More specifically, there was a time before Gran Turismo and there was a time *after* Gran Turismo.

That crossover was the 23rd December 1997.

Now, it’s important to stress, this doesn’t mean everything before was good, and everything after bad. Far from it. Most of my favourite games came after it.

Nor does it mean that Gran Turismo was in any way bad. The opposite is true in fact. This problem stemmed from how good it, and its sequels, were.

What happened was that consumers showed their interest and appreciation. Gran Turismo meant gaming was grown up, and the corporate hawks took notice.

More specifically, there was a time before Gran Turismo and there was a time *after* Gran Turismo.

That crossover was the 23rd December 1997.

Now, it’s important to stress, this doesn’t mean everything before was good, and everything after bad. Far from it. Most of my favourite games came after it.

Nor does it mean that Gran Turismo was in any way bad. The opposite is true in fact. This problem stemmed from how good it, and its sequels, were.

What happened was that consumers showed their interest and appreciation. Gran Turismo meant gaming was grown up, and the corporate hawks took notice.

I’ve been really burned out of modern gaming for a few years now. Sure there’s the odd gem, but there’s a good reason I’ve not been compelled to upgrade my 1080Ti. Arguably the best consumer GPU card ever released, turning 9 years old this month.

I’ve been drawn to older, more polished, more mechanically sound games, entirely unphased by the allure of raytracing and more Ks to the screen.

This isn’t nostalgia talking. Looking back you can see key points where the artistry and passion of it all met rampant commercialism. I’ve figured it out.

It’s the 1997-1998 transition.

Gran Turismo was a success.

By success I mean it sold over 10 million copies. That IS a huge success.

By comparison, though, games *without* universal appear like Morowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim selling 4.5m, 9.5m, and 30m copies on their original launch. With Skyrim going on to sell nearly 70 million copies in all guises.

Bear in mind in 1997, was the year of Goldeneye, Final Fantasy VII, Fallout, Abe’s Odyssey, Star Fox 64, Diablo, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2, Tekken 3, Tomb Raider 2, Klonoa, and… Grand Theft Auto, of which the latest instalment went on to be the highest grossing media product of all time.

Gran Turismo could have been a fluke. A disrupter in a crowded market. So it wasn’t until the sequel that it became the real litmus test.

In 1998 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was released. To many the greatest video game of all time.

You know what absolutely bodied it?

Gran Turismo 2.

People were losing their shit to get their hands on it. It wasn’t as good or as polished, the release was fumbled by Sony, and it only sold just shy of 10 million copies.

GT3 was a generational leap forward in terms of technology, and went on to sell 15 million units.

But gamers and reviewers alike were complaining about something. It looks and handles great, but where’s the damage?

GT4 released selling just as quickly, but faced the same criticisms. Why?

Gran Turismo 4 is inarguably the best racing game of all time. It offers a value for money that few games would ever offer again, and while not my favourite, I still play it to this day.

But other franchises were doubling down on perceived realism. Damage.

Driving games no long were judged on their ability to portray clean racing in a deep yet accessible way.

Things needed to be harder, grittier, or they weren’t grown up enough to have a seat at the big table.

This extended to other genres too. Being violent wasn’t enough, it needed to be dark and depressing in tone and/or content.

Or that’s what the critics said, and they in turn fed off fans insecurity and fear of being infantilised.

Media surrounding games was now about gatekeeping who was allowed to be taken seriously.

Don’t get me wrong, I loooove violent video games.

But somewhere along the lines we traded authenticity for realism.

Escapism for time wasting.

Time isn’t wasted if you’re having fun. I’m just not sure many of us are having fun anymore.

@SecurityWriter
I upgraded to a 3060 from a 1080 (non-Ti version) after I got a 4k monitor.
Almost all the games I play though will happily run on a potato.
I care not for photo realism or 120fps
I wonder how much this is an age thing? If you start with a ZX Spectrum does that impact your expectations?

@SecurityWriter
I upgraded to a 3060 from a 1080 (non-Ti version) after I got a 4k monitor.
Almost all the games I play though will happily run on a potato.
I care not for photo realism or 120fps
I wonder how much this is an age thing? If you start with a ZX Spectrum does that impact your expectations?

@v_perjorative @SecurityWriter funnily enough I seem to care more and more about Hz and fps, in order to mitigate my growing loss of reflexes.

@v_perjorative I did look at upgrading, even at a 3060. But in non-RT gaming at 1080p (I do have 4k monitors, I just sit quite a way from it) the 1080Ti still outperforms anything up to a 3070. Not that I’d notice as I usually just cap at 60hz to save power.