Two years ago to this day, Gran Turismo 6 launched on PS3. 365 days ago, we looked back at the first year of the game, starting from the Ronda release party, right through to Update 1.14 and its introduction of Community Features. So, what’s changed in the last year?

The two biggest features that were missing since release – B-Spec and Course Maker – both showed up. B-Spec arrived in late February 2015, in a comprehensive 1.16 update that also included series classic Midfield Raceway and a Vision Gran Turismo car (more on that later). Polyphony took the time to also update their website, so that Seasonal Event rankings could be easily viewed online instead of only in the game.

Of course, the big news this fall was Course Maker. After an unusual leak in February, the Course Maker (now carrying the Track Path Editor title) arrived at the tail-end of September. GTPlanet had an exclusive first-look at the TPE, the controversial tablet-only app, which has nonetheless proven popular since release, as users across the community have found many workarounds to get it functioning on numerous other platforms.

GTPlanet launched the GT6 Track Database, offering players a handy way to download other players’ tracks. The database has been a huge success, with 1688 submissions so far – that’s an average of almost 25 each and every day since it arrived.

The Vision GT project continued to march forward, with numerous reveals, both expected and not. Starting only a few weeks after the the first anniversary, Infiniti and Chaparral unleashed there unique takes on the initiative, with the latter going all-in on the crazy with a full-on laser treatment. Mazda popped a gift in everybody’s stocking on Christmas Eve 2014, when the LM55 Vision GT showed up. MINI’s Clubman concept was introduced in the already-mentioned 1.16 update, paired with Midfield Raceway and B-Spec. Following that, Lexus and Alpine (1.17), Volkswagen (v1.18, along with 2015’s GT Academy), Peugeot (v1.19) all showed off their wares, before the most recent (in GT6), most powerful product of the program was revealed: SRT’s wild Tomahawk, which produces an absolutely insane 2,590hp.

GTPlanet hosted a challenge involving the most extreme X variant of the Tomahawk, hurtling around the Nordschleife, where winners were presented with posters signed by the design team, and even Kazunori Yamauchi himself!

There are, of course, two newer Vision GT’s that haven’t shown up in GT6. Hyundai and Bugatti both teased their creations before revealing all the details at the Frankfurt Auto Show. What the reveals didn’t show was almost as interesting, as people quickly realized the videos did not end with the usual GT6 watermark, but instead a more general GT one.

Which brings us to the next step in the future of the 75-million-strong Gran Turismo series. Gran Turismo Sport had a surprise unveiling at Paris Game Week at the end of October, where Kazunori announced the new PS4 game would focus on the long-awaited FIA Championship partnership first earmarked in 2014. While it wasn’t shown at this weekend’s PlayStation Experience in San Francisco, Sony has confidence in the game’s 2016 release window. The public beta for the game – a technical first for GT – will be launching in the Spring of next year.

It has been an exciting year for Gran Turismo 6, expanding further to represent the final send-off for the PS3 era. We look forward to 2016, as GT Sport carries the Gran Turismo torch onto the PlayStation 4.

Happy second birthday, GT6!

GT6 Photomode image by mazda787.

More Posts On...