This week, PlayStation is celebrating its 30th anniversary, and Gran Turismo is a big part of the company’s history. The racing series has been a staple of Sony platforms since 1997, and has seen releases on every PlayStation console, and even PSP. For those that have wanted to experience the series but don’t know where to start, PlayStation has announced My First Gran Turismo, a free experience akin to a lite version of Gran Turismo 7 that will be released this week on PS4 and PS5. In a post on the PlayStation Blog, Polyphony Digital president Kazunori Yamauchi talked about My First Gran Turismo, and how the goal is to appeal to new players.
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“We’ve made sure the experience is intuitive, allowing anyone to get behind the wheel and master the essentials, such as cornering, braking, and acceleration. By playing it, users will build confidence one lap at a time, tackling new challenges that’ll steadily refine their driving skills,” writes Yamauchi.
While most Gran Turismo games tend to feature a large number of cars, My First Gran Turismo will offer a smaller pool to choose from, with 18 in total. A full list of cars has not been revealed, but players can expect to see the Mazda RX-7 Spirit R Type A (FD) ’02 and the Lamborghini Countach LP400 ’74, among other returning vehicles. The experience will also feature some returning tracks from previous games in the series, such as Deep Forest Raceway, Kyoto Driving Park, and Trial Mountain Circuit.
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My First Gran Turismo will offer VR support. Unfortunately, that option is exclusive to PS5 and PlayStation VR2, so those playing on PS4 won’t get a chance to experience it. However, for those that just bought VR2 thanks to the peripheral’s deep Black Friday discount, the timing couldn’t be better. It remains to be seen how enjoyable the VR mode will be, but it’s worth noting that a lot of players have praised the VR2 support for Gran Turismo 7 over the last year. Hopefully My First Gran Turismo will deliver an equally impressive VR experience!
It remains to be seen how newcomers and series veterans will feel about My First Gran Turismo, but it’s hard to argue with the price point. At the very least, it’s nice to see PlayStation looking at new ways to bring fans into the franchise. By making this free, the company will probably attract a lot of people that wouldn’t otherwise play a Gran Turismo, and that might even get them to buy an existing game. It’s somewhat bewildering that My First Gran Turismo wasn’t released closer to last year’s live-action Gran Turismo film. Whatever the rationale was for waiting this long, PS4 and PS5 users will be able to check out My First Gran Turismo on December 6th at 12 a.m. local time through the PlayStation Store.
Do you plan on checking out My First Gran Turismo? Have you been looking for an excuse to try the series? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!
