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And God said: It will GT
No, for the release of Gran Turismo (GT) for the PlayStation 1 (PSX) Sony took no risk. Nothing was left to chance and also the success of the day 1 game was anything but a coincidence. They knew exactly what they were doing at the launcher!
Gran Turismo (1) struck like Armageddon
It was my first salary job, and the game editor seemed right for me. So in the spring of 1998, we all waited impatiently for the arrival of a review copy for our game magazine (Ludo-X). There was no gold version, no pre-release, nothing. And when Gran Turismo finally arrived - one day after its release in Germany - everyone gathered around the big TV. The game was put in and the opening credits spread great cinema.
(Link to: Gran Turismo 1, introduction http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhGjqtkgpt4)
Preliminary screenshots screwed the expectations into the clouds but what hit us then, was only reached for me again with my first Blue-Ray Player: the hammer! It was the wedding of the first PlayStation. The technically better console Nintendo 64 was already commercially suspended. And Sony wanted to get everything out of the box with its third generation of games in the fourth year of the PSX. Because the Sega Dreamcast (128 bit) was already officially announced. Titles such as "Need For Speed III," "Spyro The Dragon," and "Tekken III" outperformed each other with top ratings in the media. But Gran Turismo was also the absolute leader for us.
(PDF of my former review of GT GT)
The people, on the other hand, are very satisfied
Gran Turismo 2 should already have been in development by this time. Despite the brilliance of graphics and physics, there was still much to improve. So there was in part 2, which had to be packed even on two disks, substantially z. For example, more European car brands than just Aston Martin and TVR.
The scope of play multiplied as well as the distance. There was also a rally mode for the first time. However, this may have been due mainly to the success of Codemaster's "Colin McRae Rallye".
But there were also the first voices complaining about the alleged lack of progress in the graphics. It was simply not in the PSX in there! Accordingly, the sales figures fell slightly compared to the first GT title. And one must not forget that console games cost even then as much as today, namely about 100 DM.
3 A-spec what? No matter, it works!
Then came the PlayStation 2 - but not a new Gran Turismo. That took a few months again. The development of the PCs and the corresponding game quality as well as the great Dreamcast, which Sega unfortunately sold unprecedentedly badly, had set new standards.
Nevertheless, the market for racing games had developed splendidly in the years from 1997 to 2000. The PSX was still selling and the game demand was there. The auto industry also discovered this market at that time. So Porsche concluded with Sony a contract for a game that exclusively the new Porsche Boxster included. Since then, there has been an exclusive contract with Electronic Arts, which since 1994 with the game series "Need For Speed" unbelievably present and up to GT the racing game references. Incidentally, the change at the top of the genre has been ignored at Porsche until today. It is the only major car brand that is not represented in GT today - except for models of the tuner RUF. Next sleep!
Sony's large-scale attack on the entire market was called "Gran Turismo 3 A-spec". That meant unimaginable realism in graphics. All TV spots worldwide were geared to this and combined in-game with real scenes. The impressive graphics were the USP. Gran Turismo 3 A-spec has sold about 15 millions of times to date and is still the most successful part of it.
Bread crumbs instead of games
The time around 2003 was difficult for Gran Turismo. "Need For Speed" had intercepted the dropout of the first part again with "Underground 2" and successfully set it on Rennaction parallel to the beginning feature film series "The Fast And The Furious".
Codemasters had become a giant in the racing game segment with the continued success of the "Colin McRae" series and "DTM Racer" (formerly the Touringcar Championship).
In order to bridge the anticipated five years to "Gran Turismo 4", Sony relied on small snacks - and risked almost too much. The Intermezzo "Gran Turismo 2002" essentially contained only a handful of tracks of very limited scope and was aimed at new releases of the years 2001-2002. This was not a full version and brought little sales. Worse sold only the following, also only half game "Gran Turismo 4: Prologue".
This time, although the graphic advancements were clearly visible but the scope of games and car reduced even further. That consistently found a bad reverberation in the press and many fans. For re-entry, both half versions were not suitable. There was hardly anyone left who did not know the game or could buy GT 3 online for even less.
The Nordschleife, the salvation
2003, I worked at WIGE Media AG as motorsport editor for the new official website of the 24h race at the Nürburgring, This included the maintenance of a corresponding Internet forum. My then boss and I tried for a long time but in the end successfully Sony Computer Entertainment Germany (SCED) with the GT series as a major sponsor to ring the ring - and thus replace Microsoft with the XBOX. "Gran Turismo 4" was announced for 2004.
Of course, I have in the job synonymous of Sony with games for review sample. At the same time I had opened the topic "racing games" in the forum and wanted to collect the different wishes of all game fans. Sure, wish no. 1, 2, 3 and 4: Please finally bring the Nordschleife into the new GT. Although the course was shortly before on "Project Gotham Racing", but you had to have almost completely daddelt the entire game to unlock it. That was too much even for a nerd like me.
Now we sent SCED (Sony Computer Entertainment Germany) every now and then updates from the forum posts. But they kept themselves covered, very overcast, too covered. And one day in the summer 2003 we got stuck by phone: The Nordschleife is coming. As secret as possible - unlike today - a team already scanned the course 1: 1. But for us the announcement: shut up!
Around the Nürburg, the gambling house broke loose
2004 was once again booked for coverage at the 24h race. Sony had not let it take off, as a new major sponsor driving simulators set up to let the already completed Nordschleife be tested by fans. "Gran Turismo 4" was not released at the time.
So I sat as motorsport press nerd GT junkie in the team "Hawk Nissan"In the tent and drove lap after lap between Hatzenbach, Schwedenkreuz, mine, carousel, Pflanzgarten and Döttinger height to pupil standstill.
When "Gran Turismo 4" was later released, the sales successes set in again and press and fans were spoiled. By the way, the game cover has an extra sticker with the silhouette of the Nordschleife worldwide.
Technically, the console competition had left behind again. However, Sony's in-house series "WRC Rallye" did not pose a threat anyway. Electronic Arts had meanwhile come up with the strategy: every year a Need For Speed game, and correspondingly worse and worse products in the logical evaluation off. Codemaster's finished for me as yet incomprehensible reasons for "Race Driver DTM 3" without replacement a great as successful series and the official Formel1 game had since 1998 lost so much reputation that the series no longer had to be taken seriously.
Six years wait and another prologue
"Gran Turismo 4" lasted for a long time. In addition, the accessories market developed faster and faster and Logitech brought out an exclusive developed in cooperation with Sony Gran Turismo steering wheel, which allowed the first one and a half turns per side.
It was now official that a Gran Turismo game would definitely take five to six years to develop. Sony has traditionally relied on technical improvements for its console development, especially for others. The danger: playful stoppage. But, amazingly, everything that, for example, has brought Electronic Arts to new elements such as police chases, Open World opportunities, or other games such as "Driver", has never moved Sony from its relatively conventional gaming strategy. Gran Turismo races and collects cars. Even though the tuning settings have become more sophisticated and multi-layered every now and then, thoroughbred simulations on the PC have not been remotely approachable.
Then the new PlayStation 3 (PS3) appeared, and it quickly became clear that, given the competition from Microsoft and the very successful Nintendo Wii console, it would not be years before the Gran Turismo 5 was released. So it was inevitable that Sony again relied on the previously unsuccessful concept of a new GT prologue.
However, the Japanese came to another development very convenient. Because not only a new console, but above all a new TV generation became reasonably affordable for the Christmas business 2007. HD was the magic word and Sony's Blue-Ray principle dueled with HD DVD from Hewlett Packard. Since the first generation of PS3 games on Blue-Ray basis was a weighty argument and a new "Gran Turismo" certainly a tasty icing.
This time, it even worked with the Christmas business. "Gran Turismo 5: Prologue" appeared at the end of 2007 and raved again with a phenomenal for the then-console world 1080 pixel graphics. Microsoft never brought his competing article "Forza Motorsport" to this resolution. The strategy worked. After all, the new Prologue title sold almost half as well as the successful "Gran Turismo 5,5" with nearly 4 million copies.
HD GT - the development overtakes itself
I can not explain it to me as a fan, why the wait was on GT5 to 2010 comparatively without much annoyance at Sony was through. Maybe the long development time had long been established. The 5er Prologue was again only half a game but still impressive and successful. It was quite successful in competition with "full" games and really did not need to hide.
Apart from various Prologue variants and the PSP handheld interlude, in which the GT series generally disappointed, then came the end of 2010 finally the long-awaited release of the full version "Gran Turismo 5". For a long time servers were also well equipped for GT's online gaming and had done well with various special editions of Tamm-Tamm in advance.
Bigger was, after the first enthusiasm storm, the dismay that Sony had brought back at the second glance, no finished game! The scope but agreed alone the graphic quality distinction between premium and standard models in the cars excited a lot of incomprehension. Also the announcement, Ad-ons gradually release online - some with costs, some not - did not calm the minds completely. The background for this strange procedure was: The Japanese did not get along with the development of the technical possibilities with the game in time.
But Sony would not be Sony if they had not made a business out of it again. It must be said that the online servers for Gran Turismo ran extremely stable. The technically first-class online races against players from all over the world were and are simply an additional salt in the soup.
Well, as suggested, but Sony made a bit of cash and brought 2012 a new version of "Gran Turismo 5" on the market, all previously only available online, additional ad-ons directly on the disk combined. And so nerds like me, of course, also buy this version.
GT6 and the big nag
No, I can not understand how the 4players editorial team "Gran Turismo 6" only give a tired "satisfactory"! Less from the game-inherent justification, but even more compared to the supposedly much better PlayStation competition! ("Grid 2" = good / "Need For Speed Most Wanted" = good). This seems to me a joke considering the size and many unique features of GT6.
(Link to detailed 4players test report): http://www.4players.de/4players.php/dispbericht/PlayStation3/Test/34746/79696/0/Gran_Turismo_6.html )
Unlike GT5 GT6 offers a freely configurable and combinable change of time of day and weather on almost all real racetracks. The unique route editor from GT5 will also be added and that certainly also extended. Significantly more vehicles now have premium graphics quality with 1080 pixels. Shadow and smoke models have been completely renewed and greatly improved.
The Spieleumfang has remained at least the same. The sound may still not be great, but it's also much better. This is especially noticeable in the Ami models with V8 and V10 engines. That Mazdas Wankel engines sound like broken juicers, the original is not the implementation in Gran Turismo. The surrounding graphics have also been significantly improved, which is best seen in the trees and on wooded routes such as the Nordschleife. You can not expect a revolution, but it is an evolution.
(Link to the direct graphic comparison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Q1Ra8CsBU)
In fact, by adding new, real racetracks to my knowledge and off the Formula 1 game, a route catalog has come together that should bring tears to your eyes: Monte Carlo, Circuit de Sarthe (Le Mans), Nurburgring + Nordschleife, Suzuka , Fuji Speedway, Motegi, Indianapolis, Daytona, Brands Hatch, Spa Francorchamps, Silverstone, Monza and of course Bathurst etc!
Last but not least, the driving physics was thoroughly revised. And fortunately this has affected both "down" and "up". Beginners seem to me to have something easier, advanced should find more challenge. The biggest criticism in my view is the AI. The artificial opponents are still very unbalanced from an advanced point of view and in view of the technical development on other levels. This is a stand that was no longer fully acceptable for "Gran Turismo 4" almost ten years ago. Beginners and casual gamers should not notice that, or it should not be fun for them. I also know to date no console game that the AI opponents has resolved problematic appealing.
Yes, the sales figures for GT6 in the first few weeks were obviously below expectations. But especially the success of "Gran Turismo 4" has shown that the technically demanding range of games is able to replenish even within a console generation.
From my very personal point of view, I'm curious here on the not yet published track editor. He has already inspired me in part 5. No even approximately equal competitive product can come up with something comparable.
Conclusion: Playful little has changed in the 15 years GT. Driving and collecting. The primal instincts of car loving people are addressed. It's like the caveman who went hunting for the mammoth. The cave painting courses or fur bobbins with like-minded people have probably only very limited enthusiasm.
Gran Turismo remains the reference for racing games on console - not just on PlayStation. Microsoft will continue to hold up against it with its competition "Forza". After all, they were the first of the major manufacturers to bring the new “Forza” to a fourth generation console. I hope to see a “Gran Turismo 7” on the PlayStation 4 while I'm still alive. However, I have the hope that the development of "Gran Turismo 7" has already started parallel to that of the sixth part. A waiting period of another five or six years should be difficult to bridge even for Sony - unless the Japanese conjure up a real “knock” out of the hat for GT6 again online. They can be trusted!
A "detailed" guest post by:
Norbert "Nordbergh" Diedrich
All photos / screenshots are from the guest author!