I’m not sure if at this point it’s me or there is something seriously lackluster taking place with the creative team behind Gran Turismo Sport. For those unaware, Sony finally announced a November 15th release date for the long time PlayStation-exclusive franchise. The one caveat from all this is that in order to meet the deadline, the game is skipping out on their initially-announced public beta – which seems like a terrible idea to me. That aside, when Gran Turismo Sport was first revealed, I had written how fairly generic the trailer was.

 Sadly, from what should have been an easy trailer to nail, we’re left with an awkward piece that fails to thrill and opts to show us a parked Mazda Miata and its interior. 

Giving the creative team the benefit of the doubt, I’d hoped for the official trailer to enlist more emotion and excitement. After all, I’m a bit of a petrol head and have played all games (excluding GT6) in the series. Unfortunately I walked away from the trailer wanting to fire up DriveClub instead.

Here is the official Gran Turismo Sport trailer:

Now here are a few different trailers from DriveClub, a game we first saw three years ago.

Maybe it’s just me but I can’t help but think the creative team behind the trailers are either bored or in need a shot of caffeine. It’s almost as if they’ve inhaled their own prestigious exhaust fumes for too long, focusing instead on some grand mosaic piece instead of delivering an action packed, high-octane trailer. For crying out loud, the trailer doesn’t even include car sounds and that’s when it hit me.

The more I think about it, the more I cannot believe they’ve left out all audible content from the cars. Among the many things that have made the GT series great are the lengths the developers go to in order to capture the tracks and the cars. That includes the very distinct sounds each car makes. Ask any gear head out there and they’ll tell you that they love the deep throaty sound out of German cars or the high-tech whines you get from Japanese manufacturers.

Whether you’re watching Formula 1 or rally across the Madagascar, the sounds emitted from the cars produce a heft that thrills. Without any kind of engines revving or tires squealing, the GT Sport trailer fails to excite because it lacks weight – as if there is a disconnect between what we’re seeing and what’s actually happening. Imagine watching a Call of Duty trailer without hearing guns firing or a FIFA game that doesn’t include thumb from when a ball is kicked.

Without any kind of actual sound from the game, sure we see the cars moving fast but it doesn’t feel like they’re actually moving – and sure we see a few spin out of control but it feels like something that’s happening in the distance with no actual consequence. Can’t believe nobody at Polyphony or PlayStation noticed this.

Discuss: 

Do you think the Gran Turismo Sport trailer failed to thrill?