Donald Trump Calls for More American Cars in GT Sport
April 1st, 2017 by Kyle Patrick
The Gran Turismo Sport beta is out in the wild for US fans of the series. Feedback has generally been quite positive, but one notable individual has a bone to pick with developer Polyphony Digital about the car roster: the 45th President of the United States of America.
The famously outspoken Trump took to his favorite platform to express his disappointment with the upcoming sim racer. American cars aren’t adequately represented, it would appear:
A follow-up statement from the Office of Digital Information & Cyber Knowledge was issued this morning. “Gran Turismo is a very popular franchise, and Mr. Trump is a big fan,” said deputy assistant Dee Seever, “but this is a game that will be bought and played by many young, impressionable Americans. They need to know America builds the best products in the world, and in its current state, GT Sport doesn’t make this clear enough.”
The news wasn’t all negative for Sony’s flagship racer. Trump expressed his joy over NASCAR’s seeming removal from the franchise after last being found in Gran Turismo 6. “When you think about it, it’s a fake sport,” said the 70-year old. “Way too much focus on moving to the left all the time. Should focus more on turning right.”
To its credit, Sony has moved quickly to better align its products with the tastes of the current President. Rumor has it that a new three-quarter scale DualShock 4 controller will be unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Expo this June. It most certainly won’t be yuge!
Porsche Officially Confirmed for Gran Turismo Sport
April 11th, 2017 by Brendan Rorrison
After years of wanting and waiting for Porsche to make its way over to the Gran Turismo franchise, it has been confirmed that, yes, the German manufacturer will feature in this year’s Gran Turismo Sport.
The reveal comes from the Playstation Russia Twitter account in a Tweet hyping up the coming European beta that will launch this weekend. However, social media lurkers got more than they may have initially bargained for…
This tease has since been confirmed by the Spanish PlayStation Twitter account, in a follow-up tweet. It’s an odd sight for long term fans of the series, seeing the 911 GT3 RS captured in GT Sport’s phenomenal graphical and lighting engine. We’ve got a feeling the Porsche cars included are going to be a favorite in the Scapes mode.
After we broke the news on Porsche’s exclusive relationship with Electronic Arts coming to an end late last year, many games have included the storied marque. For Gran Turismo fans, this is huge news. It’s almost easier to list which upcoming 2017 racing games don’t feature the sports cars from Stuttgart!
Within some of the images found in the gallery below (uncovered by the eagle-eyed GTPlanet community), we seem to be getting another hint at the unknown tracks first spotted yesterday.
With GT Sport’s motorsport focus, we’ll be crossing our fingers that some of the beautiful race cars the manufacturer has brought to life will also make their way to the game. For now, the tease of 500 hp 911 GT3 RS will have to do.
With the second phase of the beta just about to begin, who knows… perhaps some Porsche models may find their way into players hands sooner than they expect. Stay with GTPlanet for the latest in GT Sport and Porsche updates.
Here Are the Three New Tracks Coming to Gran Turismo Sport
April 11th, 2017 by Kyle Patrick
April seems an appropriate time to say this: when it rains, it pours. We’ve been bombarded with GT Sport news today — the EU beta access, the momentous unveiling of Porsche — and here’s the final piece of the puzzle: three new tracks are coming to GT Sport.
We should preface this with the warning that we don’t know which, if any, of these will be making their way into the recently-updated Closed Beta Test Version. But without further ado, say hello to Blue Moon Bay, Dragontrail Seaside, and Sardegna Windmills.
Blue Moon Bay
As many accurately predicted when we first caught a glimpse of it yesterday, Blue Moon Bay is indeed the second oval to be found in GT Sport. A longer circuit than the current Northern Isle Speedway, Blue Moon Bay looks to be closer to intermediate or even Superspeedway status.
Look closely and you’ll spot Nissan’s controversial GT-R LM Nismo amongst the pack, the first time the car has been spotted in official screenshots.
Dragontrail Seaside
A picturesque circuit featuring substantial elevation changes, Dragontrail Seaside appears to align with the original mystery circuit spotting. Not to be confused with the “Tail of the Dragon” (the 318-corner mountain pass in North Carolina), Dragontrail seems to offer a greatest-hits approach to all of the guesses the GTPlanet community had.
Hints of El Capitan? Check. A bit of Matterhorn/Eiger influence? Check. Even a bit of Polyphony’s mammoth Circuito de la Sierra can be detected. The surprise here is the run along the coast — though we suppose it is in the name. Expect a lot of Photomode ops here.
Oh yeah: peak behind the McLaren 650S in the header image up top (or in the eighth thumbnail). It seems the Gr.3-spec Viper is still a little shy after it was spotted months ago.
Sardegna Windmills
Fishermans Ranch gets a much-welcome companion in the second dirt track for GT Sport. Based in Sardinia, this rally track looks like an altogether smoother experience than the yumps-and-bumps Ranch, though we don’t know much about what awaits beyond the main straight. This does include a confirmation of night racing on the dirt though.
For those keeping score at home, this brings the known location count to nine (out of nineteen). Provided these three new PD-designed circuits don’t have multiple layouts, the variation count is up to 11 out of 27.
For more on these new locations, as well as other GT Sport news, stay tuned to GTPlanet.
GT Sport’s Soundtrack Gives Us a Glimpse into a Staple of Entertainment History
April 18th, 2017 by Adam Ismail
Credit: AIR Studios
It’s easy to forget precisely how much work goes into making games these days. Everything supplementary to the core experience — the music, interface, marketing, and so on — demands just as much work as the real meat and potatoes. And today, each of those elements is usually lavished over for hundreds of hours on end, by an expert of the trade.
Anyone who knows Gran Turismo knows the series takes its soundtrack pretty seriously, which is why this tweet from recording engineer Charlie Hurst earlier this month came as little surprise to fans.
Hurst worked with UK-based creative content agency Explosive Alan Productions on last May’s GT Sport reveal at the Copper Box arena. Here we see him dropping in on a recording session for Polyphony’s upcoming game. But where exactly is this all going down?
AIR Lyndhurst Hall in London is a prestigious studio with a pedigree of work, serving as the proving grounds for film and television scores, elaborate classical recordings, sound effects work, and yes, even video game soundtracks. But music aficionados know it better as the brainchild of the recently-departed Sir George Martin — “the fifth Beatle.”
Martin had his hand in nearly every Beatles recording, serving as an expertly-trained source of guidance for the group, and helping the Fab Four cultivate their timeless sound. He wrote the entirety of the instrumental soundtrack to The Yellow Submarine, as well as the majority of orchestral arrangements featured in the quartet’s songs.
In other words, Martin took the unrefined talent of the greatest band in the world, and made them shine. In 1965, he departed British recording powerhouse EMI, and started his own independent company along with a partner. AIR, or Associated Independent Recording, was born. George Martin, second from right, with the Beatles in 1964. Credit: Wikipedia
Decades later, Lyndhurst Hall was built, owing its name to Lyndhurst Hall Congregational Church in the Hampstead suburb of northern London. Since 1991, the studio has played host to the creation of numerous works of art, spanning the entire entertainment industry. Its most recent contributions include the soundtracks to the PS4 epics Bloodborne and Uncharted 4, the popular Netflix series Black Mirror, and the just-released film adaption of the Japanese manga Ghost In The Shell. In the past, it’s served artists ranging from Adele to the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Peter Gabriel.
Classical music also comprises a significant chunk of what AIR produces, making it a perfect match for Gran Turismo. World renowned virtuoso pianist Lang Lang had his performances featured in the opening films of GT5 and GT6, and every entry in the franchise since GT4 has carried an extensive selection of classical music.
As for Martin, he passed away in March of 2016 at the age of 90. Still, his legacy lives on in the unlikeliest of ways in our favorite games, films, and TV shows — as well as in the band that made him famous.
In an unexpected surprise only one week after a batch of new circuits were revealed, it appears that Autódromo José Carlos Pace (known by its former name of Interlagos) is coming to Gran Turismo Sport later this year.
The above image surfaced on Twitter earlier today, with a link to Spanish website Hobby Consolas’ impressions on the current GT Sport closed beta. While the article itself doesn’t contain the image, the familiar white/yellow/green rumble strips give away the track’s identity.
Judging by the layout, the shot is taken from the exit of Senna’s S. Years ago, GT series creator Kazunori Yamauchi commented on the importance of the track in the late Senna’s life, making Interlagos a fitting inclusion for a game set to again feature the Brazilian driver in some form.
Interlagos is known for its challenging, undulating layout and unusual counter-clockwise layout. The track has played host to the Brazilian Grand Prix on and off since 1972, and consistently since 1990 in its current 15-corner form. If it is in fact coming to Gran Turismo Sport, it will mark the fourth real-world location for the game, after the Nordschleife, Brands Hatch, and Willow Springs.
Interlagos was recently in the news thanks to a different franchise, too. Back in February, Ian Bell stated the Project CARS 2 team was beginning work on the circuit as well, though there’s no information on whether players should expect it on day one, or as post-release content.
Stay tuned for further updates on GT Sport and the status of Interlagos.
It’s been just over two weeks since we first learned that Porsche is coming to Gran Turismo Sport. Since then, we’ve seen a few juicy screenshots, but there’s been no video of the cars in action — until now.
Just a short time ago, Polyphony Digital finally released the first official gameplay and replay footage of a head-to-head Porsche 911 GT3 RS battle on the Nürburgring Nordschleife. The video is available in 4K resolution, and provides our first listen to the 911’s engine sounds in GT Sport from the interior view and replay camera angles.
The video comes alongside an update posted to the official Gran Turismo website, where Polyphony commented on its new relationship with the German automaker:
Both Polyphony and Porsche share a common principle and philosophy in promoting sustainable motoring across the next generation. Sports car fans who dreamt of getting behind the wheel of a Porsche through Gran Turismo Sport can now look forward to it later this year.
And yes, that does appear to be re-confirmation that GT Sport will indeed be releasing this year — a good sign for those concerned with the progress of the ongoing beta.
Porsche has already teased us with news that more of its cars are coming to the game, so there are sure to be many more juicy videos coming down the pipe. As always, stay tuned to GTPlanet for more developments as they are released!