What racing subgenre does Wikipedia list for the Gran Turismo series?

Wikipedia lists the Gran Turismo series as sim racing. The label reflects the franchise’s focus on reproducing real-world vehicle behavior, circuits, tuning, and race-driving techniques rather than presenting purely arcade-style action.

The series began with the original Gran Turismo, released in Japan for PlayStation in 1997 after roughly five years of development led by Kazunori Yamauchi. Its realistic physics, licensed cars, driving tests, and upgrade system helped distinguish it from many contemporary arcade racers.

A common mix-up is “arcade racing,” because Gran Turismo includes an Arcade Mode and accessible driving assists. Those features do not change the series’ primary genre classification. Combat racing and kart racing are separate subgenres involving weapons or small kart-style vehicles, neither of which defines Gran Turismo.

The franchise is also frequently called a racing simulator or “driving simulator.” Those descriptions are compatible with “sim racing,” the concise genre term used by Wikipedia.