From the moment you switch on your console you know you're in the prescence of greatness
User Rating: 9.7 | Gran Turismo 4 PS2
From the moment you switch on your console you know you're in the prescence of greatness, the beauty that is the opening movie floods onto your screen and you find yourself immersed in the world that is Gran Turismo. You will find yourself facing a choice of two modes to enter into 'Arcade Mode' and 'Gran Turismo Mode'. Arcade Mode is the multiplayer side of the game, previous installments saw you racing against computers to unlock extra stuff but this time this hasbeen removed and focuses mainly on racing with your friends. This makes the whole set-up a lot less complicated but there is one thing you will notice thatisn't on the multiplayer menu and unfortunately it's the choice to race fellowgamers online. Once you enter into a 2-player game there are certain types oftracks to choose from, instead of looking through a clutter of tracks in a single scroll menu they're put into 4 cateogories such as 'city courses'. Changes have been made to the car set-up also, all cars that you have unlocked in Gran Turismo Mode are available in here now rather than just a small selection. This means a lot more variety, of course the ability to race your own cars has returned and this gives you the option of using all your own settings for each individual car. Gran Turismo Mode is what this game is all about, you start off with 10,000 credits and buy a car from a number of manafacturers from around the world, you race for money and buy better cars in which you race to get even more money and keep going until you have all the cars in the game and have completed all the races. Someone who isn't familiar with playing this series may think this a tad tedious but it really does create a unique experience and prove to be a lot of fun. There are now over 650 cars to choose from, which is certainly more than any other racing game created could ever come near to. This becomes apparent when the map opens up and a wide selecton of countries are available to choose from, each boasting a healthy number of manafacturers. With the game having even more parts to add to your car this time round too it makes the possibilities of what you can do almost limitless. Spoilers have been added to give your car extra downforce and the biggest part to be added is the ever popular NOS gas which with a simple push of a shoulder button see's your speed increase quite rapidly. Although just as in real-life it will run out so using it wisely will be the key to success. Some races in the game require you to pass a set of liscence tests, there are 5 tests this time around which are B, A, IB, IA and S. Each liscence includes 16 tests and a coffee break challenge which is thrown in for fun. Only by getting at least a bronze on each of the tests will you acquire that liscence and progress further through the game. Completing at least some of the liscences before you start the game isn't a bad idea because good cars can be unlocked depending on the colour of the trophy you manage to get. The 4th game in the series has to be bigger and better than before otherwise it's pretty pointless bringing another out. Gran Turismo 4 delivered with an impressive number of new tracks, record numbers of new cars and parts and most importantly more cups to be won. There are cups to be won everywhere you look, there is a Beginner, Professional and Extreme Hall which obviously get progressively harder. There is a Japanese, European and American Hall which see's only cars of those area's being allowed to compete. There is a Special Hall in which you will find all the Rally races and this time round a bunch of other races with special circumstances such as driving in snowy and wet weather conditions. There is a Mission Hall that see's you in a variety of situations that take the highest of skill to complete, rivals getting a head start and beating cars faster than your own are found here. The Endurance Hall also returns but this time there are three 24-hour races in there and it's thing's like this that add to Gran Turismo's already massive life-span. If all that isn't enough for you, almost every single manafacturer has their own individual cups which can be won by racing their own cars. Gran Turismo has added 2 extra full modes within Gran Turismo Mode this time around. There is a Photo Mode and a B-Spec Mode which are both refreshing to what is already a winning formula. Photo Mode is basically what is says, you can place any car on any track in any position and take a picture of it, there are a number of angles you can choose from and things like special effects can be added for that little extra touch. These photo's can be transferred to your PC via a number of USB devices and then the possibilities can become endless. B-Spec Mode is a completely new way of racing, it see's you racing your car from the sidelines. You tell the car how hard to push, you tell it when to pit and you tell it when to overtake and the computer races for you. This may sound easy and pointless but it does take a certain amount of skill to become better at it and start winning races, the better you get at it the more B-Spec points you can win and the better your driver races. This perhaps is the biggest addition to the series and a welcome one at that, extra features in this mode such as watching the race at 3 times the normal speed means those 24-hour races just became that little bit more achievable. All-in-all this game delivers in every department, a few minor thing's stop it from being the perfect game but it is not far from it. The amount of thing's crammed into this one disc is actually quite amazing and puts most other games to shame. Tracks like the Nurburgring and New York that are taken from real-life are accurate down to the smallest of details. They've added a pit crew now so when you go to change your tyres you're not suspended in mid-air. They have made the compuer AI a lot more challenging although still not the best it could be it has still improved greately. There are now cars that date back to the Model T Ford, there are now drag tracks......the list goes on and on. Last but not least this game is backwards compatible with not only Gran Turismo 3 but Gran Turismo 4 Prologue Edition. An option in the Garage (which now holds up to 1000 cars) lets you transfer 100,000 credits before you even start the game and your B and A liscences completed if you have the save files from those 2 games still intact on your memory card. Gameplay - The only thing that lets this down is a lack of online play and an AI which has improved but hasn't improved quite enough. Graphics - The best graphics you will probably see from any game from this generation of consoles, the details and physics of every last thing are as close as anyone has got to the real thing. Sound - From each car having it's own real-life engine noise right down to the sound the tyres make as they screech away from the start line, it's all here and it's all real. Value - No other game could probably bring you better value for money, there is so much to see and do here and some of the races are so challenging that it's going to take quite a lot of time and even more skill to ever complete it. 
