Gran Turismo

aka: GT, Gran Turismo: The Real Driving Simulator
Moby ID: 3909
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Description official descriptions

The first game in the Gran Turismo series of racing simulations.

You can choose between the arcade version (featuring classic cars such as Corvettes and Aston Martins) or the simulation, which is the true heart of the game. The simulation starts you on an entire racing career beginning with a cheap used car and second-rate tracks. You will find yourself longing for the Dodge Viper as your sad $10,000 starting fund puts you behind the wheel of a used Honda Prelude or Mazda RX-7. As you win races, acquire money, and earn advanced licenses, you are able to buy better cars and race in more competitive matches right up to the GT World Cup.

Features more than 140 cars.

Spellings

  • グランツーリスモ - Japanese spelling

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Credits (PlayStation version)

312 People (229 developers, 83 thanks) · View all

Producer (Europe)
Marketing Assistant
Product Manager (Europe)
PR Manager
Manual Copy Editor
Print Production Co-ordination
Packaging Design
Manual Design
  • Wace Creative Imaging
Manual Approval Supervisor
Manual Approval Testers
QA Manager
Internal Development Lead Tester
Localisation Co-ordinator
Localisation Testers
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 95% (based on 29 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.1 out of 5 (based on 99 ratings with 4 reviews)

Ahhhh

The Good
Getting on for almost a decade old now, this was part of a second wave of Playstation 1 'killer apps', along with Final Fantasy VII, G-Police, Colony Wars, Colin McRae Rally and so forth (the first generation had included Wipeout, Tomb Raider and a few others). It inspired a long-time PC-owning friend of mine to buy a Playstation, and a great time was had by all. Turismo was strikingly good-looking in 1997, with shiny metal cars and an undulating track, which seemed to have no pop-up; the vast amount of technical tweaks and other cars were both awe-inspiring; you could play the game to win, or you could play the game to collect cars! Do them up, take them to the garage, fit body kits and so forth. The racing eventually becomes a matter of buying a huge turbo and just bashing into the other cars, but it's tense and frustrating while it lasts, and that's good! The non-turbo races are particularly challenging, because you can't 'cheat'.

The Bad
Unforgivingly, brutally hard training sequence. To race, you need a special licence; to win the licence, you need to drive down a hill, around a corner, up a hill, through a tunnel (say) - in fifteen seconds less than your best time. To unlock the whole game, you have to drive a series of perfect laps around some of the courses, and it's murder. Argh. I still have marks in my thighs, from punishing myself.

The Bottom Line
Inspired an album by the Cardigans; indirectly got me a job writing games reviews for Future Publishing, changed my life. More fun than the sequel, although I tend to play it now with a PC-based Playstation emulator (it was, as far as I know, never converted to other platforms, and was for a while as good a reason for owning a Playstation as, say, Goldeneye was for owning an N64). The plethora of sequels has dulled its impact, but it's still fun to tart up Honda CRXes and so forth. It's just a shame there wasn't a Mini until the sequel.

PlayStation · by Ashley Pomeroy (225) · 2005

Most Realistic Racing Game Ever Released for The original PlayStation

The Good
The control are realistic, lots of licensed cars

The Bad
The soundtrack are pretty good but doesn't fit to this game

The Bottom Line
"Racing Simulator"

PlayStation · by Raihan Lazuardi (3) · 2016

Revolutionized Racing Sims, and Continues to Sell Playstations

The Good
Very realistic handling, while still being accessible.

A ridiculously large selection of actual real-life vehicles. Most games had between 3 and a dozen before GT came out with a hundred and change.

Also, it's largely responsible for the current import car craze, including the American youth's awareness of Japanese sport compacts (Subaru Impreza WRX, Mitsu Lancer Evolution, Nissan Skyline), and their subsequent import into the USA.

The Bad
It's hard to nit-pick a classic :). It would not stand up well to today's racing sims in terms of graphics and features, but its more modern iterations (i.e. GT3 A-Spec) would.

The Bottom Line
The perfect game for racing purists who are into street cars. But do yourself a favor and pick up the newest version.

PlayStation · by Glenn Barnett (14) · 2003

[ View all 4 player reviews ]

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Gran Turismo appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

References to the game

This game is referenced in the Eiffel 65 song, My Console.

Sales

According to developer Polyphony Digital, Gran Turismo sold 10,850,000 copies worldwide since its original release.

Awards

  • Game Informer
    • August 2001 (Issue #100) - #21 in the "Top 100 Games of All Time" poll

Information also contributed by J. Michael Bottorff

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Related Games

Gran Turismo: Sport
Released 2017 on PlayStation 4
Gran Turismo 2
Released 1999 on PlayStation
Gran Turismo 5
Released 2010 on PlayStation 3
Gran Turismo 4
Released 2004 on PlayStation 2
Gran Turismo 6
Released 2013 on PlayStation 3
Gran Turismo 5: Prologue
Released 2007 on PlayStation 3
Gran Turismo Concept: 2001 Tokyo
Released 2002 on PlayStation 2
Gran Turismo 3: A-spec
Released 2001 on PlayStation 2
Gran Turismo 4: "Prologue"
Released 2003 on PlayStation 2

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Brolin Empey.

Additional contributors: PCGamer77, DreinIX, Zaibatsu, CalaisianMindthief, Patrick Bregger, Pedro Cunha, Rik Hideto, Victor Vance, FatherJack.

Game added April 24, 2001. Last modified February 27, 2024.