The Gran Turismo 6 Nissan GT Academy 2013 playable demo finally released on July 2 and we have spent the better half of our Wednesday to see what's what. Let's jump right into it.
The Gran Turismo franchise prefers a quietly evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, approach in developing the series. Gran Turismo 6 Nissan GT Academy 2013 playable demo welcomes the player to a simple and clean home screen as familiar soft jazz plays in the background. A Nissan sponsored event, the GT Academy 2013 playable demo features the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle, the Nissan 370Z and the Nissan GT-R Black Edition.
Race track selections are just as limited-- the GT Academy 2013 is strictly held on the UK's Silverstone race circuit. Shorter events including the Sunday Cup and the Clubman Cup feature Gran Turismo classics including Autumn Ring and Grand Valley. The Suzuka circuit is featured in the Sunday Cup as well.
While the official number of vehicles available in Gran Turismo 6 is unknown (1200 expected cars at launch), the full game promises seven new locations for 33 unique tracks and 71 different track layouts.A new and improved track maker mode.
Players will begin Gran Turismo 6 Nissan GT Academy 2013 tackling the Sunday Cup with a Nissan Leaf. Not a fast car by any measure, the Leaf is perfect for acclimating to the new Gran Turismo 6 gameplay. Just as important, the Sunday Cup races demonstrated the visual improvements in the new Gran Turismo 6 over Gran Turismo 5 as well.
Gran Turismo 6 placed particular emphasis on parameters including refactoring, flexible expandability, adaptive tessellation, and a dynamic range "50 times greater" than Gran Turismo 5.
"Visually, the game's on another level. That's easy to say and often harder to quantify, but even from the early build shown, the difference is clear. The lighting and texturing alone already look better than anything seen in GT5, and wire-frame models of individual components like light fixtures or interior dashboards reveal a level of detail and intricacy that invites madness if you stare at it for too long," said IGN Video game journalist Matt Kamen.
Kamen is not exaggerating. The first Autumn Ring race take place at sunset, challenging the rendering software with the greatest amount of sunlight variation. The power of the new Gran Turismo 6 is impressively demonstrated as the game constantly varies the amount of light that is reflected off the metallic paint of the Nissan Leaf. A mesmerizing sight to behold, the light renderings are effective from the cabin camera angle as well. As beautiful as the new Gran Turismo is to behold, however, some driving sim enthusiasts will be disappointed to learn that damage renderings still isn't an element for the latest Gran Turismo.
Of course, the visual enhancements are merely scratching the surface compared to the extensive work Polyphony has done to create Gran Turismo 6. The latest Gran Turismo 6 Nissan GT Academy 2013 playable demo also demonstrates some much needed auditory improvements. While the exhaust notes still sound a little flat and unimpressive, Gran Turismo 6 does boast distinct changes to the engine note from vehicle to vehicle-- driving the electric-powered Nissan Leaf around Autumn Ring sounds as if one has a mosquito in their ear. The V6 in the Nissan 370Z has a meatier exhaust note with even a hint of burble. As for the Nissan GT-R Black Edition, downshifts while entering a corner are especially entertaining as licks of flame escape the exhaust pipes with every blip of rev match.
Ultimately, Gran Turismo's trump card will always be its painstaking devotion to physics. Game developer Polyphony promised to offer "new levels of authenticity" in the upcoming Gran Turismo 6 by tapping tire manufacturer Yokohama and suspension company KW Automotive to revamp the way Gran Turismo feels to drive. The GT6 boasts a new suspension and kinematics model, tire model, and aero model.
The Nissan Leaf, 370Z, and GT-R Black Edition available in the Gran Turismo 6 Nissan GT Academy 2013 playable demo provide an insightful taste of how it feels to drive a front-wheel-drive, rear-wheel-drive, and an all-wheel-drive vehicle. The new physics engine, combined with visual body roll as well as the sound of the tires at the limits of their adhesion, is extremely fun and predictable. Car control and behavior is progressive and communicative and players will naturally find themselves adjusting their driving styles to adapt to the different platforms. However, a little more force feedback from the Dualshock 3 controllers would be nice, especially as an element that lets a player know they are near the adhesion of grip or that they have dipped a wheel into the gravel traps.
All in all, the little taste of Gran Turismo 6 from the Nissan GT Academy 2013 playable demo bodes well for the full game, which is slated for holiday 2013 release.
According to Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi, Gran Turismo 6 will boast a new rendering engine, new physics, suspension, and handling modeling, new sound simulation, and new AI.
Regarding sound simulation in particular, Yamauchi shared Polyphony's progress thus far:
"I know there were some rumors that the sound for GT wasn't recorded with the engine under load. That was actually true until GT4 was produced, but for GT5 all of the sounds that we've taken were from cars that were on a dynamometer and placed under load.
"That's not the whole of the problem, though, and obviously that's not good enough for GT6 and for the future. We've been working on a new system for generating sounds for a few years now, we just haven't made that breakthrough yet, and we're still working. That's what we're aiming for - to make that breakthrough - so that we have something of a high quality to show.
"In terms of physics we were able to show that, but for sound simulation, not yet."
Kazunori Yamauchi hopes the break through will be discovered and implemented in time for the release of Gran Turismo 6. We hope so too!
Finally, don't miss the following images and videos that compare the new Gran Turismo 6 to Gran Turismo 5.
