Gran Turismo Coming To A New Platform?
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When it comes to Gran Turismo games, PC players have remained in the rearview mirror of the PlayStation console for nearly 25 years. Well, that might change in the future; thanks to Sony’s switch from exclusive-only to timed exclusives, the PC market is teeming with new, previously unavailable titles. This might also include the Gran Turismo 7 — a PlayStation exclusive that might get its own cinematic adaptation.
As reported by Polygon, Gran Turismo developer Polyphony Digital is considering bringing the storied racing series to the PC. The idea was brought forth by the series creator, Kazunori Yamauchi, stating that the series might make its way to the PC. However, he also cautioned that bringing Gran Turismo to the new platform might also imply lowering the game’s quality, as there aren’t many gaming rigs in the PC sphere that can run a gaming title at 4K resolutions, with 60 frames-per-second.
This would limit the game to very high-end machines, which actually make up a smaller portion of the PC gaming market.
It’s quite possible that Yamauchi failed to consider the scalability of Gran Turismo 7, the first GT game that has been released as a cross-generational title for both PS4 and PS5. The decision to make the game a cross-generational release was Sony’s and Polyphony Digital’s response to semiconductor shortages which heavily impacted the current-gen console market. But it’s the decision that might just tip the scales in favor of PC gamers; Sony could easily employ that scalability to bring the game to a broader spectrum of PC players.
There is also a possibility that Sony is pressuring Polyphony Digital into releasing its game to the PC platform, which aligns with the company’s plan to expand its share of the PC market by 2025. Sony Interactive Entertainment has been bringing some of its biggest exclusives to PC, following a timed-exclusive period, with great success. These titles include God of War, the Horizon series, as well as Spider-Man games — all of which were met with open arms on the PC.
Given that Microsoft is about to team up with Activision Blizzard, Sony needs all the advantage it can get.
Gran Turismo 7 was released on both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 earlier in March this year, with notable differences between the two versions of the game. The title was also initially met with disappointing reviews revealing that Sony had implemented massive monetization tactics that are making the gameplay too reliant on in-game purchases for progression. Not to mention the messy launch for which both Sony and Polyphony Digital issued a public apology to the Gran Turismo gaming community.
Luckily, most of the problems tied to the game were rectified over the past couple of months, including the monetization segment for the game — that gamers have previously paid for — which was promised back at launch. Sony should learn from the mistakes of others; even Activision Blizzard has dialed down its monetization practices. Electronic Arts, which has become synonymous in many fans’ minds with Avarice, also dialed down its monetization practices following a political witch hunt that targeted massive tech companies preying on children with credit card access.
With everything said, it would be nice to finally see a Gran Turismo game on a PC.
