With the launch of Gran Turismo Sport just around the corner on 17th October, there’s a lot of exciting information to share about the new game. We wanted to provide a round-up of some of the announcements that you may have missed, as well as some new details for the dedicated amongst you.

GT Sport is built from the bottom up to provide race fans with something different, whether you’re a Gran Turismo first timer, or one of our veterans from the last 20 years of titles – GT Sport will offer something for everyone. So buckle up as we take you through eight things that you need to know in order to be fully prepared to take to the track and race!

1. Prepare to race with Campaign Mode

Campaign Mode gives players the chance to improve driving skills across four different categories and tutorial videos. Each of these modes play a key role in making every driver better prepared for racing against others.

Driving School teaches drivers everything from basic operations to advanced racing techniques to help make everyone an expert behind the wheel.

Mission Challenge provides various dramatic racing situations for players to overcome. Each mission has a “friend-ranking” leaderboard to encourage drivers to challenge their friends.

Circuit Experience lets you learn how to drive the most challenging sections of the world’s great race tracks, sector by sector, braking point by braking point and apex by apex, until you’ve mastered them like a pro.

In Racing Etiquettes players learn signals, flags and safety car protocols to ensure fair and respectful race conditions for all.

As you naturally increase your skill level, you will be awarded with a multitude of vehicles in various race groups, as well as in-game currency to allow you to further expand your dream garage.

2. Keeping things fair – staying connected

This year’s Gran Turismo includes a world first – the only video game with an online Championship endorsed by the world’s motoring governing body, the FIA. As a competition endorsed by the same organisation that oversees some of the biggest races in the world online competition has been endorsed by FIA rules supremo Charlie Whiting, and we’re taking racing integrity very seriously for the FIA GT Championship.

In order to ensure fair racing for all, GT Sport will require an internet connection for the majority of functionality. This connectivity requirement is to ensure that progress, car availability and driver ratings are properly maintained at all times.

This doesn’t mean you’ll need PlayStation Plus though. As with all PlayStation titles, PS Plus will only be needed for the online multiplayer, portions of the Arcade Mode, including limited two-player split screen, single player races on select tracks and time trials can still be played offline.

3. Always race an equal – Advanced Matchmaking

There’s nothing worse than taking to the track and finding yourself pulling up alongside the next racing superstar in your first race.

The matchmaking system in GT Sport has been tuned to ensure that racers of similar abilities are pitted against each other. So, when you start off fresh, you’ll be placed against drivers of a similar ability. As you build up time on the track, you’ll be rematched accordingly.

For those that are curious, the matchmaking is based on three key metrics:

Driver Level – Your driver level increases with XP gained in races.

Sportsmanship Rating (‘Sport Mode’) – Just like in real world driving, we want to reward those that drive, and race, clean. So stick to the track, and limit the number of collisions to secure a positive sportsmanship rating.

Driver Rating (‘Sport Mode’) – Starting on E, you can build towards achieving the coveted “A” rating – but watch out, a bad sportsmanship rating will limit your ability to progress.

4. Set it up your way – car customization

Want to set up your vehicle for road, dirt, or drift? The Car Settings within your Garage allow you to change your tires, brake bias, suspension, aerodynamics, drivetrain, transmission, and power to weight ratio – basically anything you’d want to tune, you can!

That’s not the only way you can customise your ride though. In GT Sport, every mile driven means extra rewards for you; with Mileage Exchange, you can trade in-game miles for a host of customisation options for your driver avatar and vehicles within your Garage.

You’ll still use the in-game credits earned from racing (or pre-ordering) to purchase cars.

5. Scapes pushes the boundaries of tech and innovations in photography

This is not your traditional photo mode. The Scapes feature in GT Sport is a new format of photography developed from a True HDR workflow and physics-based rendering technologies. Basically, each photo location contains all the light energy information of that scene, which means your favourite car can realistically be placed in hundreds of real world locations.

Take a look at the below to see what we mean.

6. Drive on your own terms

With powerful AI-assisted systems, even the most novice driver can get the most out of driving some of the most sought-after cars in the world! The high-level driving aids can help with everything from steering, to throttle control, to braking. For the more seasoned drivers, fear not – all aids can be switched off, allowing you to race for real…

Online racing will feature a mix of assisted and unassisted racing, so there will be something for all levels when you take your race experience to the world.

7. Go one step closer with PlayStation VR

Want to take it to that extra level? Then strap yourself in and check out Gran Turismo Sport in VR, featured within the “Arcade mode”…

Here you’ll be able to go head to head (1:1) against another AI opponent in over 135 cars on 27 new and classic tracks that will take you from the Japanese metropolis to the Mexican-American border.

8. You’ve been seeing it all wrong…

In preparation for GT Sport, and designed to make the most of the power of PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro, Polyphony Digital has developed brand new capturing equipment used in conjunction with HDR to ensure that the cars are as beautifully recreated in the game as they are in real life.

What does that actually mean? Well, that Ferrari and McLaren you’ve been racing before don’t actually look like that! The technology hasn’t existed to faithfully represent the Ferrari Red and McLaren Orange in a video game, so not only does the game look great, it’s now as faithful a recreation as you can get!

That’s all from us for now folks, but not all GT Sport has to offer. Stay tuned over the next few weeks as we take a closer look at some of the game’s key features, including Campaign mode, Arcade mode, and the FIA GT Championships FIA championship through our GT Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram channels.