Summary
PlayStation 4exclusiveGran Turismo Sporthas forever shut down its servers, with its online functionality now being inaccessible as of February 1. The game was the only installment in the long-running racing sim series that was made exclusively for thePS4.
Originally released in October 2017,GTSlaunched to mixed reviews, and is nowadays seen as one of the weakestentries in theGran Turismofranchise. That lukewarm reception has been largely rooted in the fact thatGran Turismo Sportemphasized online play, thus being a pretty significant departure from its predecessors. The game still managed to sell nearly 13 million copies in its first three years on the market, as per Sony’s official figures.
Three years later, Polyphony Digital officially discontinued allGTSmultiplayer services on January 31. This turn of events has been a long time coming, as the Japanese developer has alreadyannounced it will be shutting downGran Turismo Sportserversway back in September 2023. Since then, the studio has also pulled all of the game’s DLC from the PlayStation Store on December 1. Garage Car Liveries, online Trophies, Mileage Store Closure, and online services such as seasonal events and Open Lobby are now forever inaccessible toGran Turismo Sportplayers.
Gran Turismo Sport Content That’s No Longer Accessible
Polyphony Digital did recently roll out anupdatethat made other aspects of the game accessible offline. Those include Career Mode progression and the contents of the players' Garages, both of which will continue to be tracked via offline save data on the PS4. As is the case with all other games on the console,Gran Turismo Sportsave data can also be backed up online by using the Back Up and Restore option under System Settings.
The only caveat is that accessing any of that stuff right now is primarily an option for people who have already bought the game in the past. Namely,Gran Turismo Sporthas been delisted from the PS Storewith no warning back in January. Tracking down a physical version of the game is still a possibility, but those copies are likely to become scarcer and more expensive as years go by. As of right now, however, brand-newGran Turismo Sportcopies can still be found on Amazon for as little as $30.
Polyphony Digital’s 2017 title is the second PS4 game to face a server shutdown in recent weeks, with its end-of-life period arriving shortly after San Diego Studio and Valkyrie Entertainmentdiscontinued their asynchronous multiplayer gameGuns Up. Moving forward, the series' fans eager to experience an up-to-date racing sim only haveGran Turismo 7—available on the PS4 and PS5—to turn to.
Gran Turismo
The Gran Turismo series started in 1997 when Polyphony Digital (then Polys Entertainment) set out to release a truly engaging and “realistic” racing simulator. The iconic game helped to start a franchise featuring some of the most visceral and realistic racing games ever created, with players able to choose from a myriad of real-world cars that they could customize and tune to their heart’s content.
