What are the UK's biggest Gran Turismo games? | UK Time Tunnel
Christopher Dring
Head of Games B2B
Friday 11th March 2022
In the days before Horizon and God of War and Uncharted and Spider-Man, there was one first-party PlayStation franchise to rule them all: The iconic racing series Gran Turismo.
According to GfK, well over 7 million Gran Turismo games have been sold in the UK since the franchise reached these shores some 24 years ago. It sits at No.24 in the All-Time Brand by revenue chart, where it generated £194 million. GfK boss Dorian Bloch says: "By a strange coincidence, above and below Gran Turismo are both racing genres, too, with Formula One at No23 and Forza at No25. The top racing brand is Need for Speed at No.10.".
For three generations, Gran Turismo was Sony's flagship game. The very first title, released on the original PlayStation way back in 1997 in Japan, and 1998 in Europe, took five years to complete and drew critical acclaim for its visuals, licensed vehicles and attention to detail. It was a huge hit, and became the first PlayStation's most successful game.
When it launched in the UK, it went straight in at No.1, appealing to PS1's 2.3 million install base at the time. It ended Resident Evil 2's reign at the top of the charts.
The original Gran Turismo took five years to make
But its reputation grew over time. In terms of launches, the original Gran Turismo is only the seventh biggest in the series' history, but it holds the record as being the second best-selling GT game overall, with just a mere 4,000 units behind the leader.
The best-selling game in the series is Gran Turismo 3, which is another title that didn't see a stellar launch -- it's just the sixth biggest debut for the franchise -- but went on to become the No.1 Gran Turismo across the UK (so far).
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