Why was Gran Turismo popular?

[johnsobas]

MikeRox said:

johnsobas said:

yea i'm gonna have to go ahead and disagree with you about the N64 having no good racing games.  

I didn't say it had "no good racing games" I said it was a joke for them. Compared with the PlayStation and even the Saturn, the N64 racing game lineup was awful.

I loved Mario Kart 64 and Diddy Kong Racing (but these are Kart racers which is a sub genre), Ridge Racer 64 and enjoyed Top Gear Rally, but off the top of my head, I can't really think of anything else worth bothering with on the N64 as far as racing games went. There was a reason when Burnout released on the GameCube, the Nintendo magazines went crazy for the fact that there was finally a good racer on a Nintendo system.

Oh I suppose there was also Wave Race, but again, not the sort of racing game we're referring to when talking about Gran Turismo.

I still disagree, unless you only mean realistic simulation racers which you did not say.  Still Top Gear Rally 1 and 2, Ridge Racer, and F1 world championship 1 and 2 were all great games at the time in that category.  If you expand into futuristic or arcade type racers the N64 comes out pretty good.