GT Sport GT Sport Won't Offer Full VR Support on Release

[Paul Jeffrey]

Gran Turismo Sport developers Polyphony Digital have confirmed, by way of Kazunori Yamauchi, that the upcoming GT Sport title will not offer full Virtual Reality compatibility, instead featuring a slightly confusing sounding 'VR Tour' game mode.

With sales of VR devices ever increasing and of course the PlayStation VR Headset having released early last month, it comes as perhaps a surprise to see Polyphony not fully capitalising on the obvious potential of this up and coming technology. Lead developer and Gran Turismo legend Yamauchi confirmed via Twitter that the game will feature the rather mysterious 'VR Tour' mode, leading one to believe Virtual Reality will not be implemented in the core gaming experience, but rather offering a visual experience outside of the driving element of the title.

Of course Gran Turismo Sport has not been without controversy during it's development cycle, firstly surprising fans with a change of direction from the traditional car collection and offline campaign to a more e-sports orientated experience in the latest instalment of the hugely successful Gran Turismo franchise. Already looking like a visually impressive title, controversy again hit the studio as an initial planned release for late 2016 came and went, with very little communication from Polyphony with regards to the reasoning behind delaying the public launch of the game, and a slightly concerning lack of any proposed released date other than "2017".

The studio continue to show GT Sport at gaming events throughout the world, and progress does indeed look to be at the very far end of development, as such many do expect GT Sport to make an appearance sooner rather than later next year. For the fans of the series, lets hope its a good one.

Gran Turismo Sport is due for release on Sony PlayStation 4 sometime during 2017. Release date yet to be confirmed.

You can find the latest news and discussion regarding the Gran Turismo series of games at the Gran Turismo sub forum here at RaceDepartment. Join in the discussion with your fellow GT fans today!

Are you excited to try the latest Gran Turismo game? Disappointed about the lack of VR support? Do you like the new direction the title is heading in? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[Blimey]

VR is so 2016, time to move on.

 

[Andrew Harper]

It's probably a case of when the game was developed (and it has been years in development) VR wasn't even considered. I would imagine it will be included in an update at a later date.

Unless they delay the game again for another six months to include VR support.

 

[Nick Gregory]

Unless they delay the game again for another six months to include VR support.

This is Polyphony Digital we're talking about here...

 

[Patrik Marek]

I'm fine with that, even with increasing numbers of VR users, we're still talking about teeny tiny portion of the potential customers,
plus further delay would have another wave of criticism

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

I care more for better engine sounds than VR.

 

[Blimey]

VR is so 2016, time to move on.

I forgot to add, 240hz curved 27+ inch monitors are the future.

 

[Colin Knowles]

I forgot to add, 240hz curved 27+ inch monitors are the future.

Future of what ?

 

[Patrik Marek]

matrix is the future, plug in PC into your brain directly

 

[Blimey]

stop before I will be blamed for "running off-topic" again and called the anti-simulator expert.

 

[kmanitou81]

Polyphony is just one sad joke after another.

 

[BoxOfAwesomeness]

Gran turismo feels as an ever expanding work in development that has loose it's focus. Time to move on Polyphony. I don't think the dream of kazunori will ever rise ( being held by Sony maybe ). Just looking at trailers from their gt sport, i see nothing new but old stuff. Gran turismo could be the real driving simulator but they got lost somewhere in the past.

 

[GP20]

They killed Evolution Studio and Drive Club who could have been a real drive club and now we have the japanese...I think i will stay on PC.

 

[randMracer]

I suspect it's more of a performance thing with the PS4. The 5 year old CPU technology in the PS4 probably limits how far Polyphony can push VR. But wait, maybe the PS4 Pro and it's 4 year old CPU tech can save the day!

 

[Grand Tourist]

As a veteran GT player, from the very first release to GT5, I have always enjoyed this race game. But I did always have this feeling it lacked sth, apart from good car sounds, and that was setting up competitions. I did love however the tune up part, paints and rims options and the collectability of car candy. I was pretty fanatic about it, having of each car I desired a vanilla version, a tuned version and a race version. It can be very addictive, I am sure I would buy it if it ever came to pc.
But with Assetto Corsa, I discovered a whole new car world, where simulation and realism are of the highest level, I can paint my cars however I want and my driving skills are being tested to the bone. Even a drive with the rather dull Audi S1 (check car reviews) is a blast at the Green Hell. I recently enjoyed a 3hr stint with the Porsche Cayman GT4. Brilliant how Kunos succeeds in this....only sometimes I do miss Gran Turismo, because I would like to tune up my Toyota GT86, or fit other rims to my Ferrari, fit a race car kit to the Alfa Mito or I feel the need to earn money, gifts and cars, decide on which car to spend it, should I buy a race car or tune a road car?....that's the true power and real thrill of Gran Turismo, the ability to urge a burning desire with its players to want it all and keep playing until you have it all....and then start over. That's where AC falls sometimes short to me, apart from the desire to drive, I have all cars available and it just takes so much time to properly drive or race a car in AC. The setup possibilities for GT3 cars are endless and can get tiring, if one just wants to race some laps or find a general setup for more than one track. Together with the harsh realism, a mistake easily ends your race. There is no goal, but the racing itself, which is of course fantastic but mainly for people with lots and lots of training time....I am not one of them. I am slow with a GT3 car in AC, I suck, and it doesn't improve. I race karts in real life, for more than 10 years, I raced Gran Turismo more than 500,000km but I can't race without any mistake in AC....and that's sometimes annoying and frustrating. Gran Turismo didn't have the sounds (though a race exhaust on a 1275hp tuned Veyron sounded wonderful) and also less realism, but it did have the wonderful ability to let you be the star, to collect your car candy and to let you dream of more and more. AC is a piece of art, but apart from designing liveries, I ain't no artist and I would like to be shown some forgiveness during racing, I would like to dream of owning a car, bond with it when using it and upgrading it as my career sets of to higher levels. Still, AC is my big crush now, and GT alone is not worth a PS4 again.
Long story short, 2 very different race games, but the best in their genre, no doubt about that.

 

[Grand Tourist]

Oh yes....almost forgot about the topic....I don't care about VR....I like to see my kids and cats and dog sneaking up on me when racing

 

[Mike1304]

I forgot to add, 240hz curved 27+ inch monitors are the future.

No matter how curved or how big a monitor will be, it will stay a flat 2D picture and therefore will never give you the immersion of "being there" and racing in a 1:1 scale virtual 3D-world which VR gives you.

 

[PurgerUK]

VR is 2016, 2017 and beyond and will only get better. Even with the current 1st gen devices I'd prefer to race any sim in VR as it gives the ultimate immersion factor and would happily retire the triple screen setup I have. Sim racing is about the best fit for VR currently and when you add motion to the mix along with decent FFB makes for a fantastic experience

 

[WPxNJ]

Imagine spending $400 (PS4) + $80 (GT "Sport"), the cars sound like electric toothbrushes racing vacuum cleaners, and at the very 1st Turn 1, getting rammed in the backside GT1 style with the "Stevie Wonder" AI pilots.
GT2 and my disposable toy Mad Catz wheels were fun-in 1999.

 

[Patrik Marek]

Imagine spending $400 (PS4) + $80 (GT "Sport"), the cars sound like electric toothbrushes racing vacuum cleaners, and at the very 1st Turn 1, getting rammed in the backside GT1 style with the "Stevie Wonder" AI pilots.
GT2 and my disposable toy Mad Catz wheels were fun-in 1999.

I don't remember ever being rammed by AI in GT from behind, even more so when you start every race from last place