GT Sport retains its eternal beauty
GT Sport peels off the make-up but is still beautiful underneath... despite what your mates might say. The new GT Sport has received mostly positive, but not outstanding reviews so far and I can see why.
From the outset this benchmark setting racer slots in as yet another wonderfully crafted simulation in the best-selling PlayStation series. It instantly has one up on Sony’s first party racing sim effort Driveclub but actually working at launch, also boasting beautiful graphics, presentation and most importantly of all gameplay and car mechanics. But you could argue that given GT had all that locked down from the original back in 1997 it should be expected.
So what is new to justify its existence? Well, the game has been panned for focusing too much on its online offering and neglecting its hugely-popular singleplayer mode. And it is true in many respects because my biggest complaint would be that - while Polophony have clearly tried to strip GT back to its roots in many ways - it lacks content as a result.
And that’s a problem for the hardcore GT audience who expect more - not less - with every iteration. If you’re looking for quick thrills, though, I firmly believe GT is still the go-to game and it will always have that eternal beauty and rich history to call on. Track and car selection can be addressed with DLC in time even if the offering out of the box pales in comparison to the opposition. When you are playing, though, the game is easily the most polished Gran Turismo yet - and it is finally on PS4.
Most of the boxes are ticked here, GT Sport looks superb, feels next gen and plays great. The lack of car and track content cannot be ignored and will be an issue as will the Driveclub-esque onlineonly nature of game. When GT was bossing the genre in the 90s and noughties the competition was not as strong as it is nowadays.
But make no mistake, this is the original and premium driving simulator, the racing is better than ever and the attention to detail unrivalled. DLC can fix the other problems.