Sony’s flagship racing game is here
Gran Turismo Sport has officially arrived on PlayStation 4. This latest entry promises the highest fidelity graphics yet, and accessible gameplay for beginners through to series veterans. Let’s see if the wait has been worth it!
Welcome to Gran Turismo Sport
No matter if you enjoy single-player content or online racing, Gran Turismo Sport has you covered. For solo content, the game offers a bevy of racing and technical challenges. You must win at least a bronze medal in each challenge to unlock the next one. While that does mean a lot of content is locked initially, it does force you to master each challenge. This does wonders to improve your racing skills.
Each challenge also shows the results of your friends, so in addition to aiming for gold it’s fun to beat their scores. Challenges test a wide variety of skills from accelerating, to corning, to winning races, and more. By the end you’ll be very familiar with a range of cars, circuit layouts, and skills needed to win.
All these events also reinforce Gran Turismo Sport‘s simulation approach. Bad driving techniques aren’t tolerated because the goal is make you a better driver. After spending a few hours practicing braking, cornering, and driving faster it was time to check out the game’s online racing.
Game DetailsPlatform(s): PS4 |
Qualify for the Gran Turismo Sport Championships
Right from the get-go you can tell Gran Turismo Sport takes its racing seriously. Before you can register for your first online tournament, you have to participate in a qualifying race. This involves learning proper driving etiquette by watching about five minutes of explanatory videos.
The videos teach you to stay on the racetrack, avoid contact with others, and ensure you’re not driving dangerously. For racing beginners, this may be a big challenge to overcome. The good news is there’s a beginner league, so you can race with others learning just like you.
GT Sport‘s main online mode is aptly named Sports Mode. It’s comprised of Online Daily Races held at specific times using a specific car classe and circuit. Everyday there are new daily races for you to check out. To ensure matchmaking is fair, the game gives you a Driver Rating and matches you with comparable players. It’s a good system that gives you the opportunity to snag the top position while improving your driving along the way.
A customizable gaming experience
Gran Turismo Sport offers a total of 17 locations with 40 course configurations in all. As well, car customization of course returns letting you tune your vehicles to be more competitive. There’s a whole host of customization options at your disposal, so car tinkerers will have to play around with.
I recommend playing GT Sport with a racing wheel, however the default PS4 DualShock 4 is a good alternative. If you want, there’s an option to use your controller’s gyroscopic sensors to turn using motion controls. This does a fine job at simulating a steering wheel, though an actual racing wheel feels more natural. Where you may want to use motion controls is when playing in VR, which I will discuss later.
While driving you can collide with cars, or crash, but there’s degradation to your car’s performance. Audio effects are quite good in the game, with realistic sounds for braking, accelerating, skidding, and so forth. There’s not a lot of rumble feedback on asphalt however. To really feeling the rumble of the road gravel tracks are the place to be. Here you can feel your car skidding around corners and loose rocks passing under your tires.
Pristine presentation
The graphics in GT Sport are absolutely gorgeous, by far the best in the franchise ever. Seeing all these expensive cars racing on spectacular courses is really inspiring eye candy. The equally refined music further helps set the polished tone.
The beautiful graphics permeate the entire Gran Turismo Sport experience. The developers took great care to present the cars in their best light. You can also tell they visited the real-world racetracks to ensure all the finer details are there. Even the menus look nice and are a snap to navigate using your game controller.
Gran Turismo Sport in PSVR
One of Sony’s main talking points for Gran Turismo Sport is the ability to play the game using PlayStation VR. It’s an exciting thought—imagine visiting your garage to see 360-degree versions of the cars you’ve acquired. You’re able to rotate the vehicle around, and turn the headlights on and off. It’s too bad you’re not able to open the doors and hood as that would have been even better.
The PSVR mode in Gran Turismo Sport is perfect for showing what Sony’s helmet can do. You get access to all circuits you’ve unlocked previously, offering a huge selection for testing the virtual reality. You can switch camera views from outside the car to inside, which naturally gives you the greatest feeling of immersion. For me, I found my driving was even more accurate in VR, likely do to sensing the road and corners even more.
Races in VR is 1v1 against an A.I. opponent. It’s not really a traditional race though as your competitor adjusts its difficulty so you always see them in your rearview mirror. While it would have been nice to play full races, having full freedom to change circuits and vehicles works well. After a few races it’s always good to take a breather as the experience is really shaky and fast-paced.
Final Thoughts
Gran Turismo Sport is an elegant, stylish, classy game. Everything about the game screams high quality. The cars look pristine, the locations are highly detailed, and the car physics feel right. Polyphony Digital has definitely created a racing game designed for those who love cars. With Daily Challenges and the promise of free future DLC, Gran Turismo Sport will keep racing fans busy for a while.
+ Stunning graphics
+ Great variety of cars and tracks
+ Using Six Axis to simulate steering wheel movements
+ Excellent PSVR experience
– Much more online content than single-player
– Wish there was more PSVR interaction with cars in your garage
OVERALL
Gameplay: 4/5
Graphics: 5/5
Sound: 4/5
Lasting Appeal/Replayability: 4/5
Thanks for the review. It’s a great choice.
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