Technology plays a central role in the evolution and materialization of certain concepts, to the point of providing each technological advance with a series of improvements that build on the foundations of the past and open new frontiers in search of more efficient results. It’s been like this since the early days of the video game industry. The first car sets, whether sports single-seaters or road vehicles for everyday use, have an elementary and less equipped composition, a result of the technology of the time.
For both consoles and arcade systems, games have gone through the evolution from 2D to 3D. Yu Suzuki is one of the pioneering creators of 3D motor racing, with Virtua Racing at the forefront. Sega’s production departments for the arcades have expanded the boundaries, bringing Daytona races and sections inspired by the world of rallying in Sega Rally, with the emblematic Toyota Celica and Lancia Delta.
It is at a time of accelerated development of 3D racing games, especially in arcades, that Sony PlayStation brings the first and important productions in 3D to players’ homes. It premieres a very competent domestic version of Ridge Racer and encourages racing outside the law in Need For Speed, a title spiced up to the taste of the western audience, in which renowned builders like Ferrari are present in luxury cars.
Buy Gran Turismo 7 at Worten
The Gran Turismo movie opens on August 10th. You can experience all the thrills of a simulator with Gran Turismo 7 on PS5.
Gran Turismo, a new pillar among the arcade colossi
With 3D arcade racing games prevailing, with their fabulous graphics, highly colored, at a vertiginous frame rate, there is nevertheless a persistent struggle against the clock. You put in a coin to try one more track or a circuit different from a handful of them, lined up by degree of difficulty. It was a time marked by the dominance and prevalence of arcade racing games, especially with a steering wheel and pedals available in front of a generous screen.
The PlayStation console received the first two games in the Gran Turismo series.
In 1997, Sony wants to change the prism of virtual racing and launches Gran Turismo, a Polyphony Digital production. The game differs from racing games based on “time trials”. There are licenses whose acquisition is essential for the practice of racing, while these take place on a closed circuit in a competition against various opponents controlled by artificial intelligence. There is a wide variety of cars, from SUVs to sports and competition vehicles. There is a particular focus on Japanese brands. The circuits, mostly original, provide a very consistent driving challenge. Also on PlayStation, Gran Turismo 2 is launched, an evolution and consolidation of the original.
The creation of the Gran Turismo Academy
For the PlayStation 2, Gran Turismo 3 begins to impress by the “trailers”. After reaching the stores, it cements a position that is difficult to match for many of the competitors who try a similar experience. Sega GT, for example, did not go beyond that ambition. Over the years and working on more evolved consoles, Polyphony Digital is above all a producer endowed with the means and resources necessary for the development of the series, to the point of making it emblematic and practically synonymous with the PlayStation console. Gran Turismo is better and better in Gran Turismo 4, which follows an exciting Prologue version. The new PS3 hardware allows for even more fabulous and realistic graphics, accompanied by a near-simulation driving feel. Gran Turismo 5 and 6 reproduce original environments and others closer to real sports competition.
Miguel Faísca won the GT Academy competition in 2013
In 2008, the innovative GT Academy program starts, with which virtual players can aim for a real driver position, in an endurance competition, passing through the mythical 24 hours of Le Mans. The program remains active until 2016, the year of publication of Gran Turismo Sport and the entry of the series in e-Sports. In almost ten years, the program has given the possibility of driving real cars, in an environment of competition with professionals, to young people who started playing Gran Turismo. The maximum expression of this evolution will be shown in movie theaters with the Gran Turismo movie: from player to runner, with an argument inspired by the feat of the British Jann Mardenbourough, who won the 2011 edition of GT Academy. But it could also be the argument of Miguel Faísca, who two years later took the flag of Portugal to the highest place in the competition. The dream of real competition for many players has become possible thanks to this program. The film will give an insider and very faithful perspective of what it’s like to start driving real cars in a competition environment.
Gran Turismo as the simulator, the school of learning
Success in any activity, whether as a pilot or a tailor, lies in acquiring experience, in obtaining the bases that allow you to build more development structures. Without a good foundation, you cannot build a good house. At an event in Paris, at the house of Japanese culture, Kazunori Yamauchi, the creator of the Gran Turismo series, said that when Gran Turismo was born, the team assigned the code name “Sim Racing” to its production. “It was around 1992, and it was just a small project on paper. I worked on this project for two years, and it was in 1994 that I came up with the name Gran Turismo.”
Gran Turismo promotes the foundations of sporty driving.
At the age of 55, this Japanese producer born in Chiba, Japan, in addition to being the director of the Gran Turismo series, is also a professional driver, having passed between 2010 and 2016 the 24 hours of Nurburgring, the famous endurance test. In the test he drove three cars, with emphasis on the Nissan GT-R and the BMW M6 GT3. Heading a Polyphony Digital so committed to absorbing automotive culture and providing driving capable of simulating several cars, it is normal that much of the knowledge gained on the track translates into a gain in the simulator. Gran Turismo was born from this ability to find the best tuning of the car for the track, paint the vehicle, equip it with better equipment through performance kits, among other aspects that few games developed.
The premiere of the film this August.
Furthermore, Gran Turismo started out by promoting good driving sensations. Not just a challenging game in fights against computer controlled rivals. Good feeling of speed and good visual treatment are some of the highlights. The evolution of the series brought more improvements, both in the simulation and driving of the vehicles, as well as in the reinforcement of realistic visuals and conducive environments, with different weather conditions and night races. Kazunori Yamauchi is a central figure in the creation of one of the virtual references of automotive culture, consolidated as an experience capable of generating growth steps among players. Describing trajectories, hitting the apex of the curve, keeping good times for long periods, knowing how to tune a car, are some things that can be learned on virtual tracks and used in reality. Driving on the track is tougher, with minimal margin for error. Drivers taken to the GT Academy finals were put to the test in the most demanding conditions and pitted against professional drivers. Everything for a good cinematographic argument.
Gran Turismo 7, released last year simultaneously on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 consoles, is the pinnacle of years of effort into the series by Polyphony Digital. 25 years after the original title, the seventh edition is a true tribute to automotive culture, sharing a common passion between gamers and creators. It is also a reflection of the creator’s vision, by reinforcing the simulation component through effective acceleration and braking procedures, both at the controls and behind the wheel. And even with the sophisticated driving, full of customizable parameters and a series of options that run through motorsport highlights, like a true virtual compendium, it remains accessible and challenging.
In theaters August 10th
The cinema arrival of the Gran Turismo movie: from player to runner is a natural step in measuring between film and games, leading to the seventh art a name that has also gained credit for cinematographic representation and capture. Gran Turismo cars are recreated down to the smallest detail, in colors and interiors down to the smallest detail. But Gran Turismo is also made up of these dream stories, of players who accepted the challenge and jumped from the sofa to the driving seat, letting go of the command when they started to step on the accelerator pedal in a Nissan GT-R GT3. Taking the story of Jann Mardenbourough, winner of the 2011 European GT Academy, the film addresses this evolution, from console racing to serious competitions, in which the slightest error is fatal. This makes it one of the cinematographic moments of the year, justifying a trip to the movie theaters.
