Oh Gran Turismo, forever a series that comes up with ways to delight just as often as it comes up with new ways to disappoint. So it’s been for coming up to 20 years, and so it is with Gran Turismo Sport’s big July update – all of which amounts to the most profound change that’s been made to Polyphony Digital’s PlayStation 4 exclusive since it came out last October, a patch that alters the fundamentals while adding a suite of new features on top, with some decidedly more welcome than others.
There’s good stuff in there – plenty of it, in fact. For the nerds and the tinkerers – and I’m very much talking about myself here – there’s the ability to design your own overalls and helmet. It’s an absolute blessing if all you’ve ever wanted to do is get your own Derek Bell replica helmet design in-game, all while serving up some Toyota and Denso realness with a new set of overalls that look just lovely when sitting in a Supra and hotlapping the Nordschleife. And thanks to Gran Turismo’s active, talented community there’s no shortage of designs to choose from online – so if there’s a particular era of Alonso lid that you’re after you’ve pretty much covered.
Under the hood there’s been some significant alterations too, and indeed the biggest change made by the July update is the one that’s hardest to quantify. The handling model has undergone a fairly big overhaul, and it’s a noticeable improvement. This isn’t the first time there have been tweaks in this department, though the changes made post-launch never quite sat right with me – cars became too pointy and too planted, but now after the July update they’re much more analogue beasts, and the importance of staying on the racing line seems to have been underlined with the new tyre model.
Source: Eurogamer Gran Turismo Sport's big new update is the best and the worst of the series rolled into one