The series is known for accurate driving physics emulation, a large number of licensed vehicles, attention to vehicle detail, the ability to tune a car's performance, and realistic graphics. Its physics emulation includes real-world dynamics such as weight transfer, suspension response, and understeer/oversteer characteristics, requiring the player to understand real race driving techniques to be competitive, though assists are available for less experienced drivers. Tracks include both laser-scanned replicas of real-world venues and fictional circuits.
A typical single-player campaign features numerous races, championships, license tests and other challenges. Players start with a number of credits, usually 10,000, used to buy vehicles from manufacturer shops or used-car dealers, then tune them at the appropriate parts store. Certain events are open only to particular types of vehicles, and a license-testing system guides players through skill development before harder races. Prize money is applied to upgrading an existing car or buying a new one, building a garage over time. Gran Turismo was the first modern simulator of the 21st century to promote racing with a wheel instead of a controller, and the series has acted as technical support for cars in the LMP1 class of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Nürburgring 24-hour race.
The series' origins trace to 1992, when Kazunori Yamauchi, then an employee at Sony Computer Entertainment Japan, began developing the original Gran Turismo with a team named Polys Entertainment that started with five people and grew to seventeen. Development took five years. Sony initially rejected Yamauchi's pitch for a realistic racing simulator, but after the success of the team's arcade games Motor Toon Grand Prix and Motor Toon Grand Prix 2, he pitched again and was accepted.
The first Gran Turismo had role-playing elements: players start with entry-level cars upgraded over time, with faster cars bought using race winnings, and the simulation's complexities taught through in-game driving tests. It carried a roster of 150 licensed vehicles — larger than any other sim at the time — and a realistic visual style showcasing the PlayStation. Released in Japan in 1997 and in North America and Europe in 1998, it had sold two million copies in Japan by mid-1998. Polyphony Digital was founded shortly after release.
Gran Turismo 2 (1999 in Japan and North America, 2000 in PAL regions) added rally events and a 650-car roster across two discs. The next four games moved to PlayStation 2. Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (2001), originally titled Gran Turismo 2000, introduced the "GT Auto" maintenance area and endurance events with new cars as prizes. Three versions of the spin-off Gran Turismo Concept followed in 2002. Gran Turismo 4 Prologue arrived in 2003, and Gran Turismo 4 expanded the roster to 700 cars with a larger hub world, a photography mode, and a "B driver" AI racer the player managed.
A youth-focused Gran Turismo announced in November 2004 was never released as a standalone title; Yamauchi later said the 2009 PlayStation Portable game was a rendition of that idea. That PSP title shipped with 800 cars and 35 tracks but no traditional career mode. Vision Gran Turismo, shown at E3 2005, became the basis for Gran Turismo 5. Gran Turismo 4 Online Test Version (PS2, 2006) trialled online play, and Gran Turismo HD Concept (2006) was the series' first PS3 demo.
Since Gran Turismo Sport's predecessor, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, launched on PS3 in 2007, the series has included online play, with up to 16 players on track. Yamauchi described PS3 development as a "nightmare," and Gran Turismo 5 (2010) was repeatedly delayed; it was the first game to feature the GT Academy and used "premium cars" built from 500,000 polygons. Gran Turismo 6 (2013) offered 1,200 cars but released after the PlayStation 4 was already out, owing to the same development issues.
Yamauchi found the PS4 much easier to develop for. Gran Turismo Sport (2017) was the first entry to focus on online-only racing, lacking a single-player mode, career mode, and the concept of car ownership, but received free post-release content. The most recent entry, Gran Turismo 7, revealed at the PS5 Future of Gaming event in 2020 and released in 2022 for PS4 and PS5, brought back the traditional career mode.
The GT Academy was a driver discovery and development program run from 2008 to 2016 through a partnership between Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Polyphony Digital, and Nissan Europe. Online qualifiers within the game led to National Finals and a Race Camp at Silverstone, UK. Winners entered an intensive Nissan-designed Driver Development Program, joined the Nismo Global Driver Exchange, and raced in the Dubai 24 Hour. Notable winners include Lucas Ordóñez, Jordan Tresson, and Jann Mardenborough, who went on to professional real-life racing; four GT Academy drivers were barred from the "gentleman driver" section of the British GT on merit grounds.
The Gran Turismo World Series, held globally since 2018, was known as the FIA Certified Gran Turismo Championships until the end of the 2021 season. In 2021, the FIA and the International Olympic Committee hosted the Olympic Virtual Series using Gran Turismo Sport for the motorsport event, an online time trial open to all Sport Mode players. In 2023, Gran Turismo became the motorsport event for the Olympic Esports Series; Gran Turismo 7 was used for the inaugural Olympic Esports Week in Singapore, won by France's Kylian Drumont.
Online services have been retired progressively: Gran Turismo 4 (PS2) on September 1, 2006; Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (PS3) on September 30, 2011; Gran Turismo 5 (PS3) on May 30, 2014; Gran Turismo 6 (PS3) on March 28, 2018; and Gran Turismo Sport (PS4) on January 31, 2024. The online services for Gran Turismo 7 remain operational.
The series has appealed to an audience ranging from amateurs to professional sim racers such as Igor Fraga. In 2017, Edge named the first Gran Turismo one of the 10 greatest video games of the previous 20 years, and Gran Turismo 2, 3: A-Spec, 4, and 5 have all been named among the best games of all time by various organizations. Gran Turismo Sport's break with series tradition was initially controversial but became popular for esports. Gran Turismo 7 was strongly criticized for microtransactions and a "pay-to-play" system, scoring 2.2 out of 10 in Metacritic user reviews as of March 20, 2022 — Sony's lowest user rating and the lowest in PlayStation exclusive history on the site to that date.
More than 100 million copies have been sold, the highest of any PlayStation sim series. The first Gran Turismo sold just under 11 million, the highest-selling sim on the original PlayStation; Gran Turismo 2 sold 9 million; Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec was the series' highest seller at 15 million as of 2022 and the second-best-selling PS2 game; Gran Turismo 4 was the third best-selling PS2 game; Gran Turismo 5 was the series' second-highest seller; and Gran Turismo 6 sold roughly half the copies of its predecessor. Guinness World Records awarded the series seven world records in its Gamer's Edition 2008. The franchise's success inspired rival simulation racers including Atlus's Advan Racing, Sega GT, and Turn 10's Forza Motorsport.
Polyphony Digital collaborated with Logitech and Sparco on official driving simulator kits, the most recent designated Driving Force GT. In 2009, HPI Racing released an officially licensed radio-control replica of the Gran Turismo 4 cover car. Many manufacturers designed virtual concept cars for the Vision Gran Turismo project, and the series has partnered with Brembo, Dunlop Tyres, Mazda, Toyota Gazoo Racing, and Fanatec for the Gran Turismo World Series, alongside a long list of car makers competing in it. In acknowledgment of the Mount Panorama Circuit's inclusion in Gran Turismo 6, the city of Bathurst, Australia, unveiled a street named Gran Turismo Drive in December 2013, and Kazunori Yamauchi was honored with a street, Paseo de Kazunori Yamauchi, in Ronda, Spain, the same year.
Tourist Trophy, a motorcycle racing sim by Polyphony Digital released on January 26, 2006, was largely built on the Gran Turismo 4 engine, reusing its physics engine, interface, and all but one of its circuits, with AI racers reduced from five to three and the B-spec mode removed.
The documentary KAZ: Pushing The Virtual Divide, covering the series' first 15 years, was released on January 22, 2014, on Hulu. A Gran Turismo film, announced by Sony Pictures in 2013 and stalled under a Joseph Kosinski version by 2018, was revived in May 2022 with Neill Blomkamp directing. Released on August 25, 2023, the non-fiction Bildungsroman follows GT Academy 2011 graduate Jann Mardenborough's transition from gamer to race car driver, written by Jason Hall and Zach Baylin. David Harbour stars as Jack Salter and Archie Madekwe as Mardenborough, with Orlando Bloom, Djimon Hounsou, Geri Halliwell-Horner, Daniel Puig, Josha Stradowski, Darren Barnet, and Thomas Kretschmann among the cast.
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