Gran Turismo Sport PlayStation 4 Review

[MK500]

This review is well written and very fair. I appreciate the detail and balance.

However the stars don't really match the review.

Based on what you actually wrote; I think the "Content and Value For Money" should be closer to 1.5 or 2 stars. Maybe you are are weighing the "Value For Money" part higher than you should.

Again, based on what you wrote, I can't see "Online Features" getting 3.5 out of 5 stars. Really think about it based on what is CURRENTLY AVAILABLE in the online component. I think you are basing too much of your score on this on anticipated future features. Also, this seems to be the category where it should get dinged for the major on-line always issue and regular 2-hour maintenance windows. That should cost it at least .5 to 1 star. At best it should be a 2 to 2.5.

I won't comment on the Physics as you are far more qualified to judge than I am.

I agree with the "Graphics" and "Sound Design" scores; but maybe this should be just a single score? As it stands that part of the score really makes or breaks a game. So you could potentially have a really terrible game with amazing graphics and sound that scores quite high overall. Not saying that's what we have here; but it's just a potential problem with the scoring system.

So I hope potential buyers of this game really read the whole review instead of basing their decision on the overall score. Based on the actual review I would give the game no more than 2.5 to 3 stars overall; which is a score I would agree with base on my experience playing the game.

 

[Haitauer]

Good review.

Id say PDI has created a good steady foundation for future. Lets hope they add more content soon.

 

[PzR Slim]

Excellent review and very honest. I agree wholeheartedly with everything apart from the braking comments. I've just got no feel for the braking in many of the cars.

 

[jake2013guy]

I normally have something to disagree with but to be honest, I don't have anything to disagree with. Yes, I will continue to argue that Content and Value for Money are 2 different things completely but that's for another day.

 

[calvins48]

I finished the entire campaign in three days. Out of the mainline games, only GT1 can be finished faster. I know, with online, this game is never truly "done", but some people are just never going to really dig competitive online racing. As is, the game doesn't offer them much of anything else. Sport Mode is great, but there's nothing about its inclusion that means removing the option to play a different way. I'm not saying the career modes of the PS3 games were stellar, but the existing Campaign Mode is not an improvement.

See this is why Kaz confused me when he said GT Sport is essentially GT7. I know it's a new era for the franchise but as soon as I heard the number being dropped from this game, I knew it'd be different with less content.

It really feels like a spin off to me, in the same conversation as the GT Concepts, GT4: Prologue, GT5: Prologue or GT PSP. That's totally okay but I wonder if the next GT in 4-5 years will be GT Sport 2 or GT7.

 

[JockeP22]

Any hidden stuff found in GT Sport yet? Like the monkey and Little Nessie in previous games. I've been looking around at Nordschleife and Tokyo a bit, to see if I can spot anything. Nothing out of the ordinary so far...

 

[Joey D]

This review is well written and very fair. I appreciate the detail and balance.

However the stars don't really match the review.

Our review system is slightly different than some other websites, you can check out how the scores work here: https://www.gtplanet.net/gtplanet-review-system/

 

[aurcom]

Thanks for the unbiased review.

After all the delays that have led to this 'can't-miss-October' release (because of the competition from pCARS2 + Forza), I'm still surprised to read they launched the game with screwed up DualShock handling...

 

[baldgye]

I think the one thing that I'm not really sure I agree with, and I've seen this written a lot, is the polish of the game.
The game, is kind of a mess... which is something you talk about in the review, with the horrible rally stages.
But I would also add that on top of those, the AI is basically non-functioning, further more, I don't think the AI actually knows any of the track layouts. They are slow and more often than not all over the place with breaking and just the lines they take, often taking the inside line, to defend, no one?
And what is the point of the AI?
The game goes, somewhat at lenth to make sure you know the rules of the road, how to drive a car and to prepair you for online, proper racing... but the AI is the anthesis of that, they don't battle, they don't defend and they don't seem aware of you at all. Making you dodge them also dosn't help you much because they are so slow and they are so bad all they will do is help encorage bad driving (pushing other cars off track and dive bombing).

I this is kind of my issue, the game goes further than anyother mainstream game to try and force you to want to race online and race fairly... yet it's filled with all kinds of nonsense that detracts from that.

Adding onto this, is photoscapes... why is it even included? Do racing drivers also have part time photographer careers? Not only is it included, it bears basically no relation to the rest of the game and when you've taken a picture you can't even export it via the share features of the system, without quickly doing it before the buttom promts come up... there isn't a way to hide them (that I could see).


I enjoy playing GT Sport and I think it's the right direction for them to go in, but the more time I spend with it, the more confused and skatter shot it seems. I wish the game had more direction and more polish.

 

[MisterWaffles]

I think PD should have waited until 2018 to expand the offline portion. But if they did that the fans would be at their throats after another delay.

 

[machine1121]

I still don't own a PS4 (Getting a Pro in November), so I can't speak from experience. I did pre-order the game because I've been with GT since the beginning, and I'm an unapologetic loyalist to the series.

This review seems very fair, and it seems to capture my expectations based on videos I've watched and other reviews I've read.

The lack of tracks is the biggest disappoint for me, and it's hard to imagine a GT game without the Holy Trinity of Grand Valley, Deep Forest and Trial Mountain. I can only hope that DLC brings back some of our favorite real-world and fantasy tracks.

While the career mode looks extremely disappointing, I'll get over it. I've spent the vast majority of my time on GT5 and GT6 just hot lapping in whatever car/track combo suited my mood at the time. I should still be able to do this, but I will have far fewer options than GT6 provided.

Sport Mode looks like it will be a lot of fun. Competitive, clean races are a blast, but the ovals and dirt tracks won't interest me too much.

 

[lancia delta hf]

I think the one thing that I'm not really sure I agree with, and I've seen this written a lot, is the polish of the game.
The game, is kind of a mess... which is something you talk about in the review, with the horrible rally stages.
But I would also add that on top of those, the AI is basically non-functioning, further more, I don't think the AI actually knows any of the track layouts. They are slow and more often than not all over the place with breaking and just the lines they take, often taking the inside line, to defend, no one?
And what is the point of the AI?
The game goes, somewhat at lenth to make sure you know the rules of the road, how to drive a car and to prepair you for online, proper racing... but the AI is the anthesis of that, they don't battle, they don't defend and they don't seem aware of you at all. Making you dodge them also dosn't help you much because they are so slow and they are so bad all they will do is help encorage bad driving (pushing other cars off track and dive bombing).

I this is kind of my issue, the game goes further than anyother mainstream game to try and force you to want to race online and race fairly... yet it's filled with all kinds of nonsense that detracts from that.

Adding onto this, is photoscapes... why is it even included? Do racing drivers also have part time photographer careers? Not only is it included, it bears basically no relation to the rest of the game and when you've taken a picture you can't even export it via the share features of the system, without quickly doing it before the buttom promts come up... there isn't a way to hide them (that I could see).


I enjoy playing GT Sport and I think it's the right direction for them to go in, but the more time I spend with it, the more confused and skatter shot it seems. I wish the game had more direction and more polish.

You can export photos in high res by going to your library and pressing triangle over a photo then > export to USB. PhoTomode is a thing in games now. That's why It's there.

 

[Crimson1984]

It really feels like a spin off to me, in the same conversation as the GT Concepts, GT4: Prologue, GT5: Prologue or GT PSP. That's totally okay but I wonder if the next GT in 4-5 years will be GT Sport 2 or GT7.

Agreed, and it's totally OK for me as well. In following the news on this game over the years, there were many times that it was said that this wasn't going to be GT7, and it was going to have the online/competitive focus, which intrigued me quite a bit. So far, I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Even if it's just spending time in Scapes or with the livery editor.

I think (and hope) that GT Sport will live as a separate entity, and the more traditional GT formula will be released as well either as a new release altogether or through updates...even though Kaz recently said that GT7 was not currently in the works, and that the focus would be on GT7.

Time will tell, i suppose...

 

[baldgye]

You can export photos in high res by going to your library and pressing triangle over a photo then > export to USB. PhoTomode is a thing in games now. That's why It's there.

So if I want to upload it to twitter, I have to plug in a usb stick, export to usb, fire up my PC, copy the files over and then I can upload it?

Seems like a bit of a mess if you ask me, it's fine to support your own new system, but it seems silly to hinder people uploading pictures of this fancy photomode to actual social media sites

 

[jaj_fox]

Agreeed with your review.... Just don't make sense "the better looking race out there" not receive a five star?... Maybe is not good afterall?

 

[RikkiGT-R]

This part:

You’d start with a lowly car, enter the Sunday Cup, earn credits, upgrade the car, and rinse and repeat. Eventually, you’d have a sprawling collection of virtual rides. It was automotive escapism.

That’s all changed now.

And so it's not Gran Turismo any more

 

[kjb]

I thought it was a fair review. I am disappointed about the always online thing. The lack of campaign mode is a problem because I really don't a lot of online racing. I guess I could do arcade mode but if I'm offline I can't save. That was a terrible decision

 

[Haitauer]

Content and Value for Money are 2 different things completely

True. In online games the players and online mechanics create a lot of content. A good foundation in many cases is worth a lot of money.

It really feels like a spin off to me

I think PD should have waited until 2018 to expand the offline portion.

I have a dream - sport is the motorsport and we'll see GT7 later. As a ps4 substitute for Forza motorsport and horizon.. 👍

"Gran Turismo - Enthusiasm"​

 

[ants818]

2 facts:

1. Most people don't like it
2. This will be the lowest grossing installment of the franchise

The rest is up for debate. Unfortunately, if they don't make profit, they probably don't make any more games.

 

[SlipZtrEm]

I think the one thing that I'm not really sure I agree with, and I've seen this written a lot, is the polish of the game.
The game, is kind of a mess... which is something you talk about in the review, with the horrible rally stages.

When I talk about polish, I'm talking about the menus, the music, the atmosphere, and how the game moves you from one place to the next. The rallying being such a disappointment is down to the physics/feedback, for me.

Everything moves smoothly. The input lag on the cursor during the PS3 era drove me nuts. That isn't the case anymore.

Cars don't pop in and out of a screen when you're in, say, the dealership. The game makes the effort to make everything cinematic, even if only slightly so.

The only example I have of that not happening is when you win a prize car. The game goes back to the menus for a split second, before heading to the prize scene. It happened in GT6 too, but it was most noticeable when I golded my last mission, because there were a few prizes to be handed out.

But I would also add that on top of those, the AI is basically non-functioning, further more, I don't think the AI actually knows any of the track layouts. They are slow and more often than not all over the place with breaking and just the lines they take, often taking the inside line, to defend, no one?
And what is the point of the AI?
The game goes, somewhat at lenth to make sure you know the rules of the road, how to drive a car and to prepair you for online, proper racing... but the AI is the anthesis of that, they don't battle, they don't defend and they don't seem aware of you at all. Making you dodge them also dosn't help you much because they are so slow and they are so bad all they will do is help encorage bad driving (pushing other cars off track and dive bombing).

I this is kind of my issue, the game goes further than anyother mainstream game to try and force you to want to race online and race fairly... yet it's filled with all kinds of nonsense that detracts from that.

Weird, I didn't have any qualms with the AI. They weren't very fast — in fact, even on the highest difficulty in Arcade, they'll put on signals and let you pass on the 'Ring. But I did notice some actually moving off the racing line going into a turn to defend on the inside.

Admittedly, this was with v1.01 during the review period. The only Campaign Mode events I've done with v1.02 were Mission Stages 3 through 8, and that's only because the server disconnect lost my data.

Adding onto this, is photoscapes... why is it even included? Do racing drivers also have part time photographer careers? Not only is it included, it bears basically no relation to the rest of the game and when you've taken a picture you can't even export it via the share features of the system, without quickly doing it before the buttom promts come up... there isn't a way to hide them (that I could see).

Photo Mode is essentially free advertising. You have thousands of users sharing your game (in its best light, usually). Though, with how completely in-depth the features are there, I'm guessing it wasn't just thrown together...

As for Scapes, I'd wager they actually probably took less time than the Photo Travel locations used to. Those needed to be painstakingly modeled, while these are photographs.

 

[Haitauer]

2 facts:

1. Most people don't like it
2. This will be the lowest grossing installment of the franchise

The rest is up for debate. Unfortunately, if they don't make profit, they probably don't make any more games.

Funny "facts" there

1. Not true. Most have complains, but most also have more pros vs cons

2. A Fact? From the future?

 

[CHEN255]

I’m really enjoying battling the ai in GTS, they are fabulous and the sort of racing challenge we can get out of them is very tweakable in custom race mode. In fact custom race mode is the perfect tool kit to design the sort of race that I want and provides infinite replayability.

As per a previous poster, I too have never ventured online very much at all in other racing games, probably .01% of my racing time. The very few times I did ended up with me shaking my head in frustration as to how anyone could derive any enjoyment out of it. Well, GTS has lured me in and two races in I know that I shall be doing a heap of online racing and I never thought I would say that, it’s fantastic. I watch a huge amount of iRacing and love watching the races via Racespot TV. I always thought that if I could participate in that kind of racing on console then I might be keen, and now after all these years the opportunity has come with GTS.

To me GTS is a 9 out of 10. This is only my opinion. I simply couldn’t score it any lower because it is the source of so much enjoyment for me, though I agree with the review score from an objective point of view, though perhaps even then I could have stretched it to an eight. A 7 nowadays is still a good score in my books.

 

[Parker]

2 facts:

1. Most people don't like it
2. This will be the lowest grossing installment of the franchise

The rest is up for debate. Unfortunately, if they don't make profit, they probably don't make any more games.

I think you mean 2 opinions, neither one of those things is a fact.

 

[jake2013guy]

2 facts:

1. Most people don't like it
2. This will be the lowest grossing installment of the franchise

The rest is up for debate. Unfortunately, if they don't make profit, they probably don't make any more games.

Facts have to have proof. Give us your proof.

 

[baldgye]

When I talk about polish, I'm talking about the menus, the music, the atmosphere, and how the game moves you from one place to the next. The rallying being such a disappointment is down to the physics/feedback, for me.

Everything moves smoothly. The input lag on the cursor during the PS3 era drove me nuts. That isn't the case anymore.

Cars don't pop in and out of a screen when you're in, say, the dealership. The game makes the effort to make everything cinematic, even if only slightly so.

The only example I have of that not happening is when you win a prize car. The game goes back to the menus for a split second, before heading to the prize scene. It happened in GT6 too, but it was most noticeable when I golded my last mission, because there were a few prizes to be handed out.



Weird, I didn't have any qualms with the AI. They weren't very fast — in fact, even on the highest difficulty in Arcade, they'll put on signals and let you pass on the 'Ring. But I did notice some actually moving off the racing line going into a turn to defend on the inside.

Admittedly, this was with v1.01 during the review period. The only Campaign Mode events I've done with v1.02 were Mission Stages 3 through 8, and that's only because the server disconnect lost my data.



Photo Mode is essentially free advertising. You have thousands of users sharing your game (in its best light, usually). Though, with how completely in-depth the features are there, I'm guessing it wasn't just thrown together...

As for Scapes, I'd wager they actually probably took less time than the Photo Travel locations used to. Those needed to be painstakingly modeled, while these are photographs.

Yeah I know what you mean, but I guess for me, polish is how the whole product is put together, and GTS feels like a mess, like in every single player thing there is a tutorial thing, that’s a YouTube video... like what? And then that video takes longer to load into than the actual race or challenge your doing...

Maybe I’m nitpitting, but I feel like GTS got an easy pass on something

 

[bremics]

Agreed, and it's totally OK for me as well. In following the news on this game over the years, there were many times that it was said that this wasn't going to be GT7, and it was going to have the online/competitive focus, which intrigued me quite a bit. So far, I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Even if it's just spending time in Scapes or with the livery editor.

I think (and hope) that GT Sport will live as a separate entity, and the more traditional GT formula will be released as well either as a new release altogether or through updates...even though Kaz recently said that GT7 was not currently in the works, and that the focus would be on GT7.

Time will tell, i suppose...

True. In online games the players and online mechanics create a lot of content. A good foundation in many cases is worth a lot of money.

I have a dream - sport is the motorsport and we'll see GT7 later. As a ps4 substitute for Forza motorsport and horizon.. 👍

"Gran Turismo - Enthusiasm"​

Unless GTS is an absolute failure in terms of sales and/or user retention interviews suggest this will likely be the last GT game on PS4 and possibly the PS5, with a move to "GT as a service".

My guess is the plan is to continue adding cars and tracks as paid DLC to continue earning money.

But we'll see, GT has always ran in whatever way Kaz felt like at any given time and I doubt that will change any time soon.

 

[Marky264]

Great Review @SlipZtrEm Good read!

 

[ants818]

Look, before you all get pissy, i'm as big of a GT fan as anybody - have been since the first. However, read the reviews from accross the internet. Based on that, the majority of people don't like it - fact 1. In addition, sales have dropped almost every year since GT 3 A-Spec,...and yes, partly due to the market share with other racing games. So, when they decided to go in a different direction and strip the game of what appealed to a lot of people (including myself as a kid 20 years ago), you can bet sales will drop - fact 2 (yes fact from the future, those do exist). I hope i'm wrong as i look forward to GT every few years and want them to continue.

 

[glassjaw]

Summed up my feelings perfectly @SlipZtrEm. Excellent review.

Now I just want to go to that bar...

 

[Racemachine]

I don't like it.

Don't crucify me here, but I just cannot get on with the physics.

I enjoy the livery editor, and it is beautiful to watch but something simple like adjusting tire pressure... naught.

I know this isn't the place for comparisions, but you really can't help but to compare after being shown what's possible on console this year.
I feel like Assetto Corsa and Project Cars 2 have spoilt me to the point I've just put GT away.

@SlipZtrEm you have always wrote great reviews and I enjoy reading your ink.

I just don't agree this time.

I feel the same about the physics and the rally was hilarious.