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7 fixes that Gran Turismo Sport needs
These are the tweaks under the hood needed to make the first PS4 GT more than a prologue.
We've had to wait for two long years, but it's actually happening: Gran Turismo is finally coming to the PS4. At an event last week, Sony announced Gran Turismo Sport will be released on the PS4 – but there was a catch.
According to Sony Europe's president and CEO Jim Ryan, GT Sport isn't a true sequel to Gran Turismo 6. But it's not a prologue either (Gran Turismo 5 Prologue was an aperitif for the main course of Gran Turismo 5; one PS3 players waited years for).
Whatever it is, when it comes to the Playstation 4, GT Sport will start on a very different grid to previous Gran Turismo games. For a start, the PS4 already has its fair share of great racers. Driveclub became the console's main racing game at launch, while Project CARS is now a favourite for sim fans. Throw in the impressive Forza Motorsport 6 on Xbox One, and GT Sport will have to up its game to retain its title of the ultimate driving simulator.
So what will the next Gran Turismo game need to pull ahead of the competition, and how can it avoid a Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes incident? Here are some of the things we think Kaz and Co need to put under the hood.
More than 6 tracks please
Although Gran Turismo may be about simulating some of the most powerful cars in the world, it'd be nothing without a varied range of tracks to test and challenge them on. While Gran Turismo 5 came with an impressive 71 tracks to test your driving skills on, Gran Turismo 5: Prologue Edition came with just six. Six. Admittedly there were an unspectacular 12 layouts altogether, but that didn't make up for the total lack of the choice we've come to expect from Gran Turismo titles.
If GT Sport really wants to capture the imagination of racers, and get Gran Turismo up to speed on the Playstation 4, it'll need to arrive with more than just a handful of tracks. The next Gran Turismo will have to bring classics like the High Speed Ring, Autumn Ring, and Deep Forest Valley, as well as real-world tracks like Mugello, Suzuka, and of course the Nordschleife. Make it so, Polyphony Digital!
Better sound
Whatever console it's been on, whether it's PSP, Playstation 1 or Playstation 3, Gran Turismo has set a new benchmark for gaming visuals. With every release, Gran Turismo has made cars look more believable, and so lifelike you feel every bump. However, one area the series has never quite nailed is sound. If GT Sport is to truly represents the step up we're all hoping it'll be, Sony will need to fuse next gen sound to its next-gen visuals.
Luckily for us, that looks like it's already going to happen. Earlier this year Sony poached one of Forza's leading audio engineers – a game already known for its stunning audio capture, so GT Sport may well be as convincing to our ears as it is to our eyes.
Get rid of the grind
It's all well and good making games challenging, but sometimes the reward doesn't match the work that goes into it. The result? Games feel more like a job than a piece of entertainment, and when you do finally unlock that bit of kit you've been working towards, there's a bit of an anti-climax.
Unfortunately for millions of racers, that's exactly what tended to happen in GT Prologue games. Not much content was provided, and the things that were there became so hard to unlock that many people didn't even bother. Sony, please leave the grind for Tony Hawk and remove it from our racing games. Thanks.
More cars
This one is obvious. Gran Turismo has always spoilt players with its huge selection of cars, and GT Sport must do the same. We know the graphical power of the Playstation 4, and that means we're expecting GT Sport to come with one of the largest garages we've ever seen. Full-fat Gran Turismo games contain hundreds of cars, but the last Gran Turismo Prologue packed in an underwhelming 39. We've seen more cars on sale at a local dealership.
GT Sport needs to make up some serious ground against its competitors when it's finally released, and that means it'll need to pack in all the classic rides we've come to expect from Gran Turismo. There'll need to be a Nissan Skyline GT-R, Toyota GT One, Ferrari 458, Mini Clubman and everything in between.
Better AI
Previous Gran Turismo's may have looked great, but races against the AI often become little more than highly polished traffic jams. Although the cars looked realistic, Gran Turismo has gained a reputation for using some of the worst AI in racing games. In the first titles, AI competitors would stick to a neat single file, and do absolutely nothing when you dived up the inside of them.
Worse still, seasoned Gran Turismo gamers could use AI cars as cushions around corners, using them to slow their own cars down and avoid going off the track. If GT Sport is going to be a true next-gen game, we'll need to see much smarter AI. Thinking of overtaking on a corner? We'll expect the AI to go defensive. Got a slower car than the one behind? We want the computer to size us up and at least try and perform a breathtaking move.
Seamless multiplayer
According to Sony executives, GT Sport will feature an online focus, with two online championships – The Nations Cup and the Manufacturers cup forming a large part of the driving experience. That means it must nail the multiplayer experience. GT5 and GT6 offered a decent online racing, but were let down by connection issues where some racers would disappear in the lobby, some would get extreme lag, and others noticed changing tracks could also create issues. If online racing is to be a fun and seamless feature, Sony will need to nail GT Sport's online function, just like Microsoft has large nailed Forza 6's.
A decent career mode
Call of Duty isn't the first game you'd think GT Sport could learn from, but the way it blends a campaign mode and online elements is great. Although COD's online mode is its main selling point, it also comes with a fully featured – if incredibly cheesy – campaign mode. In the same way, just because GT Sport features a focus on online play, that doesn't mean Polyphony Digital should give us a bare bones career mode. GT Sport will need to offer a rich experience both online and offline if it's to be the best racing game on PS4. Is Polyphony up to the challenge? Here's hoping.
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