Gran Turismo (1997)

Gran Turismo (known as Gran Turismo: The Real Driving Simulator outside North America) is a racing video game released for the PlayStation in 1997 and developed by Polyphony Digital (then known as Polys Entertainment) and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. The game took 5 years to complete, starting in 1992, and sold a total of 10.85 million copies worldwide, being the best-selling game for the system.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Changed the way racing simulation games play, paving the way for future racing sims like Forza Motorsport and Assetto Corsa.
 * 2) Very impressive graphics for PlayStation standards. Despite the fact that this game came out in 1997, the graphics aged better than some of the other PlayStation games, and still look good to this day.
 * 3) Introduces the well known events that became a staple of the series. Those events are:
 * 4) *Sunday Cup: A beginner-friendly race in where the players face with the slowest cars of all time. The credit rewards are the lowest of all events in every entry of the series.
 * 5) *Clubman Cup: A amateur level version of Sunday Cup in where the players face with a bit faster cars. The credit rewards are moderate.
 * 6) *FF Challenge: As the name implies, it is restricted to only front engine front wheel drive cars. Those cars are stable and provides excellent grip which can be suited for beginners.
 * 7) *FR Challenge: As the name implies, it is restricted to only front engine rear wheel drive cars. Those cars can be unstable and prone to spinout at times which requires careful.
 * 8) *4WD Challenge: As the name implies, it is restricted to only four wheel drive cars. Those cars are powerful especially Nissan Skyline GT-R models and provides a lot of grip which can also suitable for beginners.
 * 9) *Country restricted events: As the name implies, there are events based in country restriction. In the first game there are only events restricted to American and Japanese cars, British and Japanese cars and British and American cars. Later entries of the series include Japan Championship (restricted to only Japanese cars), Stars and Stripes (restricted to American cars) and events restricted to European countries like Germany, Italy, France, United Kingdom, Netherlands and Austria.
 * 10) *Megaspeed Cup: Known as Like The Wind in the later releases. In this event, players must fully tune the vehicle to the maximum power, fine tune the gear ratios to the point it reaches 400 km/h + / 250 MPH + in a oval course while fighting the fastest opponents by speed.
 * 11) *Grand Valley 300km: A 60 lap endurance race in as the name implies, Grand Valley. The player must use the adequate tires to perform less pitstops at the cost of the grip. Hard tires are durable at the cost of grip while soft tires are grippy at the cost of duration requiring constant pitstops.
 * 12) *Gran Turismo World Championship: This is the final event of the game series. The player must face opponents that are driving mostly race cars.
 * 13) Over 140 cars, which was a pretty massive selection for 1997 standards.
 * 14) Amazing soundtrack.
 * 15) *The North American and PAL releases have licensed music from artists like Ash, Garbage and Feeder. Curiously, they both have almost the same songlist (except PAL has some extra songs by Feeder, and the North American version has a song by TMF), whereas Gran Turismo 2 to 4 had different licensed music for the North American and PAL regions.
 * 16) *The Japanese release has original compositions by Masahiro Andoh and Isamu Ohira, including "Freedom to Win", "The Motorious City", and "Moon Over The Castle", the latter of which is the main theme of the Gran Turismo series.
 * 17) Lots of replay value.
 * 18) After finishing a race, you can watch a replay of it, and you can cycle the camera to focus on other opponents to see their performance in the race.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Only 11 racing tracks (plus the reverse tracks, which in theory makes it 22).
 * 2) Some license tests are very difficult, especially A-3, A-4, and IA-7.
 * 3) Rubberband AI.
 * 4) Cars with FR and MR drivetrains can be extremely unstable and spin constantly when you are trying to turn tight corners, making winning races very difficult.
 * 5) Endurance races take a lot of time to finish.

Videos
RSV4IBa1pMI j2PzpTgFZYo rcMuu3_NZKI BWzgmA0jMBw kklS0RyrvFg

Trivia

 * As previously mentioned, the Japanese version of the game features a different soundtrack compared to the American/PAL soundtrack. This applies not only to the music heard during gameplay, but also the menu music. From Gran Turismo 2 onwards, Polyphony used the Japanese menu soundtrack in every region.
 * The game has some unused cars and tracks. With hacks, they can be acquired.

Reception
The game was praised by critics, with IGN giving it a 9.5 (Amazing) out of 10. It won the best simulation game of 1999 at the Spotlight Awards, and "Best Driving Game" and "Best Graphics" of 1999 according to PlayStation Official Magazine. It was also a bestseller in the UK. As of April 2008, the game has shipped 2.55 million copies in Japan, 10,000 in Southeast Asia, 4.3 million in Europe, and 3.99 million in North America for a total of 10.85 million copies, in which remains as the best selling game for the PlayStation.