Gran Turismo Sport is a 2017 PlayStation 4 racing simulator developed by Polyphony Digital, focusing on online competitive racing, esports, and photorealistic graphics. It marked a shift from GT’s traditional car-collecting RPG format to FIA-certified competition.
FIA Partnership
GT Sport was the first racing game officially sanctioned by the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile). Winners of FIA Gran Turismo Championships received real FIA trophies and recognition, legitimizing esports racing.
Manufacturer Series (teams representing Toyota, Mercedes, etc.) and Nations Cup (representing countries) ran annually 2018-2021 with finals in Monaco, Tokyo, and other motorsport venues.
Photo Mode Obsession
GT Sport’s Scapes photo mode let players place cars in 1,000+ real-world photography locations with lighting, angles, and depth-of-field control. The #GTSport hashtag became dominated by photo-realistic virtual car photography rivaling professional automotive photography.
Players spent hours crafting custom liveries using in-game editors, recreating real race cars or designing original schemes.
Sport Mode and Daily Races
Sport Mode featured Daily Races (rotating every week) with matchmaking by Driver Rating (DR) and Sportsmanship Rating (SR). Clean racers climbed ranks; dirty drivers faced penalties and lower-tier lobbies.
Penalty systems were controversial: phantom penalties, inconsistent enforcement, and exploits frustrated competitive players.
Legacy and GT7
GT Sport sold 9.5 million copies but faced criticism for lacking single-player content at launch. Gran Turismo 7 (2022) returned to traditional car collecting while retaining Sport Mode.
Sources:
- Gran Turismo official: https://www.gran-turismo.com/
- FIA GT Championships: http://web.archive.org/web/20210314112415/http://www.fiagtc.com/