History of the Gran Turismo series, part one

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In just a few weeks we will see the expected return of the Gran Turismo brand. A racing series that has been tightly integrated with the PlayStation consoles from the very beginning. While this may come as a surprise to many gamers, this is still the most successful Sony/PlayStation Studios exclusive game series yet. In total, over 80 million units of all parts have been sold worldwide.

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This number also means it’s the second most successful racing game of all time. At the top, the Mario series is steadily gaining momentum, with over 150 million copies sold. We’re celebrating the very beginning of Gran Turisma’s success with the first part of a special edition that we’ve prepared for you to celebrate the upcoming release of Volume 7 and the 25th anniversary of Volume 1.

Gran Turismo (1997) – the most successful game on the first PlayStation

The first Gran Turismo was released after five years of development on December 23, 1997 in the original PlayStation version. However, only players from Japan watched the game that day. The game was not targeted at Europe, the US and other markets until May 1998. However, the first sales figures in the Japanese market showed that the new brand, despite its seemingly narrow focus, is performing very well. It wasn’t until mid-1998 that the first Gran Turismo found its way to over a million players. The title was equally successful in other parts of the world. It sold over 1.4 million copies in the United States and was the best-selling game of 1998 for the original PlayStation. At the same time, the game managed to maintain strong sales figures in subsequent years. As a result, 10.85 million copies were sold.

GT has completely surpassed the competition in the number of licensed cars.

All this on a first generation PlayStation console, which is also a remarkable success from today’s perspective. After all, no other game has been able to sell more copies on PS1. In addition, the purely racing game with the nickname “real driving simulator” was not widely expected to become the imaginary showcase of the PlayStation and the series for many years to come, significantly contributing to the success of the first two generations of consoles. from Sony. Of course, a big merit in this is the developers from the Polyphony Digital studio, led by Kazunori Yamauchi, whose love for cars and racing is known and felt in every part of the series. It is this famous developer and his team that we will pay special attention to in a separate special issue, which will be released in the near future.

But how did Gran Turismo 1 manage to attract so many players? It certainly wasn’t due to a lack of competition. Games such as Need for Speed ​​III: Hot Pursuit, Test Drive 5, TOCA Touring Car Championship and Colin McRae Rally were released in 1997 and 1998. However, at first glance, Gran Turismo has completely surpassed the competition in terms of the number of licensed cars. For example, 28 cars participated in a test drive. There are just over 10 cars in Need for Speed ​​depending on the platform. On the other hand, the first Gran Turismo came out with a garage of at least 140 units (it’s difficult to determine the exact number due to different regional versions). It should be noted that this number includes different versions of the same model, so the real number is slightly lower.

The game also managed to impress with its audiovisual side.

In particular, the first part contained, with a few exceptions, mainly cars from Japanese manufacturers. But the dominance of models from brands such as Toyota, Nissan or Honda was clearly visible in the later parts of the series. However, the developers clearly wanted to increase their dominance in terms of the number of cars, at least on paper, and on the back of physical publications one could read that even 290 cars were offered in the game. However, this release also included various color variants of identical vehicles, so this information has no basis in fact. However, many players have so far struggled to attract the amount of vehicles and persuade them to buy.

In any case, in the late 1990s, this was an impressive figure that competitors could not match. Numerous rolling stock was replenished with 11 tracks. All of them were fictional, but most of them have gained a cult status among the players and have also appeared in later works. Thus, on tracks such as Trial Mountain, High Speed ​​​​Ring or Grand Valley Speedway, any true fan of the series can ride. However, the first Gran Turismo was definitely not a success just because of the large number of vehicles and original schemes.

You can upgrade everything from the engine and transmission to early tires.

The game also managed to impress with its audiovisual side. For example, the developers focused on the sounds of cars, which they tried to bring as close as possible to the real model. The general proclivity for simulation was also known from driving and the physical model. Each car offered different ride quality and performance. Therefore, players had to go through a certain process of learning and getting used to different types of cars. It is for these purposes that the developers prepared a licensed mode for the first part, which pretended to be a school of racing driving, and later became an integral part of the series.

The same can be said for the reliable GT mode, which worked like a career where you gradually bought cars and competed in countless different races and championships. Already the first part offered rich possibilities in the field of modification of the performance of individual vehicles. You can upgrade everything from the engine and transmission to early tires. And in this regard, the first Gran Turismo was an extremely difficult game for its time. In addition, the already rich content offer was complemented by split-screen multiplayer or the ability to watch a spectacularly edited recording of a race that had just ended. The feature well known today as replay was definitely not common at the time the GT1 was released.

Gran Turismo 2 (1999) – the busiest race of its time

Just two years after the release of the first Gran Turismo, the second volume was released. Given its number one success, the release of the sequel came as no surprise. In addition, the developers were able to rely heavily on the first part in the development of the second, which greatly accelerated development and allowed the second to be released only two years after the original. In terms of content, however, Gran Turismo 2 offered the steamboat even more than its predecessor.

It was the first two Gran Turismas that laid the foundations of modern racing games together.

The first part was heavily dependent on Japanese automakers. The second has already offered a much more varied offer of cars. In particular, European brands were added, which was a logical step, given the high sales of the first part in Europe. The result was over 600 cars and 27 tracks.

Unpaved rally tracks are new, including the famous Pikes Peak race. After all, licensed tracks like Pinkes Peak or Laguna Seca also had their premiere in the second part. However, in addition to its then unrivaled content, Gran Turismo 2, following in the footsteps of its predecessor, benefited from a superior and at the time extremely challenging driving model.

The number of sold copies of Gran Turismo 2 has reached 9.37 million. Thus, the first part remained unsurpassed. However, it was another big success and the third best selling game on the original PlayStation. Only Final Fantasy VII managed to wed itself between the first and second GT during the PS1’s life cycle.

The first two Gran Turismas not only launched the hitherto popular racing series. Both episodes were among the most successful games of the first PlayStation. However, their release was also important for the racing genre as such. Gran Turismo proved that even a realistic and serious racing game for its time can reach a mass audience and sell millions of copies.

So it wasn’t much of a surprise when, a few years later, rival Xbox dropped the game with the Project Gotham Racing series and then Forza Motorsport. Of course, in later years, the series also benefited from the ingredients of the first and second Gran Turisma. However, we will talk about the equally successful era of the PlayStation 2 in the next part of our GT special issue.

Source :Indian TV

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