- 26,911
- Houston, Texas, USA
- JMarine25
I love Gran Turismo. It was the first game (GT1) I got when I bought my PS1 from a Pawn Store for about 60 bucks. As much as I love the Gran Turismo series and showing off my love on GTPlanet.net... I don't think it's the best ever. I usually think there is some prejudice involved in that a racing game series will never eclipse a game from the realm of action, adventure, RPG, even some music games. While I don't think it's the best franchise of any game series, I always say that Gran Turismo is the greatest racing franchise in the modern era. The 80s were all about Pole Position. The early 90s didn't have any great game unless you count some of Sega's earliest creations under the amazing AM2 crew. Since 1997, there has never been a true convergence of cars and a true challenge like what Gran Turismo put forth. I can say as an avid fan of the series that I am always compelled to race a Gran Turismo. I think I even remember seeing commercials for the very first Gran Turismo. Where else are you going to find a great racing game franchise that isn't Gran Turismo at the time it was unveiled? Well, I do think Sega Super GT is my all-time favorite arcade game with Daytona USA a close second. But where do similarities end? Well, Gran Turismo has more cars and tracks than Daytona USA and Super GT combined. It's not about one style of car. It's not about one level of competition. It's about racing the finest cars of today and yesterday on a variety of tracks on a variety of levels.
You know a game series is impressive when you have competitors trying to match or better that series. Sega GT- tried and eventually failed. Project Gotham Racing- I have great love and respect for PGR, but hasn't put up a truly good fight. Forza Motorsport- Gran Turismo's best competition in years. The FM crew say they respect the GT series, but some make the sort of connotation that Forza is better than GT. It isn't a true rivalry, but it has been on the grounds of bad blood as far as racing game fans go. What Gran Turismo has been able to accomplish was simply (and I agree with my GTP friend, Tenacious D) that it doesn't have any of the things to immediately grab your attention. Take the Ridge Racer series in some of the days before the fantasy Reiko Nagase became the face of the series until the fantasy Ai Fukumi(?) was the face of Ridge Racer V. No lovely ladies gracing cars or covers (not that I'm against hot girls on cars or game covers). You know Gran Turismo for two things- cars and racing. Has it disappointed (certain car models and chosen cars nonwithstanding)? No way. Still going strong for ten years. By the way, has GT's cover ever been embraced by a car that wrecked badly? Not at all. I don't expect that to change even when we finally get an idea of damage in Gran Turismo. The series has focused on cars and racing. I think people fail to acknowledge this series for its cars and racing, especially those usually antagonistic or nit-picky (word?) about Gran Turismo. You love cars, you love racing games, you obviously will pick up Gran Turismo at one point in your life.
So why do I think it isn't the best game series even after giving it mad amounts of praise? It's because there are a lot of other series that easily trump a racing game. That's not a serious knock, just that not everyone is into racing games like you and I. However, not everyone loves severing a guy's head off or beating someone down so bad that they bleed profusely. It's prejudice to some people for a racing game to not be better than an action or RPG game, but that's how things go often times. Is Gran Turismo going to be better than HALO? Likely not. What about GT vs. Call of Duty? Not likely. GT vs. the Final Fantasy series? Not possible. That prejudice is there in a racing game being better than any other good game of any more popular genre is there, but it's not to say that a series like GT can be as enjoyable as any other commonplace genre of gaming. It's one of the best series of all time, but not best ever. This, speaking as a devoted fan of the series.
You know a game series is impressive when you have competitors trying to match or better that series. Sega GT- tried and eventually failed. Project Gotham Racing- I have great love and respect for PGR, but hasn't put up a truly good fight. Forza Motorsport- Gran Turismo's best competition in years. The FM crew say they respect the GT series, but some make the sort of connotation that Forza is better than GT. It isn't a true rivalry, but it has been on the grounds of bad blood as far as racing game fans go. What Gran Turismo has been able to accomplish was simply (and I agree with my GTP friend, Tenacious D) that it doesn't have any of the things to immediately grab your attention. Take the Ridge Racer series in some of the days before the fantasy Reiko Nagase became the face of the series until the fantasy Ai Fukumi(?) was the face of Ridge Racer V. No lovely ladies gracing cars or covers (not that I'm against hot girls on cars or game covers). You know Gran Turismo for two things- cars and racing. Has it disappointed (certain car models and chosen cars nonwithstanding)? No way. Still going strong for ten years. By the way, has GT's cover ever been embraced by a car that wrecked badly? Not at all. I don't expect that to change even when we finally get an idea of damage in Gran Turismo. The series has focused on cars and racing. I think people fail to acknowledge this series for its cars and racing, especially those usually antagonistic or nit-picky (word?) about Gran Turismo. You love cars, you love racing games, you obviously will pick up Gran Turismo at one point in your life.
So why do I think it isn't the best game series even after giving it mad amounts of praise? It's because there are a lot of other series that easily trump a racing game. That's not a serious knock, just that not everyone is into racing games like you and I. However, not everyone loves severing a guy's head off or beating someone down so bad that they bleed profusely. It's prejudice to some people for a racing game to not be better than an action or RPG game, but that's how things go often times. Is Gran Turismo going to be better than HALO? Likely not. What about GT vs. Call of Duty? Not likely. GT vs. the Final Fantasy series? Not possible. That prejudice is there in a racing game being better than any other good game of any more popular genre is there, but it's not to say that a series like GT can be as enjoyable as any other commonplace genre of gaming. It's one of the best series of all time, but not best ever. This, speaking as a devoted fan of the series.
