In the Japanese and American versions, the name of each car denotes various pieces of information (such as the amount of cylinders in the engine, the year the chassis was raced, and its driver, respectively). New to the franchise, GT3 also contained unlicensed versions of six actual Formula One cars, labelled as F686/M, F687/S, F688/S, F090/S, F094/H and F094/S (in the Japanese and American versions) that the player could win from endurance races.

Other changes include the omission of the ability to 'race modify' or add downforce to production cars, removal of suspension damage, and the absence of torque limits for races. Most of these circuits are at fictional locations, but California's Laguna Seca Raceway and Côte d’Azur (which is heavily based on the Monaco Grand Prix circuit) are not. GT3 features 19 race courses, 14 of which have reverse variants and 4 of which are dirt tracks. By beating the stage on Normal or Difficult, additional cars are unlocked as well for play in any mode of Arcade Mode (including two-player battle and time trial). To get to the next stage, all tracks on a stage must be completed on Easy difficulty or higher. The Arcade Mode is reorganized in 'stages' these stages are made up of 5 or 6 tracks pooled from all available tracks in the game, including both road and rally races. In addition to these modes, car shops are now organized by country and then by manufacturer. Races vary from short beginner events to multi-hour endurance races and also rallying events against an opponent. For GT3, the Gran Turismo Mode (Simulation Mode in the North American version) has a reorganized layout, with a more structured and progressive arrangement of races and challenges. Every 25% of the game completed results in the player being awarded a car as a special prize.

The objective of the game is to win all the provided races, championships, complete license tests and achieve 100% game completion.

Gran turismo 3