I´m 28, (like 196 in dog years). Been playing Gran Turismo since 1998. I have had every main Gran Turismo, including GTPSP and GT5P. I have so many good memories with this game. I quitted playing videogames, the day that my parents didn´t get me a Nintendo 64. Since that day, I said that I would dedicate my life to study and adult things. But suddenly I see this guy playing a demo on a Video Game store. I remember... Clubman Stage 5 was the name of the track, a Corvette GS was the car. Me, being a car crazy guy, could´t ignore that. I went in and tried it. I was amazed by the graphics and gameplay... A year later, my mom was good enough to get me a PS1 with Gran Turismo included. That was the happiest day in my life. Afew months after that, in my local Block Buster Video, I saw this black PS1 game box that read Gran Turismo 2. I rented that thing like for a month non-stop(I pretty much spent the whole cost of the game).
A couple of months later, my aunt came from the US, and brought me GT2. I can´t describe how much I enjoyed that game. It´s safe to say that´s the Gran Turismo that I most remember for the good moments it gave me, and for the things I learned thanks to it. Played the game for the next years, until... Walking down the mall, in the same store were I saw GT1 demo years ago, there it was... I remember this awsome "HD" graphics... In Deep Forest, he was racing. In a blue Nissan Skyline GTR V-Spec R34... Gran Turismo 3, the game was called... I decided after playing GT2 for a long time, that I was going to get away from videogames again... But that game...
Next week, with some savings I had, I purchased Gran Turismo 3. It cost 98 US dollars (We use US dollars here in my country. And yes, games are expensive here). But couldn´t afford the great PS2, since it was around 900 dollars. After contemplating GT3´s box for around six months, christmas came. Fortunatly, my birthday is in mid December, so I negotiated only one global present for that year with my mom. The PS2 was all mine! I couln´t believe my eyes, that game was incredible!
Years passed, and out came GT4... This time, I didn´t see or hear any news on it. It just appeared out of no were... Got the game without even seeing it previously. Just the intro made me cry of pure joy, enough said...
Years and years passed... PS3 came out, and this time, I didn´t loose any time. Being a grown up, with a job of my own, thankfully I could afford the whooping 1000 dollars that my still running 40GB PS3 was worth. Story short, GT5P came out, purchased it, waited alot, GT5 came out and got it on release day.
And here I am today, with a Game Cube, two PS2´s, a PSP and a PS3, with a library of almost 100 games.
Thanks to Gran Turismo, I know what a Nissan Skyline or a Chaparral is. Thanks to Gran Turismo, I now how dropping down the corkscrew at 100mph feels. Thanks to Gran Turismo, I can enjoy the thing that I can´t enjoy in real life...Thanks to Gran Turismo, not only I learned alot about my passion, but awakened another passion, wich are video games...
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