Gran Turismo

 PlayStation
  • Publisher: SCEA
  • Release Date: May 12, 1998
User Score
8.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 428 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 360 out of 428
  2. Mixed: 40 out of 428
  3. Negative: 28 out of 428
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  1. gold
    Jun 7, 2021
    6
    Норм. Гонка как гонка. Реалистичная физика, да-а-а...
    Итог:6/10
  2. inkblowout
    Jun 25, 2016
    6
    Gran Turismo is the first video game I've ever played (in 2000) and at the time I thought it was the best game ever. But playing this in 2016 made me change that opinion real quick.

    Firstly the simulation mode is really short, and I mean REALLY short. It took me 12 hours to fully beat the game at 100% (excluding the gold licences) and no I wasn't usually overpowered cars, I was usually    Gran Turismo is the first video game I've ever played (in 2000) and at the time I thought it was the best game ever. But playing this in 2016 made me change that opinion real quick.

    Firstly the simulation mode is really short, and I mean REALLY short. It took me 12 hours to fully beat the game at 100% (excluding the gold licences) and no I wasn't usually overpowered cars, I was usually using cars that balances the rest of the AI. Well it could mean that I'm a good driver? Not really, I just think the game was too short to fully utilize everything from gran turismo. (Great example of this is "One make races")

    Secondly not enough content, like my first point. GT1 had a great potential to be a game to last 30+ hours... with the combination of all tracks (forward and reverse) you'd think that there would a lot more races, there was only 3 endurance races, (and 2 of the endurance race were from the same track but forward and reserve) I think they could have used mini endurances in other tracks which could have been a lot more interesting. Same with grand prix.. there weren't too many that stuck out and maybe more GPs could have been added, but that's just me.

    Next problem I have with the game is the audio quality, I know GT hasn't been the greatest with audio quality but the audio sounds too bland, the same tire screech noise played on a 1 second loop while you are drifting sounds dreadful, the engine revs sounds really similar (except for the LM cars) and because of this, car enthusiasts wouldn't be able to enjoy the sound effects of the cars because they probably wouldn't know the difference between a "Corvette grand sport" and a "95' Honda prelude". And if it wasn't for the interesting soundtrack, I would honestly play the game on mute.

    And finally the AI isn't great, I found the AI to be extremely aggressive which I find that they always bump into your car like bumper cars, I even found myself spinning out or going off track because the cars are pushing me to the side of the road, this makes the AI completely unreliable and so I find myself watching the AI for a smooth overtake because I'm afraid they'll pull a pit maneuver on me which will make me lose the race.

    But after all the negative comments, I do have to give these game credit. This is one of the best racing sims I've played on a console, GT1 pushed the PS1 to the limits with this game. The graphics, the amazing rendering for it's time and hell... the game could even play on 60FPS if it wanted to (See Hi-Fi mode GT1). And even so I found the game preform a lot better overall then it's predecessor "Gran Turismo 2".

    The car physics in GT1 has to be kinda wonky and tends to oversteer a lot which doesn't make a lot of sense, because car physics in GT2 and newer GTs tends to do the opposite and understeer a lot more. It makes GT1 cars easier to drift because of oversteer. But other then that it's a good game, I finished the game once but honestly I would probably never play this game again. GT2 is a much better game then GT1 and GT3 and GT4 are considered some of my favourites in the Gran Turismo franchise. But why I'm not going to play the game again? It seems like the game is too outdated whereas GT2 is not, and I'm not talking about the graphics, but the gameplay mechanics, the content and all of these races to keep you occupied, GT1 lacks in content, I've stated the gameplay mechanics are wonky and the lack of races seem to uninteresting. But GT2 seems to fix all of that and honestly I'm glad Polyphony Digital steered out of GT1's direction and made some changes. GT1 will remain a classic but some classics doesn't need to be reopened and played again.    … Expand
  3. sebastianali
    Aug 14, 2021
    5
    Gran Turismo has what i wanted for years in a racing game, a lot of cars...
    And thats it honestly, i think is half overrated. Everyone calls it the most realistic driving sim, but that's just not true. No realistic driving sim would let you ram a concrete barrier at 200 M.P.H. and simply bounce off like it never happened. No realistic driving sim makes it impossible to flip your car over.    Gran Turismo has what i wanted for years in a racing game, a lot of cars...
    And thats it honestly, i think is half overrated. Everyone calls it the most realistic driving sim, but that's just not true. No realistic driving sim would let you ram a concrete barrier at 200 M.P.H. and simply bounce off like it never happened. No realistic driving sim makes it impossible to flip your car over. No realistic driving sim allows you to keep maximum revs for a half an hour in first gear without damaging your engine in the least.
    Gran Turismo excels at two things. Looking extremely good, even better than some PS2 racing games and the great variety of cars than even today racing games dream of it. Everything other than that is anywhere from average to terrible. the races itself repeats too much, you have to do a lot of licenses that some are almost impossible with so many difficult spikes, some upgrades actually makes your vehicle race worse or doesnt make much difference, and the steering of the car is terrible. While this is supposedly to be realistic, the AI doesnt have this realistic behavior (for example they can turn without oversteer or brake), and sometimes to minimize lap times you have to crash into the wall with the right angle instead of braking.
    Personally, the licenses would be much better if they give you much more time so they give you more time to brake and if you touch a wall or something they give you time penalty. The bronze trophies are so hard in the last license that they could easily be the gold ones.
    The races itself were decent, but they have a lot of problems, apart of what i said before: AI rubberbanding, grass makes your car hope, excessive oversteering and if you arent a car expert, you will never know what car is supposedly to be better than another since stats doesnt exist, but a bunch of random realistic specs that for the average player doesnt mean nothing.
    And for last, the tracks itself were very few and in the tournaments were very repetitive, this is even worse in the "Gran Valley" mode, where you have to do a 60 lap race, so annoying and just padding for the sake of being padding.
    If i talk about 1998 racing games i prefer Need For Speed 3 and Choro Q 3. This proves that better graphics, more cars and supposedly "realism" doesnt make a game much more fun and better, at least in my opinion.
    Gran Turismo is like a technical demo. I admit im impressed for what the developers had made in 1998, but is just more like a novelty, and not a game for play to the end, because finishing all the races with gold, is just one of the most tedious, boring and unfair experiences i have ever played.    … Expand
  4. EthanParmet
    Aug 29, 2019
    7
    This game is loads of fun, and it looks fine for something released in 1998. The only problem I have with it is the beginning cutscene. When I first loaded the game up (not sure if it was just me), but I had to sit through 2 minutes of driving replays (brand new memory card, so it wasn't that). The controls are fine, though not as smooth as I would like them to be, but the game is nice,This game is loads of fun, and it looks fine for something released in 1998. The only problem I have with it is the beginning cutscene. When I first loaded the game up (not sure if it was just me), but I had to sit through 2 minutes of driving replays (brand new memory card, so it wasn't that). The controls are fine, though not as smooth as I would like them to be, but the game is nice, and can be picked up for pretty cheap.… Expand
  5. BellamySacir
    Nov 7, 2020
    7
    This was just so much fun as a child, I still remember my favorite car even though I can't remember it's name!
  6. BL4D3M45TR
    Nov 1, 2021
    5
    This game is certainly realistic, and technically impressive for the time. But It come at the cost of being fun. If you want fast paced racing action, look elsewhere, because this game is a Driving Simulator, and not much more.

Awards & Rankings

2
#2 Best PS1 Game of 1998
7
#7 Most Discussed PS1 Game of 1998
1
#1 Most Shared PS1 Game of 1998

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
96

Universal acclaim - based on 16 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 16
  3. Negative: 0 out of 16
  1. GMR Magazine
    90
    The replays had some of us doing double-takes to make sure we weren't watching real race footage. [Feb 2003, p.97]
  2. Electric Playground
    100
    If you can get past its slightly intimidating barrier to entry (getting your license to race in this game is trickier than the real thing), you'll play Gran Turismo for months and months and never see all of its glory. This is a classic.
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  3. PSX Nation
    98
    Picture the most complete racer you could ever imagine, now double it. Gran Turismo is definitely the best racing game ever.
    Read full review
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