GT Sport drops dynamic time-of-day and weather changes to keep up performance

Dynamic time and weather won't be an option in the latest Gran Turismo game. If you're not clear on what that is, it means GT Sport will allow cars to move while the sun and general weather patterns remain intractably fixed in the sky and/or beyond the horizon; whatever options you pick for the start of the race is also how it will look at the finish line.

Certain tracks in Gran Turismo 6 allowed for changing time-of-day and weather patterns, which are both factors that obviously affect real-life races. But series producer Kazunori Yamauchi told GTPlanet that, in this case, allowing for more freedom wasn't worth the performance trade off.

“We opted to not have the transitions in the race this time in order to raise the frame rate and the quality of the image during the race," Yamauchi said. "So the user will be able to set that before they enter the race. So you’ll still be able to have night races, morning, races at dawn, dusk, and so on.”

Yamauchi also confirmed that Gran Turismo Sport will include 20-car starting grids for the first time in the series' history. It may even allow more cars on the track, but Yamauchi said the studio will prioritize keeping the game's performance synthetic-oil-smooth first. It's planned for release on November 16 in the US and November 18 in the UK.

Seen something newsworthy? Tell us!

Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.

Latest in Gran Turismo
Gran Turismo 4
Gran Turismo 4 cheat codes have finally been discovered after nearly 20 years
Gran Turismo
The reaction to Gran Turismo 7 in PSVR 2 is near unanimous: "mind-blowing"
Gran Turismo 7 best starting cars toyota aqua race
Gran Turismo 7 series lead is "looking into" bringing the racing game to PC
Gran Turismo 7 press kit image Porsche 911
Gran Turismo 7 update drops later this week and brings 3 new cars
Gran Turismo 7
Gran Turismo 7's first free content update adds 3 new cars
Gran Turismo 7 Ferrari F40 press image
Gran Turismo 7's unconventional design makes it a 'real racing simulator' for (almost) everyone
Latest in News
Balatro
Balatro creator started "properly playing the game myself about a week before launch" and had "a pretty emotional moment" where he realized it's "actually fun"
Death Stranding 2 Collector's Edition
Hideo Kojima reveals Death Stranding 2: On the Beach release date, and the Collector's Edition includes exactly what I predicted it would
Kingmakers
Kingmakers is a strategy game about taking on medieval armies with a gun, but its devs thought the giant mech was too much
The Witcher 3 lead says "not many games" were trying to match the RPG back in 2015, and that meant "there was a risk" to making it in the first place
The Blood of Dawnwalker
The Witcher 3 dev says his new vampire RPG Blood of Dawnwalker wants to challenge genre conventions, but only if "we're changing them to actually achieve some goal"
Daredevil recap: The Defenders
Marvel fans are discussing which of the Netflix series characters would have survived the Blip