Between Forza and Gran Turismo, I’ve always leaned more towards Forza. With the imminent release of Gran Turismo 6, however, that is probably going to change. I don’t know how they’ve done it, but the collective genius at Polyphony Digital has created a brand-new Gran Turismo for the PlayStation 3 that not only looks better than any driving game I’ve seen on any platform so far, but they’ve put an extra detail in that nobody would ever expect from a car game: they’ve modelled the sky.
Yes, in addition to enjoying accurate driving physics, when you drive at night on GT6’s tracks you’ll see the actual night sky you would if you were physically racing in that real-world location, complete with movement in accordance with the Earth’s spin. That really blows my hair back – it’s included not because it’s a must-have feature, but because it’s just so cool.
And here’s the kicker: the guys at Polyphony didn’t stop there. If you watch the latest trailer for the game right to the end, you’ll see a brief two-second clip of a lunar rover DRIVING ON THE MOON! Polyphony Digital prides itself on incredibly detailed physics modelling, so I have to wonder how, exactly, they pulled it off as I’m pretty sure sending a team to the moon to do it didn’t happen. The fact remains, there’s a lunar rover in the game! I can only hope it’s drivable and there’s a track on the moon. Maybe as a reward, or an unlockable? That’d be cool.
Watch the trailer and the demonstration of Polyphony’s “skybox” sky-modelling tech below, and join me in being amazed.
GT6 releases on the 6th of December locally.
