Gran Turismo 6 Review (PlayStation 3)

I was trying for the tenth or so time to get first place on the shorter version of Nurburing using a high powered Mercedes, when Gran Turismo 6 finally clicked for me and revealed its potential as the best racing game for the current generation of home consoles.

I was fighting my car, trying to make it corner at speed when I knew that I was supposed to respect the racing line, slow down and then push the pedal in order to reach and overtake the current occupant of the second spot.

Playing then triggered a memory of a similar moment in GT 5 and I remembered how much that game frustrated me and how I ultimately became a huge fan and decided to take things slow, spend time with the most recent racing title from developer Polyphony Digital and publisher Sony and learn to love the series once again.

The game offers an almost bewildering variety of cars and events to play through and can create some awesome moments, but it’s pretty clear that the ambition of the developers working on the game has exceeded the capabilities of the PlayStation 3.

The game is solid and fans will love it, but there are areas where the fact that it is working with old tech is a problem.

Story

The classic Career structure of Gran Turismo as a series is intact and that means that once again, players will start out with low-powered and relatively ugly vehicles and will then have to work up their way through events and categories.

As more races are unlocked and currency is earned, the garage expands, tunning becomes important to extract the most performance from all vehicles, licenses need to be earned and the level of competition increases exponentially.

Gran Turismo 6 is clearly created by a studio that’s in love with cars because they can be used in high-powered races but also because they can deliver fun and crazy experiences like knocking over cones while drifting.

Cockpit view

Nurburing run

The Festival of Speed and the various challenges introduce a lot of new ideas that, at first, seem incredibly silly, but can quickly occupy tens of hours of time for a passionate fan, especially once the action moves to the Moon.

There’s a huge amount of content here, but gamers need to be prepared to deal with the roadblocks that have come to define the series, the license tests, which continue to feel unforgiving and somewhat unnecessary.

Gameplay

I have played Gran Turismo 6 after spending about two days with Forza Motorsport 5 and initially, the Polyphony Digital experience seemed like a step back in terms of mechanics, but the two series use two very different approaches, each of them with its own merits.

GT6 is a game about the very fragile equilibrium between power and weight and about how good a player can be at keeping them in the balance given the specific characteristics of the car he is using and the track he needs to conquer.

Those who play in the Career mode might feel that cars are very similar, but simply jumping into a single race using the Jaguar or another high powered car will quickly show how much variety Polyphony Digital has implemented.

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The biggest challenge in Gran Turismo 6 is to remember how one should approach the Nissan as opposed to the Mercedes, but it’s the kind of challenge that car lovers will meet with enthusiasm.

The tracks included in the game are another highlight, with the newly added Bathurst, Brands Hatch and the obscure Ascari set to challenge the classic Nurburing, with its four versions, for the title of player favorite.

The biggest issue with the racing in GT6 is the Artificial Intelligence, which seems more aggressive than it ever was and tends to recklessly slam into the player in order to stick to the racing line, especially when using the most powerful cars.

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The team at Polyphony Digital has also implemented a very noticeable rubber banding system, which makes sure that the player always remains competitive and has a chance to finish at least in the top three, with the winner usually the only car that requires serious work to overtake.

Gran Turismo 6 also features microtransactions that give players the option to use real-world money to get credits and then buy any included vehicle at any point.

Sony claims that the move is designed to help those with limited time. So far, the Career is giving me plenty of credits and I don’t feel like I am pressured to pay in order to get access to content.

Graphics and audio

Gran Turismo 6 tries to squeeze every last ounce of performance from the PlayStation 3, but the old hardware clearly cannot deliver the experience that Polyphony Digital is envisioning and it shows.

The game looks as good as any other racing title on the platform and there are moments when the details of the car combines with the environment and the opponents to create a very engaging experience.

At the same time, GT6 is nowhere near the explosion of beauty that Forza Motorsport 5 can deliver at the best of times and cannot match the wide open roads that Need for Speed: Rivals can conjure up on both next-gen and older consoles.

Closer look

Car variety

It will be very interesting to see what the team at Polyphony Digital can create when it gets access to the power of the PlayStation 4.

The sound design for Gran Turismo 6 continues the weird tradition of the series, using everything from smooth jazz to hard rock to illustrate the races, but the soundtrack sometimes seems unnecessary given the beautiful and powerful roar of the engines.

Multiplayer

The multiplayer of Gran Turismo 6 has been upgraded with more contact between the involved players and it’s pretty nice to get away from the rather rigid Artificial Intelligence and counter the tactics and car setup of some real humans.

However, at its heart, the game is clearly aimed for the solitary racer who wants to fall in love with cars over and over again and Polyphony Digital knows this and offers a much wider variety of single-player events.

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion