When you want a game that defines a genre, you’d get Street Fighter for fighting. You’d get Madden for football. You’d get Final Fantasy for role-playing. In the case of driving, you’d get Gran Turismo. The series has been around since the mid ‘90’s, and each edition in the series tested the maximum power of both the PlayStation and the PlayStation 2. To this day, the PSX versions of Gran Turismo are looked at as genre-defining driving games, and the PS2’s Gran Turismo 3: A-spec just continued to push the series into much higher depths. The fourth entry, Gran Turismo 4, is no different—literally. While the game is miles better than the other three games, very little about this game actually stands out to prove that it’s the best. Before actually starting to play this game, you have to know that it offers more than 700 cars to just fewer than 100 different manufacturers. As any car enthusiast—or just about any driver--would know, each car has their own strengths and weaknesses ultimately depending on their age or origin. The modern world of motor vehicles stereotypes American cars for being the most powerful, they stereotype Japanese cars for being the fastest, and so on. With that, you can bet that each car in the game will have their own origin depending on the manufacturer (you’ll get your Ford cars from Detroit, Michigan USA for example). Since age is a factor, the game will also have an impressive array of classics such as the old Model T, the first Ford vehicle that went public in the late 1880’s. Through all of the previous statements made about car history, you’re probably betting that this is going to be a hell of a purchase for car collectors and model enthusiasts. Well, obviously, it is. But remember that 90% of the single player modes you’ll experience in Gran Turismo 4 have you racing to win some cash like all the other driving games have you do. You honestly can’t expect to be winning heated races with a ’72 Ferrari, so you’ll have to use some of the newer, more powerful models to win you races. You’ll be doing that through GT4’s main single player mode, appropriately named Gran Turismo mode. Gran Turismo mode will quickly pit you to the garage, where your collection of cars is obviously kept. Unlike most of the “garages” in other driving/racing games, GT4 features a very manageable menu used for you to cycle through your selection of cars with ease. You can also choose to sort them by age, by power, the size ratio, or even by manufacturer. A lot of car freaks tend to look at their digital car collection for hours, but if you just started this game and never played Gran Turismo 3: A-spec (more on that later), then you probably won’t even have a nice collection to begin with, so you might as well pick a car from your rental area and go. Of course, if you want to mess around more, there’s a classic rental area for you to rent and race with classic cars. As time flies while you’re looking at all the cars you’ll have in your digital garage, you’ll probably forget that this is a racing game. So if you thought there were loads of cars, you have to know there are over 50 different courses to drive or race in as well. The first and foremost thing GT fans should know is that each and every course from GT, GT2, and GT3: A-spec make a return in unlockable form in Gran Turismo 4, so that’s even more of a reason to start winning races. Aside from those courses, some of the best new places include racetracks like the Sezuka, urbanized areas like the streets of Hong Kong, and for you rally fans—GT4 has the Grand Valley Speedway and the even the Grand Canyon. Of course, Polyphony regards this game as “the real driving simulator”. With that, there will definitely be all kinds of new turns and tricks to get used to. If you’ve played games like Sega GT or Rallisport Challenge on the Xbox, you’d know that these racing sims actually require you to brake when you turn—Gran Turismo 4 is no different. On the sandy terrain of the Grand Canyon, for example, your car will be slower on straightways, but you have to be extremely careful on sharp turns. New to the game are slippery ice and snow courses that will ultimately cause you to adjust your driving/racing style. You won’t fall or slip down off canyons and die, like in Burnout, though. You’ll just be a blur away from your opponents on the raceway. Speaking of blurs, the developers over at Polyphony Digital have received a lot of complaints as to why there isn’t any damage taken to the cars after blatant mistakes on the roads or loads of crashing at numerous angles. It’s not because the PlayStation 2 doesn’t have the power to show as much detail in damage as it does to show the great detail put into the car frames, because it can. The CEO of the company says that this is to prevent any horror of the player’s love for certain cars, and they wouldn’t want to see their BMW’s torn into shreds. To make up for it, Polyphony makes the cars blur as they crash onto areas, but no actual damage will be made to the car. Not to worry, as you most likely won’t own any of the cars when you start racing anyway. That’s right, none of the cars will belong to you; they’re just rentals. To actually own certain builds of cars, you’ll actually need certain racing licenses. Love them or hate them, they’re back from GT3: A-spec annoying as many fans as possible. There are five different licenses. You won’t actually need them all, but any perfectionist won’t go on until all the licenses are earned. To earn them, you have to pass the tests. Some license tests are easy—they’ll require you to test the transmission just by accelerating or braking, and some are much harder—one annoying one will require you to drive behind a pace car for an entire lap, and you’re not allowed to pass it, no matter how easy the course is. Now the good thing is if you have a Gran Turismo 3: A-spec file saved to your memory card, you can transfer your A and B licenses and up to 100,000 credits, so you can buy whatever is available to race and win to your heart’s content. So once you get through all of that, you’ll, without a doubt, actually have your own premiere car to drive and race with. There are three different views during the drive. While there isn’t a cockpit view, you still have a pretty good first-person view that puts the speedometer right in front of you. Depending on what view you use, you’re sure to get a terrific sense of speed and superiority as you plow your way through GT4’s many courses. For those of you wondering, GT4 features the same gameplay mechanics as in its predecessor. The sense of speed you’ll receive during the drive cannot only be noticed visually, but mentally and physically as well. The Dual Shock controller will be very sensitive if you have the vibration turned on, and you’ll actually feel like you’re in a performance vehicle. Of course, if you have a racing wheel—or rather, the GT4 Logitech Force Pro Wheel—the feeling that you’re driving in a wide-open area is multiplied by ten-piece. The fact that the game features the same gameplay mechanics, the same strategies used before can be used here. This is more of a good thing than a bad thing as the same strategies used in the previous game can definitely come into play in this game. While it is definitely more fun in the game’s multiplayer modes, the underhanded tactics of strategies to win are still annoying. As for one of those sneaky strategies, one is about to be uncovered. Those of you who found GT3: A-spec easy were probably fascinated that you can just bump your way into other drivers, making them lose speed and eventually gaining you a better position in the race. Yep, that annoying little perk is back. The indifferent news here is that this method makes a return in Gran Turismo 4, and it’ll be really necessary as you dive further and further into the game. While the races do get harder, it’s not because of the AI. If anything, the AI is absolutely under average. At times when you’re in front, opposing drivers will just crash into you from behind, not even making an attempt to pass you. Strangely enough, most of these events happen when you use the bumping strategy to win your races. Go figure. For you lazy drivers out there—shame on you—but GT4 features B-spec mode. When using B-spec, you can just choose to spectate your car and tell the driver (the CPU) what to do. By selecting options like “slow down” or “speed up”, the CPU driver will listen accordingly to your instructions, so you won’t have to use your own hands to drive through the courses. Other than the fact that this is for lazy people, this is an easy way to gain credits by having the TV off while you’re eating, or in the bathroom, or something of that nature. Casual gamers will obviously point out GT4’s amazing visuals. Saying Gran Turismo 4 is a beautiful-looking game would be an understatement. As any GT fan would tell you, each and every entry to the series will make use of Sony’s hardware to their maximum potential. The bump mapping to the car models are flawless, leaving no jaggies to be seen. The astounding lighting effects found in GT3: A-spec makes an even more dramatic return in GT4, and the courses are as close to “photorealism” as possible. “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Polyphony Digital is well aware of that, and they went ahead and added a little feature that allows you to take pictures of your vehicles driving through the many courses of the game. While it is a nifty addition, it’s actually quite hard to do at first. To get the “perfect” picture, you have to get all the angles exact, and at the same time, have the car in the right place. Of course, you can always stop the car. If you have one of those printers that can connect to your TV or console, you can choose to make some printouts of the pictures you’ve taken and send them to friends and relatives all over the world. With visuals as good as GT4’s, you can pretty much fool them and lead them on saying how great your life is showing them pictures of your ’05 Jaguar someplace in the Fuji Mountains. It’s trickery at its finest, and with photorealism like this, Gran Turismo 4 is definitely now the new standard in realistic visuals on the PS2, if not the entire driving genre. On the other hand, the sound is a mixed bag mostly because of its soundtrack. If the game’s sound were to be rated upon its opening cinema alone featuring a great driving song and the sounds of engines, it would be perfect. Sadly, that’s not the only song in the soundtrack. You’ll hear some classic light rock here and there, but almost none of them emulate your setting on the roads in GT4. The good thing is all the sounds the cars and courses make are nearly perfect, and then barely holds the sound up the greatness meter. Gran Turismo 4 does offer some serious problems other than the soundtrack, and these problems are so bad that it can actually affect whether you really want this game or not. It’s known that the PlayStation 2 is the weakest of the three consoles, and all that power used in GT4 definitely comes with a price. No game on the PS2, sadly, features slower load times than Gran Turismo 4. So when playing—or rather, getting ready to play GT4, you might as well have some refreshments nearby. Also, in order to get this game out, Polyphony had to cancel the online mode. While the lack of an online mode is a definite blow to the “evolution” of this series, it’s hard to even begin where this game can actually improve online. Sure, you can race other people all over the world, but racing was never the golden part of the series. If you can get by all the hardships that create problems for the game, then your verdict should already be decided. If you want the full driving experience from this driving simulator, you might also want to consider picking up a racing wheel. Now if you’re someone with a lot of money, it’d be best to pick up the Logitech Force Pro wheel that was made exclusively for Gran Turismo 4. Of course, at $130, the hardware isn’t a real necessity. If you need more of an opinion, check back in a few days for a hardware review of the Logitech wheel. Once again, Gran Turismo 4 has redefined the driving genre. Since this is an actual simulator, GT4 doesn’t possess the same fun factor found in culturized arcade games like Burnout 3: Takedown or Need For Speed Underground. Even so, GT4 has its own serious problems, but if you’re a car enthusiast, a perfectionist, or a type of penny pusher to the point that you’ll only buy a game that you can play for months—then by all means, Gran Turismo 4 has features well worth your money and will keep the average gamer busy for months.
Gran Turismo 4 could be considered one of the best Playstation 2 games ever made. As the fourth game in the series, Gran Turismo 4 improves greatly on the previously successful Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec, which seemed unthin... Read Full Review
The Gran Turismo games are known for how realistically they depict car racing, and Grand Turismo 4 definitely lives up to the name. What this game lacks in flash that many arcade-style games have, it makes up for in eve... Read Full Review
