GameTech: Back on track with Gran Turismo

What has made Gran Turismo so popular? The answer is probably ‘fantasy’, the sheer joy of collecting hundreds of cars, tweaking them, nailing your racing line for each one so that you feel like you are the best.

Gran Turismo always made us feel like the greatest mechanic, racer and car collector the world has ever known.

Well, for most of us, the fantasy is over. 

Gran Turismo has left the world of the living room (living vroom?) behind and entered the universe of eSports, where competition is the only goal and where coming first is the only true victory. 

In Gran Turismo Sport, the series has swerved in a new direction, one that is exciting, natural and sure to divide opinion.

Gran Turismo Sport is an online-only game. While it does contain ‘single-player’ modes, these are a shadow of the previous entries in the franchise, designed only to help you tweak your skills for the competitive online play. 

Instead, the spirit of Gran Turismo Sport revolves around online races, which are scheduled at regular intervals throughout the day and are completely focused on the racing skills of each driver, rather than the modifications they’ve made to their cars or the model in question.

There’s nowhere to run (or drive) in this competitive mode. Races are determined on skill alone, with car and track selection predetermined and qualifying times persisting throughout the day, which means your best time stays constant until the next day or until the racing conditions are updated. 

For people who simply want to race, this is exactly what you’ve been asking for.

Races are balanced by skill level, so in theory you should racing against people of a similar skill ability. 

For now, however, this feels like a system that needs time to work itself out. 

Crashing into other players can be frustrating, especially if the fault wasn’t necessarily your own, so players will need to uncover and respect the rhythms of online racing for Sport to really shine.

Meanwhile, in November, the real fun begins. Sony have partnered with the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) to run high-level eSports competitions, with the ‘testing’ phase beginning in November and the full season to start in April. Players will be able to compete for real trophies and prizes, including national and international events.

Meanwhile, Gran Turismo Sport hasn’t lost the glint its eye, the sheen in its chrome. This is still a game that reveres the automobile, allowing you to customise your cars and take beautiful shots of them, developing a personal garage into something you can be proud of. The developers Polyphony are still clearly madly in love with classy chassis.

Still, don’t be fooled into thinking this is the Gran Turismo of old. 

You’re not racing in your living room against predictable AI fops anymore. Time to put those fantasies to the test.

IRISH XPO 

PlayersXpo takes place this weekend at the Convention Centre Dublin and we’re hoping it will be a big success. 

Irish gamers get a chance to experience a large-scale convention that will hopefully be worthy of the passion and enthusiasm we show for the medium.

The early sessions on Saturday and Sunday will feature time for younger gamers, with panels for YouTube creators like Jelly, Sanna, and Slogoman. 

The main focus of the weekend is retro gaming, however, with sessions on both days dedicated to consoles and games of the past, with everything from the SNES to the 3DO touted as playable.

The real highlight of PlayersXpo is something a little different, with Irish composer and conductor Eimear Noone returning to Dublin for two very special events.

The first is the launch of The Celtic Link, which highlights the link between Celtic music and video games.

The second is RetroGames Live, with an orchestra performing some of the best gaming tracks from the 1980s and ’90s. The latter is likely to be worth the price of admission alone for long-time fans of gaming, with Sonic, Zelda and Final Fantasy all on the setlist.