Happy (belated) Birthday Gran Turismo!

[adam73bgt]

I'm a bit late, but May 1998 was apparently when Gran Turismo was first available in Europe (those lucky folk in Japan got it right at the tail end of 1997) this means 20 years of 'The Ultimate Driving Simulator'!



For me, and many others of a certain age, GT was a major catalyst in growing a love for cars, and I wouldn't like to think of how many hours I've wasted spent playing GT and its various sequels over the years

One of the great things about it for me, is that it featured cars that were a bit left field, mostly Japanese stuff like:

Silvia K's



Mines GTR



But also American and European oddities such as the Weigert Vector W8



and the Venturi Atlantique




So who's got a favourite car from the GT series? Or a car they otherwise wouldn't have heard of if not for GT?

[fordperv]

I spent many an hour playing GT i got my copy early as it was import i blooming loved it I was a petrolhead kid anyway and understood the factors camber, castor, ride height, and tyre compound played as well as making stuff go faster so it was right on my level, I feel i must give a big shout out to the slowest star of gran turismo, the Mazda demio

[astranaut]

Just been trying to think of the car you had to do the first licence in, the slowest thing ever

[ianlea73]

Aug 22, 2018 20:06:35 GMT astranaut said:

Just been trying to think of the car you had to do the first licence in, the slowest thing ever

Wasn't it something like a mazda demio?

[charles97]

Same age as me then! Gran Turismo 4, the only one I owned, had a photography mode which I rather enjoyed. I tried playing it recently understanding how cars work now and somehow I am so much worse than when I was a kid, though, when I resorted to kid like tactics of just bowling everything else out the way I did start winning some races.


Probably a really horrible picture that, however, that game was the first time I knew of Silvias, and those 'Club K's' really left an impression on me. Also I'm sure that game is why I really like cars like the Honda City Turbo, 3rd Gen Civic and Nissan Be-1.

[Roach]

I was a big fan of the escudo pikes peak car.

[ianlea73]

[fordperv]

Ooohhh I'm getting excited thinking about this game, the calsonic skyline, the Castro supra both jump to my head

[adam73bgt]

MazdaSpeed Demio and Pikes Peak Escudo are classics, the Escudo could beat nearly anything once you tuned it up!

Ooh good shout fordperv I'd add the Mugen NSX to those as well

[The Jackeria]

If you had asked me then, it would have been the btcc cars you would get from race modding the road goers.



After that I really have no favourite, I love reading all the facts and throwing them round deep forest raceway all the the same, test and tune style.

[slater]

I always liked the GT40 on GT2. As far as game play went it took just the right level of skill to drive it. The Escudo was fast but just too easy.

I bought a PS2 just to play GT4 but never got into it quite as much as 2..

[slipngripross]

Awesome! I would say for many of us 90's kids this game among others is what fueled our need for cars. Especially Japanese stuff.

[darrenh]

i remember i had an emulator on my PC called bleem! which played original ps1 disks, heres a screen grab from an old photo archive trying to do top speed runs

[darrenh]

my favourite car though was the FTO LM

[Littlepixel]

OMG is it really 20 years? That's scary.
So many hours on Trial Mountain and Autumn ring

For me the cars I loved were the Fully specced Demio,
(the little engine that could)



The little Daihatsu Midget - such fun in two player with two the same


and the Subaru Wagons - Legacy GT Twin Scroll


and Forester STB.



And the Race Spec Mitsubishi FTO. LM which was my campaign car for the long races.





This really is the game that opened my eyes to J-tin. Before that I really had no idea of the interesting and varied cars from the east.
(FYI I Have a Mk1 Forester s-Turbo now. such is the influence of this amazing game)

[Littlepixel]

Aug 23, 2018 10:48:14 GMT darrenh said:

my favourite car though was the FTO LM

Mine too! Awesome machine

[mk2cossie]

20 years old

I think my favourite car from the 2nd game was the Honda CR-X LM, mid engined rear wheel drive

goo.gl/images/wrAQzf

[skinnylew]

Escudo Pikes Peak.....unbeatable

[goldnrust]

I've got fond memories of playing the original Gran Tursismo at a friends house, and then the excitement of having my own copy of Gran Turismo 2. So many hours browsing through all the cars to buy, learning about all the weird cars of the world.

Seattle Circuit was always one of my favourites, and as has already been mentioned loved driving the FTO.

For me they never bettered Grand Tursimo 2, I owned 3 and 4, and played later ones at friends houses, but they never quite hit the sweet spot. I think once the Forza Motorsport series on Xbox got into it's stride (by about Forza 3) it overtook what Gran Tursimo were doing in the later versions, it reminded me of the enjoyment I used to get out of GT2.

[darrenh]

have to say same as Littlepixel it was also a gateway drug into J cars for me too.

i think grinding sunday cup with a civic just to save up for an air filter will be permanently engraved in my mind, like a right of passage. it was hard work, you had to earn the good cars with some serious investment of time.