. What are the currencies in the game and what can they be spent on?
Cash Prizes- are given for participating in races, the amount directly depends on the place you occupy. Money can be spent on buying new cars.
Bonus miles– the distance traveled behind the wheel in any mode is converted into this currency. Earned miles can be spent on items in the "Exchange Miles" section, as well as improving vehicle performance in the "Vehicle Options" section.
Mileage- every day you will be given a task a la "you need to drive 42.195 km." For its implementation, various awards are issued, including new cars.
An experience- the last and most understandable type of "currency". As you level up, you'll unlock new tracks in the Arcade section.
Rider Rating (RG). This characteristic can take values from E to S, where E, respectively, is the lowest value. RG increases every time you successfully perform in a race. The upper limit of the WG is limited by the safety rating (SR).
Disadvantages:
- Lack of dynamic weather
- Weak artificial intelligence of virtual opponents
Summing up, I want to say that it turned out just wonderful. The creators were able to perfectly convey the physics of driving a car. The player "feels" his car. You will literally feel every bump and bump in the game. And for this, you don’t even need an expensive steering wheel, a standard Dualshock 4 is enough. I recommend it for a mandatory purchase to all car industry lovers who are sick, in the good sense of the word, with car simulators.
I look at this case in ancient Russian anguish.
"Aquarium"
Friends, I appeal to you with a request - do not judge strictly comrade Kazunori Yamauchi, who has been heading the Polyphony Digital studio and working on the Gran Turismo series for ten years. He is a perfectionist and racer, but, alas, not a player. Therefore, it should not be surprising that in his latest project called Gran Turismo Sport you will not find anything that would give simple joy. And where does it come from, when it suddenly turns out that for the full price you get not just a stub of Gran Turismo 6 - the game stuns with a strange and controversial implementation of almost all components.
So, Gran Turismo Sport is tightly tied to online. When the servers close, the game will turn into a pumpkin. Without an Internet connection, only the Arcade mode is available, where you can ride purchased cars on an available number of tracks (according to the driver’s level), but that’s bad luck - without online you won’t be able to purchase new cars, and achievements are not saved.
"Campaign" - there is a campaign! - presents dozens of tests, divided into three groups, where you will be taught tediously and for a long time how to accelerate and brake, enter turns and bypass opponents. There is no balance of difficulty. Individual tests at the top of the list are passed with difficulty and abuse, others give gold and prize awards without any problems.
Despite all the boredom of such a pastime, where there is no hint of a “Career” with championships, it is necessary to pass tests. This is the only way to become the owner of several very expensive cars. Otherwise, it will take a long time to save up to buy. The economy is set up so that you are online day and night, earning credits and bonus miles. The latter is an alternative currency that accumulates in parallel with credits, and you can use it to buy helmets and poses for the racer, coloring pages and stickers for cars, as well as new cars! But - only those that are currently presented in the corresponding store.
I won’t be at all surprised if “bonus miles” are subsequently sold for real money. Too well they fit into the microtransactions that are fashionable today. Only containers are missing, but with future updates, something else might not be the same.
Championships will be held here, and reminders of the events planned for next month are already hanging. There are daily competitions - so far only three races, which start with a 20-minute break, at a strictly defined time. In other words, if it is written that the race will start at 23:00, then at least jump out of your pants, you will not be able to speed up the process. In anticipation, all that remains is to qualify - to cut circles on an empty track and try to show the best time possible. The faster, the less likely to be in the tail of the column leaving the pits.
When the race ends, it is automatically moved forward an hour, and now you can pay attention to the second run (followed by the third). And that means another 15 minutes of qualification and 5 minutes of multiplayer... For a game that requires a constant internet connection, it's too rare to interact with other players.
To protect users from a "dirty" game when hooligans try to knock opponents off the track, here they become "ghosts" for a while for aggressive driving and cannot collide with other players' cars. Fair approach. In addition, each player has two markers. The first determines his skill, and the second shows how carefully he drives.
And if this type of multiplayer is intended for guys who want a "fair" sport with strict rules, then the other, called the "Waiting Room", is implemented according to an outdated scheme and attracts few people. You have to create a room and hope that someone will look at you for a light.
Such an approach could be attributed to Kazunori Yamauchi's desire to make a game for real racing fans who are ready to courageously endure all restrictions. The problem is that other players have nothing to do here. If you don’t like the above section “Sports”, then, alas, there is no more entertainment here, since the rest of the components are implemented in the range from “so-so” to “fir-tree-stick”.
Although no...
There is no other game in the world that loves cars as passionately as Gran Turismo. Oh, how they are presented here! The camera pans along their smooth curves, the light dances across the lacquered surfaces, light music welcomes the new guest with excitement, and the satisfied rumbling of the engine shows how glad he is to be in your garage.
A brief description is attached to each vehicle. You dive into the Brand Center section and hang for a long time - there is so much interesting information on automakers, rare photos and YouTune videos. It is not entirely clear what the biographies of racing driver Lews Hamilton and the Swiss watch company TAG Heuer are doing in this museum. The idea is good, to talk about heroes and branded toys, but in a single copy, such sections look strange.
The highlight of the Gran Turismo series has long been a photo mod, and now it has become even better! Purchased cars can be photographed not only on the tracks, but also in a huge number of picturesque locations (a free 10 GB DLC is already available, presenting even more interesting places). Tired of sorting through the options. Then, having decided, you find the right angle, set the necessary parameters and get an excellent photo - smooth, realistic, with soft lighting and clear reflections. Not at all the same as the game shows.
Gran Turismo Sport, alas, did not become another benchmark for the PS4 platform, which was the same DriveClub. The developers had to make a huge number of compromises in order to provide a stable 60 fps with 24 highly detailed cars participating in the race. 17 existing tracks migrated from the previous part. Minimum details, bare ground with a monotonous texture, flat grass, trees and spectators today cause a smile. Low resolution shadows and coarse pixel reflections are an eyesore (we played on PS4 Pro). There is no dynamic change of time of day, as well as weather conditions. Rain and snow did not come. There is no sun, according to the traditions of the series. The sky in this place is just very bright, nothing blinds the driver.
Yes, the new part is in many ways a step back when compared with Gran Turismo 5-6. However, thanks to the well-considered style, masterful work with colors and light, thoroughly designed cars and the ability to draw the viewer's attention to what is done well, the game looks worthy. In many respects, the solemn atmosphere is also due to the excellent soundtrack with a huge number of masterfully selected musical compositions. However, back to the negative aspects of the game.
You will not be able to drive on the legendary cars of the 50-70s, you will not be able to arrange a championship on the cars of the past or small cars from the world of "mere mortals". But what scope for future DLC!
It should be noted that the creators of Gran Turismo have learned something from Forza Motorsport. Now here you can not only paint cars (as well as helmets and racer suits) as you like, but also share them with other users through a convenient service. And you can already find a lot of interesting works online.
The physical model of Gran Turismo Sport is quite good. It provides reckless driving, forces you to take into account the features of different cars and painfully punishes for the slightest mistakes. The gamepad controls are great, so you don't have to be behind the wheel to win online. The wheels, the stiffness of the suspension and the weight of the car are well felt. Rear-wheel drive or front-wheel drive - this question disappears immediately, it is worth entering the turn.
Damage does not affect the appearance or handling in any way. "Kill" the car in the process of arrival will not work. A couple of scratches on the case will appear - that's all the consequences of hitting the wall at a speed of 230 km / h.
To avoid the desire, as in the good old days, to use rivals and fences for braking and leveling the trajectory, collisions lead to a drop in speed. Cutting routes is also not recommended. Grass and soil here have an amazing property - cars get stuck as soon as they get off the asphalt.
Diagnosis
Gran Turismo Sport should not be considered as a game - and then most of the questions to it immediately disappear. This is a racing simulator. Unlike other simulators, here instead of a career, we are provided with a long and tedious training course. Collecting cars does not bring joy, because the car fleet is extremely scarce. "Honest" multiplayer upsets strange restrictions. Competitions are held at a strictly allotted time on strictly defined tracks, no more than three per hour, and the rest of the time you are engaged in qualifying, driving in a circle alone. Some people will like this approach, but if you want to compete with people without too much hassle, then it's better to look for another game.
If Gran Turismo Sport was not sold at full price, there would be fewer questions for it. But when Forza Motorsport 7 is on the shelves, you can't help but pay attention to what kind of stub Polyphony Digital has released. For "mere mortals" in the new Gran Turismo there is only a wonderful photo mod, the ability to paint cars and the Arcade mode with stupid AI. This is too little to thank for the finally held Gran Turismo phenomenon on PS4.
P.S. The game takes up about 70 GB of hard drive, which is quite funny, given the small amount of content.
- The best car presentation in the history of gaming
- Amazing art style
- Great soundtrack
- A lot of informative data about cars and manufacturers
- good physical model
- "Fair" competitive multiplayer with mandatory qualification before races
Contra:
- Without an internet connection, the game turns into a pumpkin
- "Campaign" is a long, tedious, but mandatory training course for driving and familiarizing yourself with the tracks.
- Very few cars and tracks, especially when compared to Gran Turismo 6 and Forza Motorsport 7
- Strange choice of cars - only modern models are presented, skewed towards supercars
- In one hour, you can take part in a maximum of three multiplayer competitions
- No dynamic change of time of day, you can not adjust the weather conditions
The best car simulator of 2017 or another "prologue" at the price of a full-fledged game? .. let's figure it out.
Tested on regular PlayStation 4
Gran Turismo is approaching its imminent 20th anniversary: the game arrived on the shelves of Japanese stores December 23, 1997. Three months later, a pirated copy of the fruits of four years of team work Kazunori Yamauchi was in the hands of your obedient servant.
I've always loved cars and racing, but the racing games of those years - even the ones misunderstood as car simulators - were basically pathetic attempts to give gamers an imitation of the thrill of driving fast cars. They really had nothing to offer: seven, ten, at best twenty dull, crude models of wheelbarrows that resembled their prototypes a little more than the drawings of a five-year-old child. The number of locations for tracks only occasionally exceeded three.
Gran Turismo not just raised the bar, but launched it to the moon: almost two hundred cars from Japanese and American manufacturers, which, moreover, could be tuned, tuned, and for some there were racing body kits. Seven locations for 12 tracks, a great (at least in the Japanese version) soundtrack and the coolest graphics for the late nineties. The wow-effect of the latter was provided by banal highlights on the paintwork: the cars finally ceased to be matte boxes, turning into virtual copies of their real prototypes recognizable at first sight.
About the first Gran Turismo and sleepless nights spent on obtaining all the licenses, one can talk for a very long time, but the main thing is that after 20 years of space games in terms of the scale of the gaming industry, it is still pleasant and interesting to play it. This was followed by the second part, which added dirt tracks and increased the set of cars and tracks several times, again leaving competitors far behind. On the new PlayStation appeared GT3, after a couple of years - GT4 And...
Outside the end of 2017, and for a four-year old woman PlayStation 4 the most long-awaited part - Gran Turismo Sport came out. To be honest, I was hoping that this would be the best game in the series, for which hundreds of thousands of people would buy PS4 or immediately PS4 Pro. I hasten to disappoint you: alas and ah, there was no breakthrough and the heart of the fan Gran Turismo broken. But first things first.
The cars look more than cool and realistic (especially in cutscenes and replays), but this hasn’t surprised anyone for a long time. The tracks, in general, meet modern standards, but there are not enough stars from the sky. The lighting, weather effects, smoke, and hot brakes were a success, in contrast to the terrible (apple-sized) clods of dirt flying out from under the wheels when leaving the track.
Now it will be terrible, but I will say that the games of this series, frankly, have never shined with a physical model. Sometimes it was better, sometimes worse than others. And now it just fits the times. Satisfactory if you do not use the steering wheel. With him, management turns into a fight with a mad kart and has little to do with a real car. I have driven cars from the list of GT Sport cars and I can definitely say that the steering wheel does not break out of my hands at a speed of 100 kilometers per hour.
It's hard to believe, but some (actually - none) damage model appeared only in Gran Turismo 5 sample 2010 release. Excuses from Yamauchi there was a lot: from perfectionism and the inability to make perfect damage for several hundred models and ending with the unwillingness to turn Gran Turismo in a race to the bottom. However, released in the late 90s Carmageddon And Colin McRae Rally had very good damage patterns.
And now the question is: why, at the end of the second decade of the XXI century, everything that a fan can get Gran Turismo, - are these sluggish dents on the bumpers and the paint that has been worn down to the metal right away? This is how toy cast models that are entirely made of metal beat. It's hard to believe I'm saying this, but Gran Turismo Sport would have been better off with no damage at all.
The worst thing is that neither the fleet nor the set of tracks amaze the imagination and lose (!) The first part, released already 20 years ago. Of the pluses, one can only rejoice at the debut in Gran Turismo four models Porsche, and even then, this achievement is doubtful: after the expiration of the exclusive license ea, Stuttgart sports cars have appeared in many games. New tracks have been added, but the classic ones have disappeared without a trace, including grand valley, deep forest, Trial mountain And Laguna Seca.
A moment of rage: not only does the game itself take up 60 gigabytes, but it also constantly downloads updates of ten in size, until the installation of which the functionality of Gran Turismo Sport is reduced to two tracks in arcade mode without accumulating experience points and saving lap records.
Finishing off all of the above is that the emphasis in Gran Turismo Sport is on a network game with all its pluses and minuses, a system of experience and levels has been added that opens up new tracks, while a single will last at best for a week, and even then, if all events try to get gold and beat the records of friends. Interaction with the network is elevated to the absolute: in case of connection problems, neither the profile with open tracks and received cars is available, nor even the ability to pass offline tests (similar to licenses from previous parts).
***
In fact, Gran Turismo Sport is another "prologue" to a full-fledged Gran Turismo, albeit unrealistically delayed. It could be said that one and a half tracks and heels of cast-iron cars in 2017- this is normal, if not for the fact that the game stands as a completely complete and complete part. With such positioning, this is a natural robbery, which neither pseudo-encyclopedic timelines nor useless photo mode can justify.
