Years Ahead Of Hollywood, Gran Turismo Sport Revolutionizes Driving Games – Forbes

Photo courtesy of Polyphony Digital

Features such as 4K, HDR and Wide Color take GT Sport to a whole new level of gaming.

Gran Turismo Sport is quite simply a revolution in driving games. What it will bring to gaming when it hits stores in mid-October, is not just a new, brushed up version of the world’s biggest selling driving simulator game. Boasting technology years ahead of anything in Hollywood, GT Sport is like the Tardis in Dr. Who. It’s a time machine, transporting us to where driving games will be in the early 2020s.

The next level

As I tested a preview of GT Sport at the Polyphony Digital headquarters in Tokyo, and it became obvious very quickly that nothing like this game exists yet. I have played all six versions of Gran Turismo and several of its rivals since GT debuted 20 years ago. But this is different. The depth, the contrasts, the graphics, the clarity, the realism – everything is on another level.

In terms of race tracks, the new game features 17 locations with 28 different layouts and over 150 cars. Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi and his team have elevated visual technology to unprecedented levels, incorporating 4K, HDR, 60FPS and Wide Color, features which allow the game to express its content in unprecedented levels of life-like color, from wet to dry tracks in daytime and at night, while revealing the cars in vibrant paint hues never before seen. Yamauchi says that in this, his game’s 20^th anniversary, “I wanted to bring a level of innovation and realism unseen since the series’ launch in 1997.”

Photo courtesy of Polyphony Digital

Yes, Porsche has finally joined Gran Turismo. Check out the detail as these cars move at speed.

Before we get too nerdy about the actual content of the game, we need to explain exactly what is so advanced about GT Sport. Most modern gaming consoles offer a resolution of up to 1080p, GT Sport will deliver double that — 2160p – or what we call 4K or ultra-high-definition. And to be able to accurately express the depth and pixelation of these images, you need a high dynamic range (HDR) TV which gives better contrast, greater brightness levels and a wider color palette.

An even more critical part of the whole equation is contrast – the difference between light and dark or shadows. It’s all about creating brighter whites and darker blacks. TV brightness is measured in ‘nits,’ in which one nit equals one candela per square meter. Most standard digital TVs found in homes around the world right now are capped at 100 nits, which is currently broadcast TV level.

Photo by Peter Lyon.

Gran Turismo creator, Kazunori Yamauchi, explains how the cars are rendered into the game.

Ahead of the curve

Meanwhile, Hollywood movies in cinemas generate around 1000 nits. Yamauchi wants the dynamic range of GT Sport to peak at 10,000 nits, which is 100 times brighter than that of current TVs. He is operating at a technological level that’s at least several years ahead of its time and far beyond what even Hollywood is doing right now.

In fact, the contrast of the light and shadows are so real that you almost feel as though you can dive into the image. The combination of the higher 4K definition, brighter colors, crisper edges and smoother, fluid motion really elevate GT Sport to a new level. You’d be forgiven for thinking you can reach out and touch the race car’s dashboard in front of you.

Photo courtesy of Polyphony Digital

It’s so real you feel as though you can reach out and touch the dashboard.