Highlights
- Gran Turismo Sport has permanently shut down its servers, rendering its online functionality forever inaccessible.
- The PS4 exclusive was released in 2017 to mixed reviews, not least because of its online focus.
- A recent Gran Turismo Sport update has made most of the game's non-multiplayer features available offline.
PlayStation 4 exclusive Gran Turismo Sport has forever shut down its servers, with its online functionality now being inaccessible as of February 1. The game was the only installment in the long-running racing sim series that was made exclusively for the PS4.
Originally released in October 2017, GTS launched to mixed reviews, and is nowadays seen as one of the weakest entries in the Gran Turismo franchise. That lukewarm reception has been largely rooted in the fact that Gran Turismo Sport emphasized online play, thus being a pretty significant departure from its predecessors. The game still managed to sell nearly 13 million copies in its first three years on the market, as per Sony's official figures.
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Three years later, Polyphony Digital officially discontinued all GTS multiplayer services on January 31. This turn of events has been a long time coming, as the Japanese developer has already announced it will be shutting down Gran Turismo Sport servers way back in September 2023. Since then, the studio has also pulled all of the game's DLC from the PlayStation Store on December 1. Garage Car Liveries, online Trophies, Mileage Store Closure, and online services such as seasonal events and Open Lobby are now forever inaccessible to Gran Turismo Sport players.
Gran Turismo Sport Content That's No Longer Accessible
- Garage Car Liveries
- Mileage Store Closure
- Trophies with online requirements
- Online Services
Polyphony Digital did recently roll out an update that made other aspects of the game accessible offline. Those include Career Mode progression and the contents of the players' Garages, both of which will continue to be tracked via offline save data on the PS4. As is the case with all other games on the console, Gran Turismo Sport save data can also be backed up online by using the Back Up and Restore option under System Settings.
The only caveat is that accessing any of that stuff right now is primarily an option for people who have already bought the game in the past. Namely, Gran Turismo Sport has been delisted from the PS Store with no warning back in January. Tracking down a physical version of the game is still a possibility, but those copies are likely to become scarcer and more expensive as years go by. As of right now, however, brand-new Gran Turismo Sport copies can still be found on Amazon for as little as $30.
Polyphony Digital's 2017 title is the second PS4 game to face a server shutdown in recent weeks, with its end-of-life period arriving shortly after San Diego Studio and Valkyrie Entertainment discontinued their asynchronous multiplayer game Guns Up. Moving forward, the series' fans eager to experience an up-to-date racing sim only have Gran Turismo 7—available on the PS4 and PS5—to turn to.
Gran Turismo
The Gran Turismo series started in 1997 when Polyphony Digital (then Polys Entertainment) set out to release a truly engaging and "realistic" racing simulator. The iconic game helped to start a franchise featuring some of the most visceral and realistic racing games ever created, with players able to choose from a myriad of real-world cars that they could customize and tune to their heart's content.
