Gran Turismo Sport Review

Gran Turismo is an extremely important title for many car-obsessed millennials.

Ask any 20-something car enthusiast what helped spark their passion for cars and you’re quite likely to get ‘Fast and the Furious’ or ‘Gran Turismo’ as an answer – perhaps both. The series has undergone a major change in shifting from Gran Turismo 6 to Gran Turismo Sport, though – one that may push away these legacy Gran Turismo fans in favor of attracting those who may be less interested in cars and more interested in racing and eSports.

So what exactly is it about Gran Turismo Sport that might push away older fans of the franchise and attract new ones?

For starters, the massive selection of cars that Gran Turismo 6 boasted (a jaw-dropping 1,196 of them, to be exact) is gone. Polyphony Digital ditched the repetitive and largely redundant vehicle library that featured in former Gran Turismo titles in favor of a more focused selection. There are just five car classes, now: N, Group 4, Group 3 and Group 2 and Group 1. The ‘N’ class cars range in rating from N100 to N1000, with the numerical figure representing power output. Group 4 to Group classes are for purpose-built racecars, with Group 1 being the fastest and Group 4 being the slowest.

SEE ALSO: Forza Horizon 4 Review

Due to this, GT Sport has a larger selection of cars you might actually want to race (there are about 160 cars total). So rather than including something like a Honda Element just for the sake of it, GT Sport focuses on offering up real race cars. Many of the race cars are fictitious, and while we’d like to see more real-world race cars added in the future, we quite like Polyphony’s racing interpretations of cars like the Alfa Romeo 4C. We love the addition of the Vision Gran Turismo series of cars to the game too. While not for everyone, they provide an interesting glimpse into the future and help to make GT Sport feel like a passion project dedicated to the entire automotive industry.

There may be fewer vehicles than ever, but each of them is beautifully rendered and features highly intricate details. The interiors are also fully rendered – helpful for those who use a wheel and may prefer the interior view camera to the traditional chase camera. The engine and vehicle sounds are also a massive improvement over previous titles. Gone are the high-pitched vacuum cleaner noises of yore – the cars now sound much meaner and more accurate.

Another reason traditional Gran Turismo fans may be put off of GT Sport is the online aspect of the game. Many aspects of GT Sport require an internet connection to work as your single player mileage points and other rewards are the same as your multiplayer rewards. You can still participate in single player arcade mode races, but none of your progress will be saved. This is an online game through and through and is always attempting to entice you into multiplayer events and races.

With this narrowing down of the vehicle library and intense focus on multiplayer, Gran Turismo has morphed into less of a single player car collecting game and more of a sim racing game. That jives with Polyphony's vision for it to be a leading eSports platform. If you ask us, they nailed the competitive multiplayer aspect of GT Sport. The online lobbies have strong connections, typically feature clean racing and are abundant at any time.

SEE ALSO: Logitech G29 Review – Racing Sim Wheel Review

The officially sanctioned FIA 'Sport' events, meanwhile, are extremely well thought out and organized. Polyphony puts together official race series and events for serious sim racers (accessible through the 'Sport' tab in the main menu) which ensures these players have access to clean, fair lobbies with competitive racing. It's by far the most serious attempt at organizing online-based eSports competitions for a racing game on console and really adds to the overall enjoyment if you're a serious racer. Polyphony seems to be going all-in on eSports, too, so the well thought out and organized online events on GT Sport likely serve as the basis for future eSports ventures from Kazunori Yamauchi and his team.