Gran Turismo 6 Review

After a lengthy five year wait for Gran Turismo 5 as the franchise made the transition across Sony’s PlayStation platforms, fans were met with tons of cars, tracks, and plenty of gameplay value for their money. Gran Turismo 6, meanwhile, arrives on PS3 just as Sony’s new PlayStation 4 has already hit store shelves. Platform considerations aside, GT6 is a notable update for the series. But after three years the changes it brings come across as fairly unsubstantial, offering little more than a few touch ups and putting the aging PS3 hardware in a negative light. It’s still a highly competent simulation racing experience, but one that doesn’t offer any significant strides for the franchise.

It seems fitting to address a few technical aspects first after GT5’s somewhat rocky start. Gran Turismo 6 is a much faster title when it comes to loading times, and navigating the game’s simple and intuitive menus. Whether it comes to the garage, dealership and tuning shop menus, you can quickly browse and perform all necessary tasks. There is no longer a lengthy mandatory installation. Unfortunately, there are still performance shortcomings, as the game still has extended loading times when actually trying to start the race, leading to about the same amount of waiting as in the past. It’s still as disappointing as it was three years ago to be waiting over a minute to race a thirty second section of a track.

The career mode plays out in familiar fashion. There are multiple competition tiers based on the car performance, ranging from National B to International A to S. Each tier contains a large number of events, and racers can earn up to three stars from each race. These stars are the new progression system, instead of the classic Experience based unlocks. Earning enough stars in a tier unlocks the final championship race and subsequent license tests. Complete those, and you’re into the next tier. The career progression is well balanced and easily attainable for most players – you earn at least one star just by participating in a race, regardless of finishing position. To unlock the final of a tier, only up to 25 stars are required. As such, skilled players will only need to hang around a tier for about 8 to 10 races before being able to move on. Of course, you can always return later and complete any events you’ve missed or chose to skip.

Many of the events have special car requirements, but most allow for almost any vehicle as long as it falls under a specific performance limit. These loose participation demands help the game feel very free-flowing and rarely require players to buy new cars. In fact, it is entirely possible to complete the career mode up to class S with less than 5 finely tuned cars. That means you should have enough money saved to be close to purchasing an S-class car, which are the most expensive in the game, at over 1 million credits each, and are a big step up in price from the previous racing tier.

On the subject of cars, pretty much all content from Gran Turismo 5 makes a return, with slight tweaks when it comes to stats and performance. No longer are cars classified as premium or standard, though it is still plainly visible those that are not up to scratch on the level of detail. A few of the standard cars have been converted up, and with about 1200 in total, GT6 remains a collector’s dream game. That number is still inflated due to the 5+ different versions of Honda Civics, Nissan Skylines, and etc. It is also cumbersome to sort through all these cars – you can only sort within each manufacturer storefront, with no easy way to bring up all cars to see what your next purchase should be. But at least unlike other racing titles, the developers’ passion not just for modern supercars but also for the classics is evident and remains unique to the franchise. The aspect of a used car dealership has been removed, and so has the car sharing feature.

All of the tracks also make a return from the previous entry. None of the courses have been updated in any way, and in fact they even feature the same billboards as before, which is somewhat disappointing. However overall, alongside newcomers such as Silverstone and Bathurst, the 37 course selection in GT6 is impressive and ensures that you’re never bored of racing the same circuit. There is a multitude of versions for many of the tracks as well, giving the game further variety. The track editor from GT5 is missing, though it is promised to be added in a future update.

On the other hand, a few new visual options are available. On night tracks, the game actually simulates the night sky with accurate positions of the stars and constellations, and during long races you can notice the passage of time, with the moon and stars moving. On some tracks, players have an option to adjust both the time of day and the weather. Offroad racing remains challenging.

Fans have been a bit concerned with the game’s economy ever since the news broke that microtransactions have made their way into the game for the first time. However, rest assured that there are no major problems when it comes to earning credits. If your end goal is to complete the game, you should have no issue getting a nice ride for each tier, and tuning it as necessary to achieve victory. Getting into the S class might need some saving up, but it is certainly attainable and decently fast, too. Collectors will have a tougher time - you would need to complete most of the events, which pay out decently depending on your pole position; the game also hands out fewer prize cars compared to GT5.

Outside of career mode, the game has an odd three-event scenario on the moon. You drive a rover from point to point and experience all the weird physics that one might expect in reduced gravity. It’s a decent distraction but not much more. The other special event is Goodwood hill climb. Here, you take on the short course over and over with a variety of iconic cars provided. More cars get unlocked as you progress further through the main career. This is a pleasant, though repetitive, distraction that’s quick to do (excepting those dreaded loading times). Finally, the B-Spec career from GT5, where you had to oversee the life of an AI driver, has been removed, and chances are you won’t miss it. However, the developers do say it may be released as DLC later on.

Taking so long in a review to talk about actual racing and car handling might cause some panic, but rest assured, Gran Turismo 6 hasn’t missed a step as far as the gameplay is concerned. Taking to the track in your tuned ride is still as enjoyable as usual, although this time around many driving assists are on by default, making the game feel rather easy at the outset. It is definitely recommended to turn down some of the help to ensure a more challenging and competitive experience. The physics and suspension engine have been tweaked to provide more realistic handling, but overall the game feels quite familiar to GT5. The most notable change is the removal of any artificial slowdown or significant loss of traction effects when you drive off course – it’s more realistic, but also highly exploitative to take shortcuts with no penalty.

Part of the challenge during races should come from AI, but it is largely unchanged and lackluster. They will follow the racing line, never making errors and breaking at the same spot on every lap. You could play the same race multiple times, and the final standings will remain the same. The opponents are at least a bit better at not forcing you off the road. If you do happen to make contact, they will usually back off and often unable to pass you. The rubberbanding element is still present, with a gap forming between you, the top three cars, and the rest of the group. But as soon as you’re near first place (which too frequently happens about one and a half laps until the checkered flag), the rest of the pack catches on and hangs behind you to provide a sense of intensity. Plus, the currently popular rewind feature has not made it to this franchise yet – so if you make a serious mistake, you pretty well have to restart the whole race.

As expected, this issue doesn’t exist when racings against other players online. GT6 retains the somewhat cumbersome lobby room structure, taking a serious approach to competitive racing. The mode itself is locked until you’ve progressed a fair bit into the offline career. Sadly, this delayed access has little effect on the type of destructive and reckless folks you’ll find online. GT6 is definitely not a game that’s friendly for jump in and go style of play, but at the same time it seems most players simply want to mess around in practice mode than actually start. Races that do happen usually end up in chaos, and even those who choose to race cleanly will suffer from abnormal physics calculations and opponent cars glitching around the track. All this after you wait painfully through long load times between the lobby and race track.

In the same way that the tracks are mostly unchanged, so is the presentation. Although some cars have been converted to a more detailed, premium models, and the lighting system has been changed to add more atmosphere, the game looks decidedly dated. Textures often lack in detail, and visual effects don’t impress. The draw distance is poor, and your rear view mirror reflects on an empty, low resolution world. Collisions still sound like two empty metal boxes clanking together, and worse yet there is very little car deformation. Mechanical damage is also not offered. A highly grating sound effect of tire squeal penetrates most of the races, engine noise is generic, and overall the sound design remains a low point. The soundtrack is the same mix of classical and rock music that does the job well enough.

Gran Turismo 6 offers new cars, tracks, and new career experience. The solid driving simulation is still intact, as is the game’s addicting nature of winning events and collecting cars. However, after 3 years and at the dawn of PS4, the game feels more like a stepping stone to greater aspirations; a last ditch effort to help the current Sony console retain some momentum. The genre has evolved, and throwing a bit more content on what is a fundamentally unchanged experience from three years ago, just doesn’t pack the same punch. GT6 is good, but one can only hope for bigger innovations next time around.