You can now play Gran Turismo 3 on Android thanks to this unofficial port

Tons of classic games have been recompiled for modern platforms in the last few months. For better or worse, this is largely due to generative AI. Now, we can add another noteworthy title to the list, as Gran Turismo 3 has been unofficially ported to Android.

GT3-revisited is a recompilation of Gran Turismo 3 by user matt-pulsipher. This unofficial port has been released on Android, Linux, MacOS, Windows, and the Meta Quest platform via GitHub. Needless to say, you need to supply a Gran Turismo 3 disc image.

The good news is that this port ran extremely smoothly on my Retroid Pocket G2 Android handheld. This device sports a mid-range Snapdragon G2 Gen 2 processor and 8GB of RAM, but the game ran at what appeared to be a very stable 60fps (although it’s unclear if the PAL version runs at 50fps). There’s also comprehensive support for touch controls, including plenty of customization options.

Setup is pretty easy, as you download and install GT3-revisited, launch the app, and point it to your previously downloaded Gran Turismo 3 ISO file. My biggest complaint is that the app doesn’t extract these assets from the disc image, so you have to keep the ISO file on your device.

The project was admittedly accomplished with Claude AI assistance, but it’s unclear if this is a purely vibecoded effort or merely an AI-assisted project by an experienced developer. Needless to say, we can understand if you’d rather avoid AI-based ports due to ethical concerns. However, it’s also worth noting that vibecoded ports carry security risks, as the people behind them might not have the necessary knowledge to actually understand the generated code. This lack of knowledge can also lead to numerous bugs and lots of technical debt, resulting in a broken project that might be abandoned in short order.

Nevertheless, GT3-revisited is a pretty great way to play Gran Turismo 3 on Android. The game runs smoothly on several PS2 emulators today, even on mid-range devices. But this recompilation could be the way to go if you have a less capable device or if you want improved touch controls.