In November 2011, Gran Turismo series creator Kazunori Yamauchi announced that he and his team at Polyphony Digital were working on Gran Turismo 6. In March 2012, employees were observed on-site at Mount Panorama in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, photographing and scanning the track — revealing that Mount Panorama would be included in Gran Turismo 6, making it the first Australian race track featured in the series.
In February 2013, Michael Denny, senior vice president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, stated that Gran Turismo 6 would remain a PlayStation 3 title despite the unveiling of the PlayStation 4. The game was formally announced on May 15, 2013, during a celebration of the 15th anniversary of Gran Turismo hosted by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe at Silverstone Circuit in the United Kingdom. At the announcement, Yamauchi stated that Gran Turismo 6 would feature 71 layouts across 33 tracks, 1,200 cars, a more flexible rendering engine incorporating adaptive tessellation, and a simplified user interface with faster loading times. An early build of the updated physics was demonstrated to the public when GT Academy 2013 was released on the PlayStation Store on July 2 of the same year.
The developers announced that the Goodwood Festival of Speed hill climb course would be included in the game. The 1.16-mile strip of road runs through the grounds of the Earl of March's family home and hosts the annual Festival of Speed, where cars from throughout motorsport and the automobile industry set times along the narrow course. A demo of GT6 was made available at the Festival, giving spectators a chance to challenge Nick Heidfeld's 41.6-second course record set in 1999 in a Formula 1 car.
At the 2013 Gamescom in August, it was revealed that Brands Hatch would be coming to Gran Turismo, alongside the return of Apricot Hill Raceway, a fictional track absent from Gran Turismo 5. Cars announced included the Pagani Huayra, Fisker Karma, Chevrolet Corvette Stingray C7, BMW Z8, Aston Martin One-77, Audi R18, and KTM X-Bow, as well as the 1971 Lunar Roving Vehicle from the Apollo 15 mission. Nissan's DeltaWing was originally announced but briefly removed due to potential licensing issues; the decision was reversed on December 2, with the car returning in its 2012 and 2013 guises. Last-minute additions included the Honda NSX Concept and the 2008 World Rally Championship cars from Gran Turismo 5.
The worldwide launch event was held in Spain at Ronda and the nearby Circuito Ascari in December 2013; the city named a street after Yamauchi during the event. F1 drivers Sebastian Vettel and Bruno Senna served as test drivers for the game. The online servers for Gran Turismo 6 were shut down on March 28, 2018, after which all downloadable content and digital versions could no longer be purchased from Sony's PlayStation Store.
Polyphony Digital helped design Toyota's FT-1 concept car by first modelling it in Gran Turismo 5 and later in Gran Turismo 6, allowing designers to visualise the vehicle in motion and sell the concept to Toyota's management. The car was released as a free download for Gran Turismo 6 alongside other Vision Gran Turismo cars on January 14.
The game features 30 tracks and 1,200 cars. New circuits in the series include Willow Springs International Motorsports Park, Ascari Race Resort, and several tracks based in a sports stadium, as well as multiple tracks in the Matterhorn including one near Riffelsee. Some tracks feature variable weather and time of day; a dynamic celestial sphere ensures stars in the night sky are accurately positioned. Players can drive at Hadley Rille on the moon using the Lunar Rover. The Top Gear test track from Gran Turismo 5 does not return, due to the show's partnership with the Forza Motorsport franchise for Xbox consoles.
The game developers announced a long-term partnership with the Ayrton Senna Institute in October 2013, with a percentage of profits donated to the organisation promoting education in impoverished communities in Brazil. A free update in May 2014 introduced the "Ayrton Senna Tribute" feature, following Senna's motor racing career and including the Lotus 97T, which Senna drove during the 1985 Formula One season.
To commemorate the 15th anniversary of the series, Gran Turismo 6 features Vision Gran Turismo, a project with concept cars designed for the game by leading automobile companies, sportswear brands Air Jordan and Nike, and automobile design firms including Zagato.
No DLC packs were released for sale, but several free cars were made available through post-launch updates, including the BMW M4, the Toyota FT-1 concept, and Mario Andretti's 1948 Hudson stock car.
On September 30, 2015, a level editor app titled Track Path Editor was released on Apple's App Store and Android's Google Play. The app allowed players to design tracks and upload them to play on the PlayStation 3, supporting KML and GPX files, photo/bitmap image importing, and GPS tracing of real-life driving routes. Players could use imported tracks in arcade mode races, time trials, and online sharing. The app was removed from the App Store when the online servers were shut down.
Gran Turismo 6 received "generally favorable" reviews according to Metacritic, praised for its focus on realism and its large car collection. Criticism centred on insufficient improvement over Gran Turismo 5, launch bugs and glitches, and emphasis on online play and microtransactions. Eurogamer praised the "vast, sprawling compendium of cars" and the "staggering tracklist"; GamesRadar praised the graphics and realism; IGN called it "a marked improvement on GT5." Hardcore Gamer described it as "surprisingly addictive" with "huge lasting appeal." During the 17th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Gran Turismo 6 for "Racing Game of the Year."
In Japan, Gran Turismo 6 sold 204,784 physical copies in its first two days — more than the second-place game's 117,432 for the entire week. It ranked 24th in the Famitsu 2013 Top 100 with 282,686 retail sales in Japan, was the 7th best-selling game of 2015 on the PlayStation Store, and won a gold award for half-a-million sales in Japan in December 2014. The game was the bestseller in France, Germany, Norway, Finland, and New Zealand, reached number 2 in Australia and Italy, number 3 in the UK, Sweden, Denmark, and Greece, and number 4 in Spain and South Africa.
Four-time Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel appears in the game, as does Mario Andretti's 1948 Hudson Hornet. NASCAR champion Matt Kenseth drives one of the new cars in the game. The game features replica helmets and coveralls worn by drivers including Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Ayrton Senna, Jimmie Johnson, Petter Solberg, and Mikko Hirvonen. Jay Leno helped the producers include his 1,000-horsepower Oldsmobile Toronado in the game.
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