Gran Turismo series lead Kazunori Yamauchi has revealed that he’s “considering” and “looking into” porting the racing franchise to PC. Speaking to GTPlanet during the Gran Turismo World Finals, Yamauchi expressed some concerns about getting the “finely tuned” Playstation exclusive title to consistently run at 4K 60fps across all platforms. While not explicitly mentioned, he seems to be referring to the latest Gran Turismo 7, which is heavy on the hardware, featuring ray-traced lighting and high-resolution textures that emulate real life. That said, while the PlayStation 5 is powerful, it’s nothing in front of most PCs. That’s proven by the fact that most new launches do not offer 4K 60fps with ray-tracing on PS5.
Launched on PS4 and PS5, Gran Turismo 7’s arrival on PC would mark a huge milestone for the series, which for the past 25 years of life has remained exclusive to the PlayStation lineup of consoles. Yamauchi explains that simply porting the title is “not a very easy subject” — which makes sense as developer Polyphony Digital would have to include several graphics options and quality-of-life changes to cater to PC, in addition to considering keyboard and mouse players. As for commercial performance, Forza Horizon 5 has been played by over 20 million PC and Xbox players since its launch in late 2021, which goes to show that there’s still a strong market for the racing genre on PC.
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The last few years have been rife with several PlayStation exclusives porting to PC, including Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, the recently dropped Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and more. During an investor presentation in May, Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) president Jim Ryan said that the company expects half of its annual launches to be on PC and mobile by 2025. “By expanding to PC and mobile, and it must be said… also to live services, we have the opportunity to move from a situation of being present in a very narrow segment of the overall gaming software market, to being present pretty much everywhere,” Ryan said (via VGC).
The Gran Turismo series is widely revered for its visual fidelity and slew of licensed cars that feature accurate driving physics. An update to Gran Turismo 7, released last week, adds the ability to sell vehicles in the garage, allowing players to remove spare cars in exchange for credit rewards. Dubbed ‘Car Valuation Service,’ the feature takes into account changing market trends, tuning state, and vehicle condition to determine the right price. The patch also added the Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta circuit and three new cars: BMW M2 Competition ‘18, Ford Sierra RS 500 Cosworth ‘87, and Nissan Silvia K’s Aero (S14) ‘96.
Elsewhere, the Gran Turismo universe — if you can call it that — is expanding onto the big screen with a live-action adaptation. Filming began earlier this month, with a premise that bases itself on the inspiring story of a real-life Gran Turismo player Jann Mardenborough, who rose the ranks through a series of gaming contests, and ultimately joined the big leagues as a professional driver. The film stars Archie Madekwe (Midsommar) in the lead as the young fledging, who will be coached by David Harbour’s (Stranger Things) character — a retired racecar driver. The film is directed by Neill Blomkamp (District 9) and is eyeing a theatrical release on August 11, 2023.
There is no word on whether Gran Turismo PC development has begun — Yamauchi’s comments suggest it’s too early right now.
