Gran Turismo Sport: Review

It's been a long time in the making, but the wait has delivered another driving masterpiece from Polyphony.

Sony PlayStation 4 owners have been starved of Polyphony's eccentric, obsessive and breathtakingly beautiful ode to car culture since the console's launch nearly four years ago. Indeed GT6, the last iteration, launched on the PS3 a month after the PS4 hit the shops... Now, finally, Gran Turismo Sport has been released, and - much like the reboot of Star Wars - while some things are just as you remember them, other aspects of the game have changed entirely.

For starters, this is not the usual race & collect tour through automotive nirvana; the format which formed the basis of previous iterations. This time there are currently only 162 cars to drive as opposed to the 600+ in GT6 - although equally you still need to earn your spurs in order to race the more exotic machinery that is featured in the game.

Moreover, while there aren't endless series of not-so-hot-hatch and Japanese 2+2s to work your way through, the age-old licence systems and challenge campaigns are repackaged to make for an oddly compelling and welcomingly simplistic driving game experience. And when combined as an offering that works your driving skills hard and rewards you for going back to shave tenths off sectors of a lap, you tend to find you're happy doing so because the reward here is in the driving as much as the collecting... And boy, has Polyphony nailed the driving.

Gran Turismo was once a doyen of console handling models, but it arguably lost its way with GT5 and GT6 as more sophisticated and input-sensitive derivatives from Turn 10's Forza series (Xbox and PC exclusive), Project CARS and Assetto Corsa came along and took the genre forward on a new generation of consoles. But in the day that we've had to play the copy of GT Sport that Sony Computer Entertainment Europe provided us for review, the handling is glorious, varied and - critically - more-ish.

What do we mean by that? Well you can get in a Mazda MX-5 Roadster S and really monster the kerbs through the Esses at Suzuka or the kidney at Brands and do so with real confidence in the message coming back through your controller and wheel. And while there are more powerful and playful (mostly racing) cars at your disposal, the fundamental joy it delivers is enough on its own to keep you coming back for another lap.

Unlike other sims that can go light and loose on steering at slightest application of throttle, there is the kind of generous tyre scrub here that you'd expect in real life - which means there's plenty of warning when things are getting fruity. This makes GT Sport more forgiving, and all the better for it. Similarly, as you go up through the ranks and clatter those same kerbs in a BMW M6 GT3, you feel it as if they were your own teeth. The car snaps out of line, squirms under throttle and even seems to growl at you. It even bottoms out under the compression after Brands Hatch's Paddock Hill or the Foxhole at the Nurburgring. Driving for driving's sake is what this game is all about, and the sound, thrill and feedback coming from the cars as you do it are as compelling as anything we've ever experienced on a Sony console.

There are only 40 tracks in the game, considerably less than its predecessors and current rivals, yet the point of GT Sport is not to experience an endless playground, but rather to focus on relentless driving improvement. The reason for this is that at it's core the game is about the online experience - which is both its star ticket and its most divisive feature.

For years Gran Turismo lagged behind the rest of the field on this front. Its lobbies were confusing and there was no focus or achievement beyond the simple pleasure of online racing. But GT Sport has now introduced an entire universe for you to navigate, placing an FIA-endorsed licence system at its centre, as well as an e-sport series where you can compete at world championship level if you hone your skills sufficiently. Along the way you can also earn rewards, sign contracts with manufacturers and build an online racing reputation.

The rep. system is a neat touch and is lifted almost entirely from the hardcore PC sim iRacing. There are two levels of rating, one that measures your speed and one that referees your safety rating - and it's the latter which really changes things online. With each collision-free lap you notch up, a little green up arrow appears on the screen telling you your rating has improved. Rear-end someone, even accidentally, and an angry red symbol tells you off. It's effective because by staying out of trouble the game matches you with better, cleaner racers and reduces the prospect of first-corner carnage that so often occurs in online racing. It's not perfect, and you seem to get punished quite a bit for others' mistakes, but it is an interesting and so far positive addition.

The online racing itself is divided into two levels: the lobbies and Sport. In Sport you can participate in Daily races that are scheduled every 20 minutes and include qualifying sessions, and then the FIA-endorsed GT Nations Cup and GT Manufacturer Series and finally a Polyphony Digital Championship - all of which look enticing but are not open yet, so we'll just have to wait and see whether they can deliver on the promise of the rest of the game.

Much like in GT6, the super-cool ultra-designed menu system hides lots of little gems around the world of cars and racing; for example if you collect enough mileage points you can buy and personalise your Arai helmets and Alpinestars suits. Or you can go to the Lewis Hamilton section and get some tips - if that's your bag.

But for all it's glorious intent, there are some typically Gran Turismo idiosyncrasies that jar. For starters, to make the most of the game you seem need to have a PSN account and play online, because currently you cannot save any progress offline. That means signing family members up to your account if you have kids, or signing up and shelling out if you're not already online. This is disappointing because Gran Turismo has always been a singularly satisfying pursuit and it's a shame that the improvement of the social aspect appears to have come at the cost of a personal one.

Equally the age-old robotic AI is still a factor, and while it is considerably brighter and feistier than it has ever been before, when you're not racing directly against them they still seem to prefer a metronomic parade rather than competing against one another.

There is also damage, and it is effective, but when you consider the sheer beauty of the graphics (they have never been better - particularly with 4k ultra HD) the absence of genuine, real-world-sized dents is disappointing. Additionally, there is now a good choice of Porsche and Ferraris to play with, even if some of the old classics like the Mazda 787B or Toyota GT-One are nowhere to be seen. And while there are different shades or day and night, the effective and ambitious weather system of GT6 is not currently included - perhaps for fair play reasons given the emphasis on online racing.

But Polyphony is a prolific updater, and you can expect much to be added in time, from cars and tracks to various other effects on and off-track as the title matures over the coming months.

And none of this should detract from what is, quite simply, the best driving experience on any console as of now. From the crackle of the over-run on the Porsche 911 RSR or the scrape of the floorpan on the various crowns of the Nordschleife ribbon to the wonderful, palpable feedback as the fronts begin to wear on one of the brilliantly conceived imaginary circuits or just the sparks at Suzuka which glow in the dusk, GT Sport is a joy to drive.

Simon Strang

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