Gran Turismo - ShindoDragon Review

Greetings everyone,

Dragon here with my first blog post.

I decided to make something I am familiar with: A game review.

Since I don't have the time to usually edit videos together and have a lot of time to spend at my computer, I feel I can write some reviews and just my thoughts on things that matter to me.

So, I'm going to start with one of the most influential games of the fifth generation of game consoles. Gran Turismo.

I grew up with Gran Turismo 4 as a kid. It was my most played game on the PlayStation 2 yet I never completed it. I still haven't got that elusive 100% even now. It's a testament to how great that game is.

However, I'm not here to talk about the fourth installment, I'm talking about the 1998 original.

Gran Turismo 1 is as old as I am and I never got to play it that much until I got to the ripe young age of nine.

Gran Turismo was a pivotal moment in gaming. "The Real Driving Simulator", way before sim racing really took off in recent years. A five-year development project for Polyphony Digital and producer Kazunori Yamauchi, at the time. It is one of the best selling titles on the PlayStation 1, shipping nearly twelve million units throughout its sale life. What made the game so special?

I can't really put my finger on what made it special. There's a lot going for it, for the time. The license tests were some of the hardest things I ever attempted at the time and really felt like you earned those gold medals. It taught even the most rookie driver the basics and approaches to circuit racing. It isn't particularly fun when you are restricted from entering events without them. Thankfully, you only need the bronze medals to obtain the license. You got gold if you wanted the prize cars they offered, some of which are awesome.

The one thing I really remember doing was looking at all the cars I couldn't afford and just repeating the Sunday Cup to grind out money. The racing modifications that most cars offered were also an interesting way to experience your favourite cars. The game definitely had you start at grassroots and made you earn what you had throughout the game.

There was also the arcade mode, for those who wanted to just jump in and race against AI, no fuss, no argument, and with extra tidbits, like the hill in Trial Mountain becoming a jump and the game becoming more responsive, it felt arcade because it was and the Simulation Mode was more grounded and real. The arcade mode gave you incentives to unlock more things like tracks and car manufacturers.

The AI have rubber banding to make it a closer competition. It's a cheap form of difficulty and sometimes you feel you win on luck more than skill, but there was definitely a lot of satisfaction as you managed to move on from grinding the same event over and over. It's old school and that feels part of the nostalgia.

There's a lot about Gran Turismo you can say that I haven't covered in this review but there's no one I know who hasn't played at least one of these titles. To date, at the time of writing, Gran Turismo is the highest-grossing racing franchise of all time, partly because it is over twenty years old but mainly because it's an incredible series that always strives to set the bar higher.

The franchise has come a long way since it's humble beginnings in 1998, to the juggernaut it is now, turning gamers into professional race drivers, most recently, at the time of writing, Igor Fraga of Brazil making his FIA Formula 3 debut in 2020.

Gran Turismo 1 is a game that you should definitely try at least once in your lifetime, even if you don't enjoy it. There's an experience to be had from it. The passion that burned in the nineties still burns to this day within Polyphony Digital.

Fun Fact About the Game - The track High Speed Ring was originally meant to be set at dusk and was changed to day time in the final release. There is a remnant of this in the license test B-5, which still uses the dusk skybox that was originally meant to be used. 

- ShindoDragon