Brendan Rorrison

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! No, not Christmas. Black Friday has grown immensely in recent years: originally a North American tradition, its influence has spread across the globe and now most countries have their own equivalent sale period each November. The games industry is no stranger to getting involved and Microsoft have just announced the discounts to expect from their digital Xbox Store.

Driveclub’s final content update was a brilliant send-off for the title. Launched at the end of last month, 15 new Urban circuits taken from Driveclub VR (complete with reverse variants) joined the game’s track list for free to conclude an incredible post-game support cycle. The tracks themselves are very impressive although short, giving some much-needed love to city-based environments.

An old classic is making a return to an arcade (hopefully!) near you. SEGA Amusements today heralded the return of the Daytona USA franchise with its latest entry: Daytona 3 Championship USA! The iconic arcade racer has seen a long drought, with the last original title releasing 15 years ago. The wait is over, ladies and gentlemen … start your engines!

With Gran Turismo Sport being shown off in gaming shows all around the world, off-screen gameplay videos are coming thick and fast. Last week we had a look at the SRT Hellcat on Brands Hatch in an off-screen direct audio capture, and MotoGamesTV have shared more sound-centric gameplay for us to get our teeth into. This time, it’s the Bugatti Vision GT on Northern Isle Raceway — Polyphony’s fantasy oval exclusive to GT Sport.

The launch of the Xbox One S has been a resounding success for Microsoft. In the UK, the console has outsold the PS4 for the past 4 months despite Sony’s stronghold on the home console market. Had your eye on the HDR-ready Xbox revision? A promotion between Forza Horizon 3 and Amazon’s The Grand Tour may be able to help if you live in the US of A.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0USrtc7-sjc

Assetto Corsa has had a tough start on consoles. Whilst bringing a fantastic experience in relation to it’s wheel force feedback and physics, the lack of options and features have bugged some of the fans who want to do more than just hot lap. That looks set to change however, as a recent post over on the official Assetto Corsa community forum has highlighted that private lobbies for online play are being worked on as we speak.

Way back in June after the Copperbox reveal event, we first broke the news that GT Sport’s sound design would be composed with an entirely new system. Then just recently we reported Eurogamer’s impressions on the game that included some high praise about improvements in the in-game audio. This area has never been the strongest suit in the GT franchise but that looks to be changing as we take a look at the above direct audio capture video uploaded by MotoGamesTV.

November should prove a treat for PlayStation Plus subscribers who enjoy the racing genre, with Codemasters’ 2011 classic DiRT 3 being one of the PlayStation 3’s free games for players to enjoy. The rally racer joins Costume Quest 2 on Sony’s last generation console, and for those looking to scratch a muddy itch on the PS3, this could prove just the trick.

As the launch of the PlayStation 4 Pro beckons, Sony and many developers have taken to London for a launch event showing off the console and the type of improvements existing and upcoming games will host on the super-powered PS4. Kazunori Yamauchi was in attendance to show off what GT Sport will be capable of (check out the first footage of the game running on the system as well as using PSVR) and discuss the nuances of developing the newest title.

Winter is coming. Not just in the turn of the season but also to an Xbox One or PC near you as the Horizon festival drops the Aussie heat for a bit of ice cool snow. Playground Games have dropped the above teaser onto the tail-end of their latest car pack reveal to really get the imagination going as to what the first expansion for the game could potentially add.

When we sat down with it, we found the VR version of Driveclub mostly the same as the original in terms of the gameplay and the majority of content. One of the more exciting aspects of the game was the 15 new urban tracks that racers were able to try out on the PSVR just two weeks ago at launch.

With many details still being kept in the dark regarding Gran Turismo Sport, the full car and track roster expected in-game remains a mystery. Since the original info blowout at the Copper Box event in May, there have been occasional car reveals (Hyundai Genesis Gr. 3, Kazunori’s own BMW M6 GT3) and a single new track shown off (Fishermans Ranch). In terms of official announcements, Polyphony has remained silent on that front since the game’s delay to sometime in 2017.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXqYs0xOV6Q

The selection of budget steering wheels this generation hasn’t been anything to write home about. Thrustmaster basically has a monopoly on the sub £/$100 market with its T80 steering wheel. However, popular Japanese accessory manufacturer HORI is looking to open more options to consumers with its new HORI Racing Wheel Apex (RWA) launching November 21.

United Front Games, known most by racing fans for their work on the ModNation Racers series, has closed it’s doors for the last time, according to various reports that have spread across the internet. The Vancouver-based studio recently released ‘Smash+Grab’, a loot-and-craft based game, to Steam Greenlight. Only a few weeks later it seems that the ill-fated team has had to give up all development.

Being such a long running stalwart of the racing genre, Gran Turismo has had its fair share of tribute and homage videos over the years. The series has always been known for its creative fanbase, and YouTube has hosted some of the most impressive GT projects you’ll see. However, the above video created by French director Alexandre Synger is by far one of the coolest so far.

One of the most unique aspects of Gran Turismo Sport are the fantasy race-cars that will make up the ‘Group 3’ racing class in the game. These cars have been prominent in marketing materials for the game so far and also in the playable builds featured at game shows around the world. Courtesy of GTPlanet user Rage Racer once again, we have some gameplay footage from IgroMir 2016 — Russia’s first and biggest gaming convention — showing off the Hyundai Genesis Gr.3 race car in a high-speed battle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5cP2ZLMb7E&feature=youtu.be

As we wander through the Gran Turismo Sport wilderness that is the lack of official gameplay, we can take solace that the game is still being showcased around the world during this quiet period — this time in Russia.