The Full Story of the ‘Worst Gran Turismo’ 

So, after I finished making this video some interesting information came to light. Late last year, the sales numbers for GT Sport (and many other Sony titles) were revealed after a data breach. The data leaked implies that GT Sport sold 12.7 Million copies making 355 Million Dollars in revenue (see here: www.gtplanet.net/data-leak-reveals-gt-sport-sold-12-7-million-copies-generating-355m-in-revenue/) This would put GT Sport behind only GT3 (14.8 Million) in terms of all-time sales, and given that this data comes from March 2019, this means that it has likely now surpassed it to become the highest selling Gran Turismo game. But what I think is really telling about this was my initial reaction to reading this, which was: “Bullshit.” So you’re telling me that the GT game that received middling reviews, made many long time fans turn away from the series, and generally represented the franchise at its lowest point in terms of overall cultural impact or general interest from the wider gaming community, now sits as its all-time most commercially successful title? It just sounds ridiculous. But, hey, the numbers don’t lie, and it is broadly in-line with data we’ve seen in the past (although not exactly, see here: www.gtplanet.net/gt-sport-has-more-than-7-million-players-according-to-polyphony-digitals-latest-figures/) There can be many reasons for this - such as gaming as a past time being far more widespread than it was 20 years ago. Something else we have to accept about modern Gran Turismo is that it does have a broader appeal than the older games did. It’s far more accessible, but with the caveat that the gameplay is nowhere near as deep in any aspect. It truly now is the ‘Jack of all trades but master of none’ racing game. Ultimately, none of this changes how I feel about modern Gran Turismo - everything I’ve said in this (and previous) videos is still 100% accurate to how I feel. Sales and profit should never be the main motivator when it comes to creative works, and I still believe that - no matter how many people disagree with me - Kaz and Polyphony aren’t so short-sighted to not recognise this either. Their decision to pivot the franchise as they have is primarily by creative choice - not simply to just chase the Dollar signs - and I’ll still hold this sentiment even when GT7 inevitably blows past Sport to become the new best seller. We can argue ad nauseam that the design of the older games (with their long and detailed offline GT modes) was far superior to what we have now but, at the end of the day, you can’t force people to make a game which they have no interest in making anymore. And, for me, that’s where the discussion ends. I’m pretty much done with talking about ‘Phase 2’ Gran Turismo (GT Sport and GT7) on this channel. From now any future GT retrospectives will be focussed on ‘Phase 1’ (GT1-6) given that is what interests me the most. I will still talk about Sport and 7 on occasion, but only the specific topics within them that I find interesting, or within some other form of wider context. This video - combined with my GT Critique series on GT7 last year - represents my entire thoughts and feelings on the current state of this franchise - there is nothing more for me to say. It’s now 2024, and I have plenty of fun and interesting videos that I want to make. Almost a year to the exact day that I uploaded my first video essay on GT7, it’s finally time to let go and move on. Cheers.

i love how pd couldve gone with a name like "club re" for their rotary event like in gt4, but someone at pd thought, "the passion of dr wankel" was clearly better and im glad they did

Hosting a professional, officially-hosted eSports championship where the winners don't even receive a money prize has got to be the dumbest thing imaginable.

GT Sport, regardless of what people think of it, was EXACTLY what it was advertised as - thats the big difference between it and GT7. GTS was advertised as a stripped down, race focused online racing title, and it was exactly that. It would go on to be, imo, the primary gateway to simcade racing for many. For me, GTS got me into organized leagues, and eventually into running one myself. GTS changed the hobby, and i know tons of people who started on sport and eventually went to real sims like PC2, ACC, Iracing, RF, etc etc. I have so many good memories of competitive races in sport mode, and on leagues. So much time practicing, making liveries for team races, etc. And the more race/car oriented fanbase that played Gts was so nice to be around vs the "omg japan" crowd that follows main line Gt. Its why so many of us were excited for GT7. The professionalism of GTS mixed with traditional GT? And instead we got a purposely misrepresented, falsly marketed car collecting game thats an insult to the series. End my pre-caffiene rant. Great video rofl Edit: truth Bombs dropped like crazy in that last 3rd of the video. Crazy.

Honestly I miss the GT Academy era, dropping it completely was a huge mistake. Imagine if we had both Sport and the academy..

The fact that GTSPORT is being shut down after the release of GT7 should put everyone on high alarm. When we get a GT8 in the next 5 or so years, GT7 is going to be a paperweight. The removal of online wasn't nearly as bad in GT5 and GT6 since they were still singleplayer games, and progress was saved locally on your console (or the PS+ cloud) GTSPORT and GT7 however need online to even function, and PD's announcement of the end of online service doesn't clarify if you will still be able to save progress. I've seen all sorts of wild defenses and copes to somehow justify this. "You are just poor", "I don't bother playing old games anyway", "Everyone has internet" You are not poor for wanting to be able to replay the game you own several years, or even decades down the line. Imagine if we had this always-online live service bs back in the late 90's. You would not be able to go back and play GT1 or GT2.

GT Sport's soundtrack was phenomenal. I fully expected them to continue the trend in GT7 as it just sounds like a true evolution.

I bought sport a little while ago for like $10, and I don't ever game online so my experience with it has been great! I love this game as a time trial simulator where I get to rip laps around a very good looking spa or Nurburgring or Laguna Seca with unique feeling cars. Even as a fan of realmlife racing, learning the real life tracks taught me an appreciation for what the red bull ring is really like, or Monza... As a $10 game this is a 10/10

See Turn 10, this is what "building from the ground up" actually looks like.

thank god he's back, ive had withdrawals 😩

Sport was underrated And the aesthetic style was off the charts, on the levels of GT4 and 5 amount of atmosphere and theme unlike the incoherent mishmash amalgamation we have in GT7. It was basically the best way they could deliver a "GT7 Prologue" , and in some aspects its better than its successor.

For all sports flaws, i still enjoyed it. I spent days crafting and perfecting liverys for cars and loved showing them off and sharing them.

GT League actually reminded me a lot of GT PSP, i started in a Pontiac Vibe GT, and 100k credits, so i went into the dealer to search for anything better. Then i bought the original un-facelifted Honda NSX in Formula Red and did whatever i could until i found a Mazda Familia, did some events until i could buy another car and just repeated the cycle, trying to change things a little between events.

Here's my theory... Gran Turismo Sport (GTS) was made to be a "beta version" of GT7. Polyphony knew they wanted to spend a long time developing GT7 to be the best game they can make (similar to the 12 year gap between GTA5 and GTA6). So, I think they released GTS to "test" some features (such as the livery editor, on track HUD, driving mechanics etc...) that were made for GT7, to better judge what the player base likes, and doesn't like (when it comes to new features). Also, I think this is why all tracks, cars (for the most part), and livery's were transferred to GT7 from GTS.

Why can't we have a game which is a mix of old GT Games, GT Sport and GT7. Take the best features from all games and make the best GT game ever

i remember being a kid when my parents gifted me a ps4 with just dance and gran turismo. and as a kid, gt felt soulless, i played it a bit and got istantly bored and i never regretted abandoning it, since 3 month (after 7+ years) ive returned playing it, honestly i find it fun to just cruise, drift (especially) and doing other things

That was almost an hour well spent, isn't it? I still remember first time touching GT Sport (my last GT was 4), and was confused "what's what? Where's GT mode?", and slowly understand what's going on in this game Now that I think about it, something that I can appreciate about GT Sport, is the fact that their single player event list feels more like past GT games, than whatever GT7 have, which funnily enough, GT Sport doesn't give you an objective, so do what you want, contrary to 7. Imagine if you have menu books, and then as barebone as GT7 campaign is, they throw the GT League to you. I think it's quite better than what we have now (minus the "catch the rabbit" style race, which actually still unmotivated me to do more single player race on GT7). And ofc, as much as how "not realistic" the economy was (according to, Mr. Yamauchi), I think GT Sport's economy (in terms of car prices) seems more sensible, and with the fact there's always a race for your car, that'd be great deal, TBH Now, if GT Sport will be forgotten or not, I think the game will. Because the core appeals is the Sports mode (literally the name), and when the server's dropped, what more could you do? The cake have eaten out, only the icing remains. It's true, that's the influence, that probably change GT forever, will remain remembered, but outside of that, as a game, it's already overshadowed by something slightly better called GT7 (which somewhat seems abysmal on what it's trying to be) I still think, modern GT, modern Forza, and probably most games now, trying to appeal on a NEW minority people, which seems good, but they do it by dropping what's was appealing to the OLD TIME fans, which actually backlash quite much on franchise as a whole. But then again, the audience have changed. Most people now prefer to hear an Lexus LFA screaming, than having a playable single player content, since they have so much money to spent on online pass I won't say GT Sport is the worst. The game have identity, it clears what it want to be, they didn't do lying marketing (far as I'm aware). But again, it's far from what GT used to be, and TBH, I doubt it'd be that much remembered

Anyone who says that Gran Turismo Sport was the worst Gran Turismo is completely wrong. That game had a selection of ambient, jazz and instrumental music that was unbeatable for me. I still remember spending hours customizing cars with that mesmerizing song called I:Cube - Adore. The game's layout was phenomenal too, it's one of the most perfect in terms of minimalist and modern menus in itself. It was the only game that made me stop at the menu for several minutes just because of the stories told in those slides. Despite having a lot of dirty players online, the way it was constructed was also phenomenal. I didn't have an extensive list of cars, but what I had was enough for me. The only flaw in this game was the single player, which doesn't have as much immersion as Gran Turismo 4, for example. Anyway, to this day, a game has never given me the vibe that Gran Turismo Sport gave me in terms of being purely chill out in its entire experience and layout, but at the same time competitive when it needed to be.

Also 31:40 they couldn't even do that with GT7 with how much stuff had to be cut until later updates. Unfortunately, like you mentioned in the video, GT as achieved much, but it could achieve so much more. There is so much missed opportunity with nearly every facet of not just Sport, but now GT7. It's a blessing but also a tragedy that GT carries such strong brand awareness in the racing game community and how Kaz being a visionary also feeds his senseless delusions. Just like what happened to Hideo Kojima, Kaz needs a break from developing GT, although maybe not as ruthlessly enforced as Konami did.

If gran turismo sport servers are shutting down 22 months after gran turismo 7 released, then that proves gran turismo 5 servers could've shut down october 2015 instead of may 2014 (I think many games also shut down their online the same day as gran turismo 5, so they would've all been on the same servers) also, because gran turismo sport is likely a gran turismo 7 beta, they could've kept gran turismo 6 servers up until 31st january 2024 or 5 months after gran turismo 7 released (Similar to gran turismo 5)

Igor "Brake Check Is OK In FIA" Fraga

This is a great video, thanks for putting some light on what GT Sport helped create. Though having attended both GTWS events in 2023, I can confidently say a lot has changed about the events since you were in the competitive space. Drivers do get paid now. It isn't too much money and it varies for how many series you qualify for, but it's something that drivers have wanted for a long while now. Not to mention you basically get a free vacation on top of that. There is something to be said about the spotlight that the events put on the drivers. It can help drivers grow their own avenues of content. GTWS regulars get a fairly high view count on their livestreams. Interest in GTWS has grown according to the production team, as the official livestreams hit record numbers this year. All three nights of the live event in Barcelona were sold out weeks in advance as well. Something I wish for the future of GTWS is the opportunity to race in real life. Kaz has expressed his desire to get more sim racers into real life racing, so hopefully something could come from that...? Well done on the video. I'll miss Sport. It changed my life in a way I never thought possible.

GTS was my first Gran Turismo game as a teen (I had GT3 when I was a kid but played it like, twice) and since I had no clue what I was "missing" I had an absolute blast and thoroughly enjoyed it. But then a couple years ago I picked up a copy of GT4 and emulated it on my PC, and man, I was completely blown away, I've done so much in that game, possibly played it as much as I did GTS, and I'm still only a few decimals shy of 18% completion.

Didn't noticed you took part in the Top 24 Superstars race, seeing so many cars on track with that many players connected was a fever dream and give online races more activity front, mid and back of the field. Nowadays in GT7 they couldn't have 20 cars on track with many players connected without having the PS4 crashing itself.

I've got a real soft spot for GT Sport, I put a lot of time into the GT League and the physics of the game made the cars feel a real hoot to drive. To the point where I'd even just chuck cars round tracks in Tine Trial mode a lot of the time.

My memories of this game will forever be coupled to my memories of my first 2 years of moving in with my gf. I didnt want to continue gaming on a pc since that would have been quite isolating. So i opted to buy a used ps4 pro and gt sport which the videos of super gt made me put it on my wishlist anyway. We spent coutless evenings of me driving sport mode rather passively and us talking over so many things. Sometimes related to racing but mostly all the stuff. GT Sport is one of the first things that i think of when it comes to our first apartment.

GT Sport is/was what I wanted Gran Turismo to be. A driving game, where cara behaved like cars and sounded like cars. Never mattered to me the number of cars or the endless collection and catalog side of things. We get it all wrong. Cars are cool as machines, and not as products.

My biggest issue with GTS was the music. It was so completely off from "racing theme" unlike PS1 - PS2 generations. Felt more like I was playing a drug trafficking game.

The only reason I was disappointed with GT Sport but I was with GT7 is because it was honest about its intentions while GT7 definitely wasn’t. I wonder if I want to get the online trophies before it’s too late. I probably don’t have the time. I also never beat any of Hamilton’s times.

The single player garage / sport mode garage being as you said is a fantastic idea. It would be great for career progression but also fair for new sport mode players.

In retrospect, while we of course missed the single player content in this one, what they did implement was done with such care and polish that I couldn't help but still enjoy it. I will have fond memories of this game and I honestly wouldn't be opposed to a Sport 2. While 7 has become a healthy balance, I still don't think it does single player as well as 4, nor does it do multiplayer quite as well as Sport.

The music you played at the start; Summer crystal from gt sport, makes me very hapy 🗿

now i dont think im qualified to say much but as someone who started in the franchise with gt sport, i have absolutely loved the music, the car designs, the tracks and just the overall single player experience and ui and finally detail. I can understand why people disliked the game but it will always have a very very special place in my heart and a huge part in how much i have fallen in love with cars.

I forgot, 24 CAR GRIDS. WHAT THE HELL, WHY DOES GT7 CRASH WITH MORE THAN 9?

I got gt sport on launch as well after skipping the 7th gen Era games. I played quite a lot of my but never really that competitive. When the career dropped I quite enjoyed it a lot, especially the JGTC events which were probably my favourite ones. Running rainy RBR with a GT500 R35 was the probably the thing that brought me back to my childhood. To this day it probably still is my favourite gran turismo to date.

Picked the game up around 3 years ago, maybe 4 years for like 6 dollars...I liked it. I'll be sad to be unable to continue sharing my liveries, and seeing everyone's awesome creations. Ripping around Suzuka was really fun on the drift servers...I will probably continue the SP seige, but engaging with the community made this a memorable game for me. Without that, I am probably just going to keep racing my PC setup. All the corporate usery kind of has me burnt out on buying games. Forza burned me (both FH and FM). GT7 just didnt sound like the way to go. Another few years on the dungeon of frugality until a gem shines above the rest.

GTS is also the game where I put the most hours in. I hope they at least give a patch to let you save single player progression after they shut the server, so at least it'll be playable like Driveclub.

Mate you were robbed! I'm a GT maniac, also got the platinum on sport but I was never even close to your class online, seeing what you've done and did just leaves me in awe! Anyways I hope this ever growing channel makes up for the lack of appreciation you got for being one of the best players the game has ever seen! Love you and love the channels brother!

If absolutely nothing else GT Sport is the new GT3 in a few different ways. -Some neat original content additions that some will adore (As a rally fan, Gr. B is about as eye catching as the original race cars from GT3) -A gigantic step down in raw content numbers compared to its predecessor -People 20 years from now will absolutely look at GT Sport and go "Why does this game still look amazing?!" Though as mentioned the difference between GT Sport and GT3 even with these similarities is, GT3 did tons with what it had, even if it led to... One of the slowest cars in the game on Test Course for 10 laps... Edit: Also probably gonna be the new "Included in every game releasing from GT Sport until..." on the wiki despite it currently very much being the inverse.

I do wonder if the experience on gt5 development led them down the road of releasing unfinished games. It must have stung them pretty hard and I believe it wasn't cynical, but more in the naive hope that they would get round to finishing what they started. But as we know from real life, if you put something off to later it won't happen. The pressure to do the next exciting project will take over and you won't finish what you started. Especially if what you started was based on a muddled vision and poor understanding of purpose. I was hooked on gt1 and 2, then loved 3 and 4 with the added variety and some hard content. But 5 demanded my life and I felt I needed a more casual GT game so went away from the franchise. I always found it ironic that the tagline for sport was driving for everyone, when it was anything but that in reality. It's a sad decline. I now play gt7 with my son. It's noticeable how it hasn't grabbed him the same way the earlier games did me - albeit we aren't the same person, but his love of cars and machines and video games I thought made it a dead cert. Something clearly missing which is a real shame. A genuine CarPG package is what would do that I think, to get ppl invested. It's what good movies do, it's what good content creators do. It should be what good games developers do. Really interesting insight, thank you!

I bought a PS4 just for GT Sport. Loved every minute of it, mind you it was after most of the major updates were released. But felt complete to me by then. Hoping a similar turn over for GT7.

i remember the PD advertising at the time how GT6 FHD models and content would be... futureproof... until they were thrown away in the 4k present... but I think all the premium cars and tracks should have been slab imported into GTS/GT7 with the caveat that it is FHD content in a 4k game... players would have accepted this. What a waste of FHD content and human labor!

I’ll always revere gtsport for one thing: the huge jump up in physics. I remember going back to wrc4 after some years, I had had so much fun with that. But the cars felt like driving on sheet ice with slicks, I couldn’t do it. Not even close. In gt6, it was harsher than gt4 or 5, but you did feel more detail. But after playing gts for a while, I was completely uncalibrated. If I tried it now, it’d feel like Mario karts I imagine. Not sure if gts was, and gt7 is, more realistic or not, but at least we really feel what’s going on underneath. And future gens will be even better at it. No matter the gameplay, that’s a good thing.

I hate how the modern games' singleplayer is so "hand-holdy". Why do good games with single player sandbox campaigns with open ended progression exist in every genre except racing games?

I've played the hell out of every Gran Turismo since the original on PS1. I absolutely loved GT Sport. I raced online with GT5 and 6, but GT Sport brought some structure with the skill rating system, which pushed me into going the whole hog with a sim rig to really test myself racing online. I always stayed around low A+ and won 2 FIA races (out of the 100 or so I raced) which I'm still quite proud of. Had so many brilliant races on GT Sport and it's a huge shame that all my favourite replays, along with many created liveries, will be lost.

I can add to this that for GT sim racing, your best bet is the manufacturer-backed championship like the Toyota GT Cup. They actually give you modest prizes, be it a regional or internatioal cup. It was in 2022 that I participated in the regional GT Cup and the prize pool was $3400 and they doubled that last year.

I used to play Sport Mode races in 2019 too, atleast for 2 months. I played for a season and managed to get first on Mitsubishi EMEA, but the work it took with near daily grinding time trials and practice lobbies just wasn't for me in the long run I guess. I thought the game would be a spinoff and GT7 would really deliver, because their focus on Sport mode was actually not bad, I even threw away my principle of not buying always online titles just for GT because I understood why it was always online, but then GT Sport 2 happened. I never gave the GT League a real try, but I always appreciated them adding it. I was planning on maybe going through it if Polyphony ever added offline saving, but there's still no word on if that will happen or not...

48:44 - Let's not forget that GT Sport had arguably one of the best in-race songs ever IMO: Childish Gambino's Riot. Absolute banger when the race gets chaotic.

With GT Sport, PD greatly misjudged how much of the player base was moving towards online racing, without the added single player content it probably never reached the level of sales it did. If this was meant to be a online title only, there's no way PD would have three quarter's of it's base sitting on the sideline waiting for the next title after that for almost a decade since PD release a title 4 or 5 years at a time.

I'm still not level 50. It takes FOREVER to get from 46 to 50.

Well, a car without an engine and without a chassis is a soap box racer. Not all that fast, but still pretty fun.

Personally, I feel like Yamauchi and the rest of Polyphony started losing their way little by little during GT5 and GT6. When GT Sport released, that's when they all REALLY lost their way. GT7 just with the "always have to be connected online" requirement and the extreme controversy between the events giving you so little credits yet the cars are SUPER inflated because now all of a sudden Yamauchi wants the cars to match their real life values was a massive slap in the face. Oh and of course GT7 has the microtransactions? Come on it's looking obvious that Yamauchi and the rest of Polyphony now fell to the greedy and shady business tactics that companies like EA and Activision started making infamous. The review bombings of GT7 were well deserved.

Your thoughts in this video are exactly the same thoughts that I've been having for a while now after having watched your previous Gran Turismo videos lol. Gran Turismo Sport changed Polyphony Digital: they prioritise online multiplayer more than ever and the RPG elements of the previous games are gone in favour of easier access to vehicles (ignore the fact that a used Skyline can cost 6 figures or more). I think both GT Sport mode and the Vision Gran Turismo cars led to Polyphony Digital to start thinking of Gran Turismo as more than just a game but in the wrong ways. Gran Turismo 7 and GT Sport feel like they wanted to be iRacing for PlayStation rather than racing games for a console. The worst part is that the team is perfectly fine with nostalgia baiting their audience despite not wanting to look back on their older games to take notes on what made players love those games so much. Gran Turismo doesn't feel like Gran Turismo anymore because Polyphony Digital isn't like Polyphony Digital anymore.

The thing I never understood is why did some GT fans get upset that when sport came out it was an online racing focused game. Pd said it was and rather clearly aswell.

I'm really happy you talked about sport as I too spent more time than I want to admit playing this game. It isn't by any means my favourite gran turismo but it still holds a place in my heart by being one of the few online racing games I had fun competing. I wasn't a top tier driver but that didn't matter as the racing I had was very good and exciting. Admittedly I never cared about the bop or checking the certain car that was fastest on most events, but that made it even more special when you could beat those faster cars with the one you picked yourself. It saddens me to learn how meaningless it all was/is for the star drivers with the little or no benefit they get by participating. I get that simracing isn't as popular as csgo, Dota or Fortnite but man, not even letting team sponsors from the drivers? Jeez... Ultimately Sport was destined to be forgotten because of how deviated from the core it was. I can understand it but doesn't leave me less sad given the time I spent and fun I had. At least the in race soundtrack isn't going offline any time soon off RU-vid, so that's some compensation eh?

GT7 is pretty disappointing as well. They don't even have a LeMans endurance race after almost 2 years.

I think I've played very little of the GT League due to reluctance of buying cars (directly in response to the chance of getting that exact car in the daily workout. So I ask this, is it worth it for me to go through those events as I did enjoy the time I put into it? This is also taking into account the game going offline. The Spec II update of GT7 if anything brings me back to do the 5 races each week, which is basically just a couple of hours typically

What I liked the most about GT Sport, something that took me a bit to actually use, was the VR mode, I was always looking at it, kinda sad on how limited it was, but still, it was amazing to just drive around in VR in GT, then GT7 in vr fixed it, and also broke it a bit, the way VR works on 7 makes racing on tracks like Daytona a shitshow, because it aligns with the horizon and not the car, but that was for the better since it makes people feel less dizzy when playing for the first time, and the gear shift animation that... well... at launch it worked as intended, then after the first update... idk what happened, after shifting gears, the driver keeps his hand in the gear shifter FOREVER, unless you turn the wheel a lot, it's been 2 years and they never fixed it, and it makes me sad

PSP and PS Vita era is really a good era for PS fans and handheld console fans but development hell for every studios and devs its seems. Sony expect a totally different game from the console/pc counterparts but still using the same IPs as the console titles. In the end, PSP/Vita game is lesser than even PS2 games due to hardware and deadline limitations. Now handheld console does better bcs its having better hardware and directly port the PC/console game into the handheld console. And it worked, no more half assed or let down game anymore (except some bad ports). While some still found fun in PSP/PS Vita, most saying its such a shame Sony never really took handheld console seriously, and now we see Steamdeck, Asus, Lenovo, Nintendo Switch, etc. is competing on this market fiercely. Sony now left out and releasing the "team viewer" version of your PS5. And about GT7 have lack of content and rely on constant updates. This is the AAA gaming landscape nowadays. Release 1st, get those cash in, and service/finishing the game later. When a game reach this mentality. Bad news, they always heading to the dead of studio/franchise. GT isn't a MMORPG, MOBA, and FPS that always be a good competitive live service genre. Racing is still a niche hobby, segmented market and interest that while it have millions of interest theres another millions that not that into with. SP mode as you said will greatly gather interest to people that not into it to playing and get good at it. But if its online only and ranked, people that just try to dip their feet mostly wont go deeper and moved on to other games. If GT7 can't outdone Sport, GT8 and next will be the 1st downfall of GT series. Again maybe its isnt polyphony decisions, but Sony bcs its clear in term of service and fan service they pretty disconnected with their fanbase especially outside Japan.

I actually got this game for Christmas 2017. I fell in love with it and I still play it to this day. It actually was the game that taught me how to make good liveries, brake at the correct time and take the racing line, drive cleanly, etc. GTS actually made me who I am today. There's alot of things that make this game actually better than GT7 IMO. But I think it's best to leave that all for a time of remembrance. I think the main argument for GTS being the better Phase 2 GT game is the fact that for it being without a single-player campaign, it still does it better than 7. There's alot more to do at the current time, in terms of either goofing off and seeing how stupid you can make things be in the game (i.e. 300mph in a Supra), or driving as hard as you can, pushing yourself to the limit, and overcoming situations that you normally wouldn't be able to do. Like racing Gr.3 cars in a Gr.4 or coming back from a lap down to beat a rival. It was very thought-out, IMO. The next thing is arguably the main focus of the game, Sport Mode, and multiplayer in general. Gran Turismo Sport made the idea that you could either have fun with friends or do things not normally able to be done in a GT game, or instead do competitive racing against the best of the best and hone your skills that way. Gran Turismo 7 still has these available, but in all honesty, it fails because of how it tried to mimic something that did it better. It does have the online time trials, but would you take those as what "pushes it over the edge" and makes it better than GT Sport? Not really.... I will say, GT7 did do well in having better mission challenges and more variety of said challenges, adding to the extra tracks being brought back, actual license challenges (more recently extra license challenges in the form of the Master Licenses [personally that's just what they wanted to do to make GT7 have more stuff than GTS under the surface but whatever]), and even full points-based championships (done poorly but they still exist). But that's present-day GT7. When GTS had its last update, in 2021, and GT7 was in its infancy, Gran Turismo Sport arguably was the better game than 7. 7 completely failed at being the next game in the series by a country mile due to a multitude of issues, whether it be the failed single-player campaign with the menu books (which unlocked all the other stuff btw, GTS had everything able to be enjoyed at any time), the roulette tickets replacing gift cars throughout most of the game, or the race variety being horrendously sub-par AT BEST. GT7 had its fair share of wins, don't get me wrong, with better customization options, a better upgrade system, classic GT mechanics like a Classic Car, Used Car, and 2001-onward Car Dealerships and license tests, and mission challenges like 1 Lap Magic, Top Speed Run, and full-on Endurance events on either the World Map or the Human Comedy mission challenges, with actual CHALLENGE instead of pass, pit, win in GTS. But in my opinion, Gran Turismo Sport won the proverbial race against 7 as the best Gran Turismo game for the modern generation of consoles. It sucks that live-service games like GT and The Crew get cut off so quickly with no way to enjoy them again, and I hope that modders with emulators can get the game's servers back up so it can live forever in our hearts. It may be the worst Gran Turismo to some degree, but it may also be the most underrated piece of gaming history that may very well be talked about forevermore. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

GT Sport's biggest issue was Gr.X which was used as a Trash Dump for cars and the lack of customization

That song "Life on the Mother Ship" by DAAAM!...so the first time I ever heard that, I thought: "WHAT?! They've got Julia Wu on this soundtrack?!" I was a fan of Julia Wu way back in like 2016 when she was first gaining traction, and as soon as I heard "Life on the Mother Ship" I recognized that it's the same tune as the 2nd track of Julia Wu's 2017 album "1:28". (The song is called 夜晩). Is DAAAM! from the same record label as Julia Wu? I have no idea. But I always get a bit of a special feeling when that song comes on. It reminds me of being back in Japan, driving through the mountains while listening to Julia Wu's first full-length album 🙂

I'm considering buying this in spite of the server shutdown. I don't play games online so I'm not personally worried about the deactivation of the multiplayer modes. However, the single player modes seem tempting. Will players still be able to save GT League/Campaign progress and purchase cars offline after the servers shut down? Will saving progress work exactly like GT1-6 after January 24, where progress is saved to the hard drive rather than the cloud? I hope someone can clarify this; to my knowledge, PD haven't outright stated that the single player modes will have offline saving enabled.

Two things that came to mind while watching this: 1) Even the "worst" Gran Turismo is still a damn fine experience, as evident by your 1600+ hours' worth of time sunk into it. Although it was largely a stripped-down experience compared to what us GT players were used to, the driving was still incredible and the Sport mode was so engaging. I don't know what it was about the GT Sport era of the World Championships, but it seemed to fall flat after the transition to GT7. That rivalry of Igor Fraga and Mikail Hizal will never be beaten. That was our Ali vs Frazier. 2) The game's servers going offline is a downside in more ways than one. Among other things, the GT community has a soft spot for the older entries in the series, not just for what they did for the racing genre, but also as a crowning achievement in game development in general. But it has to be said that Polyphony experienced its fair share of pressure from Sony to get its games ready for shipping before they were finished. The most notable example of this was Gran Turismo 2, which had a number of content cut from its game just to get it out in time for the 1999 holiday season. Recently, a fan-made mod has released with a bunch of new content, which you can play via emulation. But with Sport going offline, we're almost certain to not see an equivalent for that game (and any other online-only ones, such as a potential what-could-have-been version of GT7 based on all the stuff we got in teasers).

I am not a GT expert, although I am a big fan. I think a few simple things would really change the single player in GT7. Borrow a page from the original Forza game and reward turning off assists and increasing difficulty. Make damage matter in terms of affecting the car's performance. Give more incentive for completing racing series like the Sunday cup (car roulette), and have the progression make more sense. I played only GT5 before this and now working my way through GT7, I have no idea what makes certain races and tracks unlock. Despite all this, it's still a really fun game. I'm sure you addressed some of this in your other "fix" video, but I can't remember all the many points.

Excellent video mate, I think it would be service to fans if they provided a patch late January to allow players to save there game file on their console, so gt sport could live on if players wished to continue making liveries, completing off line races as we were able to do with past titles. The reasoning to save the files to servers under pd's control come January is moot. It would be a respectful last send off to gt sport and gt fans

i m not too much into online races, i love some competitive racing here and there but still had fun with gt sports. i think i ve got it about a year after its release. there was a singleplayer career structred like an older game, but no prize cars, mostly race cars and not many everyday road cars, no upgrades and sadly no championships. but at least it was clear they tried to focus on online which i m not the biggest fan of, but i thought i would give it a go because i enjoyed gt1-4. i had fun with it, which was the most important aspect, just the chase the rabbit formula was annoying. the soundtrack was good, the cars looked and feeled good and most importantly you could do anything you want. still better than gt 7 in my opinion lol

I don’t dislike that the game is quite literally designed to teach a child how to drive

I'm stoked to find out GT Sport had The Qemists in it, really miss those guys despite listening to their stuff on the daily.

I'm not going to lie... Knowing it wasn't going to be a full on Gran Turismo game, I actually really enjoyed it for what it was. GT7 however was by far the biggest disappointment by a landslide. After GT6 being the biggest game in the series as far as cars or content, you would think GT7 would be even better. But no. The career mode was like nothing. There's nothing to it. Plus there are a lack of other content. And certain cars you can only unlock via "Invitation" which was stupid. Like I can't access all of the cars like the past 6 mainline games? And they really pushed harder than ever for microtransactions because there weren't many big events that could pay you a ton of credits to obtain a 20,000,000 car. It was basically unobtainable at that point. I just think it is kind of a ridiculously terrible game

It's amazing we watched a well-made ≤1 hour docu, yet didn't hear the real(driving simulator) revelation that Gran Turismo Sport is actually the most ambitious and the most glorified "Prologue" title Kaz had produced: yes sir it's just simply simply GT7 Prologue. But hey it's a videogame with decent sales success and a probable sentimental value, why spoil the fun with an anticlimactic conclusion? -A GT Sport "Alpha Stage" Tester

this was my first gran turismo and will always have a special place in my heart 💜

I wish GT Sport never existed and Polyphony gave more time developing GT6 because that game felt rushed.

I absolutely love the daily rewards on GTS. On the contrary, the roulette thing on GT7 is designed to piss players off.

Despite GT Sport’s reception, this game will hold a special place in my heart for rekindling my love for racing games.

GT sport is what got me into more serious sim racing like Iracing. I was lucky enough to get an alpha test download for gt sport and though the content was no where near what the previous gran turismos at first, I had never had as much fun racing competitively against others online. I played it religiously all the way up to FIA test season 10 in which I was able to finish 3rd overall in manufacturer series points after the final all stars race.

One of the biggest improvements in GT Sport IMO was the gamepad controls and how physics were communicated to the player on gamepad. I think it's by far the best of any racing game in history, not even exaggerating when I say that. In GT5 and GT6 the controls felt about on par with Forza, having reasonably nice controls, but with inconsistent and snappy behavior here and there. Forza just feels vague and understeery to me. With GT Sport Polyphony created something that felt fast, responsive, precise and that communicated the car's behavior well. When I replay older racing games on emulator it's clear GT Sport was a step up for racing games as a whole in this aspect. Nobody had done gamepad controls this well before, and with GT7 they've refined it further. This is why I've sunk hundreds of hours into GT Sport and GT7. They feel better to play than all other car games, by a huge margin.

I’m actually simultaneously playing back to back, both the original Gran Turismo, and the original Forza motorsport this past week and have been loving every second of it!!! Why cannot they replicate what they had with Gran Turismo one through five and mostly, Turismo one through four? The very first license test on Gran Turismo one, in order for you to get gold you have to drive at maximum speed in the Demio, waiting till the last possible second to faint motion the car, and then slam the brakes and then tap the E brake to slide the car sideways, making it stop quicker than you would be able to do so by bringing it to a complete stop just using the brakes, so that you could stop the car in enough time to get gold!!!! And Gran Turismo was like this all the way up to Gran Turismo five where there were license test and events in each game up to five, where, if you did not do it “bat out of hell” perfect, you were not getting anything but bronze and if you were lucky, silver- it was basically like dark souls, but in a car game!

The FFB got worse from update in the Beta to the next one. I had a good feeling of my front tires and after that update it was gone and never came back.

@Roflwaffle16 47:37 So can I save the game offline post-server shutdown? I also want to make sure of the offline content that can be preserved, not just the arcade mode, but also Campaign, Brand Central, and Mileage exchange store(now that you've established that GT Sport's economy favors the player instead of publisher Sony.). I need to make sure that GT Sport is worth buying a used physical copy post-server shutdown or if it's essentially a useless disc with just the Arcade mode not worth preserving. Had to text twice for this to appear.

Holy moly don't think I ever saw the League section. I'll have to dust off my GT Sport disc.

And come the 31st january it will be as if the game never existed when the servers get shut down.

I'm gonna miss GT Sports life cycle, a same we're stuck with GT7 and the way they came up with all thing is GT7 was a huge no for me none of the it didn't make sense like the menu books, the game made me can't stand how developers can't make this stuff up, can't stand it.

Also GT Sport introlduced the motion controls, MOST AMAZING INNOVATION EVER

28:08 'why bother?' Sumd up how I feel about GT7 in general.

6:42 Ironically I kind of wish this was a real thing for the GT series where you had a standard race but you had an arcade eques time limit so you had to pass checkpoints to keep it from running out and if you were too slow you were disqualified. That's something Gran Turismo never tried: An arcade game.

GT Sport and GT7 are the reason I dropped Playstation for PC. There was nothing I couldn't get on PC and the one game I wanted wasn't my cup of tea.

Your are right, the game does not feel finished no matter how many tracks and cars were added it never feels finished, is like it keeps on evolving like Lancer one last up to 10 evo and yet is still adding to this day on GT7 soon to reach 500 cars and history will repeat in GT8 but much more bigger cars and track list I hope it can add more events even license with master mode which is good challenging, as far I can say I've never played GT Sport before but from what I can tell in GT7 is all reused just they rework on the menu and such even added more cars in a launch game. So what I can hope for in GT8 in a future? Special event and more license partnership brands and such so they can able to add it in the game, sure we can't get Lotus back yet but at some point in a near future they will able to get it back and add what could've been in a group 4 and 3 for online mode. I hope this legacy will be remembered because it is a rebooted game from ground up and we shall never forget the GT League mode (Please add it back in GT8 in a future...please PD)

I also clocked the most hrs in GT Sport, but it was all because of going after the Platinum trophy. I didnt even like this game, but when GT7 arrived it was a true let down. Got the platinum as well but it was nowhere near as time consuming.

I know this might sound entitled but im glad that I'm not the only one who have the same ideas like having two separate careers, a GT Mode and a Sport mode where you have all of what you need free, or no matter what car or track they add to the GT7 it will still feel empty simply by the way it plays and feels... Hollow. In fact, talking about the second topic: I kinda got ditched out by pointing the truth in some discussion servers I was, but I feel I can freely say it here: Why so many people asked about the Lexus LFA? Or better said; why everyone blindly pursuit it like if the game would get instally better if it had it? In the same update they even give it has a prize car but no one uses it simply because the offline gameplay formula is bad and pointlessly null, and in online modes, it sometimes appears in a Daily Race A that almost nobody does or maybe some private servers will host a race with something that ain't a race car which barely happens... Everyone asked for an LFA, only to now 99% percent of the people even forgot they own one. We shouldn't ask for cars like if the game will get better by having them, even if it's the GT-One or the Toyota 88C-V (a car that wasn't even legendary or performed well, it's simply only just GT4 blind nostalgia)

the real test of weather gt is totally dead to me is how gt sport will look after it goes offline on jan 31st. If it is truelly hulled out useless shell thatwe cant use then we can sing Grand turismo’s final eulogy and abandon them for good

Gran Turismo Sport is the best out of the series right under 2, only thing i miss is the community and the liverys since i only got to play sport mode a couple times. I'm glad i can still progress, buy cars and save at least.

I had no idea GT Sport was shutting down. I might have to give it a play through since I haven't played it since around launch

i feel like if they had made gt7 like a "normal" gt game with singelplayer as the main focus, sport mode wouldve been polyphonys "cod zombies" it would have gotten wildly popular while not going away from the classic gt game feel

About the online championship part, I just like to share there was a time when I took inspiration by the first 5 numbered titles and even wrote an unfinished (real life stuffs killed off my motivation, unfortunately) fan fiction: how a young man participated from Gran Turismo contests to reaching the top of motorsport in the form of a fictional Racing League-the competition is a 'field of dream' as machines from different eras compete with regulated extra boost similar to power upgrades from GT3 onward. No second coming of Jann Mardenborough even GT SPORT's hardware was good enough? Typical Sony-always having unique factors to wow the world, but ended up becoming the double-edged sword stabbing its own-words from a current Xperia user. I may be in no place to speak since owning a new console is out of option for me, but from what I see, GT SPORT kept the competition essence well. GT7? Still an racing game, but act more like Nintendo Switch era Pokemon titles-the fade is apparently shown. Good to see the older games got ongoing mods today.

Gt7 is much better and if it had better single player it would be the best in the series, i will remember gt sport most for how huge it improved the engine sounds, but it was a very lackluster game in many areas,

I'll miss the host migration stuff from Sport, made multiplayer lobbies very viable for hours to come. Where good lobbies didn't die off when the host left unlike in GT7. Some of the best drift lobbies and cruises were in Sport.

Its sad to see that Sony & PD are pulling the plug on GT Sport. I've spent just under 5000 hours in the game (yes i indeed have no life) mainly in lobbies and to say it was fantastic is an understatement. I have met so many good people, incredibly fast and with unmatched skills, had good and frustrating battles. And for us GTS players it is hard to move on to GT7, i have played that game and it doesn't seem to give me the same experience. The handling is totally off, almost like the car is controlling itself, with the lag you can’t get good races. And generally, the match up of cars in lobbies doesn’t work, everybody drives engine swapped cars, with ridiculous horsepower numbers, in GTS there was a hierarchy of cars you knew a Enzo was extremely fast, a RX-7 was in the mid-field and a AE86 was slow and from that go-figure pick a battle, maybe between a M4 and a 300 SEL. Now in GT7 everybody drives high horsepower cars and naturally you need a high horsepower car to try get and pick a race, because practically every car has 700+ HP, which I personally do not like. Of course, the freedom of having swapped cars and all the horsepower you ever need is great, but for us it’s very hard to get used to that. And now with the last month of GTS, there is no more time to enjoy the game to its fullest potential.

I personally will miss GT Sport. After spending almost 4 years on Xbox 360, it was my reintroduction to the franchise. While, yes, the game has its flaws (Big flaws, by the way), it was special in its own way. I played GT4 before, but I was a dumbass kid back then and never played it how I was supposed to. With GT Sport, it was different. I did anything one could (Apart from online racing, I never had much interest in that) inside the game, and it was fun. Just buying cars and driving them was very fun for me. I still do that in GT7, and now I have played GT4 and GT3 properly, but GT Sport will always live in my memory as a comeback to something I always loved. I just hope that GT8 or whatever comes in the future will combine GT4 and GT Sport somehow, as many things from these games can be put together to create the best Gran Turismo game, but PD doesn't seem to think that way. RIP GT Sport, you will be missed

I am not looking forward to the end of the month. It signals the first major franchise I've played where the content gets nerfed.