GT4 is a great game...but is a massive amount of cars and pretty graphics enough?
User Rating: 9 | Gran Turismo 4 PS2
Gran Turismo 4 is the sequel to what was once considered to be the best racing game on the market, GT3: A-Spec. Gran Turismo 4 has been in development ever since GT3 was released back in 2001, and has seen 3 Electronic Entertainment Expo's. GT4 is a great game...but is a massive amount of cars and pretty graphics enough? The gameplay in Gran Turismo is still excellent. All the cars handle differently, and like the real thing. All of the controls are nicely layed out, and are very responsive. The game takes use of the pressure sensitive buttons on the PS2 controller, and works very well. By pressing X softly, your speed will slowly raise (if completely stopped beforehand) or slowly decrease, depending on your current speed. Braking also uses the pressure buttons, and uses them in the same way the acceleration does. Ever since the original GT, you have always been able to take your car to a garage and tune it up for better performance. GT4 uses that same engine, just a lot more organized this time around. For instance, for every company, you have a tune-up shop. Some cars can be tuned up at a special shop, mostly for non-factory cars. Some of these "special shops" are Spoon Sports, Tom's, and Blitz. Some of these companies will give you better or extra tune-up parts for your cars, like the original turbine kit for cars that have a turbo engine- this part is not available in factory shops. On the tracks, you will normally face off 5 other drivers to victory. The winner naturally gets the best prize money. As you win more and more races, you will be able to win races with a higher difficulty, and win much more money. At the start of the game, you can get about 1,000 credits for first place. Once you get the licenses, you can get up to several hundred thousand dollars for winning an endurance race. GT4 allows you to use your GT3 data, more or less. You can transfer the A and B licenses over, as well as 100,000 credits. But you can only transfer these credits once, unfortunately. This will let you start your game off at an easier pace, and will relieve you of a lot of stress. It's definitely one of the best features of this game. The production values for GT4 are absolutely amazing. The graphics are absolutely beautiful, and the level of detail Polyphony Digital put into the tracks and cars is stunning. There is a momentary lag on certain tracks, but it's nothing that can distract you from racing. Also, GT4 does what we thought no other PS2 game could do- it runs perfectly on 1080p (an HD setting). The audio is also excellent. The soundtrack is varied, and very nice to rock out to on the tracks. The cars also have their own distinct sound to it, which also adds to the sound. The races are fun, and very detailed. The tracks are huge, some over 10 miles long. And with over 650 cars to attain, GT4 will probably keep you playing for a while. However, to get some of these cars, you must pass the license tests. Gran Turismo wants to make you pull your hair out before you can get any good cars. Licenses are required for certain cups and races, and acquiring these licenses is not an easy task. Some licenses will take you more than 30 tries before you can get them. If you are patient, you will be able to unlock all of the cool features of this game. Just be warned, this is not a very easy game. But it's still worth the wait, and it is the best GT game I've played. I just wish the online portion of this game could have been realized. 
