PlayStation Official Magazine Lists GT Sport Release Date as November 16
Gran Turismo Sport 55 June 19, 2017 by Kyle Patrick
At E3 last week, Polyphony Digital treated Gran Turismo fans to a new release window for GT Sport. If “Fall 2017” wasn’t specific enough for you however, it looks like PlayStation has revealed a more exact release date. According to the latest issue of PlayStation Official Magazine UK, the game will launch November 16.
The news comes to us care of WCCFTech.com. There, WCCFT points out that the magazine has a track record with outing release dates. This lends credence to the mid-November release date, but without Sony or Polyphony’s official statement, it remains a rumor.
November 16 may sound familiar to GT fans. That’s actually the exact date — in 2016 — that Sony set for GT Sport’s European launch. This was prior to the late-summer delay announcement last year, of course. Nonetheless, the identical date has us skeptical, not least because it falls on a Thursday: in the UK, games typically release on Fridays.
Regardless of when it launches, GT Sport was readily available for play at E3 last week. Fans were treated to a brand new trailer, and a new circuit was unveiled. We chatted with Kazunori Yamauchi (twice), and learned a second beta may be on the cards.
In terms of the actual cars, Polyphony quietly bumped the total count to over 177 Super Premium models. The latest build also introduced numerous new cars at E3 — including a wild racing Beetle — so we’ve gathered them all up here.
Stay tuned to GTPlanet for more updates on GT Sport‘s release date as we approach autumn. Thanks to AKps3 for the tip!
New GT Sport Gr.X Class Spotted at Goodwood Festival of Speed 2017
Gran Turismo Sport 14 July 1, 2017 by Kyle Patrick
The 2017 edition of the Goodwood Festival of Speed is in full swing in the south of the United Kingdom. While all manner of cars take to the hill — with an unusual Bernie statue nearby — gamers can also get behind the wheel of some of 2017’s upcoming racing titles.
One such game is Polyphony Digital’s Gran Turismo Sport. The franchise has been a semi-regular fixture at the yearly event, first showing up in 2013 when GT6 added the 1.1-mile run up Lord March’s drive. This year the PlayStation racer is available to the public near the FIA stand. While it seems to be running a similar build to the one we sampled at E3 a few weeks back, there’s been a change to the class structure.
The video above, as captured by GTPlanet member Aderrrm, shows the available cars on site at Goodwood. Near the end, we see a handful of Vision GT cars all labeled “Gr.X.” This is a new class, one seemingly made only for the wilder projects from the long-running program. The Toyota FT-1 VGT, for instance, still remains in Gr.3.
It isn’t yet clear why Polyphony has made the change. The Gr.1 class these cars used to belong to isn’t as well-populated as Gr.3 or the N-series classes. With the Vision GT cars moved into what seems to be their own dedicated class, could Polyphony be planning a separate series for them? Could more modern-day prototypes appear to bolster the Gr.1 ranks? With the car list seemingly swelling to 177 cars, there could be more surprises in store.
These questions should be answered relatively soon: the game is set for a release later this autumn. Meanwhile, the Goodwood Festival of Speed runs until July 2. Stay tuned for any additional news as it comes out of the show. Special thanks to Aderrrm and Marky264 for their info!
GT Sport Pit Stop Captured at Goodwood — Mechanical Damage Confirmed?
Gran Turismo Sport 12 July 3, 2017 by Brendan Rorrison
The latest build of GT Sport shown at the Goodwood Festival of Speed has given us a glimpse at the title’s pit stop mechanics. Captured by GTPlanet user Aderrm, the video shows how pitting currently works in the latest GT title.
How Does it Look Presentation Wise?
Gran Turismo Sport will follow its predecessors by featuring fully animated pit crews. Upon driving into the pit area, the camera switches to a cinematic view like the in-game replays. The player will then be prompted to choose the required service and the crew do their thing.
The actual animations of your pit team look inline with what we’ve seen previously through GT5 and GT6. The paddock behind your pit team is totally empty, so we don’t see anything to the level of detail seen in something like Codemasters’ Formula 1 series yet. That being the case, it’s still encouraging to see an actual pit stop in game for the first time. Possible Pit Delays and Mechanical Damage?
If we look at the small 20 second clip further, there are some intriguing inclusions. During the pit stop, we can see two timers on the screen. One specifies overall pit time and the other shows time stopped in the pit area.
Given Gran Turismo Sport’s focus on esports broadcasting, this is most likely for spectator benefit. That being said, could this indicate that time carried out to complete a certain task is actually variable? Yamauchi has previously expressed interest in introducing human drama to the GT series, and dynamic pit stops would certainly line up with that. We’re interested to see just how much time differs between carrying out the same types of work during a pit stop.
It also doesn’t appear that pit stops will be strictly limited to tire and fuel changes either. The UI specifies that the engine, suspension and aero can all be repaired. Is this our first official confirmation of mechanical damage in the game?
The subject of damage hasn’t been a big focus for GT Sport’s marketing so far. The ongoing beta shows some visual bumps and scrapes but nothing at a mechanical level. If this is evidence of a damage model that incorporates suspension, engine and even aero repairs, this is a massive improvement for the series. No work on these aspects takes place in the video, so we’ll have to wait and see for now. A Step in The Right Direction
We’ve had hints that pit crews would appear in GT Sport but now we can finally see them in action. As always, it’s worth bearing in mind this is still footage of a work-in-progress title and as such may not be representative of the finished game. That being said, it’s hard not to get excited with our first look at GT Sport’s pit system in action.
Hopefully with the fall release window approaching fast, we’ll get a direct-capture look at the pit team in action soon enough. Last month, GTPlanet got the chance to try the E3 2017 build of the game: you can read our thoughts here.
Gran Turismo Sport 32 July 11, 2017 by Kyle Patrick
Just as it’s about to celebrate four months of activity, the GT Sport Closed Beta Test will reportedly come to an end July 16.
The news comes from various beta players, with the first sign of a public announcement belonging to Twitter user fu_ko1221111.
The beta just received an update last week, introducing damage and consumables into the mix. These features were part of the newest public build, which was present at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Pit stops appeared to have taken on a bigger role in the game, with players getting the option to repair various parts of their cars while in the garage. With the game’s esports focus, this should add an extra layer of strategy to races.
The GT Sport Closed Beta originally kicked off back in March. A month later, Polyphony Digital added European countries to the program, as well as South America. At the end of May, version 1.06 expanded into Asia and Oceania. While neither PD nor Sony have shared player figures, estimates peg the beta count somewhere in the four digit range.
If you have access to the beta, you’ll want to get some final seat time in before July 16. This may not be the end, however: during our interview with Kazunori Yamauchi at E3 2017, he dropped a hint that a second, more feature-rich beta could arrive. Yamauchi put a pin in August — so it may not be a long wait at all. Gamescom takes place at the tail end of next month, too…
Even if a second beta doesn’t appear, GT Sport is still scheduled to release in Fall 2017. The beta had a few dozen cars available across three classes: the final game will include 177 vehicles, adding rally cars and the ongoing Vision GT program to the mix. GT Sport will feature 19 locations with 27 track variations across them.