Having recently watched Community for the first time recently, both shows are definitely comparable (more so than some of the other comparisons I've seen in the past). I think a fair number of Gumball fans would be able to get into it if they're willing to venture into live-action sitcom territory. With that said, I do think there are some differences that would make me hesitant to call Gumball the perfect transition of Community to cartoon form.

Both Gumball and Community use meta commentary and deconstruction quite often with episodes like "The Copycats" and "Cooperative Caligraphy" in both shows respectively. However, Gumball occasionally puts a cosmic horror spin on its meta humor. Gumball episodes such as "The Job," "The Void," and "The Signal" use their meta humor to imply that the shows universe is an omnipotent force, which is something you would never see on Community.

I would also say Community is a more focused show. For as wacky and chaotic Community is, almost every single episode is rooted in one or more of the main characters learning something about themselves and growing as people through the tight bonds they all share. Sure, we'll get episodes meant to develop the characters, but Gumball has no issue dedicating an entire episode to watching the news ("The News"), peering into the characters' dreams ("The Night"), or playing a JRPG in real life ("The Console"). Mr. Harmon wouldn't let Community's "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" happen unless he could find a compelling character-driven reason for the entire thing to be in claymation.

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I will say that the cores of each show are similar