Certain parts of the game are playable offline, as are any add-ons that players already have. Your cars and settings are intact, and the progression to unlock new vehicles and all the world circuits remains the same. Save data is offline now, so everything remains on your console.

Gran Turismo Sport launched for the PS4 in March 2017. In our review, we praised the visuals, driving mechanics, sound design and campaign while criticizing the limited car roster, damage model and reliance on online connectivity. It’s received extensive updates since then, including new tracks and cars, eventually crossing 9.5 million players by February 2021.

Polyphony is currently focused on Gran Turismo 7, recently releasing Update 1.42. Head here for more details on its content.

An internal document from that leak, shared on ResetEra, has also revealed sales and shipment numbers for several PS5 titles. For starters, there’s Bluepoint Games’ Demon’s Souls remake, which was available exclusively on PS5 as a launch title. As per the aforementioned document, which is dated February 2022, the remake has shipped over 2 million units worldwide, of which over 1.8 million copies have sold through.

Another first party PS5 exclusive, Returnal, has shipped over a million units, as per the leak, with 866,000 units having sold through. It’s worth noting, however, that the third-person shooter hadn’t launched for PC at this point (not that it enjoyed a great deal of success on the platform).

The last (and first) time Sony provided a sales update for Housemarque’s roguelite shooter was back in June 2021, at which point Returnal had sold over 560,000 units. Later that year, Sony revealed that the Demon’s Souls remake had sold 1.4 million copies.

Insomniac’s data breach also reveals sales numbers for Sackboy: A Big Adventure, another PS5 launch title, which has over 1.5 million units worldwide, with sell-through of over 1.2 million units. Like Returnal, it, too, hadn’t launched for PC at this time, though it, too, performed poorly on the platform. As per leaked documents, the platformer has sold just over 62,000 units on PC.

The leaked document also states that PS4’s Gran Turismo Sport has shipped nearly 13 million units to date. Back in February 2021, Sony announced that the game had surpassed 9.5 million players. The racing sim’s online services are set to end on January 31.

The end of online services means players can no longer access the Community or Open Lobby features or custom liveries. Sport Mode will also be inaccessible, though the offline parts of any paid DLC remain available. The Mileage Store is also going away, and any Trophies which require an online connection won’t be accessible.

It’s unknown if this means you won’t have to worry about them to earn the Platinum Trophy. All other progress will remain, from existing cars and personalized settings to all world circuits. Stay tuned for more details en route, and check out our review of Gran Turismo Sport if you’re curious about picking it up.

Batman: Arkham Knight

How ironic is it that Batman: Arkham Knight looked incredible on PS4 and Xbox One while running better on both consoles than on PC? Probably as ironic as it looking better than Gotham Knights, even though it’s also stuck at 30 FPS on consoles. I digress. Either way, there’s no denying that Arkham Knight is gorgeous with excellent texture quality and character models.

The rain effects and how they realistically interacted with the environment; the lighting and fog quality; the draw distance, and sheer attention to detail – it’s spectacular and ran at a rock-solid frame rate. Regardless of the Batmobile hate, almost everyone can agree that Arkham Knight is a technical marvel. Again, on consoles, but the PC version has improved over time.

Panic Rolling

Rolling, especially in Souls games and Monster Hunter, isn’t just a quick means of repositioning. It also provides invulnerability frames, allowing you to dodge attacks. Knowing the timing of attacks is still important though, so it’s not odd to just keep rolling, rolling, rolling and hope you dodge an enemy’s attack. It looks ridiculous and is no substitute for properly learning a boss’s patterns. But on the other hand, when it works, it works.

#9. GRAN TURISMO (PSP)

Gran Turismo’s portable debut (and to date, its only portable outing) didn’t arrive easily, and though those many years of development and delays didn’t result in the stellar quality that this series is generally known for, Gran Turismo for the PSP was by no means a slouch. Offering surprisingly realistic visuals (for its time, and for the hardware, if nothing else), tight simulation and driving mechanics, and a healthy roster of vehicles to choose from, the portable racing sim made a strong impression on most who played it. There were clear issues, of course, with the lack of upgrades and a traditional career mode being chief among them, but even so, it was a solid taste of Polyphony Digital’s series on the go.

#8. GRAN TURISMO 6

Gran Turismo 6 arrived smack dab in the middle of the biggest lull the series has experienced to date- and it showed. It did, of course, excel in all the ways that a GT game is expected to- it had a sizeable roster of vehicles, was brimming with its love for detail, authenticity, and attention to detail, and as always, its driving mechanics were second to none. Some questionable decisions, however, dragged the experience down in unfortunate ways, from its iffy microtransactions to its unnecessary focus on multiplayer gameplay.

#7. GRAN TURISMO 5

Gran Turismo 5 was where the series’ downward trajectory began (and lasted until not that long ago). Arriving after a long and protracted development cycle, GT5 was far, far from a bad game, and like pretty much every other game on this list, it’s still probably one of the best racing sims we’ve ever played, at least where its driving and sim mechanics are concerned, while its incredibly vast offerings in terms of features, tracks, and vehicles were mighty impressive. But with a half-assed damage system, frustrating progression in its career mode, and surprisingly little improvements being made over its direct predecessor, Gran Turismo 5, for all of its excellence, didn’t quite live up to expectations.

#6. GRAN TURISMO SPORT

Gran Turismo Sport remains one of the most controversial and divisive games in Polyphony Digital’s series- and looking back at the state it was in at launch, it’s not surprising to see why. There was no shortage of core issues with the game, its overriding emphasis on online multiplayer being chief among them, especially since it came at the cost of a traditional single player experience. The fact that the game launched with a disappointingly small selections of tracks and vehicles didn’t much help matters either. Sure, Polyphony Digital’s post-launch support did eventually turn GT Sport into a far better game than it was when it launched, but it was still far from the game series fans wanted it to be.

#5. GRAN TURISMO 2

Gran Turismo 2 is, in essence, the prime example of a perfect iterative sequel. Following up on its revolutionary predecessor was by no means an easy task, but Polyphony Digital chose to do it in the best way possible- by expanding on all the biggest strengths of the first game. More cars, more tracks, a better physics engine. There’s an argument to be made that perhaps its unambitious nature as a sequel held it back from being as memorable as the first game was, but if all you’re talking about is execution of ideas, there’s little to dislike here.

#4. GRAN TURISMO

The one that started it all. In pretty much every way, the original Gran Turismo has been thoroughly outdone by its many successors, but given the game’s significance, you can’t help but respect it. For its time, it was an absolutely revelation. It looked amazing, it controlled like a dream, it was brimming with an impressive roster of modes, cars, and tracks, and above all else, it established ideas and mechanics that have by now become staples not only of the series, but an entire genre.

#3. GRAN TURISMO 4

Now that we’re in the top 3, there’s very, very little separating the three games that are left, and there’s a strong case to be made for each of these three being the definitive Gran Turismo experience. Gran Turismo 4 is, for many people, still one of the best racing games out there. It’s the quintessential GT game, with excellent driving and physics, best-in-class visuals, and oodles of content to keep players busy for dozens upon dozens of hours. Not everything in the game was equally fleshed out, but there was more than enough here to impress even the most cynical players.

#2. GRAN TURISMO 7

Gran Turismo had been in a bit of a slump of form since the launch of GT5, with the multiplayer-centric GT Sport being something of a nadir for the series, so there was a great deal riding on Gran Turismo 7. It pretty much had to be a return to form- and boy did it succeed in doing that. For fans of the series, the genre, and car culture in general, this game is a dream come true. Its single player component is densely packed and ingeniously structured, the game looks absolutely gorgeous, and the level of authenticity and realism displayed here just blows you away. It’s also probably the most approachable game in the series in a long, long time, so it may very well bring in a massive audience- even by Gran Turismo standards.

#1. GRAN TURISMO 3: A-SPEC

It’s hard to top Gran Turismo 3. It is, in every sense of the word, an unabashed masterpiece. It may not have been overflowing with content the way something like Gran Turismo 2 was, or Gran Turismo 7 now is, but the game’s biggest strength lay elsewhere- in how focused and tightly designed it was. Its roster of vehicles was full of cars that felt amazing to control, it had some of the best-designed tracks this series has ever had, and for its time, it looked unbelievably amazing. It’s not just the best Gran Turismo game, it may very well even be the best racing game ever made, period.

In our review of Gran Turismo 7, we noted that during the review period, the game’s microtransactions hadn’t yet gone live, but with the racing sim now having launched globally, in-game purchases are now available- and as VGC reports, prices of cars in the game seem to have seen a drastic mark-up as compared to their prices in Gran Turismo Sport.

Where GT Sport allowed players to purchase each car separately, with prices ranging between $0.99 and $4.99, in Gran Turismo 7, that is no longer an option, and players have to purchase credits in bulk, with four options to choose from- 100,000 credits for $2.49, 250,000 credits for $4.99, 750,000 credits for $9.99, and 2,000,000 credits for $19.99.

With that in mind, purchasing various cars in the game now requires players to spend far more money than those same models did in Gran Turismo Sport. For instance, the Porsche 919 Hybrid 16 and the Audi R18 TDI ’11, both of which cost $2.99 in GT Sport, cost effectively cost $40 each in GT7. Meanwhile, the Aston Martin Vulcan ’16 and the McLaren P1 GTR ’16 were both priced at $4.99 in GT Sport, also cost $40 each in GT7.

Vehicle components are also purchased in the game using credits, which means microtransactions apply to those as well. As with Gran Turismo Sport though, credits are also earned in-game in Gran Turismo 7 through gameplay.

Gran Turismo 7 is available now on PS5 and PS4.

Cars

With Gran Turismo, as with many racing franchises, the launch line-up of cars is just the beginning. Gran Turismo 6 released with about 1197 cars – subsequent updates would bring that total to over 1240 cars from manufacturers like Alpine, Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini and so on. Gran Turismo Sport would launch with 168 cars, about a fraction of its predecessor, but numerous updates over the years brought that to a staggering 338 cars. It also marked the first time in the series that Porsche cars would be available to drive. This carries over into Gran Turismo 7 which promises over 400 cars at launch.

Tracks

Each Gran Turismo title launches with a selection of tracks across several locations worldwide. Some are based on real-world circuits while others are completely original and much like the number of cars, additional tracks are added through updates. Gran Turismo 6 offers 41 tracks with a total of 86 layouts. Some tracks have alternate versions like Nürburgring’s Nordschleife and 24 hour versions or the International and National versions of Silverstone Circuit.

Gran Turismo Sport features some 32 locations with 82 different tracks to race on including the famous Goodwood Motor Circuit, Red Bull Ring, Brands Hatch GP and Willow Springs. Gran Turismo 7’s full list of tracks has yet to be revealed but Polyphony Digital has promised more than 90 tracks including Tokyo Expressway, Fuji International Speedway, Daytona International Speedway, Goodwood Motor Circuit and of course, Nürburgring along with Nürburgring 24h.

Dynamic Weather and Time of Day

When Gran Turismo Sport first launched, it was missing some features that helped Gran Turismo 6 to stand out. One of these was dynamic weather and time of day. You could no longer see the weather vary during races or experience day/night cycles – these could be selected prior to a race though. In comparison, Gran Turismo 6 not only offered both but also provided accurate positions for stars in the sky, adding that much more to the immersion.

Gran Turismo 7 also features dynamic weather and time of day but on a larger scale with the developer going as far as using meteorological data and conditions specific to each region to accurately simulate cloud formation. As you’d expect, everything from the puddles that evaporate over time to the track’s surface temperature all have an effect on the physics. Producer Kazunori Yamauchi also confirmed in an interview with GTPlanet from September 2021 that time progression could be adjusted for races, meaning that the day could transition that much quicker to night and vice versa.

Interestingly enough, however, dynamic environmental features won’t apply to all tracks in Gran Turismo 7. Nurburgring Nordschleife, Tsukuba Circuit and Circuit de la Sarthe are all confirmed to support it at present.

Arcade Mode

While the Gran Turismo series has been known for a variety of different modes, it’s Arcade Mode that allows for simply jumping in and racing. Gran Turismo 6’s Arcade Mode was fairly bare-bones at launch, offering three types of races – Single Race, Time Trial and Drift Trial along with two-player split-screen support for multiplayer. Gran Turismo Sport expanded on this slightly more with Single Race, Time Trial, Drift Trial and Custom Race along with the VR Tour and two-player split-screen multiplayer. Interestingly enough, Gran Turismo 7’s Arcade Mode hasn’t been completely outlined. Single Race and split-screen multiplayer for two players have been confirmed but more details are still awaited.

Campaign

Of course, it’s all about the campaign in Gran Turismo and each game has offered its own take on the same. Gran Turismo 6’s Career Mode saw players partaking in races across numerous Classes, starting from Novice Class and progressing through different Cups and Championships, completing license tests and other events to progress. There’s also the Red Bull Challenge, which offers driving lessons for formula cars and provides gift cars, and the Ayrton Senna trials added via DLC.

Gran Turismo Sport divided its campaign into several key modes, starting with Driving School which provided a series of challenges with bronze, silver and gold levels assigned based on completion time. This was meant to teach the core concepts of the game, which Mission Challenge expanded on further by offering eight stages with eight challenges each. Circuit Experience involved learning each aspect of a track before fully racing on it but a proper series of Cups would come slightly later with GT League. It offered four different Leagues, each with their own unique events and Cups; leveling up would unlock subsequent leagues. There’s also the Lewis Hamilton Time Trial Challenge that was added via paid DLC.

At the very least, Gran Turismo 7 is going back to basics with GT Simulation Mode being available from launch. It’s fairly straightforward – you purchase cars, participate in races and Cups, and earn credits to unlock new cars. Cars can be tuned to improve their performance along the way. Intertwined with this is GT Cafe, a new mode which doles out Car Collection Menus that are completed through race victories and championship wins. As you fill up the Menus, you’ll learn more about the history of different brands and even speak to the creative minds behind them.

B-Spec Mode

B-Spec Mode has always been an interesting take on race driver management in Gran Turismo, allowing players to raise an AI driver and have them partake in races. You could hire multiple drivers and raise their skills using B-Spec Points earned from different events. Upon reintroducing the same in Gran Turismo 6, Polyphony made several changes. Raising drivers was gone and instead, you could select different paces for the driver (with a quicker pace resulting in more speed but also risk more mistakes). You could also directly interfere with an AI driver’s racing. B-Spec Mode was absent throughout the entirety of Gran Turismo Sport’s lifespan and while Gran Turismo 7 won’t launch with it, there is some hope of its return.

Sophy, an advanced racing AI developed specifically for Gran Turismo, will be added to Gran Turismo 7 in the future. Yamauchi told GT Planet that Sophy could be a teacher for players, act as a student or even serve as a racing companion. However, he “wouldn’t rule out the possibility of a B-Spec mode, where the player is the race director and Sophy is the driver.” This could result in the most realistic version of B-Spec yet, if it ever happens. Never say never.

GT Sport Mode

One of the biggest additions that Gran Turismo Sport brought to the franchise was Sport Mode which presented a more serious competitive racing structure. It essentially offered three daily races, which reset each week, and players were matched on the basis of their Driver Rating and Sportsmanship Rating. The former is more about skill while the latter focuses on racing etiquette (like not smashing into other races or ignoring racing flags). Ratings could range from E (the lowest) to S (the highest) – the S Driver Rating category consisted of the top 200 racers in the world.

Gran Turismo Sport will see the return of Sport Mode though aside from offering “serious racing with players all over the world,” its changes have yet to be detailed.

Offline Play

Offline play has been a point of discussion for years, especially given the amount of content that requires an internet connection. Gran Turismo 6 offered a fairly significant amount of offline content but when servers went offline, features like the Seasonal Events, Community and the Track Path Editor became unavailable. With Gran Turismo Sport, pretty much everything save for Arcade Mode requires being online. Gran Turismo 7 is the same – only Arcade Mode is playable offline – in order to prevent any kind of cheating. While there’s been no danger of Gran Turismo Sport servers going offline, it’s still something to keep in mind for its future (along with that of Gran Turismo 7).

Replays

Replays in Gran Turismo 6 are fairly straightforward – you can rewatch a completed race, choose different views or switch between Full View and Live Timing, and change the camera target. There are also options for pausing, rewinding and fast forwarding. You could also select between regular and Best Lap Replays with the latter only showcasing the fastest lap in a race.

Gran Turismo Sport added onto this with options like rewinding and fast-forwarding 10 seconds at a time, frame by frame advancement and so on. You could also set the Camera Type to Standard for more dynamic movement or Variable for easier viewing and capture Race Photos for key moments.

Replays return in Gran Turismo 7 and feature a new twist – Music Replay, which generates a replay camera based on the background music used. This means that camera positions and cuts are generated dynamically, thus providing a unique viewing experience each time. On top of this, replays also support ray tracing, resulting in even higher fidelity.

Photo Travel and Scapes

If photographing your cars in various real-world locations is the name of the game, then Photo Travel was for you in Gran Turismo. It essentially allowed for taking pictures of vehicles in real-world locations. Gran Turismo 6 was unfortunately limited on this front, only offering a whopping five locations to photograph one’s vehicle.

Gran Turismo Sport overhauled this with the introduction of Scapes. Instead of in-game versions of real-world locations, it offered real-life photos of the same to serve as backgrounds. Odd as it sounded at the time, it offered way more depth and variety to photograph one’s vehicle in (and supported 4K resolution, HDR and Wide Color). GT Sport would eventually have 1,017 locations in Scapes with many added over time in updates.

Scapes in Gran Turismo 7 look to up the ante even further with more than 2,500 different locations to take pictures in. And yes, along with HDR support, ray tracing is also available here along with various effects. It’s also much easier to showcase your work to the world and favorite different pictures from other players.

Developer Polyphony Digital has confirmed that Gran Turismo 7 will carry over players’ stats and data from Gran Turismo Sport. Data transfers will begin on February 15 and will be applied to GT7 at launch, though the developer says that with the start time of data transfers varying, there might be some delays before they appear in GT7.

So what exactly will these transfers entail? While Scapes, Replays, and Race Photos are not going to be transferred from the old game into the new one, you will be able to bring over your Driver Rating (DR), Sportsmanship Rating (SR), decals, and liveries for your car, helmet, and suit. There are a few caveats to what will and won’t be transferrable though- you can get all the details on that through here.

Gran Turismo 7 launches for PS5 and PS4 on March 4.

Horizon Zero Dawn

It may not seem like much now, especially considering how many PS4 and PS5 titles have received the same, but Horizon Zero Dawn’s photo mode was a pleasant surprise back in the day. It allowed for adjusting the field of view, adding dynamic color filters, changing the time of day, and adding and customizing vignettes. A later update would add poses and facial expressions for Aloy, resulting in some rather wholesome shots.