Whetting appetites for driving in HD
Gran Turismo HD Concept is basically what was going to be Gran Turismo 4, remade for the PLAYSTATION 3. However, Polyphony Digital scrapped that idea and has since decided to go straight on to GT5. Meanwhile, they've taken the work they did and packaged it up as a free download on the Playstation Network as a Christmas Eve present for all the world's PS3 owners.
It plays just like you would expect, if you've ever played Gran Turismo games before, then this won't really be new ground for you. You can still customize the cars, changing wheels and shocks to maximize your preferred performance, and you zip around the track as quick as you can. There's nothing new here. Cars still don't take damage, and in this version, there's only ten cars and one track.
What do you want? It's free.
Where GTHD shines is in its presentation and its graphics. Gran Turismo HD is a sexy piece of software. From its sterling intro movie to its cinematically inspired replays, GTHD looks good. Of course, the ability to go up to 1080p doesn't hurt, but GTHD simply oozes style. Even the sharp, clean menus with the lowkey jazz soundtrack - even the screensaver page on the PS3's cross media bar, all of these are just alluring, and very easy to just leave on for a moment to enjoy. In-game, some of the cars still look a little jaggy, and if you drive slow enough, the spectators look fake enough, but if you're playing the game well, you won't even notice.
As much as I can gush about the music, the sound is otherwise pretty awful. The same canned sound effects for the engines, the squealing of tires and scratching of gravel, we've heard it before. We've probably heard these exact samples before. It gets old quick.
Now, we all know by now that this is simply the work that was going to be a HD version of Gran Turismo 4, repackaged and sold for the PS3. But Polyphony has gone so far as to cram a little more innovation into this as well, recording your replays and times, placing them online for people to rate themselves against. Further, the game will download the top players' replays and use them in the game's attract mode. And really, face it - having a game immortalize you on other people's machines is just cool. Very likely, we're going to see more online improvements in GT5, and this is the first indicator.
Gran Turismo HD has its flaws. But man, it's free and it's fun. If all this is any indication of what the next generation of driving games has in store, there's going to be a whole lot more people on board come release day.