Grand tourer

A grand tourer (Italian: gran turismo) (GT) is a performance and luxury automobile capable of high speed or spirited long-distance driving. The most common format is a two-door coupé with either a two-seat or a 2+2 arrangement.

The term derives from the Italian phrase gran turismo, a tribute to the tradition of the grand tour, used to represent automobiles regarded as grand tourers, able to make long-distance, high-speed journeys in both comfort and style. The English translation is grand touring.

Characteristics

The Grand Tourer, Grand Turismo, Grand Routiere, or GT terms are the most misused and abused terms in motoring. Although "widely abused initials in the auto industry", the grand touring designation generally "means motoring at speed, in style, safety, and comfort." "Purists define "Gran Turismo" as the enjoyment, excitement and comfort of open-road touring. In comparison, sports cars (also "much abused and confused term") are typically more "crude" compared to "sophisticated Grand Touring machinery." However, the popularity of using GT for marketing purposes has meant that the "much misused term, eventually signifying no more than a slightly tuned version of a family car with trendy wheels and a go-faster stripe on the side."

Gran Turismo

Gran Turismo (Italian for "Grand Tour") may refer to:

See also

The Cardigans

The Cardigans are a Swedish rock band formed in Jönköping, Sweden, in 1992, by guitarist Peter Svensson, bassist Magnus Sveningsson, drummer Bengt Lagerberg, keyboardist Lars-Olof Johansson and lead singer Nina Persson, with the line-up remaining unchanged to this day.

Their debut album Emmerdale (1994) gave them a solid base in their home country and enjoyed some success abroad, especially in Japan. It was not until their second album Life (1995) that an international reputation was secured. Their popularity rose when their single "Lovefool", from the album First Band on the Moon (1996), was included in the soundtrack to the 1996 film version of Romeo + Juliet. Other singles included "Erase/Rewind" and "My Favourite Game" from the album Gran Turismo (1998). After a two-year hiatus the band returned recording and releasing their fourth album Long Gone Before Daylight (2003) a mellower country-laden record. Their last album Super Extra Gravity (2005), a continuation of the country music infused by pop sensibility and further maturing in the band's sound, was the best-selling Swedish album of that year. After a 2006 tour, the band embarked on a long five-year break from musical activities, before reuniting in 2012 to play several concerts. Overall the band sold over 15 million albums worldwide.

My Favourite Game

"My Favourite Game" is an alternative rock song written by Peter Svensson and Nina Persson for The Cardigans' 1998 album Gran Turismo. The song is the album's eighth track, and was released as its first single.

Songwriting, recording and production

"My Favourite Game" was written by guitarist Peter Svensson and lead singer Nina Persson during the recording sessions of the band's fourth studio album Gran Turismo between May and July 1998. The song, like the other songs from the album, was recorded in Tore Johansson's newly developed Country Hell recording studio in Skurup, Sweden. Persson started with the chorus, which "married the music so quickly that you couldn't tear them apart". Afterwards she wrote verses to "give the chorus meaning", which enabled her to "cram in a lot of lyrics into the verses" in contrast to other Cardigans songs with less lyrics such as "Erase/Rewind".

Before recording on the song commenced, Svennson presented the song to producer Tore Johansson by playing the track on acoustic guitar. Although the song was originally taking shape as a slow country/rock shuffle, similar in style to Neil Young's "Old Man", the tempo was doubled upon request of Tore Johansson. Svennson declared that this helped as the band knew the song "was a single, but it wasn't working at first" under "the shuffle beat at half the tempo". It was soon after changing the musical direction of the song when the song's distinctive guitar hook evolved.

Gran Turismo 6

Gran Turismo 6 (グランツーリスモ 6, Guran Tsūrisumo Shikkusu, commonly abbreviated as GT6) is a racing video game developed by Polyphony Digital and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3 video game console. It is the sixth major release and twelfth game overall in the Gran Turismo video game series. It was released worldwide on December 6, 2013, and was popular with critics, won awards, and topped charts in countries around the world. New features included the addition of more cars and tracks, improvements to the car customisation options, and partnerships with the Goodwood Festival of Speed, The Ayrton Senna Institute, the FIA and NASA.

Development

In November 2011, the Gran Turismo series' creator, Kazunori Yamauchi, said that he and his team at Polyphony Digital were working on Gran Turismo 6. In March 2012, workers were seen on site at Mount Panorama in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, photographing and scanning the track. The workers revealed that Mount Panorama will be included in Gran Turismo 6, becoming the first Australian race track to feature in the series.