Gran Turismo Sport is a racing video game developed by Polyphony Digital and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. It was released on October 17, 2017 in North America, October 18, 2017 in Europe, and October 19, 2017 in Japan, and is the 13th game in the Gran Turismo series, the seventh game in the main series, and the first game in the series to be released for the PlayStation 4.
One of Gran Turismo Sport's main focuses is competitive online racing, being supported by the international governing body of motorsport, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), and serving as the platform for the FIA-Certified Gran Turismo Championships. The game launched with 168 cars and 29 tracks, but free game updates have brought the count to 309 cars and 58 tracks as of August 2019. The free updates also added a more traditional single-player campaign mode to the game.
Similar to its predecessors, Gran Turismo Sport is a racing game and includes two game modes: "Sport Mode" and "Arcade Mode". Online racing is also featured in the game. The game has been described as different from the "Prologue" titles seen in the past in the series and features more content. Unlike Gran Turismo 5 and Gran Turismo 6, the game does not feature a dynamic weather system or day-night cycle. However, players still have the option to modify the race's time of day before entering the race. It includes 278 cars and 27 configurations of 18 locations to race on.
For the first time in the series, the game features Porsche vehicles included in the game after Electronic Arts' licensing rights to the Porsche brand had expired (previous Gran Turismo games only included Ruf as a substitute).
Sport Mode
Sport Mode consists of three daily races that reset every week. Drivers are assigned a Driver Rating (DR) and a Sportsmanship Rating (SR). The highest generally available levels are A+ for Driver Rating, and S for Sportsmanship Rating, with the lowest being E for both. There is also a special S Driver Rating reserved for players ranked in the top 200 worldwide. Car performance within each category is equalized using Balance of Performance adjustments to weight and power.
FIA Gran Turismo Online Championship
Main article: FIA-Certified Gran Turismo Championships
Gran Turismo Sport also features two championships held simultaneously throughout the year: the Nations Cup, where players represent their country, and the Manufacturers Cup, where players represent their favorite car manufacturer. The FIA manages the series directly as they would with any of their other race series. The winners of the championships are honored at the FIA's annual prize-giving ceremony in Paris.
The winner of the inaugural FIA GT Sport Nations Cup in 2018 was Americas regional champion Igor Fraga (Brazil, IOF_RACING17). European regional champion Mikail Hizal (Germany, TRL_LIGHTNING) finished 2nd, while Asia-Oceania regional finalist Cody Latkovski (Australia, Nik_Makozi) ended in 3rd. The year's Manufacturers Cup was won by Lexus, represented by their top drivers Tyrell Meadows (USA, GT_Academy2013), Vincent Rigaud (France, Oscaro_SkyPikmin), and Kanata Kawakami (Japan, Kawakana222), while Toyota (Agustín Cajal (Argentina, ORMA_Aspicito), Rayan Derrouchie (France, RC_Miura) and Tomoaki Yamanaka (Japan, YamadoRacing38)) and Aston Martin (Jonathan Bucha (USA, hendrix323), Thomas Compton-Mcpherson (Great Britain, cubertom) and Yoshiharu Imai (Japan, legacy0193)) took 2nd and 3rd respectively. The live streams of the World Finals in Monaco exceeded a total of 3 million viewers across the various channels.