Gran Turismo[b][c] is a 1997 sim racing video game developed and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation.

After five years of development time, Gran Turismo was well-received both commercially and critically, shipping a total of 10.85 million copies worldwide[1][6] (making it the best-selling PlayStation game), and scoring an average of 95% in GameRankings' aggregate, making it the highest rated racing video game at the time of the site's closure in 2019.

[1][2] In May 1998, Sony awarded Gran Turismo a "Double Platinum Prize" for sales above 2 million units in Japan alone.

[18] In its first month on the Japanese market, it sold over 1 million copies, making it the best-selling video game of the 1997 holiday shopping season in Japan.

[8] According to Weekly Famitsu, it sold an additional 1.34 million units during the first half of 1998, which made it Japan's second-best selling game for that period.

[26] It received a "Gold" award from the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD) in August 1998,[27] for sales of at least 100,000 units across Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

[28] It sold 270,000 units in the German market from January through September 1998, which made it the region's best-selling console game of the period across all systems.

[34] By February 2000, it had sold 7 million units worldwide, for which it was awarded the Guinness World Record for Best-Selling Driving Simulator.

[38] A number of critics gave particular praise to the replay mode, lauding the usage of multiple camera views and likening the quality to live action video.

[44][47][51] Dean Hager of Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) and Vince Broady of GameSpot both particularly noted Gran Turismo's successful blend of arcade-style and simulation racing, with Broady commenting, "Some players enjoy the raw excitement and unfettered control of an action-oriented contest, while others go gaga over the realistic physics and heavy-duty customization features of a sim-style game.

Rare indeed, almost nonexistent, is a racer that has a legitimate appeal to both camps, a game that blends the elements of action and sim in such a subtle manner that something altogether new is the result.

"[42][44] Next Generation stated that "as it stands in the Japanese version, everything about Gran Turismo is a class act, and it raises the bar for racing games on almost every possible level.

"[47] Reviewing the U.S. release, John Ricciardi and Kraig Kujawa of EGM criticized that it retained the Japanese names and likenesses for many of the cars instead of using the American versions, but were just as enthusiastic about the game as a whole, commenting, "Get used to this quote, 'cause you're gonna hear it a lot: Gran Turismo is the best racing game of all time.

"[42] Hager and GamePro were less certain of this claim, opining that Gran Turismo contemporary Need for Speed III was at least a viable competitor.

[51] Gran Turismo won "Console Racing Game of the Year" at the 2nd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards (now known as the D.I.C.E.