I don't think so either. And?
I thought we were talking about the game, not Kaz's personal achievements.
Those are from Nissan. In the game itself it's just another TT.
Which presents itself in the game as cars we can take pictures of and race.
So taking pictures of cars in the game? Already acknowledged. Several games have FIA certification and well before GT. Nothing historic about it really. Inside the game however, it'll present itself as...you guessed it...racing cars in the game.
Obviously the entire game is cars, racing and taking pictures. Which was my point.
Forza has done a far better job of allowing players to customize their cars and for quite a long time. They've had ForzaVista and a livery editor for several generations now. I don't see this travelling the globe and exploring the wonders of the planet earth in any GT released so far. What I see is cars racing in a game, like many other games. The UI, the music, the overall design of the game certainly gave it a unique feel but at it's heart it's about racing and driving cars, taking pictures etc.
Your point is perfectly valid, but why should one interpret the game in such a linear fashion? Why just a game about cars? Why should anyone disregard Kaz's personal achievements when it was because of the game 'just about cars' that granted him the privilege? Why treat GT Academy as just a TT, knowing that someone, somewhere is being given the opportunity of a lifetime? You know my opinion. Gran Turismo is a game about cars, taking pictures of cars, racing cars and then some.
So when I say Gran Turismo is a game that's far more than just the cars and racing, I am referring to all the things that are, but didn't necessarily have to be. If Gran Turismo really was 'just about cars', we wouldn't have GT Academy because the idea of becoming a professional racing driver through a video game is idiotic, right? There would be no Vision Gran Turismo project, because we use real cars! Why should a video game have any involvement with car design? It's not like we're helping the manufacturers express their creativity or anything, right? There would be no photo travel, because if it isn't a race track, we're not racing cars, right? There would be no FIA partnership, because video games about 'just cars' are merely forms of light entertainment. It's not like a video game can be worthy of a digital licence from the same governing body as Formula 1, right?
Gran Turismo is the racing game franchise that did. No surprise that other games take a lot of inspiration from it. I'm not saying GT is perfect, because we all know that is far from the case. But strip away all the stuff that makes Gran Turismo unique and you end up with just another generic racing game like so many others. Before Gran Turismo, racing games really were 'just about cars'. They were 'just games'. Now look what we've got. I love this franchise because it's not satisfied with just providing cars to drive and tracks to race on.
Interpret the game how you want I guess, but saying that Gran Turismo is 'just a game about cars' is somewhat of an understatement, in my opinion.