Photo: Polyphony Digital
The PlayStation-exclusive Gran Turismo franchise has been making people enjoy car sims for 26 years and counting. If you're a fan, then you're about to get hit with some pretty sweet news because Kazunori Yamauchi, the head of the Polyphony Digital development studio, has kinda, sorta confirmed he's working on Gran Turismo 8.
During an interview, the series creator admitted that development for the 8th installment is imminently underway, but no further in-depth details were unfortunately shared. However, we could attempt to extract some data from what Yamauchi-San said.
When asked about what he would want to do for the future GT game that he couldn't do for Gran Turismo 7 because of hardware limitations, the studio head simply answered, "Actually, there is a theme. I'm starting to run toward the next one, but I can't talk to you yet. It's a pity that I can't talk to you easily (laughs)."
It's tin foil hat time, ladies and gentlemen! If we were to interpret the faulty translation from that interview in Japanese, we could summarise that Gran Turismo 8 is undoubtedly on the horizon. Now, development studio Polyphony Digital did sell over 90 million copies overall, so you don't need to be a private investigator to figure that one out.
Trying to read between the lines, it would be pretty safe to assume that the next game will be 100% current-gen only, with no PS4 compatibility. While Yamauchi-San did manage to release a great-looking game for the PS5, the graphics were held back because GT 7 is a cross-gen title.
As for what he meant by "theme," that's totally up for interpretation. We could see a Formula E mode or some fictional single-player and multiplayer E Racing League where only EVs or HFCVs are allowed. Honestly, that does sound pretty cool because we could get to play with teased but unreleased concepts from the likes of Buick, Dodge, Bentley, Lamborghini, Nissan, and so on.
Graphics-wise, if we take a look at the visual enhancements Forza Motorsport is bringing to the table, we could also assume that ray tracing technology is very likely to play a major role. Even though it might show up in a "Quality" graphics mode, capped at 30 frames per second.
The reason for the framerate limitation would be that, while the PS5 is pretty powerful, it's nowhere near ready for native 4K at 60 fps with ray tracing on full blast.
Another thing Yamauchi-San said during the "Game Watch" interview was about why the VR version didn't feature the PS VR2 Sense Controllers. The answer might come as a bit disappointing because he simply said, "The function of DualSense was enough. Also, many serious players of Gran Turismo are using a steering wheel" (translated).
Don't hope to get a release date anytime soon. A Gran Turismo 8 teaser or even gameplay trailer could take as long as 3-5 years to make a public appearance. It could even be a future cross-gen title for the (hypothetical) PlayStation 6 by the time it comes out, so we'll just have to sit tight and wait for official announcements.
When asked about what he would want to do for the future GT game that he couldn't do for Gran Turismo 7 because of hardware limitations, the studio head simply answered, "Actually, there is a theme. I'm starting to run toward the next one, but I can't talk to you yet. It's a pity that I can't talk to you easily (laughs)."
It's tin foil hat time, ladies and gentlemen! If we were to interpret the faulty translation from that interview in Japanese, we could summarise that Gran Turismo 8 is undoubtedly on the horizon. Now, development studio Polyphony Digital did sell over 90 million copies overall, so you don't need to be a private investigator to figure that one out.
Trying to read between the lines, it would be pretty safe to assume that the next game will be 100% current-gen only, with no PS4 compatibility. While Yamauchi-San did manage to release a great-looking game for the PS5, the graphics were held back because GT 7 is a cross-gen title.
As for what he meant by "theme," that's totally up for interpretation. We could see a Formula E mode or some fictional single-player and multiplayer E Racing League where only EVs or HFCVs are allowed. Honestly, that does sound pretty cool because we could get to play with teased but unreleased concepts from the likes of Buick, Dodge, Bentley, Lamborghini, Nissan, and so on.
Graphics-wise, if we take a look at the visual enhancements Forza Motorsport is bringing to the table, we could also assume that ray tracing technology is very likely to play a major role. Even though it might show up in a "Quality" graphics mode, capped at 30 frames per second.
The reason for the framerate limitation would be that, while the PS5 is pretty powerful, it's nowhere near ready for native 4K at 60 fps with ray tracing on full blast.
Another thing Yamauchi-San said during the "Game Watch" interview was about why the VR version didn't feature the PS VR2 Sense Controllers. The answer might come as a bit disappointing because he simply said, "The function of DualSense was enough. Also, many serious players of Gran Turismo are using a steering wheel" (translated).
Don't hope to get a release date anytime soon. A Gran Turismo 8 teaser or even gameplay trailer could take as long as 3-5 years to make a public appearance. It could even be a future cross-gen title for the (hypothetical) PlayStation 6 by the time it comes out, so we'll just have to sit tight and wait for official announcements.
Google News