Gran Turismo 6 Review: Simulation V. Stimulation, The Battle Continues

The real driving simulation just got even realer? (Wait, that doesn’t sound right.)

Disclaimer: Do you ignore your check engine light, or perhaps, have a Paul Walker Tattoo? 

If you answered yes to either of these questions, this game is not for you. But if you want a game that is technical, punishing at times, rewarding, and loaded with content, then by all means, keep reading. Gran Turismo 6 is to me the desert island racing game. If I had to pick one racing game, out of F1 2013, Dirt 3, Forza 4 (not counting Forza 5 because a. there wasn’t enough content to warrant being on this list  and b. next-gen is cheating). Also, excluding Grid 2 (see Paul Walker question) it basically comes down to GT6 as the one game that does everything well enough to keep me happy.

Kazunori Yamaguchi and his team have packed into a single game, a visually exciting love letter to the automobile and the surrounding culture. Don’t get me wrong, the car porn is strong with Forza but it doesn’t go that extra mile that Gran Turismo 6 does. I just have to look to the inclusion of the Light Automobile Company Rocket (if only they could have actually gotten the license to a period BRM) or the choices to include both modern race cars and scores of classic licensed models across the decades.

Gran Turismo 6 is as an expression of the history of motor sports. It’s pretty damn good, although it won’t please everyone. This is the fundamental problem with racing sims, where either you can take the micro approach or the macro alternative. Meaning, you can focus on a particular discipline, and strive to create the greatest experience for that discipline (like Codemasters with Formula 1), or you take a wider view and incorporate a blend of racing disciplines and car types. The latter is the view Gran Turismo takes, with locations and cars that are from the highest heights of auto racing, to stuff people just made up. It is an interesting blend. Where you find yourself driving a Prius on Monza realizing how painfully slow the car you think is OMG-AMAZING, in real life, actually is.

But getting back to the Prius example. There are times where you have to sacrifice fidelity for accessibility, such as making tracks wider to accommodate more types of cars. Imagine a Mustang GT trying to turn the same corner as a purpose built race car: it’s not going to happen. Also skill needs to be taken into account, as not everyone wants to careen into a wall because they missed their braking point. But, still, GT6 rewards skill, both in terms of gameplay and content. The seasonal events, for example, (if you are “about that life”), provide an awesome way to refine your technique while unlocking content that the “Bro, this car has NOS” crowd might overlook (or worse yet turn to microtransactions to unlock. *gasp* Call Kotaku!)

Gran Turismo 6, in short, gives you back what you put in. There’s been few moments in the past few weeks where I’ve felt cheated, or something glitched when and all of a sudden, I went hurtling out of control. The driving itself feels like, for lack of a better way of putting it: car geeks got together and made a game for other car geeks. Every time I think I have this game pegged it changes and I find a new car that makes my eyebrow shoot up, or I try a new seasonal event that makes me want to fling my controller like a pressure sensitive batarang at the nearest destructible object

Note: Andretti’s Hudson Hornet challenge: the rage was real.
But there are some serious warts on this here toad. A lot of buzz went around the intertubes about this game coming out on PS3. Which, to some, is a shock but it also comes as a business decision quite naturally. First, the standard models cannot be ported over to the PS4. It would be a crime against humanity and I will cry a river of tears that could drown a giraffe in platform shoes. And more people worldwide own PS3s. Now, despite what you hear from the hype mongers, console warriors, nitpickers and generally nefarious individuals.

The standard models aren’ too shabby. Yeah, there’s no cockpit, so you can’t shove your imaginary speeding tickets into your imaginary glove boxes, but the cars themselves are fully functioning models in the physics engine and most of the differences are more or less cosmetic. And as a point of reference, yes, some of the engine sounds are bad. They don’t sound like as a Kirby vacuum running on a hardwood floor like some of those aforementioned nefarious types like to claim, but they could definitely be improved.

On to the more pressing issues. Frame rate, if the PS3 can’t render dust, high-res paint, fuzzy dice, and that change that fell out of your pocket at the drive thru, then please, don’t include the dust and invest in a change dispenser. There are some moments where the game can bog down like a Chevy Aveo on a hill climb and it comes across like limitation of the hardware. Sadly, this shows where Gran Turismo 6 pushes the envelope. (I am not saying things can’t be tweaked and hopefully if there is a 2.0 version it’ll be remedied). Nevertheless, you shouldn’t have frame rate drops in a triple A title after years of development.

GRRRR, shame on you Polyphony. But they of all people might actually do something about it. Damage, it’s not a huge issue. It’s cool that the paint gets messed up, but I’m on the fence about it. It’s nice that some idiot can’t T-bone you and break your car in half, but it also is hilariously dumb to see a car fly at 100+ mph into a wall, then skip off like nothing happened. I really don’t know where to fall on this one. I think damage should be on the table as an option, but I don’t know if it will ever be incorporated.

Which comes to the point of why this review is devoid of scores and other numerically quantifiable signage. (Editor’s Note: Actually none of our articles in 2014 will incorporate them, ha, ha!) It’s incomplete, simple as that. Everyday, there’s a new update, new content keeps getting added, and the game itself is pretty much still under development. Aside from the usual DLC shenanigans, Polyphony Digital is still rolling out full-fledged parts of the game. Yamaguchi has confirmed a myriad of upcoming upgrades from a course creator, to a mobile app with GPS tracking, to community and online refinements. The game, much like my opinion is still evolving. There are things the game does well, but then there are things that make little to no sense or are done badly. Like the Lunar missions, as cool as they are, I am inclined to leave them out. They’re cool novelties and show off the physics engine, but they don’t add anything to the core gameplay.

When it’s all said and done you get a game that can keep you busy for hours. Will frustrate you, reward you, make you proud, make you hate yourself, and most of all make you love cars more than you already do. If you are looking for a game that celebrates the past while looking to the future while being slightly anachronistic and is loaded with most things a car geek could want then, pick up Gran Turismo 6.

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