A Review of Gran Turismo 6 and the state of the franchise

                                            Review of Gran Turismo 6: A lesson in humility

I want to preface this review by stating that I have been a Gran Turismo player since day 1.  I received GT1 as a Christmas present close to launch, and have since picked up every title pretty much on launch as well.  I would read through the manuals, buy as many cars as I could and tune them to highest potential.  The racing was always secondary, it was always about the cars, and that was fine.  Playing countless hours of the same races over and over again, just to grind out enough money to buy and tune the next car.  Through repetition, you learned how to race, you learned the subtleties and nuances of your favourite vehicles, and when you saw these vehicles in the GT titles that followed, you immediately bought those cars.  You learned that there was more to cars than their aesthetics, cars had a feel to them, and it was through that feel that you learned why they called GT a “Driving Simulator”.

This was great, GT1, GT2, GT3, they all had the same atmosphere and while there were other racing titles out there, none had the prestige and clout that Gran Turismo had.  Though out from the shadows emerged Forza.  I’m sure most people like me saw it and scoffed just like we did when Project Gotham came out.  Microsoft trying to release something comparable to GT?  Good luck with that.  But they kept at it, adding more and more content, most notably to me, the paint feature.  Here, not only could you buy and tune a car, but you could personalize it with whatever sort of paint job you wanted.  I owned an xbox, so I bit the bullet and grabbed Forza Motorsport at the start of summer.  GT4 never stood a chance.  The game was gorgeous, and while there was less courses, cars, and the racing in and of itself was less polished, the attention to detail and the level of personalization was astounding.

This was the end of the ps2 era, GT4 was, in my opinion, a disappointment, even with all the new content.  It was lacking, it was not the definitive King of the Ring of racing games any more, there was an upstart on a rival console doing things a little differently, and after four titles, a little change in the formula was probably what GT needed.  Don’t get me wrong, aside from the graphical issues that GT4 had, it was still the superior game, the AI was unmatched, as was the content, but the lead it had over the competition had shrank substantially.

Enter the PS3, which I ended up buying in late 2007 hoping that a new GT title would shortly follow, meanwhile, Forza 2 launched in mid 2007, a stellar follow up to the first title in the series, and with no GT title to rival it on ps3, it was now the prettiest girl in the room.  2008 gave us GT5: Prologue, an uninspired view as to what the crew had been doing for the last three years, and compared to what the other guys were doing, was, in my opinion, a joke.  2009 had come and still really nothing on the horizon about a new GT title, meanwhile, Forza announced a third title to be released in the Fall.  So since 2005, Forza had released three full games across two generations of consoles, while GT had released one game and a tech demo. 

As a GT fanboy, I started to worry, what was Polyphony doing?  Was the franchise on its way out without so much as a goodbye?  But alas, news came of GT5 having a late 2010 release date.  Finally, after five long years, a full GT title touting over 1,000 cars and over 70 tracks.  I was ecstatic, we were finally getting out current gen Gran Turismo and it was going to be bigger and better than ever before, but as we got closer to release, we started to find out about “Standard and Premium” cars, which wasn't a huge deal, but kind of a disappointment.  Regardless, upon launch, there was no doubt the GT5 was king of the ring, there was still no paint customization like Forza, but the content was unmatched.  On-line was coming together, there was post release updates and support, and Polyphony really put their heart and soul into the game, that much was clear.  Meanwhile, the other guys were working on their newest title, Forza 4, and while they only had a measly 500 cars and 26 tracks, the game was shaping up to be something pretty special, and boy was it.  A simply stunning game graphically and they had gone to great lengths to improve not only the handling of the cars, but that of the AI too.  The game had it all, the sight, the sound, the feel, and the customization.  While GT was still top dog, I couldn't help but stare at what the other guys were doing with a bit of jealousy. 

It did seem that the two horses in this race had become equals in a sense, no longer could one tout the features of one over the other to win an argument, they were both great games in their own regard.  Which brings us to today.

Gran Turismo 6, was announced and was met with what I can only call confusion.  It was to be released on ps3 only with no plans of a ps4 version.  My only logical reasoning was that they had finally cleaned up all the standard car models, added a few tracks, and I had hopes of GT finally allowing me to paint up my cars.  Upon news of its imminent launch, I pre-ordered and eagerly awaited.  What happened in the following months was announcement after announcement that made this game seem like it was just GT5 all over again.  Nothing innovative, nothing really new or impressive, just what seemed to me like Polyphony finding a way to sell all the leftover resources for one last hurrah on the ps3 before devoting their efforts to GT7.

I wasn't far off with that assumption.  Upon release, I got home, installed the game, and got ready for invest hours that night into the title, needless to say, it only took about a minute to realize that this game was simply not going to live up to its potential.  Don’t get me wrong, I'm not saying that it’s a bad game, none of the GT titles are “bad” games, it just seems that GT4-6 hadn't lived up to their potential and were suffering from a substantial problem with “ego”.

It all started when GT6 told me to buy a car, even though I started with 30,000 Cr. They felt the need to spend most of it on a Honda Fit, a car that I would eventually need sure, but not the car that I wanted to use as my starter.  For 30k, I could have bought a great MX-5 (my typical starting car) and got just as much use out of it as the Fit, but all in all, a much better car for racing purposes.  The next problem I had was with the general layout of the main screen, there is no organization to it.  Some races over here, some races over there, garage at the far end of the screen, etc.  It just felt like no thought went into it at all.  When I think of what a current GT menu screen would be, this is what I envision:

The game starts up with its usual fanfare, and upon reaching your main screen, you are                 looking upon a room, a fair size, clean, while some nice jazz is playing over the hi-fi.  Pressing direction buttons one way or another will have your perspective face a different aspect of the game.  At the top of the screen, it shows all of the necessary icons, garage, tune, race, on-line, photo, licenses, etc.  Pressing left or right allows you to switch between these selections, each time, changing your perspective inside the room, with some sort of symbolism reflecting the option you currently have selected.  When on the garage option, you see the car you are currently driving in all its splendour, but when you select the garage icon, the screen shows you opening a door, the screen goes black.  A few moments later, you enter a new room, this time large, well lit, and at the start of the game, empty.  This is your garage, this is where you select your racing machine, this is where you walk amongst your collection of cars, whether to admire or to select your vehicle, this is where it happens.  Let it be known that I’d still want a convenient list option available for quick selecting vehicles, but I feel that the environment and atmosphere should be available to us.  As you progress through the game, you can customize your “home base”, putting pictures you take in picture mode onto the walls, changing colour schemes, etc.  Make the game feel as classy as the music that flows through your speakers.

Beyond the uninspired menu, the game in and of itself is rather bland.  The AI and the way the races are set up makes it feel like I'm just going through the motions.  Nothing is particularly difficult, and everything seems so vacant.  The AI has no personality it seems, if I bump an AI player, they don’t get angry, they don’t try to get revenge, they just do everything in their power to maintain their line.  I don’t know if they had programmed some sort of emotion in past GT titles, but it felt like the AI drivers had a human element to them.  Now I know the bread and butter is the on-line aspect of the game, but you have to go through the single player (unless you want to spend real $) in order to get the cars and capital for on-line racing, but let’s keep in mind that the first 4 GTs had no on-line, and they always felt like full games, on-line would have been nice, but it wasn't detrimental to the success of the franchise, there was still plenty of fun to be had playing against the computer.  I don’t know if we as a group have changed, or if the culture of gaming as a whole has changed, but to put one aspect of the game over another isn't the direction that I feel gaming should go.  The whole experience should be enjoyable and well made, not “tacked on” like I feel that they did with the single player aspect of the game.

As it stands now, it is unfair to judge GT6, as when you look at the evolution GT5 took between launch and today, it’s like comparing apples and oranges.  However, based on what the game is now, and what the competition is doing, I think it is fair to say that Polyphony can’t expect us to purchase their games based on hype any more.  They need to really put together something special again, something that makes us look at it and definitively say that they are the King of the Ring once again, that all other racing titles are farts against thunder when looking upon the spectacle that is Gran Turismo.

There was a time when Gran Turismo could afford to have an ego.  They were men amongst boys, but the boys have grown up, and GT seems stuck in its ways.  It’s time for change, it’s time for Polyphony to realize that you have to evolve and separate themselves from the pack, and I don’t doubt that they can, but they need to look outside of the insular world they've created.  The competition has gone to great lengths to take the throne, and it would behove Polyphony to take even bigger steps to retain it.  Second place will always work harder and industry leaders tend to rest on their laurels, Polyphony needs to recognize that trend and put forth the effort required to not be left behind.  Gran Turismo was once a system seller, nowadays, it’s just another title with a number on it, a franchise that I love, but fear does not love me back.