Gran Turismo 6

Development

In November 2011, the Gran Turismo series' creator, Kazunori Yamauchi, said that he and his team at Polyphony Digital were working on Gran Turismo 6. In March 2012, workers were seen on site at Mount Panorama in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, photographing and scanning the track. The workers revealed that Mount Panorama will be included in Gran Turismo 6, becoming the first Australian race track to feature in the series.

In February 2013, Sony's Computer Entertainment Europe senior vice president Michael Denny claimed that Gran Turismo 6 will remain a PlayStation 3 title, despite the recent unveiling of the PlayStation 4.

Gran Turismo 6 was announced on May 15, 2013, when Sony Computer Entertainment Europe hosted a celebration of the 15th anniversary of Gran Turismo at Silverstone Circuit in the United Kingdom. Kazunori Yamauchi said at the official announcement, Gran Turismo 6 will feature 71 layouts of 33 tracks, 1200 cars, a new flexible rendering engine that features adaptive tessellation, and a redesigned simpler menu interface with faster loading times. An early build of Gran Turismo 6's updated physics was shown to the public when GT Academy 2013 was released on the PlayStation Store on July 2, 2013.

On July 10, 2013, game developers announced that the Goodwood Festival of Speed hill climb course will be included on the game. The 1.16 mile strip of road that runs through the Earl of March's family home's grounds hosts the annual Festival of Speed and current Formula One, Moto GP, World Rally Championship cars and racers as well as other famous drivers and cars from all ages and aspects of motor sport. This gave the game developers the idea to base a track here due to the wide variety of vehicles that use the hill climb in front of 185,000 spectators. Yamauchi said "I have always been a huge admirer of the Festival of Speed and what Lord March has achieved, I love the incredible range of cars on display – from the priceless, rare and exotic, to the latest family hatchback and full on racing cars – I love the challenge of the Hill Climb and the rally stage. Goodwood represents every type of motoring and motor sport which very much mirrors what we aim to achieve with Gran Turismo and so it is very special that we have forged this partnership. There will be no better feedback than that provided by the Goodwood fans to tell me if we are heading in the right direction with Gran Turismo 6!" A demo of GT6 was made available at the Festival, to give spectators the chance to challenge Nick Heidfeld's 41.6-second course record set in 1999 in a Formula 1 car.

On August 20, 2013, at GamesCom, it was revealed that Brands Hatch would be coming to Gran Turismo, and Apricot Hill Raceway, which did not appear in the previous game, would make a return to the series. Cars such as the Pagani Huayra, Fisker Karma, Chevrolet Corvette Stingray C7 and BMW Z8 were announced, as well as the Aston Martin One-77, Audi R18, KTM X-Bow and the 1971 Lunar Roving Vehicle (from the Apollo 15 mission). DeltaWing was originally announced for the game, but it was briefly removed due to possible legal and licensing issues. However, it was revealed on December 2, 2013 that the DeltaWing will return to the game in the 2012 and 2013 models.

Polyphony helped design Toyota's FT-1 concept car by modeling the car initially in Gran Turismo 5 and later in Gran Turismo 6. It helped the car designers to see the car in motion and to sell the concept to Toyota headquarters. The car has been released as a free download to Gran Turismo 6 alongside other concept cars on January 14.

F1 drivers Sebastian Vettel and Bruno Senna were both test drivers for the game.

Features

On October 24, 2013, game developers announced a long-term partnership with the Ayrton Senna Institute, where a percentage of profits from the sale of the game will go to the organization, which promotes and provides education to the impoverished communities in Brazil. A free update in May 2014 added a new feature called "Ayrton Senna Tribute", which follows the motor racing career of Ayrton Senna. The update also includes the iconic Lotus 97T, which Senna drove during the 1985 Formula One season.

Among the other circuits new to the series are Willow Springs International Motorsports Park, Ascari Race Resort, and ones based in a sports stadium, in addition to several ones based in the Matterhorn, including the one near Riffelsee.

As well as some tracks featuring variable weather and time of day, there will also be a dynamic celestial sphere, so that stars in the night sky have accurate positions. With this, there is also a feature where players can drive at Hadley Rille on the moon with the Lunar Rover.

Vision Gran Turismo

To commemorate the 15th anniversary of the series, Gran Turismo 6 also features "Vision Gran Turismo" (name reused from early GT5 trailer), a special project featuring concept cars designed for the game by top automobile companies, as well as sportswear brands Air Jordan and Nike, and automobile designing companies such as Zagato. On November 17, 2013, the first Vision GT car, the "Mercedes-Benz AMG Vision Gran Turismo", was revealed and would thus be available by the time of the launch of the game.

On May 14, 2014, the second Vision GT car, the "BMW Vision Gran Turismo", was unveiled and released in the 1.07 update.

At the same time the Ayrton Senna Tribute content was released, the third Vision GT car, the "Mitsubishi Concept XR-PHEV Evolution Vision Gran Turismo" was revealed (based upon the XR-PHEV hybrid car from the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show), and subsequently added along with the 1.08 update without an announcement in advance.

On May 16, 2014, Volkswagen announced the fourth Vision GT car, the "Volkswagen GTI Roadster Vision Gran Turismo". A full-scale model of the car appeared in the Wörthersee GTI Meeting in Reifnitz, Austria on May 29, 2014. The car was included with the 1.09 update.

On June 16, 2014, Nissan revealed the fifth Vision GT car, the "Nissan Concept 2020 Vision Gran Turismo". A full-scale model of the car appeared in the Goodwood Festival of Speed on June 26, 2014, the first day of the festival. On the second day of the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Aston Martin announced the sixth Vision GT car, the "Aston Martin DP-100 Vision Gran Turismo". Both cars were made available on July 25, 2014.

On August 7, 2014, Toyota announced a racing variant of their FT-1 concept car as the seventh Vision GT car, the second based on a previous concept model. Dubbed the "Toyota FT-1 Vision Gran Turismo", it was fully unveiled on August 13, 2014, and later made available on September 16, 2014.

On November 6, 2014, the eighth Vision GT car, the "Subaru VIZIV GT Vision Gran Turismo" was teased, the third based on a previous concept model, the Subaru VIZIV plug-in hybrid concept car unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show on March 2013. It was fully unveiled on November 18, 2014, and included with Update 1.14 the next day.

On November 10, 2014, a sneak peek photo for the ninth Vision GT car was published on the official Facebook page for the Corvette, to be done by GM Advanced Design Studio, a division of General Motors. It was later revealed that the car would be created with motorsports manufacturer Chaparral Cars and would be branded as both a Chevrolet and a Chaparral. It was revealed on the same day as the release of Update 1.14, in advance of the Los Angeles Auto Show, dubbed the "Chevrolet Chaparral 2X Vision Gran Turismo", and features a radical laser propulsion system. On December 9, 2014, Infiniti released two teaser images showcasting the tenth Vision GT car called the "Infiniti Concept Vision Gran Turismo". Both cars were released on December 16, 2014, via Update 1.15.

At the same time Update 1.15 was released, another Vision GT car branded as a Mazda was discovered by players, and was hinted to be a Le Mans Prototype concept car. The car was later confirmed as the eleventh Vision GT car. Dubbed the "Mazda LM55 Vision Gran Turismo", the car is described as "reminiscent of the famed 787 B that took overall victory at the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans," and it was unveiled and added to the game on December 24, 2014.

On February 25, 2015, BMW's automobile marque, Mini revealed the "Mini Clubman Vision Gran Turismo". It was added to update 1.16.

On January 27, 2015, at the Festival Automobile International in Paris, the French automobile manufacturer Alpine revealed their Vision GT car, called the "Alpine Vision Gran Turismo". Three days in advance, Lexus announced another Vision GT car, the "Lexus LF-LC GT Vision Gran Turismo", based on the earlier LF-LC concept car. Both cars were added to the game via Update 1.17 on March 18, 2015.

On April 14, 2015, the second Vision GT car from Volkswagen, the "Volkswagen GTI Supersport Vision Gran Turismo", was added to the game with Update 1.18. The car was previously teased two weeks earlier.

On May 6, 2015, Peugeot revealed their Vision GT car, the "Peugeot Vision Gran Turismo". The car is stated as being powered by a turbocharged V6 3.2L engine carrying the maximum power of 875 bhp, and weighing only 875 kg, giving it a power-to-weight ratio of 1:1. The car was eventually added to the game with Update 1.19.

On May 29, 2015, FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) teased the "SRT Tomahawk Vision Gran Turismo" and on June 1, 2015, the car was fully unveiled. The car comes in 3 variations: the Tomahawk S, Tomahawk GTS-R, and the Tomahawk X. The Tomahawk X has technologies not even invented yet, and is stated as the fastest out of the 3 variations, with the maximum power of 2,590 hp and the top speed of 404 mph. The SRT Tomahawk in all its variations was released in Update 1.20.

On August 13, 2015, Bugatti released a teaser trailer titled #imaginEBugatti. Less than a week later, Bugatti confirmed that the teaser was in fact for their Vision GT car, which would go under the name of the "Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo". On September 2, 2015, Bugatti released pictures showing the actual model for the car, after which the car was showcased in a full-scale model in the year's Frankfurt Motor Show.

On August 26, 2015, Hyundai teased their Vision GT car, the "Hyundai N 2025 Vision Gran Turismo". The model for the car was revealed on September 9, 2015.

The official release of both Vision Gran Turismo cars has yet to be announced. As of 2016, however, Vision GT cars have been ceased from future releases for Gran Turismo 6, owing to the upcoming cessation of support for PlayStation 3.

Each Vision GT vehicle added to the game after its initial release is accompanied with limited-time seasonal events, allowing players to obtain a vehicle by completing a full lap around a certain track.

"X" series cars

The "X" series cars, developed in conjunction with Red Bull and first seen in Gran Turismo 5, make a return in Gran Turismo 6. The Red Bull X2010 Vettel, X2010 Prototype and X2011 Prototype remain, and several new "X" series cars are included - the X2014 Junior Car, the X2014 Standard Car and the X2014 Fan Car. The horsepower for these cars range from 250 to over 1,500. Despite them being very lightweight [around 550 kg], these cars have V6 engines that make them hit anywhere from 200 mph to over 300 mph. The handling for each is instantaneous on every corner.

Soundtrack

The game's music features songs by bands such as Beck, Nine Inch Nails, Palma Violets, The Kills, Boys Noize, Camo & Krooked, CHVRCHES, Depeche Mode, Miike Snow, Amon Tobin and Underworld.

Downloadable content

Though no downloadable content (DLC) packs have been released for sale, several free cars have been released after the launch of Gran Turismo 6 through updates. These include the BMW M4, the Toyota FT-1 concept, and Mario Andretti's 1948 Hudson stock car.

An update in January 28, 2014 added four new cars: the Mercedes-Benz AMG Vision Gran Turismo Racing Series (a racing-modified version of the Mercedes-Benz AMG Vision Gran Turismo), the Corvette Stingray GT Concept '13 (a tuned version of the Corvette Stingray shown at SEMA 2013) and two variants of the Gran Turismo Red Bull X2014 (a venturi car and a fan car to complete the X2014 series).

On April 29, 2014, Sony announced the final online event for Gran Turismo 5, which started on April 30, 2014 and ended with the shutdown of the online servers on May 30, 2014. Players were awarded with five cars in Gran Turismo 6 for participating in the event.

In the week leading up to the 2014 Austrian Grand Prix, a free update was released on June 18, 2014, which included the Red Bull Ring circuit, the Toyota TS030 Hybrid, the Lexus IS F CCS-R, and the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 driven by Nissan GT Academy graduates in the Blancpain Endurance Series.

On August 13, 2014, at the McCall's Motorworks Revival in Monterey Regional Airport, Toyota unveiled a version of the FT-1 concept car with new colors and interiors, which was later named the "Toyota FT-1 Graphite". On August 27, 2014, Kazunori Yamauchi confirmed the inclusion of the highly anticipated Nissan GT-R NISMO R35 to the game, after which the car made an appearance in the finals of the European Nissan GT Academy 2014 at Silverstone. In addition, there were videos showing gameplay footage of a new 27 km original track based in Zahara de la Sierra. All of these were made into the game in the form of a game update on September 16, 2014, with the GT-R NISMO being gifted for free to players who participated in Nissan GT Academy 2014.

On November 19, 2014, Update 1.14 was released, featuring a special safety car based on the BMW M4 and an update to Suzuka Circuit to its current specifications. The update was done for the circuit as seen before the update had been scanned before renovations made between 2007 and 2009. This update also added support for the MoTeC i2 Professional Data Analysis Software.

On February 27, 2015, Update 1.16 was released, marking the return of the popular original track: Mid-Field Raceway (it was the second-most requested track to return to the series since it did not appear in GT5). The track has undergone a lot of major changes in favor of high definition, though many of the track sectors remain unchanged from Gran Turismo 4. The update also added body paint compatibility for the Chevrolet Chaparral 2X Vision Gran Turismo and the Mazda LM55 Vision Gran Turismo.

Update 1.17 fixed a known bug, while update 1.18 improved the game's sound and added the Zytek Z11SN. On 1 June 2015, update 1.19 added the Nissan GT-R LM Nismo.

New features

In March 2014, Update 1.05 added multi-monitor support (a PS3 is needed for each new screen). On April 7, 2014, Update 1.06 added the ability to create custom wings, with five parts that can be adjusted to players' liking: wing mounts, wing type/style, winglets, height, and width respectively. This feature is new to the Gran Turismo series. On September 16, 2014, Update 1.12 added Quick Match feature to the Online gameplay, allowing players to find a race more quickly, where they will be competing against random opponents.

On February 27, 2015, Update 1.16 added the ability to paint custom rear wings after when the player can install the custom rear wing to their car, they can paint it in different or same color respectively. Another feature added for this update is B-spec in career mode gameplay which is now compatible in the quick menu display before the event start, allowing AI drivers race for the player. Players can use B-spec for races where players might find it difficult to complete some harder races, long endurance races, or where players just want to watch the race.

On June 24, 2014, Polyphony Digital Inc. announced a long-term partnership with the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, as the game was approved with a certification from the FIA for four of the real world circuits in the game. Game developers also announced a special event called the "FIA Online Championship on Gran Turismo". Originally intended to be held on Gran Turismo 6 in 2015, the championship was postponed for unknown reason. Later, however, it was implied that the event, now renamed the "FIA Gran Turismo Online Championship", has been relocated to Gran Turismo Sport following its announcement on October 27, 2015.

On April 14, 2015, Update 1.18 added support for Nissan GT Academy 2015, and fixed the issues on the Fully Customizable Transmission found in the previous update. The update also made changes to several aspects of a few previously added Vision GT cars.

Course maker

On September 30, 2015, a level editor app titled Track Path Editor was released on Apple's App Store and Android's Google Play. Players can design tracks on the app and then upload them to download and play on the PlayStation 3. Death Valley is introduced as a new location to the game. The app supports kml and gpx files, photo/bitmap image importing, and GPS tracing of real-life driving routes. Imported tracks can be used in arcade mode races, time trials, and shared online. The app was an immediate hit with journalists. In the first 24 hours, over 5000 users of the Android store had downloaded the app, and had given it a rating of 4/5. A week later, the Android store had had 10,000 downloads.

Critical

Gran Turismo 6 has received generally positive reviews, with aggregate review websites GameRankings and Metacritic giving a score of 81.73% and 82 out of 100, respectively. Metacritic additionally rated it in the top 30 Best Critic Reviewed PS3 Games of 2013. It was mainly praised for its more open focus on realism and even bigger collection of cars, but criticism emphasized on lacking more improvement, bugs and glitches at launch, and a bigger focus on online play and micro transactions. Eurogamer praised the "vast, sprawling compendium of cars" and the "staggering tracklist", with GamesRadar praising the graphics and realism. Polygon liked the variety of gameplay, while IGN said it was "a marked improvement on GT5". Hardcore Gamer commented that it was "surprisingly addictive" with "huge lasting appeal", and "arguably remains the gold standard of the genre". When Destructoid made a head to head comparison with the next-generation title Forza 5, Gran Turismo came out on top by a wide margin. When USGamer carried out a similar 3-way test, they concluded that "I’ve had both these games for weeks, but it’s Gran Turismo 6 that’s keeping me up late at night. Much as I like Forza 5, Gran Turismo just has more going for it... The way Gran Turismo articulates different car types and handling characteristics is phenomenal, and its sheer variety of cars, tracks, racing formats and minigame challenges makes it hugely entertaining to play."

Commercial

For the week of launch in Japan, after two days of sales, Gran Turismo 6 had 204,784 physical sales - the game in second place had 117,432 sales for the whole week. These sales helped almost to double the sales of the PS3 console compared to the previous week. Among the Famitsu 2013 Top 100, a listing of the top 100 Japanese retail software sales for the year of 2013 from data collected by Famitsu's parent company Enterbrain, the game ranked number 24, with 282,686 physical retail sales within Japan. The game was the bestseller in France, Germany, Norway, Finland and New Zealand, number 2 in Australia and Italy, number 3 in the UK Sweden Denmark and Greece, and number 4 in Spain and South Africa. It was the 42nd highest selling game of 2013 across all formats in the UK, with it also being the biggest selling single-format racing title of the year. The game initially fared less well in North America, just making the top ten. The game was still in the top ten of the European PSN download sales chart at the end of June 2015. The game remained in the European and North American charts top ten at the end of January 2015. On 25 July 2015, some 19 months after release, the game was still at 12 in the UK full-price sales chart, from August 2015 the game was instead eligible for the UK budget sales chart, where it remained in the top 20, and continued to sell well until mid-January 2016. Gran Turismo 6 was the 7th best selling game of 2015 on the PlayStation Store. In December 2014, the game won the gold award for sales of half a million in Japan. Total worldwide physical sales reached 5.13 million copies.

Celebrity endorsements

Four-time Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel appears in the game, as well as Mario Andretti's 1948 Hudson Hornet. NASCAR champion Matt Kenseth drives one of the new cars to the game. The game also features replica helmets and overalls worn by drivers such as Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Ayrton Senna, Jimmie Johnson, Petter Solberg and Mikko Hirvonen. Jay Leno helped the producers to include his 1000-horsepower Oldsmobile Toronado in the game.