Gran Turismo Ranked
Year: 1997-Present
Developer: Polyphony Digital
Publisher: Sony
Main Entries: 7
Spin Off's: 8
Gran Turismo set the standard for realistic racing games, exclusively for the Playstation brand back in 1997. After some turbulence along the way, the series has produced 6 main games and 8 spin-off titles with its 7th main entry currently in the works for the Playstation 5. A series that prided itself for high graphical fidelity, more content than you can rev your engine at, and a rather long development period for one title in particular. Welcome to the real driving simulator.
For the purpose of this list, I will only be ranking entries released to the Western markets and will not include 'Prologue' or 'Concept' releases.
#9 Gran Turismo PSP (2009)
For the purpose of this list, I will only be ranking entries released to the Western markets and will not include 'Prologue' or 'Concept' releases.
#9 Gran Turismo PSP (2009)
Kicking off this list is the only portable GT title. GT for PSP is actually a pretty great game, but it ranks so low on this list because it lacks a large amount of the key features from other entries on this list, even ones that released before GT for PSP. The reason why it is missing things such as a proper campaign mode, tournaments, endurance races, replay editors, and more, is because the PSP (and subsequently the UMD disc the game came on) simply wasn't powerful enough to allow for that much content. As it stands, GT for PSP is a great game for commuting and for getting a quick racing fix, but its primary selling point is to be used to unlock cars for GT5 on PS3.
#8 Gran Turismo 6 (2013)
#8 Gran Turismo 6 (2013)
Gran Turismo 6 had the shortest development period between games since the original and GT2. Released just 3 years after GT5, GT6 boasted nearly 150 more cars than GT5 (bringing the total to 1226) and 27 more tracks (totalling 100). Released at a similar time to rival Forza Motorsport 5, both games had strong points and glaring weaknesses. Whereas GT won on the content side of things (with much of FM5's content locked out behind paid DLC), Forza dominated on the graphics and gameplay end with slick next gen visuals and refined driving mechanics that left GT6 trailing with no hope of recovery. Being too similar to its predecessor and releasing on ageing hardware was this entries biggest downfall.
#7 Gran Turismo 4 (2005)
#7 Gran Turismo 4 (2005)
Next up is the 2nd main entry in the PS2's lifespan. GT4 did a lot to change itself from GT3, but unfortunately those changes were unnecessary and actually ended up making the game worse. Whereas 3 was praised for its excellent gameplay, 4 strived to be the best looking game on the system and ultimately suffered in its gameplay.
Much like GT6, releasing on ageing hardware may have been this games biggest downfall as the shift onto the next generation was already taking place as of GT4's release.
#6 Gran Turismo 5 (2010)
Much like GT6, releasing on ageing hardware may have been this games biggest downfall as the shift onto the next generation was already taking place as of GT4's release.
#6 Gran Turismo 5 (2010)
GT5 had a lengthy and tedious development with several delays and false promises making the gaming community wonder whether it would actually ever see the light of day. Alas it did and with reasonably good standing.
Whilst on release, GT5 was a bit of a mess, thankfully developer Polyphony Digital invested their time into making sure GT5 was properly supported post launch with regular patches and community events.
GT5 may have released a sorry state of a game, but over time became one of the series favourites. Its lacklustre original release is what stopped it from placing higher on this list.
#5 Gran Turismo (1997)
Whilst on release, GT5 was a bit of a mess, thankfully developer Polyphony Digital invested their time into making sure GT5 was properly supported post launch with regular patches and community events.
GT5 may have released a sorry state of a game, but over time became one of the series favourites. Its lacklustre original release is what stopped it from placing higher on this list.
#5 Gran Turismo (1997)
The real driving simulator arrived in 1997, boasting realistic driving physics and some gorgeous looking visuals (at the time of course). With a small development team and a long development period of 5 years, Gran Turismo might have never seen the light of day. Luckily though, its insistance on providing console gamers with a in-depth and realistic racing simulator, rather than arcade racing experience, was what helped GT garner the fanbase the series now has and establish itself in Playstation and gaming history.
#4 Gran Turismo 2 (1999)
#4 Gran Turismo 2 (1999)
Following the unexpected success of the original game, work on GT2 began immediately after the original received such high praise. Focussing on refining the experience, rather than providing something wholly new, GT2 delivered more content and higher visual polish whilst also retaining much of the original games content. This style of development became standard in subsequent sequels the series would have and it's worked for them ever since. Why fix what wasn't broken right?
#3 Gran Turismo: Sport (2017)
#3 Gran Turismo: Sport (2017)
The only GT game to make its way to the PS4, GT Sport is a slightly different approach to GT games with an emphasis on getting to the good stuff quicker. Where GT games of old would require you to undertaking driving lessons, then start off with slow and heavy road cars whilst gradually working up to the big leagues; GT Sport scrapped that progression system in favour of dumping you right in at the deep end with fast cars in frantic races. It works fantastically and is perfect for those gamers that just want to jump in and race some fast cars round beautiful locales. It also has some fantastic PS VR support to immerse yourself even further. Not to mention is boasts some of the most gorgeous graphics on the PS4, especially when playing in 4K HDR on a PS4 Pro.
#2 Gran Turismo 7 (2022)
#2 Gran Turismo 7 (2022)
Following on from the success of GT Sport, Gran Turismo 7 took what worked in Sport and translated that into a more traditional Gran Turismo experience, and the result is arguably the best entry in the entire franchise. Whilst Gran Turismo 7 presents itself as a back to basics approach for the series, it actually presents the most accessible version of a Gran Turismo game to date thanks to the new 'GT Cafe' missions. The Cafe sees you enter specific championships with specific cars to complete challenges, these challenges will reward you with new cars and thereby unlocking new events and challenges for you. Some purists feel as though this strips away player agency by funnelling you through a particular path, but there's no stopping you going off and doing other events between Cafe missions to win more credits, unlock other cars, or even progress through the game in a different way. On top of this the game looks and runs like a dream; but there is one caveat, the always online requirement even when playing solo. I would be more than prepared to give GT7 the top spot if it weren't for the flaky servers and always online requirement making even playing the game impossible at times.
#1 Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (2001)
#1 Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (2001)
Gran Turismo 3 was the Playstation 2's killer app. It was the game to own and judging by the sales, if you owned a PS2 you probably did own GT3. Providing a true sequel to GT1&2, GT3 not only polished the content from the last two games even higher than before, but it added several new ways to play the game including A-Spec, B-Spec, and Online Multiplayer via i.LINK. Whilst having less cars than GT2, its high graphical standard pushed the PS2 to its limits and was the systems best looking game for much of its lifespan, despite being available very shortly after the PS2's launch.
Although there are fewer cars there is a wider range, from road cars, to touring, exotic, rally, and even F1 as well as retaining many fan favourite tracks and including many many more new ones. GT3 was the definitive racing experience on PS2, and is still one of the best racing games to this day.
Although there are fewer cars there is a wider range, from road cars, to touring, exotic, rally, and even F1 as well as retaining many fan favourite tracks and including many many more new ones. GT3 was the definitive racing experience on PS2, and is still one of the best racing games to this day.