RE: The Gran Turismo appreciation society: PH Blog

[binnerboy]

I had GT1, GT2 and GT3. I even bought the firewire hub for the PS2 and persuaded 5 other mates to get together with their tellys, consoles and wheels on a room to play multiplayer that was an amazing day/night.

In my late 20's I got chicken pox so was signed off work for two weeks. I had completed GT3 however that was only half the point of the game.

As I had lots of time to spare , large amounts of anti histamine to remove the itching I set myself various challenges, one of the most memorable being trying to get to 200mph in a nissan skyline on the test track. It could be easily done in a supra but thats not the point. I spent an entire day reducing downforce and messing with the gearbox. A mate popped in to see me and when he asked what I had been doing the answer "for the last two hours I have been changing gear ratios" caused him to look at me like I was mental, only managed 199 as well :-)

At that time I also shared a house with another chap who got into GT3 , he built a wheel stand out of wood and metal so it was comfortable to use the wheel and pedals, we spent many an hour trying to beat one anothers times on various circuits with our own configs of the cars.

happy days

I do have an unhealthy like of the R32 and R33 skyline as a result of the game particularly in Calsonic race guise. Deep forest, Grand valley speedway and trail mountain were my favourites and ruining the TVR speed 12 by upgrading it so it nearly became undriveable and the satisfaction of taming the Chrysler Viper GTS-R '00

[Herbs]

After playing Drive VR, I cannot wait to see what the established big boys do using this - going to be epic!

[AndrewEH1]

Okay, one of you bds owes me £12 after popping into Cex and buying GT6.

Currently downloading a 1.3GB update!!

[Andy616]

Tuvra said:

Andy616 said:

Tuvra said:

The trouble is, Forza makes them look very, very dated:-

Gran Turismo 5 release date: November 24, 2010, for PS3
Forza 5 release date: November 22, 2013, for Xbox One

3 year gap and developed for different console generations. Not really a fair comparison.

That's the point

They are miles behind, they haven't even released a game on the PS4. Since the XB1 launch, we have had FM5, FM6, FH2 & FH3. With GT's past, you wouldn't bet against FM7 being launched before GT Sport. On top of that, GT Sport is basically a demo for the proper game isn't it? 137 cars and 19 tracks versus 460+ cars & 26 tracks on FM6 let alone FM7.

It just feels that GT is a LONG way behind the FM franchise now....

Different product cycles. It was 5 years between GT4 and GT5 so a long wait between generations is nothing new. I'm not saying it's a good thing, it's just the way Gran Turismo has always been.

With regards to detail, I'm not actually that impressed with those Forza screenshots. The lighting is a lot better than GT5 or 6 but the model detail is lacking. I'm pretty sure the F430 had brake pads and floating discs!

Anyway, back to Gran Turismo which is what the thread is about.

Nardiola said:

5harp3y said:

As many have said

This thing was a complete weapon in GT1

Yes, that was my favourite car!

It was still a great car in the later games, even if it was just a standard model.

[Deadgrau5]

I always get very excited when I see a Silver Mazda Demio like the ones in the Licenses


Or when you completed the game and got this amazing song to reflect on all the hours of your life you have just wasted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BDasfJ9dk8

Skip to about 1.40

Edited by Deadgrau5 on Friday 4th November 19:16

[Blayney]

Played pretty much everything (including things like Gran Turismo HD and the PSP one, as well as the academies and prologues) in the series.

Huge influence on me, absolutely huge.

Trial Mountain is still my test track for setting up cars, I dread to think how many times I've passed under the Monkey.

They have rather gone off the boil as of late though and GT Sport might be the first one I pass on.

Gran Turismo 2 or Gran Turismo 4 were my favourites though. Hours spent on those games.



GTO LM Edition was a favourite in the first one.



R30 Skyline Silhouette was another favourite from GT2.



The Race Modified RT/10 was another...



My Dad always chose this on GT1...



I liked it just because it said "widebody"



Another of my Dad's favourites.


Memories.

[aka_kerrly]

jon- said:

Gran Turismo 2 is the reason I insist on motul oil on my car where possible. In game advertising nailed it.

j_s14a said:

For the faithful GT opening sequences

GT1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9n9iDEeJyk

GT2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92H3ETKIe6g

GT3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcSyDa1xD24

GT4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVY0O6nrK40

GT5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNAOQ7arCK4

GT6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHM1Jl68zkY


To this day, GT1 still has one of the best game opening sequences of all time.

Why don't I remember any of those songs?

They all sound wrong to me.

Great tunes, loved listening to Feeder on GT3

[sparks_E39]

Gran Turismo is way behind the curve now. GT6 for example. Looked and played like a game from 2005, released in 2013. Forza doesn't just beat it, it blows it out of the water.

[RoadRunner220]

Love this thread, I've been nodding my head agreeing with every comment. Gran Turismo was a huge part of my life, I darn't think about how many days/weeks/months of my life I've spent playing this series. I've owned every one, including Prologue.

Then I got to the post about the intro's and watching them made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, I'd forgotten just how brilliant they truly were. They also probably go quite a long way to explain why Cardigans - Favourite Game, and Feeders Just a Day are amongst the most listened to songs on my ipod.

I think I was a petrolhead before Gran Turismo came along, but it certainly helped cement my love of cars and racing.

[Rindergulasch]

I was interested in cars before GT, but not at all in motorsport. GT completely changed that and taught me so much about suspension, weight, aero, everything that has an impact on handling and laptime. Without GT I wouldn't know Laguna Seca or Skylines and loads of other cars. I could spend hours setting up a car for just one endurance event. Never cared that much about the graphics, I loved how you could feel any setup change or differences between cars. I got so addicted that I completely stopped playing games about 15 years ago. Haven't owned a game console or PC with a potent graphics card since but became an avid follower of F1 and other motorsports for about a decade. I had a great time thanks to GT but I'd rather have a life - by which I don't mean you can't have both, but I can't, and that's fine by me.

[Rindergulasch]

I ended up with two memory cards with two almost full (GT1 or 2-)garages of 100 cars each.

Had ALL Skyline models. No, I had all of them two times so I could drive each in road trim AND race trim. Enjoyed the RWD Skylines for their feel and the big AWD ones for their sound and their ferocious and peaky power band.

GT-R LM
GTO 3000
The TVRs
Castrol Supra
The RX-7s - you could adjust the angle all the way through the corner like it's floating on air, incredibly well balanced cars.
The Vipers
427 Stingray
Suzuki Escudo Pikes Peak
Toyota GT-One

[MissChief]

sparks_E39 said:

Gran Turismo is way behind the curve now. GT6 for example. Looked and played like a game from 2005, released in 2013. Forza doesn't just beat it, it blows it out of the water.

It's been a while since I played one but it got too far into simulation and lost its fun factor. It became too clinical.

[slipstream 1985]

Loyly said:

Gran Turismo was a hugely significant moment for the worlds of motoring and gaming. Being made in Japan, the focus on tuned Japanese cars really made an impact.

I still recall having a demo disc for the first GT game with the liveried Impreza racing on a city circuit at night.

Remembr seeing how far into the second lap you could get before the demo time ran out?

[vournikas]

Back in 1998, I bought a PS1 with 20-odd games off a lad at work for a bargain price and included was the original GT.

Now, at the time, I was a motorcycle person but had always been "into" cars from a very early age. I think it was just that - at that time, and in preceding few years - Doohan and Foggy were dominating GP and WSB with style and aggression and I loved it. BSB wasn't all that bad at the time as well.

Anyway.

I'd sort of fallen out with cars, but when I fired up GT1 for the first time it was mind blowing. Utterly immersive as a driving game and, hand-on-heart, it got me interested in cars again. Shortly after, I started buying EVO magazine to bring myself up to speed on what was happening in the car world.

Memorable GT moments?

GT1 : my first purchase for the Sunday Cup > Toyota Supra Turbo
GT1 : winning that bloody license test by doing doughnuts in a Scooby
GT1 : winning that bloody license test in a Skyline R33 on Trial Mountain
GT1 : winning that bloody license test in a Griff 500 on SS11

GT4 : winning the historic race around Monaco against that Chaparral fan car using a fully race-prepped Camaro SS
GT4 : completing mission 34 in the McLaren Mercedes
GT4 : doing the 'ring in an Alfa TZ2 at night

Favourite cars?

Sauber C9
Mazda 787B
Ford GT40 (1960's)
Alfa TZ2
Camaro SS (Race Spec)

[Tuvra]

Andy616 said:

Different product cycles. It was 5 years between GT4 and GT5 so a long wait between generations is nothing new. I'm not saying it's a good thing, it's just the way Gran Turismo has always been.

With regards to detail, I'm not actually that impressed with those Forza screenshots. The lighting is a lot better than GT5 or 6 but the model detail is lacking. I'm pretty sure the F430 had brake pads and floating discs!

Brake pads? Floating discs? Of course it has brake pads? Floating? You mean like this :-

Granted the carbon fiber effect let it down, but that was early days in carbon paint. That and I'm shot at photography.

My argument is that Forza have been creating a game, tweaking it every year and building a stronger and stronger game as it goes on. With GT seemingly resting on their laurels for so long they have lost a lot of momentum and followers who have gone elsewhere, suddenly they don't have the field to themselves anymore, its kind of like Nokia.

I hope they do pull it out of the bag, I was a massive fan and would happily return providing they have taken all the feedback on board.

[Rindergulasch]

The original Ford GT40. The Gulf livery. The raspy yet howling engine sound. Compared to modern racing cars, the suspension was much more compliant, which combined with the low CoG gave it incredible stability through jumps, bumps and quick changes of direction. GT let me appreciate the step Ford made in the 60s with that. What was that hilly US city track in GT1(?) called? Chicago? Detroit? I could immediately spend weeks just improving my lines and my laptime there, fiddling with the gears and the dampers and so on, with a GT40, GT1, PS1. Bliss.

[ajprice]

^^ Polyphony = Nokia. Good analogy.

[Andy616]

Tuvra said:

Andy616 said:

Different product cycles. It was 5 years between GT4 and GT5 so a long wait between generations is nothing new. I'm not saying it's a good thing, it's just the way Gran Turismo has always been.

With regards to detail, I'm not actually that impressed with those Forza screenshots. The lighting is a lot better than GT5 or 6 but the model detail is lacking. I'm pretty sure the F430 had brake pads and floating discs!

Brake pads? Floating discs? Of course it has brake pads? Floating? You mean like this :-

Granted the carbon fiber effect let it down, but that was early days in carbon paint. That and I'm shot at photography.

My argument is that Forza have been creating a game, tweaking it every year and building a stronger and stronger game as it goes on. With GT seemingly resting on their laurels for so long they have lost a lot of momentum and followers who have gone elsewhere, suddenly they don't have the field to themselves anymore, its kind of like Nokia.

I hope they do pull it out of the bag, I was a massive fan and would happily return providing they have taken all the feedback on board.

Sorry, to clarify:





If you compare the two above, the bolts are missing where the disc connects to the bell. The brake pads stick out the bottom of the calipers and are missing on the Forza model.

As I said, terrible lighting but GT does have the detail.



I agree with you that Gran Turismo has lost it's way. I can't work out why it has taken them so long to get a game out for the PS4, given the small amount of content that is being reported for GT Sport. I have my suspicions that they are trying to get it to work with VR without people throwing up like they have been with Drive Club. They seem to waste time with gimmicks (3D last time) rather than putting in more content for the majority of players.

GT Sport will probably be the first one I don't buy.

[Benjo42]

vournikas said:

Now, at the time, I was a motorcycle person

So what you really needed was the same game for bikes.... Tourist Trophy was amazing just like gt4 but quite a bit smaller scale. Still a great game and pretty much a copy by the same people.

Massive eye opener like gt was for car appreciation.

[ajprice]

Andy616 said:

I agree with you that Gran Turismo has lost it's way. I can't work out why it has taken them so long to get a game out for the PS4, given the small amount of content that is being reported for GT Sport. I have my suspicions that they are trying to get it to work with VR without people throwing up like they have been with Drive Club. They seem to waste time with gimmicks (3D last time) rather than putting in more content for the majority of players.

GT Sport will probably be the first one I don't buy.

I was at GameFest / Insomnia 58 in August, they had a stand there just for GT Sport, with I think 12 of those driving seat pods in the blue lit hoops set up with the game demo, there was a queue to play the demo all day. The game looked release ready, it was launching in November. A week later it was delayed until sometime in 2017. I have no idea why.