When Gran Turismo was first introduced on the original PlayStation in 1997, it immediately set the conventions, not only of its own franchise, but of sim racing as a whole.
The emphasis on a realistic driving experience, an unreal dedication to making virtual recreations of real-life vehicles, and pushing the limits of technology to provide sophisticated graphics, set the bar for everyone, as far back as 27 years ago.
As the years passed, Gran Turismo did see its status diminish, even before they saw the rise of competing sim racers that outmatched them on multiple fronts, such as iRacing. As developer Polyphony Digital tried to push their franchise forward, many of their new ideas would prove less and less popular.
Even as Gran Turismo had a dedicated fanbase, and remained a key franchise for Sony, each newer game proved less and less popular. Gran Turismo 7, released for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, faced harsh fan reaction because of multiple controversies.
Those issues included an online DRM requirement, a severe grind to earn new vehicles, and a truly terrible microtransaction controversy, that forced no less than franchise lead Kazunori Yamauchi to apologize to fans.
In so many words, the Gran Turismo franchise isn’t exactly in a great place right now, and Polyphony Digital needed to find ways to renew interest, particularly to find new fans.
And so, Yamauchi has today announced their latest title on the PlayStation Blog, called My First Gran Turismo. As the tagline goes, “My First Gran Turismo is intended for those who have yet to experience Gran Turismo.”
Yamauchi does say some things about this game that may interest older fans. In his words:
“This experience holds a special place in my heart, as it pays tribute to the origins of the first Gran Turismo, where players of all generations discovered the joys of driving.
Whether it’s introducing kids to the joy of racing for the first time or reigniting a forgotten passion for driving, My First Gran Turismo was designed to be both approachable and immersive, created for everyone, with no limits on age or driving skill level.”
My First Gran Turismo is a very trimmed down version of Gran Turismo 7, but perhaps Polyphony Digital realized that they needed to do this so that it wouldn’t be so intimidating. You can carry over any cars you earn here over to Gran Turismo 7.
Most of the basics of the franchise, dating from the very first game, are here. Races, Time Trials, Practice Runs, and License Center are all recognizable from previous games. There’s also a Music mode where you just drive through the length of an entire song.
It also has the presentation Polyphony Digital is known for, so you can coo at each car’s profile, enticing you to collect as many of them as you can. My First Gran Turismo also has full achievements and PSVR 2 support.
It’s not clear if My First Gran Turismo will have microtransactions of some form in the future, but this is at least an interesting prerogative for Polyphony Digital. Maybe this is effectively a glorified demo for Gran Turismo 7. But we’ll see if Polyphony manages to get enough attention away from Fortnite to bring this little free-to-play title up.
My First Gran Turismo will release tomorrow, December 6, 2024, on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
