GTPlanet Weekly Rewind

It was a busy seven days around the ‘Planet last week. Not only did we kick the week off in a drive in a supercar, but we got surprising bits of news on GT Sport, Forza Motorsport 7, and Project CARS 2.

It isn’t everyday when the idea of being wrong about something excites you. That “something” refers to the release date of Gran Turismo Sport. Believed to hit store shelves in November at the earliest, GT Sport is now confirmed for October.

The E3 hype has finally elapsed, bringing things back down to their normal levels. This year will prove itself to be plenty expensive when it comes to racing games, beginning with F1 2017. 

This year’s E3 has come and gone with all the excitement one would expect. For racing game fans, the message was clear: prepare your wallet, as you’ll be spoiled for choice this holiday season.

It’s that time again, we’re coming up on the biggest gaming event of the year. Of course we’re referring to E3. Whether it be a breadth of games or new hardware reveals, we’re ready for it all. With news expected from every possible direction, next week will be chaotic — we can’t wait!

I say this all too often but what a week this has been. After months of speculation and rumors thanks to no small part of Microsoft keeping their lips sealed on the matter, the hardware that will be powering the next Xbox, otherwise currently known as Project Scorpio, has finally been discussed at-length and I have to say that it is truly an impressive feat.

Here we stand on the inaugural weekend of the 2017 Formula One season, and with so much having changed over the previous year, things are looking interesting to say the least. Nico Rosberg has exited the sport as the undefeated Driver’s Champion, and in his seat sits former Williams driver Valtteri Bottas.

Before you start yelling at me, I already know what you’re going to say: “T, what happened to the Rewind last week?”, and it was simply an issue of time. I’m going to treat this week the same in terms of order, though I will say I’m pleased with the order of things as a result.

What a week this has been. The racing game genre has grown to the point where a bombshell can be dropped at a moment’s notice and change everything. At a time like this where we’re analyzing every detail, trying to understand what makes the genre tick and how it can continue to grow, it’s these moments of genuine surprise where we can all sit back and say “wow”.

We’re just going to cut to the chase here: the Weekly Rewind has returned! A lot has changed since we last spoke in 2014, and we’re going to tackle all of it over the coming weeks in some form or fashion. 2017 is shaping up to be one of the best yet for the racing game genre for one particular reason that we’ll gladly highlight again later on, and the news is all the more exciting when the revival of a particular PC (now multi-platform) racing franchise is announced.

What an unbelievably exciting week! Not only are we on the tail-end of another Formula 1 weekend, but there’s been tasty news morsels left, right, and center concerning games of varying natures; all of which deserve a sliver of attention, and that’s not even mentioning that the Super Bowl of video gaming nirvana takes place next week.

We’re back! For the past two weeks the Weekly Rewind has taken a much needed backseat to the endless assault of news over the past couple of weeks. If you haven’t been keeping an eye on the endlessly-updating Status Updates on the forum page, then you may very well have missed the Weekly Rewind Miniature Edition that has taken the place of the full-featured article here for the past two weeks.

We’re on the tail-end of yet another weekend of the motorsport circus known as Formula 1, but I’m not here to talk about this weekend’s outing in Spain. After looking over the calendar for this year I noticed something with a familiar ring to it (you’ll soon see that pun was intended), for on the 22nd of June the circus travels back to Austria for the returning Austrian Grand Prix to be held at the Red Bull Ring, known previously as the A1 Ring and Österreichring.

Today, as I’m writing this, marks the 20th year since the unfortunate passing of one of Formula One’s greatest drivers, Ayrton Senna. Senna is often looked upon as one of, if not the greatest driver known to the sport courtesy of his outright uncanny ability to wring the most out of the car, for the uncanny skill of being able to take off into the distance on a wet race day unlike anyone else at the time; the proverbial “rain master” as it’s known in the world of F1.

This has been the weirdest Formula One season in years. At the top stands Mercedes AMG Petronas with a commanding lead in the driver’s and constructor’s standings, all at the behest of the new formula being used this year. Mercedes has been a considerable threat since their constructor debut in the 2010 season, with their worst finish being 5th in the standings at the end of the 2012 season.

We’re two weeks away from what could possibly be – and I can’t stress that “possibly” enough – the most profound Gran Turismo 6 update yet involving the career of Ayrton Senna. May 1st will mark the 20th anniversary of his passing, and it’s on record that Polyphony Digital has plans laid out to celebrate the anniversary with Senna-related content.

There’s a lot to cover this week, so instead of me yapping (which I’ll do plenty of later on) we’re jumping right into things this week. Here we go!

We’re in the wake of another Formula One weekend, this time taking a trip to the Bahrain International Circuit, albeit with a twist. This year the circuit will make use of an all-new floodlight system that will see the Grand Prix event into the hours beyond the sun, making this the second race of the season to run without natural lighting.

We’re moving straight into the goodies this week as this week’s headline is actually a full-length segment that may very well return at some point later in the year with yet another look into what makes a racing game attractive. It’s a question that isn’t as easily answered as you might think, and I know you’re sitting there shouting out answers.

It’s a little funny to me that this week’s Rewind is being presented – the opening act, if you will – by an already prominent staple of the article itself; however, the community here is the central focus of the Rewind, and anything that makes the lives of the many easier will be showcased here.