The Gran Turismo series keeps up the tradition of two instalments per generation with Gran Turismo 6, rammed with more content then you could ever pack into your grannies oversized underpants. Its the latest instalment quantity over quality and should have Sony Computer Entertainment broke tradition and pushed GT6 for a PS4 release? Let’s find out to what is sure to be one of the PS3’s biggest releases of the year and the final curtain for the much loved series on the current gen console.
In the visuals department, regardless of the generation the Gran Turismo series has always pushed the Playstation console to its limits, in fact it has always been arguably the best looking racer on any of its pier consoles. Gran Turismo 6 is certainly no exception to that trend and despite its very uncharismatic user interface, the in-game visuals look nothing short of stunning.
As with Gran Turismo 5, you have your standard vehicles and then the premium. The biggest difference between the two categories other then power and the generation in which the car has come from, is that the premium cars are by far the better looking and received the greater attention to detail both inside and out. The cars exterior is created to near perfection to almost every minute detail and Gran Turismo fans that love to use the driver seat view when gaming will also be in for a treat, as almost every detail has gone into the cars exterior (for the premium at least). Fans of that particular car will feel instantly at home and for the most of us that will never get a chance to drive these amazing cars, this is as close to the real life counterpart as we will ever likely get to see.
I know what some of you may be thinking, “Why can’t all of the cars be of premium quality?” which is a fair enough question. But you must consider that there are a whopping 1,200 cars in Gran Turismo 6 and as much as I would love all the cars to receive the premium treatment, to detail every car to that incredible standard would just be ridiculously time consuming. Though it may be of comfort to know that the standard cars do look great, its jus the premium look so much better.
The tracks are also created to an unprecedented level and it’s easy to get distracted by the scenery at hand. Which brings a word of warning, try not to get distracted to often as unlike other racers on the market, Gran Turismo 6 features no rewind/flashback feature, but I’ll get into that a little more later on. In total there are currently 33 tracks in GT6 with 71 different variations.
There are many returning fan favourite tracks in this latest instalment, but there are some new additions to the family that have made their way into GT6. These tracks in include Apricot Hill Raceway, Brands Hatch, Goodwood Hill Climb, Matterhorn, Silverstone and Willow Springs International Raceway. The eye candy for each car and track increases with the glorious and ever faithful replay feature, which is always worth a watch every now and again, especially for those epic encounters. It may also be worth considering that the already car and track numbers will increase in time with future DLC.
As much as I loved Gran Turismo 5, regardless of the car, many of the vehicles felt a little heavy at times and after playing games such as Forza Motorsport 4 and Forza Horizon very extensively, I found it fairly difficult to return back for an extra dose of GT5. In my humble opinion, this was a prime example of how the Forza series has piped across the finishing line in not only the visual department, but also in gameplay too. Obviously this is only from my experience and we gamers all differ with our individual personal preference. So when I first jumped into the GT6 playable demo that arrived on PSN some months ago, I was already quite sceptical to how the newest instalment might play. To my delight I found the gameplay during my demo experience had noticeably improved since the last.
In comparison to GT5, GT6 feels far less clunky and more responsive. It wasn’t that much of a difference that made me think “wow that’s drastic!”, it was just a simple result of some gameplay fine tuning here and there that made my Gran Turismo 6 experience that little more pleasurable. In truth when it came to the cars handling, drastic tweaks was not needed as GT5 was so close to getting it just right, which is one of the main reasons that Forza 4 and Horizon just piped Gran Turismo 5 to that checkered flag. But now that Polyphony Digital has made the necessary improvements to Gran Turismo 6, it’s certainly closed that gap to a photo finish between Sony’s and Microsoft’s flagship racers.
If there was to be any kind of criticism with GT6, it would be with the opponent A.I and the lack of car damage, both of which have plagued the Gran Turismo series. Regardless of the cars on show and the track at hand, the A.I cars always seem to follow the same line in single file, which makes overtaking and predicting the A.I’s behaviour far easier than it should. For a game that has had so much attention to detail in terms of its visuals, I was at least expecting the A.I to also evolve more than it has.
Damage is the other factor that I believe should have been improved far more then it has in GT6. While I’m sure much of the lack of damage may come down to the car manufacture not wanting their beloved cars to be smashed to bits, it just doesn’t sit right to see a car crash into a barrier at 150mph, just to then have a dented bumper and scratched paintwork. For a game that prides itself on realism, the lack of damage is way too unrealistic. Hopefully much like the A.I, the damage is perhaps something that can be improved and correctly implemented to a more realistic level for the PS4 instalment (whenever that may arrive). Fingers crossed for that one.
Gran Turismo 6 is packed not only with heaps of cars and tracks, but there are also plenty of modes to keep you more than busy. As you participate in each and every race/event you will be rewarded with the all important in-game cash, which of course can be used to buy a variety of cars, upgrades and driver gear. You won’t be able to buy any car that you wish from the offset mind; you must of course win races, events and earn the required stars from each race to progress in your career.
Each category of events are broken into National Licences A, B, C etc, as you work your way up and unlock each license, the events will become slightly more demanding, but you will start to unlock the more impressive cars to purchase and test your driving skills against the game’s best drivers.
Speaking of the National licences, before you can venture into Gran Turismo’s competitive multiplayer, you must acquire the National A License Test. This is a bit of a pain for those that want to jump straight into the multiplayer, but on a plus note, by the time you acquire the A license test, you should have had sufficient practise to test your skills at a reasonable level against your fellow online gamer.
In essence the license events act as you main career thread, which will have you progressively unlock further races, events, cars and the further you progress, the more richer your rewards will be. If you ever fancy a change of pace from the career mode, there are plenty of other objectives to keep you sidetrack and have a change of the norm.
For example you have the Coffee Break events, which will have you participate in a series of fun challenges, such as knocking down as many cones as you can within the set time limit and so much more. The better you perform in these events, the better grade you will be awarded, whether that is Gold, Silver or Bronze. Of course you have the faithful driving license tests to take on, which will offer a series of challenges designed to fine tune you skills. These test can vary from braking, cornering, handing and more, the tests will also get tougher as you progress. So be prepared for temptation to throw the control pad.
Then you have Mission Races which are set scenarios, with set stipulations. Much like the driving tests, the mission races are designed to improve your skills, but they are much more fun to play. The Goodwood Festival of Speed will allow you to take on set challenges in a host of legendary cars in the legendary racing event. This event is via invitation only, so make the most of these very challenging, yet fun events. There are also the generic quick access events that often come with any racing game, such as arcade race, time trial and party play, which will allow you to invite friends to participate in your custom event. Oh and did I mention that some bonus events involve racing on the moon? Yep that’s right, Gran Turismo has gone galactic. You can partake in these events via the Lunar Exploration missions, but while this novelty might seem like a cool feature at first, it is what it is and that’s pure novelty and when that novelty quickly wore off, personally I found them to be mind numbingly dull.
To take you mind away from the racing aspect and should you just want to admire some of the world’s greatest cars in the world’s most exotic locations, then you are in luck. As with Vision GT you can admire a series of concept designs and video features. Though these concept cars won’t all be available from the offset, they will be gradually unveiled via GT6 online updates. You can also purchase the beautiful featured cars, but they will come with a hefty price tag. In a similar mould, there is also Photo Travel. Photo Travel will allow you to take the cars from your garage to the locations that you have visited during your GT6 career to take some glorious photos which can then be saved and shared with the online community, should you wish.
While the in-game menu music will often switch between a classical tone and at times one that can only be described as a Manga/Anime/Streets of Rage hybrid, the soundtrack during each race does a great job to help keep you pumped up. In any other genre, the soundtrack is a vital tool to aid the storytelling, but seeing as Gran Turismo features no story, it’s all about setting a tone for those epic races. Any Gran Turismo fan will often talk of that iconic tune from the band Feeder, namely “Buck Rogers” and so they should, that tune alone provides so many great GT memories for long time fans of the series. While GT6 fails to create those kinds of ‘Feeder’ moments from yesteryear, it does a decent enough job in helping you get into the spirit of things during those gruelling races.
For obvious reasons, getting each car sound effects right in a racing game is arguably one of the most important factors. Petrolheads will want to hear each and every authentic rev of an engine created to perfection, the hiss of a gear change, the raw power of reaching top speed in classic muscle car, it’s all something that we expect to be of a high standard as a minimum requirement.
While Gran Turismo 6 features all of these great sound effects for the most part, some cars for whatever reason seem to just lacking the ‘oomph’ of a sound effect that us Petrolheads love to hear. Perhaps it was down to the developers not quite having enough time to give each car every attention to detail it deserves, due to the scale of cars that are available in this game. This to be fair is a very minor issue and some may think of it as quite picky, I just expect certain cars to have that special ‘oomph’ that provides that ever so satisfactory and therapeutic sound that Petrolheads crave.
More than any other series, Gran Turismo fans expect that something more, we expect a near perfect racing simulation. That way of thinking perhaps works against Gran Turismo 6, as those expectations may be a little too steep and at times a little unfair. But it’s fair to say that in my opinion Gran Turismo 6 is by far the best racing simulation that you will get on the Playstation 3. It is packed with an insane amount of cars, almost each and every one of them feels drastically different to the last. Tracks are recreated to that ‘near perfection’ standard that we fans expect and almost every aspect of this game looks simply stunning.
If you was to say to me know, which do I prefer; Gran Turismo 6 or Forza Motorsport 4? I would find it very difficult to answer. Perhaps Forza 4 may be a little more technically advanced, perhaps a little more polished and well presented? I’m not sure, essentially it comes down to an individual’s personal taste. But what I do know is that Gran Turismo 6 has that something special, something that many other developers have tried so desperately to replicate, but often failed. That kind of first love feeling, which is something that has been successfully replicated into Gran Turismo 6, this is something that only a Gran Turismo game can have. If there are any racing fans that own a PS3, I would simply urge you to buy GT6 to rekindle your love for the sport, for the genre, for the car and most importantly for the love of Gran Turismo.