My First Gran Turismo review: A beguiling sim racing entry point

Acting as a marketing tool, it’s not uncommon for a video game demo (or beta) to precede the release of a title, harking back to the days of free discs stuck to the front of magazines.

There have been times for a demo to arrive after the full release too, but rarely does it happen nearly three years after the original launch.

The trailer for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is available now, not in 2028…

This is why My First Gran Turismo, available today (6th December 2024) is such a curio.

It uses cars, tracks, graphics and physics wholesale from March 2022’s Gran Turismo 7. There is no entry fee and once completed, you’re greeted with a glorified advert, plus a ‘passport’ granting 18 free cars within its elder, full-fat, sibling. Sounds much like any other demo, then.

Except, we’re talking about Polyphony Digital here. This is the development team that accurately recreated night skies, the moon and Japanese ambulances. Of course this isn’t merely a game preview.

It’s as if series auteur Kazunori Yamauchi was asked to create a vertical slice of Gran Turismo 7 as a free taster, but then took that brief and spun it into something much more meaningful.

Turns out, My Gran Turismo is actually a hand-holding introduction to virtual car racing as a whole, not just this deified franchise.

A mandatory tutorial takes you through the various assists on offer to make motorsport easier. A simple task, involving a couple of straights and one corner, with bright brake zone markers, controller options and racing lines.

From there, you’re into the licence tests that are a progenitor to the next Max Verstappen, each providing an interactive way of learning corner entries and acceleration points.

It’s deliberately easygoing, with wieldy handling and arm-band driving aids. An existing Gran Turismo 7 aficionado could collect all the gold ratings in a scant 90 minutes.

But this isn’t for them. This is for someone who picks up a PlayStation 5 (or 4) for Christmas and has never dabbled in serious car racing.

To that extent, there are no racing vehicles here, but instead an eclectic mix of galumphing Volvo estates and sleek Audi TTs. Once again, the Japanese series sticks to a philosophy of only including historically significant motors, as opposed to a lake of contemporary flashy stuff that ages like warm milk.

While you’re busy besting time trial target times and the pounding Music Rally tests (perhaps the weakest game mode), players will be imbued with a sense of driving prowess and historical car knowledge without realising it.

My First Gran Turismo may be a throwaway experience for sim racing experts, those who spend their free time tweaking force feedback settings and upgrading PCs. But, it is vital.

Without accessible entry points, wider sim racing fails to grow. If it fails to grow, there won’t be enough fans to sustain multiple game developers and platforms. The world would be a bleaker place.

By being a free download on the world’s most-popular game console, and then deliberately targeting newcomers, My First Gran Turismo is arguably the most significant racing title released in a generation.