Gran Turismo HD offers a deep experience with amazing visuals that will hold over fans waiting for GT5.
GT HD is probably the best game download to be made available on any console’s online service. Considering that the game was free and it features two game modes, online rankings, replay mode, and 10 cars, Sony could’ve easily charged upwards of $20 for the game but thankfully they didn’t. That’s pretty amazing since the game has a lot of content to keep users busy.
The main mode of GT HD is the time trial mode. In this mode you race the game’s only track and try to beat the set time. If you’re successful then you unlock a new vehicle and have a new time to beat. While this may sound a bit tedious since there is no regular racing it is still a fun and challenging mode. Most of the challenge comes from the very difficult handling of the cars. While the controls are not poor, mastering them is the hard part. Each car has a unique way about them and mastering each car will take some time.
If you’re not into time trial mode then you can tackle drift mode. Now the only problem is that this mode is locked and you need to meet certain requirements to play drift mode. Once you do meet the requirements drift mode is a fun mode to play around in but you’ll probably still stick to the time attack mode.
Just like GT4 GTHD does not feature any online racing. It does however include online rankings so you can get a good idea how you stack up against the other racers in the world. The interesting thing is that you can view replays from the top racers. Watching the videos of the top drivers truly show off their mastery of the vehicles and the course.
One of the trademarks of the Gran Turismo series is the visuals. While GTHD is just GT4’s assets running in HD the game is still amazing. The cars look sharp and easily stack up to Project Gotham on the 360 and the upcoming Forza Motorsport 2. Despite there being only one track in the game it is still memorable due to its amazing mountains, lighting and 3D spectators. While the sound of spectators may not be a big deal, they do add to the immersion of the game as you’ll see people walking in the background and taking pictures as you pass by. These character models are nicely detailed and overall are a nice addition to the Gran Turismo series. The visuals are best shown off during the replay mode. At first you may do a double take while watching the replay since it looks like a live action video. There aren’t a lot of camera options during replay mode but you can zoom into the action, change camera modes, and turn the music off if you wish. You can also save your replay if you wish to watch your awesomeness at a later time.
While GTHD may disappoint some for not featuring a regular race mode or online play it is still an amazing product. As always the visuals and production values are top notch and the mastering of the various cars will keep you busy unless you’re a GT pro. And best of all the game is free, so you essentially get a side GT game that has typically been released in Japan for free. So if you’re aching for some next gen Gran Turismo then immediately download GTHD and get pumped up for Gran Turismo 5.