Parent's Guide: Gran Turismo Sport - Age rating, mature content and difficulty

What is Gran Turismo Sport?

Packing in 140 highly detailed recreations of the world's highest performance cars, Gran Turismo Sport is a racing game that lets you get behind the wheel, and burn up the asphalt against your choice of computer controller opponents, or players from all over the world.

How do you play Gran Turismo Sport?

Gran Turismo Sport plays out very differently depending on whether you want to play in single player, or online.

In single player, you can take on the game's 19 courses in Arcade mode, facing off against a bevy of computer controlled opponents as you jostle for first place. The game's "Campaign" mode, meanwhile, offers an extensive tutorial, which introduces you to both basic and advanced driving concepts, along with a mode called "Circuit Experience", which breaks each track down into individual sections, and asks you to get through them as quickly as possible - kind of like a modular time trial. The most significant single player mode, however, is the Challenge mode, which offers 64 tasks for you to work your way through, from knocking over cones, to overtaking a certain number of players, or reaching a top speed within a certain section of a race.

However, although you can play and unlock everything in single player mode, Gran Turismo Sport is a game that places a lot of emphasis on online play. The game's Lobby mode lets you set up a private game with your friends, or join a public game someone else has created, in a fairly casual atmosphere, while the Sport mode gives you a defined schedule of events that are happening that day. With events happening roughly every fifteen minutes, taking part in a scheduled event will pair you up against players of a similar ability, in a race for pole position.

The game also has support for split-screen local multiplayer, although you can't play online in split-screen.

How easy is Gran Turismo Sport to pick up and play?

In terms of accessibility, Gran Turismo Sport comes with a number of features designed to make the game easier for beginners to pick up and play. Along with the ability to use either the d-pad, analogue sticks, or motion controls to steer your car, the game also comes with a number of assists you can turn on, from traction control, to automatic braking, which will slow you down automatically if you approach a corner too quickly. You can also turn on a racing line, which will tell you exactly where to position your car in order to take each corner for the best.

When playing in single player, you can choose from one of three difficulty settings for the opponents you face, letting you tailor the challenge to suit. However, not all single player modes let you choose a difficulty level, with the game's challenge mode being a "one size fits all" affair - although you do only have to get a bronze medal in order to progress. Online, the game's Sport mode will automatically attempt to pit you against other players of a similar skill and "sportsmanship" level (a rating of how cleanly you drive), with the intention of giving you a fair race.

In terms of reading, Gran Turismo Sport has little in the way of voice acting, with any tutorials, objectives, or challenge tasks delivered through text only, and many of these being key to completing each stage or level. Sample sentences include:

• Use the blue cone markers on the sides of the track to gauge and adjust your braking start point.
• In a hairpin you must watch your timing for getting on the throttle. Hitting the throttle too early or suddenly may make your car go wide.
• Stop your car in the goal area, 100m ahead.

Important Notes

Gran Turismo Sport requires an online connection. Without being connected to the internet, you won't be able to save your game.

With nothing in the way of bad language, violence or sexual content, Gran Turismo Sport in and of itself is entirely family friendly. However, the game does feature a livery editor, which lets players create graphics for their cars, and upload them for others to download. While this is monitored, and players can report anything they see that may be unsuitable, parents should be aware of the possibility of young players stumbling across a more mature design.

Age Ratings

Format Reviewed: Playstation 4