Game: Gran Turismo Sport
Platform: PS4
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Release Date: 17/10/2017
When it comes to engine sound effects, Gran Turismo gets a lot of flack. And rightly so: the engines have always sounded artificial; far from the visceral sound your ears are treated to in real life when you're behind the wheel of a car with potent power.
With the unveil of Gran Turismo Sport this week, reports have been suggesting that the audio design still hasn't improved. This seemed odd, especially considering that car audio is by far the most criticised aspect of the series – it's become a running joke that Gran Turismo's cars sound like vacuum cleaners. Polyphony promised improved engine sound effects for Gran Turismo Sport, and even enlisted someone from Turn10 Studios specifically to work on the audio.
After a hands-on session with Gran Turismo Sport at the London event, we can confirm that Gran Turismo Sport's engine sounds have been significantly improved from Gran Turismo 6. And you can hear the difference yourself in our gameplay comparison video below featuring direct audio from Gran Turismo Sport.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=KqY4nSitQi8%3Frel%3D0
Comparing the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 in Gran Turismo 6 and Gran Turismo Sport, you can hear an instant improvement – the sounds in Gran Turismo Sport have a more realistic, guttural sound to the engine notes and gear changes are more pronounced.
Having said that, the grating tyre squealing sound from Gran Turismo 6 is back, and there are still little details that are noticabely missing such as the reverb when you thunder through a tunnel.
Of course, there's still room for improvement. Gran Turismo Sport's audio is still far from perfect – DriveClub, Project CARS and Assetto Corsa all have better, more authentic engine sounds at this stage. Considering the resources at Polyphony's disposal, it's discouraging seeing smaller studios manage to overtake Gran Turismo, a game made by one of the biggest game studios in the world.
However, Polyphony have made more progress in Gran Turismo's audio design than we've perhaps given them credit for – it's just taken them too long to get to this stage compared to the competition. Hopefully further progress can be made in the remaining six months of Gran Turismo Sport's development.
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