Gran Turismo Sport is not Gran Turismo 7

Sony has said that the newly announced Gran Turismo Sport should not be regarded as a full release in the popular series.

The game was announced at Paris Games Week last night and sounds as if it occupies a middle ground between previous ‘Prologue’ taster titles and a fully-fledged instalment.

"We’re not announcing Gran Turismo 7 at this stage," Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s president and CEO Jim Ryan told Eurogamer. "Fair to say [series director Kazunori Yamauchi] has been making these games for some considerable time now. I think it’s reasonable to assume that something else might come down the road. Is it a Prologue? No, I think it’ll be more than that.

"The old days, when the games were offline, the experience was defined by what’s on the disc. You had a distinction between a Prologue and a full GT, it was very stark. When the game becomes more of an online connected experience, that distinction blurs. This will be much more than a Prologue type experience."

The site also reports that the game will feature three modes – Campaign, Sports Mode and Arcade Mode. Online racing will be very much the focus. Ryan added that there’s nothing at this stage to suggest” the game won’t arrive in 2016 (really?), confirming that Yamauchi has been working on the title since GT6 shipped.

Gran Turismo has a long history of protracted releases, with the gaps padded out by taster titles. Can that still be justified in this day and age when Microsoft pumps out a new Forza every year? Does Driveclub have the pedigree and appeal to plug that gap?