- 141
This is the official GT4 review from PSW Magazine
Here it is. The first review of the most anticipated driving game ever. But is it all we hoped for?
You're probably not even reading this. Those jaw-dropping screenshots are just too good looking arn't they? And the final score - you've already looked at it, already decided that you're going to buy it. Its 9 out of 10, it's a brilliant game, and it's Gran Turismo . It's bound to be superb, right?
In truth, this game has been an absolute nightmare to review, and for that very reason we'd urge you to read carefully to rush out, cash in hand. The fact is is that GT4 is an amazing achievement, far and away the best Turismo release to have emerged from the coding labs of Polyphony Digital. Crammed with an outstanding array of cars and circuits, it boasts a completely revised physics engine. Quite frankly, its absolutely ace.
But at the same time, its also a massive under-achieving game that could have been much, much better. It's as though Polyphony has ignored every criticism made of previous Gran Turismo titles, ignored every other racing game that has advanced its ideas in recent years, and instead just taken GT3, upgraded the handling and thrown in tons of new cars and new courses. The majority of players will be thrilled with the new game, but there'll be many others left disappointed at the lack of new ideas in GT4, who feel robbed by the lack of the promised online gameplay. Count us in.
Same as it ever was
Never has the old adage that familiarity breeds contempt has been so relevant as it is here. Your first impressions are of a game thats structurally identical to every one of its predecessors. There's still an Arcade mode, a Simulation mode, a Replay Theatre and a split-screen two-player racing mode. Delving into into each sub-menu reveals that, aside from a few additions, the layout of the game is the same as before.
Jumping into the drivers seat reveals yet more 'same old - same old' - all of the old circuits and most of the old GT3 car roster have been included, there's still only six cars on a track at any given time, and, most shockingly of all, Polyphone have totally ignored the universal cries for more realistic and intelligent artificial intelligence in the cars you drive against. Oh, and if you're looking for car damage [or even a dent in performance after that prang], or the long-awaited Porsches, Lamborghinis and Ferraris, you're in for a disappointment.
And of course, there's the online racing debacle. We were promised a full online experience with GT4, but due to time constraints, Polyphony was forced to sacrifice it at the last minute. Split-screen two-player and network racing against five opponents is as good as it gets. Unless, of course, your desperate enough stand-alone broadband enabled version due out later in the year.
The above is rendered all the more bizarre when you consider how Gran Turismo's biggest rivals on other platforms have gone out of their way to incorperate these key features. The Xbox titled Project Gotham Racing 2 is a perfect example of a game that has taken a good, long, hard look at the Turismo series, copied the best bits and then added all the stuff that we really want to see. And if a small company in Liverpool can do all of that for an Xbox game, whats stopping GT4's creators from doing the same?
Cheats always prosper
Perhaps the most suprising omission of all is the just about all of the cheats that marred previous Gran Turismo games and made a mockery of its 'Real Driving Simulator' tag still seems to work. Why bother braking for corners when smacking into the side of the track at full speed slows you down quicker with no penalty? Why bother carefully overtaking the other cars when you can speed into them at any given corner, hitting them side-on slamming them into the wall? And why bother competing against you opponents in a similarly-powered vehicle when you can bring a far faster car into the fray and win without even trying?
Curiously, here its clear that Polyphony has identified that there's a problem and made a ham-fisted attempt attempt to curb the cheats. In some races there's a five-second penalty for smacking the computer controlled cars or careening out of control into the barriers instead of using the brakes. But why in some races and not all of them? It makes no sense.
In terms of high-powered cars to out-strip the competiton, Polyphony has another new idea - A-spec points.
Basically, the stats of your chosen car are matched up against your opponents. The more powerful your car is against your opponenets, the less A-Spec points you will recieve. The problem is that you still get you prize money and your prize cars - both of which are infinitely more important than the A-spec points, which don't seem to serve much of a purpose at all. The way the game is set up, there's little incentive not to cheat. You can even use the brand new B-Spec mode (in which the PS2 drives your car whilst you sit and watch, issuing it with simple orders, like when to overtake and when to make a pit-stop) to play the race for you and yet still you get the money and the cars. Once again, GT4 makes it all the way, way too easy on you.
And yet its brilliant [
]
After that monumental list of gripes and complaints, it's now time to resume normal service and rave about how fantastic the game really is. It's too easy to look at GT4 and whinge about what isn't there, ignoring the undeniable truth about what has made it into the game is absolutely phenomenal.
It's the sheer scale of GT4 thats simply breathtaking - a total, so far, of 50 circuits (there's bound to be others, which we will unlock as we go deeper into simulation mode) along with well over 650 cars. GT2 on PSone had a similar of vehicles to collect, but in the new game, the vast majority of the forgettable Euroboxes that infested GT2 have been dumped in favour of much greater range of cars that span the length and bredth of the automotive history.
The first 'proper' car (an 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagon three-wheeler) is there, the worlds first supercar - the Ford Model T - makes an appearance too, while the 1954 Mercedes SL 300 shows that 50-year-old motoring technology can mix it with the modern car. F1 and Le Mans vehicles are present, as is the £300,000 Mercedes McLaren SLR. In fact, about every landmark vehicle apart from Porsche, Lamborghini and Ferrari is in the game. It's and entire history of the car in one video game, and the scale and ambition shown in regard has to be applauded.
Behind the wheel
Polyphony hasn't been slouching in terms of the realism in the handling, either. The entire physics system in the game has been completely rewritten from scratch and while the differences aren't immediatly obvious, once you're back in the Gran Turismo groove and the hours are gradually melting away, the enhancement become obvious: a better feeling of feedback from the road surface and superior response from the cars while driving on the limit. Essentially, all the intangibles that make the Gran Turismo driving experience untouchable are even better this time around. Games like Project Gotham cam close to GT3, but Turismo has always been the daddy, and with these slight enhancements, GT4 easily powers ahead of the competition.
It's the same story with the graphics. While a couple of the GT3 circuits look worse this time around, refubished PSone tracks and the all-new course look unbelievably good. The city street race venue's in particular stand out, with the night-time Paris and Las Vegas levels annihilating anything seen on any racing game on any console, ever. The cars themselves seem to benefit from the extra detail and far more realistic lighting, the only compremise being some truly horrific glitching when things get too complex on screen. You'll see a couple examples of this on the DVD footage (I'll watch later to confirm). Anyone who bothered playing last years Stop-gap of GT4 Prologue will know exactly what we're talking about. On the upside, any of you fortunate to own a plasma TV or a projector, you are in for a treat. As GT4 supports high definition output, which improves picture quality no end (we've used it to get through superb screenshots dotted through the review). Consider this a tantilising glimpse as how good Playstation 3 games are going to look when played on the right hardware. The future of the playstation looks very good indeed.
Say goodbye to your life
The core of Gran Turismo has always been the vast Simulation Mode, and this remains the care of GT4. It's definitly the biggest yet in terms of the number of races available, and it WILL dominate you life for several weeks solid, For a start, the game makes full use of the locations on offer, from Drag Racing along the Las Vegas drag-strip (see it on the DVD) to street racing in Paris. Most exciting of all for motorsports fans is the inclusion of Le Mans and a suitable range of cars appropriate to the historic location. The widow-making Nurburgring is also included in its entirety. Both of these courses play host to gruelling endurance races, with full 24-hour races to tackle. That's right, sleep dodgers, GT4 lets you take part in a real-time 24 hour race and, thank goodness, you can save your game mid-race. Sadly, no it doesn't move from day-to-night.
Edited in:
In addition to the love-them-hate-them endurance races, you'll also find a selection of both old new events including manufacterer-specific races, challenges for each major country's automobiles and historic events. Just as the previous Gran Turismo titles, every single race has a prize car on offer and a large aspect of the game's addictive nature comes from adding each and every vehicle to your garage. The addition of skill-specific missions and special condition races serves as the icing on the cake.
Gran Turismo veterans will be pleased to hear that used cars have returned to the gameplay mix. Just as in the original Gran Turismo, you can regularly persue one of three used-car-lots in the hope of picking up a bargain motor. The game has certain key dates where checking the used-car-lots reveals super-secret vehicles that you cannot buy at any other date or win from the races. Caution is advised though - older cars with higher mileage will most likely take a performance hit after years of thrashing. In fact, this applies to any car - too much high-revving knackers the engine and reduces power output.
Of course, like previous Gran Turismo games, there's the small matter of passing the initial driving-license test before you can commence racing. This time, Polyphony has really pushed the boat out with a colossal 85 different tests required before the full range of five licenses are yours. That's a few hours of game time in itself and can be very frustrating. Irritation apart, it does do a cracking job of familiarising you with the new handling system, and also lets you get to grips with Le Mans and the Nurburgring in some pretty tasty cars.
It's worth noting that owners of GT4 Prologue who managed to complete the entire game can import their old saved position and skip 75% of GT4's licence tests. In fact, a GT3 save will be helpful too - any gamer's who've kept hold of their old memory cards being able to import up to 100,000 credits from the old game, a useful helping hand in the initial stages.
GT4 On Tune
Another key aspect to the Gran Turismo series has been its tuning and upgrade capabilities. This remains pretty much unchanged from GT3, with just one or two rather startling alterations. First of all, it's possible to 'chav-up' [ ] your motorised steed with one of a number of custom spoilers available at the GT Auto garage. Just like real life, they look totally rediculous, and on cars that really need a decent level of downforce, the stock wing cannot be altered. To be honest, it comes as a pretty lame addition that serves no real purpose aside from keeping the Redline-reading Burberry brigade happy.
The second 'enhancement' to the tuning section is far more important, and that's the addition of Nitrous Oxide canisters to the list of options available to the car. This option is a snip at 50,000 credits, turning ordinary cars into real contenders while turning the fastest cars into absolutely unbeatable road monsters.
Unbelievably, it seems as though none of the computer-controlled cars ever use it. Even your own B-Spec computer driver won't use it if it's installed on the car. Thus, nitro gives you an edge that your opponents don't have and, as such, it must go down as yet another 'cheat' to add to the growing list of ways NOT to play GT4.
It has to be said that despite its many faults, GT4 remains an astonishingly good release. It's just that with a game of this much pedigree and quality, and after so many delays, we expected a level of perfection that we were never likely to get. What Polyphony has done is to create a title that is the ultimate culmination of everything they're good at, without really bothering to address any of the problems from the previous 3 games. The thing is, with gameplay this good, and so much quality on offer, it' still an essential purchase. GT4 secures pole position on the PS2 racing leaderboard then, but for how long? Time will tell.
Verdict
Uppers:
Brilliant to play
Months of gameplay
Best graphics on PS2
Downers:
Same problems as GT3
Bad graphic glitches
B-Spec mode is rubbish [Is it? 💡 /Marshy]
Graphics: Breathtaking, inspite of glitching
Sounds: Decent effects, 100+ background tunes
Gameplay: Sublime with almost perfect handling
A supreme playable game, filled to bursting with all the circuit and cars you could ever want - but that's not a massive leap over GT3.
9/10
-Marshy
Here it is. The first review of the most anticipated driving game ever. But is it all we hoped for?
You're probably not even reading this. Those jaw-dropping screenshots are just too good looking arn't they? And the final score - you've already looked at it, already decided that you're going to buy it. Its 9 out of 10, it's a brilliant game, and it's Gran Turismo . It's bound to be superb, right?
In truth, this game has been an absolute nightmare to review, and for that very reason we'd urge you to read carefully to rush out, cash in hand. The fact is is that GT4 is an amazing achievement, far and away the best Turismo release to have emerged from the coding labs of Polyphony Digital. Crammed with an outstanding array of cars and circuits, it boasts a completely revised physics engine. Quite frankly, its absolutely ace.
But at the same time, its also a massive under-achieving game that could have been much, much better. It's as though Polyphony has ignored every criticism made of previous Gran Turismo titles, ignored every other racing game that has advanced its ideas in recent years, and instead just taken GT3, upgraded the handling and thrown in tons of new cars and new courses. The majority of players will be thrilled with the new game, but there'll be many others left disappointed at the lack of new ideas in GT4, who feel robbed by the lack of the promised online gameplay. Count us in.
Same as it ever was
Never has the old adage that familiarity breeds contempt has been so relevant as it is here. Your first impressions are of a game thats structurally identical to every one of its predecessors. There's still an Arcade mode, a Simulation mode, a Replay Theatre and a split-screen two-player racing mode. Delving into into each sub-menu reveals that, aside from a few additions, the layout of the game is the same as before.
Jumping into the drivers seat reveals yet more 'same old - same old' - all of the old circuits and most of the old GT3 car roster have been included, there's still only six cars on a track at any given time, and, most shockingly of all, Polyphone have totally ignored the universal cries for more realistic and intelligent artificial intelligence in the cars you drive against. Oh, and if you're looking for car damage [or even a dent in performance after that prang], or the long-awaited Porsches, Lamborghinis and Ferraris, you're in for a disappointment.
And of course, there's the online racing debacle. We were promised a full online experience with GT4, but due to time constraints, Polyphony was forced to sacrifice it at the last minute. Split-screen two-player and network racing against five opponents is as good as it gets. Unless, of course, your desperate enough stand-alone broadband enabled version due out later in the year.
The above is rendered all the more bizarre when you consider how Gran Turismo's biggest rivals on other platforms have gone out of their way to incorperate these key features. The Xbox titled Project Gotham Racing 2 is a perfect example of a game that has taken a good, long, hard look at the Turismo series, copied the best bits and then added all the stuff that we really want to see. And if a small company in Liverpool can do all of that for an Xbox game, whats stopping GT4's creators from doing the same?
Cheats always prosper
Perhaps the most suprising omission of all is the just about all of the cheats that marred previous Gran Turismo games and made a mockery of its 'Real Driving Simulator' tag still seems to work. Why bother braking for corners when smacking into the side of the track at full speed slows you down quicker with no penalty? Why bother carefully overtaking the other cars when you can speed into them at any given corner, hitting them side-on slamming them into the wall? And why bother competing against you opponents in a similarly-powered vehicle when you can bring a far faster car into the fray and win without even trying?
Curiously, here its clear that Polyphony has identified that there's a problem and made a ham-fisted attempt attempt to curb the cheats. In some races there's a five-second penalty for smacking the computer controlled cars or careening out of control into the barriers instead of using the brakes. But why in some races and not all of them? It makes no sense.
In terms of high-powered cars to out-strip the competiton, Polyphony has another new idea - A-spec points.
Basically, the stats of your chosen car are matched up against your opponents. The more powerful your car is against your opponenets, the less A-Spec points you will recieve. The problem is that you still get you prize money and your prize cars - both of which are infinitely more important than the A-spec points, which don't seem to serve much of a purpose at all. The way the game is set up, there's little incentive not to cheat. You can even use the brand new B-Spec mode (in which the PS2 drives your car whilst you sit and watch, issuing it with simple orders, like when to overtake and when to make a pit-stop) to play the race for you and yet still you get the money and the cars. Once again, GT4 makes it all the way, way too easy on you.
And yet its brilliant [
]After that monumental list of gripes and complaints, it's now time to resume normal service and rave about how fantastic the game really is. It's too easy to look at GT4 and whinge about what isn't there, ignoring the undeniable truth about what has made it into the game is absolutely phenomenal.
It's the sheer scale of GT4 thats simply breathtaking - a total, so far, of 50 circuits (there's bound to be others, which we will unlock as we go deeper into simulation mode) along with well over 650 cars. GT2 on PSone had a similar of vehicles to collect, but in the new game, the vast majority of the forgettable Euroboxes that infested GT2 have been dumped in favour of much greater range of cars that span the length and bredth of the automotive history.
The first 'proper' car (an 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagon three-wheeler) is there, the worlds first supercar - the Ford Model T - makes an appearance too, while the 1954 Mercedes SL 300 shows that 50-year-old motoring technology can mix it with the modern car. F1 and Le Mans vehicles are present, as is the £300,000 Mercedes McLaren SLR. In fact, about every landmark vehicle apart from Porsche, Lamborghini and Ferrari is in the game. It's and entire history of the car in one video game, and the scale and ambition shown in regard has to be applauded.
Behind the wheel
Polyphony hasn't been slouching in terms of the realism in the handling, either. The entire physics system in the game has been completely rewritten from scratch and while the differences aren't immediatly obvious, once you're back in the Gran Turismo groove and the hours are gradually melting away, the enhancement become obvious: a better feeling of feedback from the road surface and superior response from the cars while driving on the limit. Essentially, all the intangibles that make the Gran Turismo driving experience untouchable are even better this time around. Games like Project Gotham cam close to GT3, but Turismo has always been the daddy, and with these slight enhancements, GT4 easily powers ahead of the competition.
It's the same story with the graphics. While a couple of the GT3 circuits look worse this time around, refubished PSone tracks and the all-new course look unbelievably good. The city street race venue's in particular stand out, with the night-time Paris and Las Vegas levels annihilating anything seen on any racing game on any console, ever. The cars themselves seem to benefit from the extra detail and far more realistic lighting, the only compremise being some truly horrific glitching when things get too complex on screen. You'll see a couple examples of this on the DVD footage (I'll watch later to confirm). Anyone who bothered playing last years Stop-gap of GT4 Prologue will know exactly what we're talking about. On the upside, any of you fortunate to own a plasma TV or a projector, you are in for a treat. As GT4 supports high definition output, which improves picture quality no end (we've used it to get through superb screenshots dotted through the review). Consider this a tantilising glimpse as how good Playstation 3 games are going to look when played on the right hardware. The future of the playstation looks very good indeed.
Say goodbye to your life
The core of Gran Turismo has always been the vast Simulation Mode, and this remains the care of GT4. It's definitly the biggest yet in terms of the number of races available, and it WILL dominate you life for several weeks solid, For a start, the game makes full use of the locations on offer, from Drag Racing along the Las Vegas drag-strip (see it on the DVD) to street racing in Paris. Most exciting of all for motorsports fans is the inclusion of Le Mans and a suitable range of cars appropriate to the historic location. The widow-making Nurburgring is also included in its entirety. Both of these courses play host to gruelling endurance races, with full 24-hour races to tackle. That's right, sleep dodgers, GT4 lets you take part in a real-time 24 hour race and, thank goodness, you can save your game mid-race. Sadly, no it doesn't move from day-to-night.
Edited in:
In addition to the love-them-hate-them endurance races, you'll also find a selection of both old new events including manufacterer-specific races, challenges for each major country's automobiles and historic events. Just as the previous Gran Turismo titles, every single race has a prize car on offer and a large aspect of the game's addictive nature comes from adding each and every vehicle to your garage. The addition of skill-specific missions and special condition races serves as the icing on the cake.
Gran Turismo veterans will be pleased to hear that used cars have returned to the gameplay mix. Just as in the original Gran Turismo, you can regularly persue one of three used-car-lots in the hope of picking up a bargain motor. The game has certain key dates where checking the used-car-lots reveals super-secret vehicles that you cannot buy at any other date or win from the races. Caution is advised though - older cars with higher mileage will most likely take a performance hit after years of thrashing. In fact, this applies to any car - too much high-revving knackers the engine and reduces power output.
Of course, like previous Gran Turismo games, there's the small matter of passing the initial driving-license test before you can commence racing. This time, Polyphony has really pushed the boat out with a colossal 85 different tests required before the full range of five licenses are yours. That's a few hours of game time in itself and can be very frustrating. Irritation apart, it does do a cracking job of familiarising you with the new handling system, and also lets you get to grips with Le Mans and the Nurburgring in some pretty tasty cars.
It's worth noting that owners of GT4 Prologue who managed to complete the entire game can import their old saved position and skip 75% of GT4's licence tests. In fact, a GT3 save will be helpful too - any gamer's who've kept hold of their old memory cards being able to import up to 100,000 credits from the old game, a useful helping hand in the initial stages.
GT4 On Tune
Another key aspect to the Gran Turismo series has been its tuning and upgrade capabilities. This remains pretty much unchanged from GT3, with just one or two rather startling alterations. First of all, it's possible to 'chav-up' [
] your motorised steed with one of a number of custom spoilers available at the GT Auto garage. Just like real life, they look totally rediculous, and on cars that really need a decent level of downforce, the stock wing cannot be altered. To be honest, it comes as a pretty lame addition that serves no real purpose aside from keeping the Redline-reading Burberry brigade happy.The second 'enhancement' to the tuning section is far more important, and that's the addition of Nitrous Oxide canisters to the list of options available to the car. This option is a snip at 50,000 credits, turning ordinary cars into real contenders while turning the fastest cars into absolutely unbeatable road monsters.
Unbelievably, it seems as though none of the computer-controlled cars ever use it. Even your own B-Spec computer driver won't use it if it's installed on the car. Thus, nitro gives you an edge that your opponents don't have and, as such, it must go down as yet another 'cheat' to add to the growing list of ways NOT to play GT4.
It has to be said that despite its many faults, GT4 remains an astonishingly good release. It's just that with a game of this much pedigree and quality, and after so many delays, we expected a level of perfection that we were never likely to get. What Polyphony has done is to create a title that is the ultimate culmination of everything they're good at, without really bothering to address any of the problems from the previous 3 games. The thing is, with gameplay this good, and so much quality on offer, it' still an essential purchase. GT4 secures pole position on the PS2 racing leaderboard then, but for how long? Time will tell.
Verdict
Uppers:
Brilliant to play
Months of gameplay
Best graphics on PS2
Downers:
Same problems as GT3
Bad graphic glitches
B-Spec mode is rubbish [Is it? 💡 /Marshy]
Graphics: Breathtaking, inspite of glitching
Sounds: Decent effects, 100+ background tunes
Gameplay: Sublime with almost perfect handling
A supreme playable game, filled to bursting with all the circuit and cars you could ever want - but that's not a massive leap over GT3.
9/10
-Marshy
Meow! (='.'=)
