I generally enjoy most of DF's content, but in-depth videos like these are on a whole other level. Amazing production John, this is why I became a supporter. Such a great feeling to sit back and dive deep into a game like this. Major props!
John is the only reason I'm still subscribed. Maybe Richard at times. But John's insights and knowledge of gaming tech is unmatched. Alex not so much, especially after his strange excuses for Halo Infinite's bland and empty visuals.
@@ionseven wait, what excuses about halo? He pointed out how the e3 demo looked bland and then commented on the upgrades in the final product, is all I know.
I remember my friend owning a video game shop and he got the import of GT1. A few of us stood there saying “how can games ever look better than this….it looks like real life” 😂
As you said you can't cover everything released in this period, but I'd give special mention to some of the more sim-style racing games available on the PS1 such as TOCA Touring Cars and Colin McRae Rally from Codemasters, also the officially license F1 games from Psygnosis. These were brilliant games and often provided a much deeper driving experience than the more arcade racers at the time.
I was so hyped for GT3, especially after the massive EGM issue on it. But once I got my hands on the game, it was disappointing. Handling didn't feel all that great for some cars and it used a lot of crappy meshes from GT2 (something the series has done a lot of). But most of all, it was great, but kinda meh. To be fair to GT3, I didn't get it until after I had gotten Forza 1 (I was behind the curve), but GT3 felt like stepping back in time. I played through GT2 a second time before finally clearing all the stages in GT3. But to the point, GT3 was futuristic compared to those first racing games. It's almost a decade older!
@@amirrazic8141 You misunderstand. I never said I didn't play it, I said I didn't get it. I played it a lot at my girlfriend's house. Her brothers and I spent the most of September / october ripping through the license challenges and going for gold. I picked up PGR 1 when it launched in November and in almost every way, it looked better than GT3. After I broke up with my GF that December, I didn't bother getting my own copy of GT3 until it hit the discount bin years later. It's always good to look at games objectively and place them in the time they were made. GT3 looked great when it launched. The heat haze was a neat effect, but it was quickly outshined by several other racers pretty quickly. On top of that, it's short roster of cars (~180) compared to GT2 (~600), with a big chunk of them just being Miata variations, and the loss of some upgrades/ mods made the game kind of lame. I still go back to GT2 and sometimes 4. But almost never feel the urge to pick up 3. I completed it, but it's like a step child. 2 was more fun and 4 was just all around better. 3 was a rush job and should have been held for another year.
People have no idea how awesome Gran Turismo 1 looked, especially driving at night. It's the first time I thought, goddamn...games are approaching realism. The game might look like crap on modern LCD's but CRT's put the game to justice like most PS1 games.
At the time, Gran Turismo was one of those games that made me say "this is real life, graphics can never get better than this." Always good to see Omega Boost get some attention.
it’s crazy to think that with Unreal Engine 5 we can use real-life assets in video games with realistic dynamic lighting, games are gonna literally look like movies
GT3 still looks really good today to be honest. It approximately looks more "realistic" than even more modern racing games due to the art direction the game has.
It really does look remarkably realistic, for how primitive everything in this game actually is. I think it's still fairly convincing, if you squint a bit.
GT1 was actually Kaz's original idea for a dream racing game, but Sony wouldn't let him do it. They wanted something more accessible like Nintendo's Mario Kart. Kaz even mentioned that he hid GT1 in Motor Toon.
I have basically zero interest in racing games but something about John's editing and the passionate way he speaks about games makes every DF Retro video worth watching. Seriously, this was such a great watch and can't wait for part two.
I'm the same. There's two racing games I absolutely loved - Burnout Paradise & Motorstorm Apocalypse. Need for Speed Shift & V8 got nay from me, because I wasn't good at handling the car in them.
I really feel like you guys are essential. I don't just learn about the games I'm learning about techniques and ways they used their eras to their advantage.
This retro series is such a goldmine of nostalgia, phenominal writing, editing and history. DF goes above and byond with their work!. Also shoutout to Rage Racer !!
@@marc-laurentbonmartin9643 ha ha excellent 😁. I was using the cerbera LM edition! One thing for sure is that I would be incapable of doing such a time now lmao
The production value on these videos is really something else, I remember that saturn quake video and it's cool to see how the production has progressed
I can't believe how much John packs into these DF Retro videos. I addition to everything you want to know about GT itself, you've also got: * A short history of racing games * The formation of Polyphony Digitial * Polyphony's other titles * Competing racing games of the era * Emulation information Suffice to say I am very much looking forward to part 2!
Wonderful doco on a game I played more than any other, to this day. I might be biased but the chemical Brothers intro is still my favourite intro of the all the GT games. It still gets me pumped every time I watch it.
Totally agree on the Chemical Brothers remix of the Manics song for this intro, it was brilliant... Just awesome thinking about it and brings back so many amazing memories! What an intro and what a game!
@@jammy_rex3038 if I had time and the means I'd recreate the original footage but with gt7 replays and slap that amazing track over the top and dump it on yt. Woot.
@@CSTBFO_jad now that would be awesome! Spine tingling hearing that tune and against the modern iteration would be very cool! Mind you I've not got around to buying GT7 yet, I'm still on PS4, but I will get a copy before too long 👍
I was just thinking about how much a DF retro video would be great for Gran Turismo after Deus Ex, Ridge Racer, DOOM, etc. With the release of GT7, a video would have been great. Now we have it, and what an amazing video!
I remember gathering money by doing the easier races just enough to buy a Suzuki Pikes(you mentioned) which had incredible acceleration and made me win all races. If i remember correctly there was no limitation on what cars you could buy and go against to. Fun memories , thanks for the in depth video!
Back in '97 it blew my young mind that a console racer could have such depth and visual beauty... even the game's thick manual is a work of art on itself. Always loved racing sims and Gran Turismo is the reason
Such an awesome video, John! It's hard to underestimate the effect that Gran Turismo had on car culture too - Car magazines and Subaru credit the popularity of the Impreza WRX in Gran Turismo leading to younger drivers requesting that be released in North America. It also helped popularize JDM style tuner culture globally, which lead to cars like the Supra's popularity in the used market, which then lead to... well... the Fast and the Furious series.
Great episode. I played Omega Boost to death back in the day. When it comes to racing games though, I always preferred arcade and rally racers. Shame Colin McRae Rally wasn't mentioned, it was one the best rally game s of its generation.
John, I applaud you for your work over the last few years. I really appreciate the care and detail that you put into these retrospectives, it's borderline genius in my opinion. I'll be signing up to DF's Patreon soon, because you and the rest of DF deserve to be supported, it's just an outstanding brand. I've been watching videogame coverage on the internet for over 20 years and I've never seen anything this impressive.
This was my first Playstation experience. I still remember my dad picking this game instead of Rayman (that I wanted) in the shop as a starter game. We played it every day until my parents had to sell the console due to financial issues. I was heartbroken
The greatest achievement of Gran Turismo 1&2 is how each car has an authenticity to its driving character, and this is done at scale. It’s also communicable and you can explore the reasons why each one is different, which is why the games were such great living textbook for foundational IRL knowledge
Can we also acknowledge how amazing the instruction manual for GT1 was? I remember actually learning so much about driving mechanics and racing just from absorbing that thing.
What an amazing documentary John. Every detail and background is in it, must have been alot of research for you. My deepest respect, and i think the GT should be proud too.
On the simulation side there was also the Toca Race Driver series, specially the third one which was named Jarrett & Labonte Stock Car Racing in NA, a pretty good looking game that featured cockpit camera and even a damage model with deformation, you you could even lose your car wheels if you crashed hard enough.
As a admitted Sega fanboy growing up, this game made me so envious of the Playstation that my brother had. Nothing on the Saturn came close the visuals that this had, especially the racing titles. Not sure the Saturn could pull this off.
I’m a Psx guy and I know that some companies might have pulled off something nice on the Saturn but to be honest, not even the mighty N64 had anything like this ….
Same. GT1 was THE game that I played when I eventually got a PlayStation begrudgingly, being a massive salty Sega fan at the time. From the first seconds of the opening intro I became a huge PlayStation fan and I was so glad I had this console. (Halo was the same for Xbox 1).
@@DavidHunter Agreed. I wanted the Xbox so bad when it launched, but they were sold out,so I got a GameCube, but once I found one available I scooped one up. Now i loved my GameCube, with games like Eternal Darkness, Metroid Prime, Mario Sunshine, Rogue Squadron, etc , it was a blast, but once Xbox Live dropped that was a game changer! Ghost Recon and Rainbow 6 were so fun with my friends on Xbox Live!
This special episode is amazing. Mentioning Macross/Gundam and Omega boost you went above and beyond. You are the best on YT for this kind of things, hands down.
15:39 "The original Gran Turismo hold's up shockingly well(compare to PC)" What is it with the constant reluctance to say anything that might suggest consoles graphics being superior to PC graphics? I was a PC gamer at the time of Gran Turismos launch and there were no PC racers that came anywhere close to GT's graphics. GT's graphics were utterly mind blowing back then.
Because the elite PC master race doesn't take criticism too kindly. How dare anyone suggest a lowly console game would be the equal of their hyper expensive money box! 😅
PC at the time was better for genre variety more than technical props. There were pretty good looking PC games, but near exclusively FPSs based on idTech or prerendered games like Riven. Nothing that looked nearly as real as GT. Perhaps it was more art style than engine performance, but it really was standout at the time.
@@bombjack1984 I call it the PS 1.5 because it was able to play a bunch of PS1 games with slightly better graphics and also because the DC was quickly forgotten after the PS2 launch.
I was a senior in high school and big into cars when GT came out. Man I loved this game and the idea of upgrading cars you could or did own in real life was amazing. Great DF Retro for that nostalgia.
John your work is greatly appreciated. It’s clear in the quality how much passion you have and how hard you work to makes these videos. I love this series so much, thank you.
Just started the video, hoping for a perspective on the PSP version! Still praying for another DF Retro Tech video too (Fire, smoke, whatever please). Your Water series still rank as my favourite Retro videos.
I am a huge fan of the GT series and my wife does not understand why I have such a deep love and appreciation for them. Now I can have her watch this and all will be clear ! Excellent work from the DF crew.
Excellent video; thanks so much for another great DF Retro. I love the fact that you brought up World Driver Championship. Definitely the best "sim" experience on N64. One error: MRC on N64 did not actually feature any real cars.
Forza is not retro yet, but Forza Motorsport was one of the games that fully utilized the classic Xbox hardware. I think it had effects that were impossible on the PS2.
@@nightdriver7216 what in the world are you talking about? Forza is a 17-year-old franchise with the first game launching on the OG Xbox. That was 4 generations ago. It's not retro yet? Freaking LOL
@@fabio78 do you have an idea what retro means? Xbox was released in 2001, and it's barely found in any list named "retro consoles" let alone a game that was first released in 2005.
@@lordxboss5700 This is not really true. Forza could never compete in sales until Forza Horizon came out. It depends on the game really. FM5, 6 and 7 each feel a little different, same with GTS and GT7.
There must have been an internal version for PC, too. Look at the intros - they are definitely a version of the game running in real time, but they have reflections and texture filtering.
Excellent video as always. One thing I wish you had touched on was the controls. Gran Turismo was one of the first racing games to use the newly released Dual Analogue Controller, the predecessor to the Dual Shock. I remember being blown away when I first played it that way, it felt intuitive and tight.
From a european perspective: 'Moon over Castle' sounds weird and misplaced to me, while I most vividly remember the intro, in-game and menu music to this day. Especially the intro is awesome.
I always disagree with John when it comes to uprezing old games like PS1 or N64. I think games from that era look fantastic in full HD even. Yeah, the polygon edges are more obvious, but who cares? It's not like you couldn't see those edges back then anyway. I loved playing Super Mario 64 at 1080p for example when I was first able to do that with an emulator. I thought it looked fantastic. The better resolution, texture filtering, and AA significantly improves the look of those games imo.
I know that the japanese intro on GT1 was classier, but I still get chills and a huge grin on my face when I hear the Chemical Brothers tune. Being about six and being into cars and playing this was a great time to grow up/
Ah yes, back then when Online only, DRM and nasty microtransactions weren't a problem. Personally, I love Forza Horizon 1 and 2 the most, but unfortunately you cannot purchase them anymore so when my disc eventually dies I won't be able to enjoy it anymore... :( And their newest title, Horizon 5 is also very disappointing with tons of recycled cars and the festival playlist which brings one huge disadvantage. If you haven't played it since launch, you will miss out on all the added cars and won't be able to claim them. And after claiming a festival playlist car you can only have one, so no individual builds. I really hope that the hateful security on the Xbox One will be cracked one day, so I can at least save and preserve Horizon 1 and 2 with emulation. Would love it if DF could talk about game preservation!
The level of detail in all of these retro videos is without rival. Even today and in years to come this series stands and will stand as some of the best documentary of gaming. Great work
I fully did not expect to like this video even more than your Type R4 vid, but then you talked about Omega Boost!...And then you talked about MRC: Multi-Racing Championship on N64! I received that game as a Christmas gift and had no idea what it was. It absolutely became an important part of my childhood. Sometimes its the punchline joke about off-brand racing games, and sometimes its where I go to relax and rip through some old tracks. I so much appreciate including that obscure relic. Amazing work as always!
Duuuuuuude! I don't know how or where I discovered Omega Boost back in the day, but I was astounded that the game went so under the radar. I'm glad you agree that it is possibly the best graphics ever seen on the PS1. That game was so fun, and super cool to play or watch in replays. Love seeing it get recognition!
I generally enjoy most of DF's content, but in-depth videos like these are on a whole other level. Amazing production John, this is why I became a supporter. Such a great feeling to sit back and dive deep into a game like this. Major props!
Early Access for this is only at the 15 dollars tier right?
@@weskerend507 Yes, it's the DF Retro tier.
John is the only reason I'm still subscribed. Maybe Richard at times. But John's insights and knowledge of gaming tech is unmatched. Alex not so much, especially after his strange excuses for Halo Infinite's bland and empty visuals.
@@ionseven I agree. Alex has this "superior PC master race" attitude I'm a bit allergic to. John and Richard are the mvps.
@@ionseven wait, what excuses about halo? He pointed out how the e3 demo looked bland and then commented on the upgrades in the final product, is all I know.
I remember my friend owning a video game shop and he got the import of GT1. A few of us stood there saying “how can games ever look better than this….it looks like real life” 😂
During 44 minutes I felt like a 12 years old again 🥲 Thanks John, you and the DF team are aces!
We don't deserve John. Amazing episode, as always. Thank you!!! Can't wait for the PS2 era.
This comment was posted 10 minutes after the video dropped. You haven't watched it lol
@@micsunday14 maybe he's a patreon supporter and has watched it already
@@micsunday14 People love to seek attention.
"Wait he's been editing this for quite some time. Only 43min?...Oh the PS1 era" :o ty
Yes the PS2 era is gonna be lit!
As you said you can't cover everything released in this period, but I'd give special mention to some of the more sim-style racing games available on the PS1 such as TOCA Touring Cars and Colin McRae Rally from Codemasters, also the officially license F1 games from Psygnosis. These were brilliant games and often provided a much deeper driving experience than the more arcade racers at the time.
Those games you mentioned are classic. The graphics were really good to boot. They even had car damage.
I agree that TOCA and Colin McRae Rally deserve a special mention. TOCA 1 even came out in EU before GT, with 15 AI cars, damage and weather effects.
TOCA was brilliant. CMR too altough I think the later version (PS1/PS2) made big leaps over the first one.
V-Rally and 2
True.
Crazy how futuristic Gran Turismo 3 looks when put next to the first episode. The PS2 era really was a revolution.
Certainly, however before the PS1 most games were 2D
I was so hyped for GT3, especially after the massive EGM issue on it. But once I got my hands on the game, it was disappointing. Handling didn't feel all that great for some cars and it used a lot of crappy meshes from GT2 (something the series has done a lot of). But most of all, it was great, but kinda meh. To be fair to GT3, I didn't get it until after I had gotten Forza 1 (I was behind the curve), but GT3 felt like stepping back in time. I played through GT2 a second time before finally clearing all the stages in GT3.
But to the point, GT3 was futuristic compared to those first racing games. It's almost a decade older!
@@caodesignworks2407 what a rollercoaster of a comment. It's great and dissapointing and meh and you've played it at least 5 years after release
@@amirrazic8141 You misunderstand. I never said I didn't play it, I said I didn't get it. I played it a lot at my girlfriend's house. Her brothers and I spent the most of September / october ripping through the license challenges and going for gold. I picked up PGR 1 when it launched in November and in almost every way, it looked better than GT3. After I broke up with my GF that December, I didn't bother getting my own copy of GT3 until it hit the discount bin years later.
It's always good to look at games objectively and place them in the time they were made. GT3 looked great when it launched. The heat haze was a neat effect, but it was quickly outshined by several other racers pretty quickly. On top of that, it's short roster of cars (~180) compared to GT2 (~600), with a big chunk of them just being Miata variations, and the loss of some upgrades/ mods made the game kind of lame. I still go back to GT2 and sometimes 4. But almost never feel the urge to pick up 3. I completed it, but it's like a step child. 2 was more fun and 4 was just all around better. 3 was a rush job and should have been held for another year.
The first time I popped that disc in when I FINALLY got a PS2 as a kid, I was floored. I may have cried an actual tear of joy
People have no idea how awesome Gran Turismo 1 looked, especially driving at night. It's the first time I thought, goddamn...games are approaching realism. The game might look like crap on modern LCD's but CRT's put the game to justice like most PS1 games.
LCD just kills all the work they had to put on pixel art and dithering.
Modern emulators help smooth out the jagged models and even have option to (mostly) fix the famout warping.
It looks so freaking stunning on a CRT I love GT and GT2
I'm European and I discovered The Cardigans thanks to the intro of Gran Turismo 2, which was also the first GT game I ever played
What a combo
But aren't they from Sweden?!
@@koobert yes, but I'm not from Sweden 😂 I never heard of them before playing the game
best racing soundtrack IMO
@@koobert even Emma Verde also love songs from GRAN TURISMO 2. Especially the intro movie.
At the time, Gran Turismo was one of those games that made me say "this is real life, graphics can never get better than this."
Always good to see Omega Boost get some attention.
It’s crazy to say that at one time and then see graphics evolve so much over the coming years. It was an exciting time to be a gamer.
I wouldn’t be surprised if copies of Omega Boost got a tremendous Price Boost with this video. The power of John.
it’s crazy to think that with Unreal Engine 5 we can use real-life assets in video games with realistic dynamic lighting, games are gonna literally look like movies
GT3 still looks really good today to be honest. It approximately looks more "realistic" than even more modern racing games due to the art direction the game has.
It really does look remarkably realistic, for how primitive everything in this game actually is.
I think it's still fairly convincing, if you squint a bit.
GT1 was actually Kaz's original idea for a dream racing game, but Sony wouldn't let him do it. They wanted something more accessible like Nintendo's Mario Kart. Kaz even mentioned that he hid GT1 in Motor Toon.
Motor Toon Grand Prix? That was also legendary.
This is so good, thank you for showing a true love for video games.
Gran Turismo 2 is simply amazing, the crazy amount of cars you can choose is unbelievable.
I was impressed by the reflections. Whicy by today's standards are kinda terrible but still
Some of which haven't been in any other game before or since, e.g. Renault Espace F1.
Bought it on release date. Got me hooked on driving games for life.
Real men play driving games
I spent hours trying to figure out the song at the start and it's called Future is now by Miki Higashino from the album called 2197.
Thank you!!
You are my hero!!!
Thanks dude!
@@Fimosin Glad to help! Everyone should spread the word and help others!
That entire album is gold. Been a huge fan of it since I first came across it back in the early 2000's.
I have basically zero interest in racing games but something about John's editing and the passionate way he speaks about games makes every DF Retro video worth watching. Seriously, this was such a great watch and can't wait for part two.
I'm the same. There's two racing games I absolutely loved - Burnout Paradise & Motorstorm Apocalypse. Need for Speed Shift & V8 got nay from me, because I wasn't good at handling the car in them.
I really feel like you guys are essential. I don't just learn about the games I'm learning about techniques and ways they used their eras to their advantage.
Crushed it John. I loved those early Gran Turismos, and I’m not a car guy, just great games.
I didn’t expect to see Macross. I love this channel so much. Packed with rich content and perspective.
Deculture
42:15
I don't think he ever elaborated on why Rally Challenge 2000 was so impressive.
This retro series is such a goldmine of nostalgia, phenominal writing, editing and history. DF goes above and byond with their work!. Also shoutout to Rage Racer !!
John can't thank you enough for your outstanding work.
Thanks guys for giving Gran Turismo some appreciation, especially with people's interests in other games today.
It’s amazing how’s game like that still holds up so well. Still looks really good all things considered
I saw this on patreon and I have to say, this is truly one you don’t want to miss
Been waiting for this one for a while, thanks!
I still remember playing the crap out of this game over 20 years ago .
I used to do the endurance races with friends, we did 5 laps each or something.
@Brandon Smythe It's been so long now, I just know I used to have fun as a kid playing with friends.
@Brandon Smythe Yep, was so much fun back then playing games as a kid.
I loved this episode. I'm sure I'll like the next episode even more. I'm looking forward to it.
GT1... What a game... I still remember my best time on deep forest! 0'57''78 !!!! So many hours spent on this one
57.745 for me with the skyline GT-R ‘91 !
@@marc-laurentbonmartin9643 ha ha excellent 😁. I was using the cerbera LM edition! One thing for sure is that I would be incapable of doing such a time now lmao
Here goes my childhood.. ah yes the nostalgic feel..
Thank you DF for this amazing video!
The production value on these videos is really something else, I remember that saturn quake video and it's cool to see how the production has progressed
I can't believe how much John packs into these DF Retro videos. I addition to everything you want to know about GT itself, you've also got:
* A short history of racing games
* The formation of Polyphony Digitial
* Polyphony's other titles
* Competing racing games of the era
* Emulation information
Suffice to say I am very much looking forward to part 2!
Wonderful doco on a game I played more than any other, to this day.
I might be biased but the chemical Brothers intro is still my favourite intro of the all the GT games. It still gets me pumped every time I watch it.
Totally agree on the Chemical Brothers remix of the Manics song for this intro, it was brilliant... Just awesome thinking about it and brings back so many amazing memories! What an intro and what a game!
@@jammy_rex3038 if I had time and the means I'd recreate the original footage but with gt7 replays and slap that amazing track over the top and dump it on yt. Woot.
@@CSTBFO_jad now that would be awesome! Spine tingling hearing that tune and against the modern iteration would be very cool! Mind you I've not got around to buying GT7 yet, I'm still on PS4, but I will get a copy before too long 👍
I was just thinking about how much a DF retro video would be great for Gran Turismo after Deus Ex, Ridge Racer, DOOM, etc. With the release of GT7, a video would have been great. Now we have it, and what an amazing video!
I remember gathering money by doing the easier races just enough to buy a Suzuki Pikes(you mentioned) which had incredible acceleration and made me win all races. If i remember correctly there was no limitation on what cars you could buy and go against to. Fun memories , thanks for the in depth video!
Motor Toon actually holds up really well for such an early PS1 title
Back in '97 it blew my young mind that a console racer could have such depth and visual beauty... even the game's thick manual is a work of art on itself.
Always loved racing sims and Gran Turismo is the reason
And the new game looks like ass.
Fantastic video John! The Polyphony games are always super fascinating.
A technical analysis on the visual brilliance of Driveclub would be sweeeet. Think about it DF.
John is an absolute legend with these DF Retro video's. Well looking forward to the next episode! 👍😁
Such an awesome video, John!
It's hard to underestimate the effect that Gran Turismo had on car culture too - Car magazines and Subaru credit the popularity of the Impreza WRX in Gran Turismo leading to younger drivers requesting that be released in North America. It also helped popularize JDM style tuner culture globally, which lead to cars like the Supra's popularity in the used market, which then lead to... well... the Fast and the Furious series.
You should be proud John. Your retro videos are one hell of a legacy you're leaving to the videogame community.
Great episode. I played Omega Boost to death back in the day. When it comes to racing games though, I always preferred arcade and rally racers. Shame Colin McRae Rally wasn't mentioned, it was one the best rally game s of its generation.
John, I applaud you for your work over the last few years. I really appreciate the care and detail that you put into these retrospectives, it's borderline genius in my opinion. I'll be signing up to DF's Patreon soon, because you and the rest of DF deserve to be supported, it's just an outstanding brand. I've been watching videogame coverage on the internet for over 20 years and I've never seen anything this impressive.
This was my first Playstation experience. I still remember my dad picking this game instead of Rayman (that I wanted) in the shop as a starter game. We played it every day until my parents had to sell the console due to financial issues. I was heartbroken
Been on the edge of my seat waiting for this since John started talking about it. Amazing work!
Love John’s retro work. He knows his stuff 👏🏼
The greatest achievement of Gran Turismo 1&2 is how each car has an authenticity to its driving character, and this is done at scale. It’s also communicable and you can explore the reasons why each one is different, which is why the games were such great living textbook for foundational IRL knowledge
A wonderful retrospective. And I also found out that I've been calling Panzer Dragoon "Panzer Dragon" for decades now.
Can we also acknowledge how amazing the instruction manual for GT1 was? I remember actually learning so much about driving mechanics and racing just from absorbing that thing.
What an amazing documentary John.
Every detail and background is in it, must have been alot of research for you.
My deepest respect, and i think the GT should be proud too.
Gran Turismo 1 .. My favorite video game of all time. I have a home video of me crying unboxing PS1 and Gran Turismo .
I remember back then they had some of the best camera shots on replays.
Agree. Far above even F1 22.
On the simulation side there was also the Toca Race Driver series, specially the third one which was named Jarrett & Labonte Stock Car Racing in NA, a pretty good looking game that featured cockpit camera and even a damage model with deformation, you you could even lose your car wheels if you crashed hard enough.
Those were great games on the original Xbox.
As a admitted Sega fanboy growing up, this game made me so envious of the Playstation that my brother had. Nothing on the Saturn came close the visuals that this had, especially the racing titles. Not sure the Saturn could pull this off.
I’m a Psx guy and I know that some companies might have pulled off something nice on the Saturn but to be honest, not even the mighty N64 had anything like this ….
Same. GT1 was THE game that I played when I eventually got a PlayStation begrudgingly, being a massive salty Sega fan at the time.
From the first seconds of the opening intro I became a huge PlayStation fan and I was so glad I had this console. (Halo was the same for Xbox 1).
@@DavidHunter Agreed. I wanted the Xbox so bad when it launched, but they were sold out,so I got a GameCube, but once I found one available I scooped one up. Now i loved my GameCube, with games like Eternal Darkness, Metroid Prime, Mario Sunshine, Rogue Squadron, etc , it was a blast, but once Xbox Live dropped that was a game changer! Ghost Recon and Rainbow 6 were so fun with my friends on Xbox Live!
This is pure quality content, can't wait for the part two!!!
This special episode is amazing. Mentioning Macross/Gundam and Omega boost you went above and beyond. You are the best on YT for this kind of things, hands down.
15:39 "The original Gran Turismo hold's up shockingly well(compare to PC)"
What is it with the constant reluctance to say anything that might suggest consoles graphics being superior to PC graphics?
I was a PC gamer at the time of Gran Turismos launch and there were no PC racers that came anywhere close to GT's graphics.
GT's graphics were utterly mind blowing back then.
Because the elite PC master race doesn't take criticism too kindly. How dare anyone suggest a lowly console game would be the equal of their hyper expensive money box! 😅
PC at the time was better for genre variety more than technical props. There were pretty good looking PC games, but near exclusively FPSs based on idTech or prerendered games like Riven. Nothing that looked nearly as real as GT. Perhaps it was more art style than engine performance, but it really was standout at the time.
because PC graphics scale up better and early console polygon graphics in other games typically aged poorly.
Even with the small shortcomings, I'm still blown away with the Dreamcast version.
Yeah I didn’t even know that was a thing, or I’ve long since forgotten about it. I thought it looked pretty damn good to be honest!
Well it was like a PlayStation 1.5
@@danielgomez7236 Ouch. Dreamcast had several GPU advantages over PS2, despite having less raw power.
@@bombjack1984 I call it the PS 1.5 because it was able to play a bunch of PS1 games with slightly better graphics and also because the DC was quickly forgotten after the PS2 launch.
I was a senior in high school and big into cars when GT came out. Man I loved this game and the idea of upgrading cars you could or did own in real life was amazing. Great DF Retro for that nostalgia.
John your work is greatly appreciated. It’s clear in the quality how much passion you have and how hard you work to makes these videos. I love this series so much, thank you.
Just started the video, hoping for a perspective on the PSP version!
Still praying for another DF Retro Tech video too (Fire, smoke, whatever please). Your Water series still rank as my favourite Retro videos.
Been waiting for weeks on this after watching the updates on Twitter, and now it's broken up into parts?! Huge work! Awesome stuff man.
I am a huge fan of the GT series and my wife does not understand why I have such a deep love and appreciation for them. Now I can have her watch this and all will be clear ! Excellent work from the DF crew.
Excellent video; thanks so much for another great DF Retro. I love the fact that you brought up World Driver Championship. Definitely the best "sim" experience on N64. One error: MRC on N64 did not actually feature any real cars.
OMG that Einhander song for the chapter 1 intro!!!
Einhander retrospective when?!
From Gran Turismo 1 to Grind Turismo 7.
This has been truly delightful. Thank you for the amazing content, we don't deserve this kind of quality! Can't wait for the next part :)
Absolute masterclass video regarding the history of Gran Turismo. You are amazing John.
This is outstanding. I would love something like this for the history of Forza as well. Maybe when the newest title comes out? Great job, John.
Forza is not retro yet, but Forza Motorsport was one of the games that fully utilized the classic Xbox hardware. I think it had effects that were impossible on the PS2.
@@nightdriver7216 what in the world are you talking about? Forza is a 17-year-old franchise with the first game launching on the OG Xbox. That was 4 generations ago. It's not retro yet? Freaking LOL
@@fabio78 3 generations ago, no? Still retro imo.
@@fabio78 do you have an idea what retro means? Xbox was released in 2001, and it's barely found in any list named "retro consoles" let alone a game that was first released in 2005.
Gran Turismo is the best racing franchise of all time
John you murdered it in this vid bro. Exceptional job! Absolutely perplxed as to why this only has 156K views so far. Should be in the millions!
What a fantastic and enjoyable dive into GT history. DF and DF Retro are producing youtube's best video game content right now. Thank you guys.
I love your holistic approach to reviewing classic games. Discussing GT's early contemporaries really enhances the video, at least for me.
0:05 - 1:47 Music, please?
Yes! Would love the track list for this video. Some A grade 90s deep cuts here
This must be my fourth time watching this retrospective series of videos. I would argue it's among DF's very best.
I am so grateful for these, thanks for all the collective hard work!
I loved GT, really wish they'd come out for PC. They were a great mix of sim and arcade, where Forza always felt arcady.
I've heard more people prefer the way Motorsport feels than Granturismo 🤷♂️
@@lordxboss5700 kids these days purfer easier games and that rewind feture is a god send if your extremely poo at driving ✌️
@@lordxboss5700 This is not really true. Forza could never compete in sales until Forza Horizon came out. It depends on the game really. FM5, 6 and 7 each feel a little different, same with GTS and GT7.
There must have been an internal version for PC, too. Look at the intros - they are definitely a version of the game running in real time, but they have reflections and texture filtering.
7:21 Imagine that! Unlocking content in your game by playing it! Nowadays these would be DLC and microtransactions.
Excellent video as always. One thing I wish you had touched on was the controls. Gran Turismo was one of the first racing games to use the newly released Dual Analogue Controller, the predecessor to the Dual Shock. I remember being blown away when I first played it that way, it felt intuitive and tight.
Now THIS is the one I’ve been waiting for
From a european perspective: 'Moon over Castle' sounds weird and misplaced to me, while I most vividly remember the intro, in-game and menu music to this day.
Especially the intro is awesome.
I don't get the like for moon over the castle either, I'll take manic street preacher chemical bros mix anyday, don't like motc in gt7
infact gt7 soundtrack sucks full stop
I always disagree with John when it comes to uprezing old games like PS1 or N64. I think games from that era look fantastic in full HD even. Yeah, the polygon edges are more obvious, but who cares? It's not like you couldn't see those edges back then anyway. I loved playing Super Mario 64 at 1080p for example when I was first able to do that with an emulator. I thought it looked fantastic. The better resolution, texture filtering, and AA significantly improves the look of those games imo.
Agreed. So many of the details that are muddied at low-res would suddenly pop. "Oh, that's what that was!"
Original resolution on a Trinitron CRT display can not be beaten.
I know that the japanese intro on GT1 was classier, but I still get chills and a huge grin on my face when I hear the Chemical Brothers tune. Being about six and being into cars and playing this was a great time to grow up/
Wow! I was caught off guard @ 1:48 with that Einhander Soundtrack! Thanks for bringing back memories of when I would play this as a kid.
I know this isn't the most "Retro" idea but i'd love to see a DF Retro episode on the Yakuza franchise John :) (my favourite game series of all time)
Ah yes, back then when Online only, DRM and nasty microtransactions weren't a problem.
Personally, I love Forza Horizon 1 and 2 the most, but unfortunately you cannot purchase them anymore so when my disc eventually dies I won't be able to enjoy it anymore... :(
And their newest title, Horizon 5 is also very disappointing with tons of recycled cars and the festival playlist which brings one huge disadvantage. If you haven't played it since launch, you will miss out on all the added cars and won't be able to claim them. And after claiming a festival playlist car you can only have one, so no individual builds.
I really hope that the hateful security on the Xbox One will be cracked one day, so I can at least save and preserve Horizon 1 and 2 with emulation.
Would love it if DF could talk about game preservation!
underrated comment
One can easily purchase old Forza games on Ebay and the sort.
@@OriginalChrizum Yeah, but with this method, you will miss out on all DLC Cars and expansions. + Discs unfortunately don't last forever...
The level of detail in all of these retro videos is without rival. Even today and in years to come this series stands and will stand as some of the best documentary of gaming. Great work
42:11 wait. wasn't this realtime dynamic cubemap rendering on the car?! OMG that's really impresive!
Awesome vid guys! Huge fan of this series over the years.
Great video. DF retro really is a great tool for video game preservation.
Well done sir. Cant wait to watch the next one. Thank you
I fully did not expect to like this video even more than your Type R4 vid, but then you talked about Omega Boost!...And then you talked about MRC: Multi-Racing Championship on N64! I received that game as a Christmas gift and had no idea what it was. It absolutely became an important part of my childhood. Sometimes its the punchline joke about off-brand racing games, and sometimes its where I go to relax and rip through some old tracks. I so much appreciate including that obscure relic. Amazing work as always!
I still remember when I played the replays in GT2 my grandmother would come in and say that I'm watching the real life racing. It was that impressive
DF Retro is some of the best content on RUclips. Fun and informative.
My Favorite Game.....that song to this day STILL gives me goose bumps thinking of the GT2 opening!
Ohhh, that Einhänder track at the start of Chapter 1. Very nice.
Duuuuuuude! I don't know how or where I discovered Omega Boost back in the day, but I was astounded that the game went so under the radar. I'm glad you agree that it is possibly the best graphics ever seen on the PS1. That game was so fun, and super cool to play or watch in replays. Love seeing it get recognition!
These are the videos I come to DF for. Absolute masterclass!
Motortown Grand Prix Racing 2 was a whole era of my childhood. I played hundreds of hours of that game.
I used to watch inital D then go on GT 1/2 playing binges, such good games.