On the backend of a closing console generation, Sony and Polyphony Digital have just dropped the latest entry in a beloved racing simulator series. Gran Turismo 6 is here, it’s brimming with its usual amount of content and, in spite of its time, it’s the best racing title for the holiday season.
If you’ve been gaming on a PC or next-gen console for the last month or so, the first negative you’ll have when it comes to Gran Turismo 6 stems from the graphical presentation. It looks dated. Very dated, in fact. Textures are flat, people are stiff and there’s tons of pop-in happening in the distance on most tracks.
This is a PlayStation 3 game, folks. You’ll need to forget about DriveClub and Forza 5’s graphics in order to enjoy the presentation in Gran Turismo 6. Once you swallow that pill, you’ll be fine. But, for a series that so often prided itself on graphical prowess, booting this one up for the first time kinda stings.
When you get into the process of racing, unlocking rewards and enjoying the content that’s here, though, Gran Turismo 6 warms up to its usual standard for quality. Feeling largely unchanged from Gran Turismo 5, this racer still packs some of the best mechanics in the genre. The only thing that feels not-so-hot here is the collision engine. Impacts with walls and other cars feel flat and arcade-like; it’s actually quite odd.
Going into Gran Turismo 6, I was a bit afraid of the usual credit grind and the addition of microtransactions. They’re here, folks, and you could potentially spend a lot of extra money to unlock major cars if you don’t feel like earning credits by winning events.
Personally, I avoided them. I stuck to the events and classes I progressively unlocked, and I never once found myself considering the purchase of credits by way of real money. I hate microtransactions, but I was able to completely ignore them here.
