“GT Sport,” the latest addition to the car racing video game franchise “Gran Turismo,” has just been officially launched in London late last month and based on the assessment of gamers and critics, it already looks like “Gran Turismo 6.5.”
“GT Sport” is set to officially roll out to the PlayStation 4 around November this year.
There are two major repercussions in the franchise in this case. Since “GT Sport” is almost like “Gran Turismo 6.5,” the possibility of “Gran Turismo 7” coming out next year looks very remote. Unless game developer Polyphony Digital plans to just complete the customary one-year market cycle of “GT Sport,” and make the “Gran Turismo 7” an official update to the game next year.
The second crucial impact is that since “GT Sport” is almost like “Gran Turismo 6.5,” the chances of “Gran Turismo 7” having minor improvements or updates over “GT Sport” remain so high that it may eventually backfire on the game itself when it’s released sometime in 2018 at the earliest if Polyphony Digital pushes hard for it.
Ditching the best features of the franchise
There are reports going around saying that while “GT Sport” is designed to be the ultimate driving simulator for everything from sprint races to endurance events, the game apparently ditches one of the franchise’s best features.
In an interview with game creator Kazunori Yamauchi, he said that “GT Sport” does not have dynamic lighting or transitioning weather conditions.
While players would still be able to set the weather and time of day for their racing events, there won’t be any changes in lighting and weather as the race progresses. Although it hardly means anything to most gamers, but for a game that was designed to cover the world of endurance racing, it does not look good, details Alphr.
Yamauchi explained that they opted not to have the dynamic lighting transitions in “GT Sport” in order to raise the framerate and the quality of the image during the race.
He added that the gamer can actually be able to set the weather before they participate in the race. Critics and gamers believe that there will be a lot of endurance races in “GT Sport” that would benefit from the missing feature that has almost become a hallmark of the “Gran Turismo” franchise.
The features of ‘GT Sport’
“GT Sport” features a campaign mode, a split-screen local co-op, a more casual arcade mode, and even a livery editor.
The Sport mode is meant to turn the “Gran Turismo” video game franchise into an eSports game. In fact, Polyphony has worked out a huge partnership with the FIA and a ton of other sponsors as well towards such end.
Race events are spread across two different professional leagues – Manufacturers Fan Cup and the National Cup – with real-life prizes to be won across a number of events and categories.
While the attempt of Polyphony Digital to make “GT Sport” a springboard to eSports, the actual game per se seems not yet up to par.
“GT Sport” does live up to its predecessors by offering some excellent graphics, but the old tracks somehow looked barren contrary to the pronouncements of Polyphony Digital, notes Digital Spy.
So for gamers who are excited to compete for a title, then “GT Sport” is a good buy for a video game. But for those who enjoy the beauty of racing per se including the surrounding environment, there is no compelling reason for other gamers playing the other racing games in the market today to switch to “GT Sport.”
In fact, many believe that the game’s sub-par graphics, dodgy framerate, very few new gameplay features, and the goal to turn the game into an eSport have ruined “GT Sport.” And this may eventually become the compelling reason for Polyphony Digital to immediately release “Gran Turismo 7” as early as late next year or in early 2018.