The effect Gran Turismo has had on your life

GT2's endurances are not that long though, the longest is Rome 2 hours (I think). Around the same length as a real-life F1 race. You're right though, fatigue and driving don't mix!

Oddly enough I drive faster in-game when I'm half asleep.
 
GT2 was the game. The game that showed me what video games were about, what cars were about and what content was about.

I first encountered Gran Turismo 2 while visiting my aunt and uncles house for some sort of family get together. My uncle showed me a few of his cars and invited me to race for a bit. I remember two things specifically: His Honda CRX that had 0 horsepower (as if it had blown the motor) and a certain high-revving bright red car that was entered into a muscle car race in Seattle and proceeded to out accelerate everything entered.;)

I can't remember how long after it was before I would obtain my own copy of GT2, but before long I was making my way up the racing ranks in what is still one of my favorite racing games of all time. I worked to own just about every car I struck a fancy towards and raced in just about every event I cared to try my hand at. I did all of the endurance races (I think I did anyways), all of the championships and all of the rally events. Before long I found myself grinding through events to win a nice car that had good resale value so I could purchase another car I really wanted.

GT2 grew my love of cars to several new levels, and introduced me to the wholly different car industries in Japan and Europe. Following GT2 I fell into my love of Japanese car culture and the tuning scene. Picking up copies of Super Street and Modified Mag and ogling over the glitzed up Honda's, Toyota's and Nissan's among others. After that came my phase with JDM cars and how owners would swap USDM cars with Japanese parts. My enthusiasm later broadened wider and I truly fell in love with the various and much more focus-minded European machines. After that it was all over and I respected each car from every make and nationality for their strengths and weaknesses.

Now I'm obsessed with WTCC, DTM, Copa de Nextel Brazilian Stock Cars, Argentina's TC2000, V8 Supercar Series in Australia, Super GT (of course) in Japan, British GT and the BTCC, Grand Am, SCCA World Challenge, ALMS, FIA GT1/GT3/GT4, VLN, NASCAR, Formula 1, WRC and the list goes on and on. I love to see racing cars in national series. I love finely tuned street cars with a performance feel yet still liveable and a far cry from the attention-getting exteriors from the Tuners I use to idolize. I began respecting simplicity and over-all performance over show and numbers.

GT2 has made me the car enthusiast I am today, the only other game that I can respectably quote to growing my automotive interest outside of it was NFS: Porsche Unleashed.

Sadly, I got an Xbox instead of a PS2. I missed out on GT3 and GT4 but I still kept busy playing games like PGR2, Group S Challenge, Sega GT 2002, Toca Race Driver 3, Need for Speed: Underground and Need for Speed: Most Wanted. The variation kept me satisfied until a few years back I began browsing the GT4 website. In anticipation I started making car wish lists for GT5/6. I borrowed a friends PS2 and his copy of GT3 (it seemed that GT3 was a requisite item for those with a PS2 as all of my friends who had PS2... had GT3) I played for as long as I could and really enjoyed myself... although I started with his garage as opposed to starting fresh. I can still safely say that I have never played GT4... and probably never will. A year ago I got another hankering and I began digging around the internet and found my way back to GTPlanet. I bought a PS3 Slim in anticipation of GT5's release and proceeded to wait.

For some, GT5 may represent a failure in expectations. To me though... I know it will be better than GT2. I loved GT2... and I know that I'll love GT5 just as much.

Also, this is my 200th post
 
The effect has so far been drastic.

1. It's tought me how to enter and exit corners (even after 10 years, I still have occasional struggles).
2. I've gained an obcession for cars.
3. I now have the desire to drive around the Nurburgring.
 
GT-R_EMOKID
It made me walk in a apex since i was 3
Click to expand...

Ahhh.. Too true. Makes me a little sad that I`m growing up now. I can still remember how excited the GT2 intro video got me.. About as excited as prologues did.. :sly:.. The flash of the F2007... Ahhh.. Can not wait for GT5.:scared:
 
I am going to college in 2 years to become a video game developer/designer thanks to games like Gran Turismo 2. See I would love to make a racing game just because of this game I've loved it, I gained an appreciation for cars and the way to work. I played Gran Turismo 1 when I was five, and would always crash into walls until I finally learned how to drive properly. And when pushing my little sister in the grocery cart, I do take the apexes in the corner. :sly:
 
GT-R_EMOKID
It made me walk in a apex since i was 3
Click to expand...

Totally I apexed everywhere. I remember wasting most of the summer playing that game, and having to do it over like 3 times because my memory card would get erased. Racing Red Rock so many times just to get the half mill from the speed 12. and it made me infatuated with cars which made me learn every car I could. and it found me my dream car: the Skyline
 
I know for a fact I started apexing corners when I was in middle school...maybe about 12. :) I also raised my shoulder if I went over a bump on the inside! I still do all this sometimes, especially with shopping carts!
 
Was a non-gamer until I tried Guitar Hero and then bought GT4 and Ferrari Challenge (PS2) and enjoyed the racing (always have been a racing fan (locally at Mont Tremblant and Le Circuit Gilles Villeneuve).

Then I decided to get the PS3 (for movies too) and may as well get the big HDTV; then I bought GT5 Prologue, so next I wanted a wheel (first cheap one broke almost immediately); got a G25 moounted to an old coffee table (pedals off to side-it wasn`t comfortable and affected my GT5 Time Trial; so I decided to buy a Playseat Evolution to increase the immersion and fun.

Now I play F1 2010 until I get to go pick up my GT5 Collectors Edition; whenever that is :scared:

Also has given me a greater respect and appreciation for real race car drivers; and allowed me to `race`, and sometimes damage, really expensive cars I would never own or drive in real life :)
 
I learned a lot from the car descriptions / history (when you go to buy). Plus now I always drift shopping carts at the grocery store.
 
I started playing before I legally could drive, and it taught me a lot about good driving habits, as far as cornering and takeoffs are concerned at least. Not much about consequences, since you can ride cars around corners.

It also gave me an unnatural obsession with 90's Japanese cars, to this day any time I seen an old Japanese sports car, you would thing I saw a brand new Ferrari.

It got me into 3d video game modeling. I now make race tracks semi- professionally for several racing simulators, mostly rFactor and Sports Car GT.
 
The gran turismo game series opened my eyes in terms of the huge variety and types of car racing there was. It actually got me interested in japanese car and eventually I bought a couple of subarus since then.

I can't believe sometime I have been playing gt for 12 years. GT give us an opportunity to experience a car as closely as possible without actually driving it.
 
I was introduced to GT back when I was 6. By a friends husband who had GT1 I loved it to bits. Every time our family visited them it was the only thing I wanted to play. Driving against the Honda civic and Honda Preludes that i feel in love with while racing in split screen.

Driving in the High speed Ring track racing through the tunnels i was in awe of the graphics at the time. And the Clubman track first track I laid eyes on that allowed me to drive at night I was mesmerized.

Years later I bought my own copy of GT2 spending endless hours driving European, American, Asian cars going through the run of the mill GT events and regional events. Grinding away to unlock gifted cars. Then fell in love with Nissan Skylines and Nismo tuned GTR's. To this day thanks to GT I've always been in love with all automobiles and all sorts of national car championships.

My ultimate dream is to any GTR R34 V-Spec II/R33 or the 2010 Skyline.
 
I'm always emotionally stirred when I read things like the above.
Gran Turismo's influence is world wide and I'm glad to be a part of the movement.
 
NitrousX123
I was introduced to GT back when I was 6. By a friends husband who had GT1 I loved it to bits. Every time our family visited them it was the only thing I wanted to play. Driving against the Honda civic and Honda Preludes that i feel in love with while racing in split screen.

Driving in the High speed Ring track racing through the tunnels i was in awe of the graphics at the time. And the Clubman track first track I laid eyes on that allowed me to drive at night I was mesmerized.

Years later I bought my own copy of GT2 spending endless hours driving European, American, Asian cars going through the run of the mill GT events and regional events. Grinding away to unlock gifted cars. Then fell in love with Nissan Skylines and Nismo tuned GTR's. To this day thanks to GT I've always been in love with all automobiles and all sorts of national car championships.

My ultimate dream is to any GTR R34 V-Spec II/R33 or the 2010 Skyline.
Click to expand...

How old are you now? Can't be more than 16 or 17 if I got my math right.
 
GT_Prologue5
The effect: semi-wasted hours I could be doing something productive! :lol:
Click to expand...

Hey, improving your driving skills and reflexes IS productive :lol: You never know, it could save your life on the road.

Thanks to GT I have probably avoided having 3 accidents:
1) Car in front of me stopping suddenly - I threshold braked like I did with ABS off in GT5P - missed rear ending the other car by a few millimetres.
2) Same as above, but with a truck.
3) Sharp right turn on an intersection, hit a damp asphalt and understeered - let go of the gas and reduced steering lock - hooked car back ~2 metres from collision with traffic light.
 
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Just 2 days ago, I almost got hit. Was just pulling into a left-turn lane while there was a couple cars driving opposite to me. In other words, the street had a total of 4 lanes (2 going one way, 2 going the other way) plus the left turn-only lane I was pulling up in. Let's see if I can picture this...

OOOOOOO
|vv|<|^^|
|vv|<|^^|
|vv|<|^^|

That's me in the middle, if that makes any sense, with the red light. The other two directions both had green lights.

There were 2 cars driving up in the lanes facing me, going the opposite way (going downwards in that diagram). One of them cut in front of the other while the guy behind him had nowhere to turn...but into my lane! So all a sudden, there's a sedan heading straight for my left-front fender. :scared: I swerved out of the way. Thank goodness I was still moving and not already in a stopped position, that car would have beamed my fender for sure. And thank gooodness there wasn't a car on my right. I would have smacked it because I had to go partially into the lane to the right of me.

My reflexes definitely saved my truck...whether it was due to GT or not is hard to say. But I'm glad I have those quick reflexes either way!
 
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Snaeper
GT2 was the game. The game that showed me what video games were about, what cars were about and what content was about.

I first encountered Gran Turismo 2 while visiting my aunt and uncles house for some sort of family get together. My uncle showed me a few of his cars and invited me to race for a bit. I remember two things specifically: His Honda CRX that had 0 horsepower (as if it had blown the motor) and a certain high-revving bright red car that was entered into a muscle car race in Seattle and proceeded to out accelerate everything entered.;)

I can't remember how long after it was before I would obtain my own copy of GT2, but before long I was making my way up the racing ranks in what is still one of my favorite racing games of all time. I worked to own just about every car I struck a fancy towards and raced in just about every event I cared to try my hand at. I did all of the endurance races (I think I did anyways), all of the championships and all of the rally events. Before long I found myself grinding through events to win a nice car that had good resale value so I could purchase another car I really wanted.

GT2 grew my love of cars to several new levels, and introduced me to the wholly different car industries in Japan and Europe. Following GT2 I fell into my love of Japanese car culture and the tuning scene. Picking up copies of Super Street and Modified Mag and ogling over the glitzed up Honda's, Toyota's and Nissan's among others. After that came my phase with JDM cars and how owners would swap USDM cars with Japanese parts. My enthusiasm later broadened wider and I truly fell in love with the various and much more focus-minded European machines. After that it was all over and I respected each car from every make and nationality for their strengths and weaknesses.

Now I'm obsessed with WTCC, DTM, Copa de Nextel Brazilian Stock Cars, Argentina's TC2000, V8 Supercar Series in Australia, Super GT (of course) in Japan, British GT and the BTCC, Grand Am, SCCA World Challenge, ALMS, FIA GT1/GT3/GT4, VLN, NASCAR, Formula 1, WRC and the list goes on and on. I love to see racing cars in national series. I love finely tuned street cars with a performance feel yet still liveable and a far cry from the attention-getting exteriors from the Tuners I use to idolize. I began respecting simplicity and over-all performance over show and numbers.

GT2 has made me the car enthusiast I am today, the only other game that I can respectably quote to growing my automotive interest outside of it was NFS: Porsche Unleashed.

Sadly, I got an Xbox instead of a PS2. I missed out on GT3 and GT4 but I still kept busy playing games like PGR2, Group S Challenge, Sega GT 2002, Toca Race Driver 3, Need for Speed: Underground and Need for Speed: Most Wanted. The variation kept me satisfied until a few years back I began browsing the GT4 website. In anticipation I started making car wish lists for GT5/6. I borrowed a friends PS2 and his copy of GT3 (it seemed that GT3 was a requisite item for those with a PS2 as all of my friends who had PS2... had GT3) I played for as long as I could and really enjoyed myself... although I started with his garage as opposed to starting fresh. I can still safely say that I have never played GT4... and probably never will. A year ago I got another hankering and I began digging around the internet and found my way back to GTPlanet. I bought a PS3 Slim in anticipation of GT5's release and proceeded to wait.

For some, GT5 may represent a failure in expectations. To me though... I know it will be better than GT2. I loved GT2... and I know that I'll love GT5 just as much.

Also, this is my 200th post
Click to expand...

:bowdown:👍
The top half of your post is the part that applies to me the most, except I started my automobile obsession in the year 2001-2002, with a PS1 small, and three games: FIFA 2001, GT1, and NFS:3... First game I pick: GT1, I remember missing my bed time (I was 5-6 years old) just by playing GT1 endless hours, even a CRX Race Mod once when a guest came, I was aiming for 500,000 credits for the Supra JGTC. GT taught me about cars, about driving, about moving bodies and physics (I WAS 6! :eek:)... So beautiful. I needed a power transformer for 110 volts (PS1) -> 220 volts (Argentinian power supply). Learning about race modification, and what the hell was a Demio! OMG, I was crying while reading the post! Such pretty memories! I still have my PS1, but my GT1 (illegal) copy got scratched, and I even saved the back paper thing from the game case thing! It says "gran turismo". OMG, :(... Thank you so much Kazunori Yamauchi for the great game! I love RMs and I hope there will be more in coming updates of GT5! :)
 
Yeah, the early games were (and still are) definitely a great experience. I feel sorry for the new generation who only get to experience GT now. As great as GT5 is, it just feels less 'pure'.
 
You know, I can mentally reconstruct that in 1999 if I played a driving game for two hours straight, I would think that was a long time.
 
LeGeNd-1
Yeah, the early games were (and still are) definitely a great experience. I feel sorry for the new generation who only get to experience GT now. As great as GT5 is, it just feels less 'pure'.
Click to expand...

GT5 is awesome in lots of ways, but you are right, there's something missing compared to these older games for sure. Sure GT5 is more realistic and stuff, but realism isn't always what makes a game special and purely exciting.

SportWagon
You know, I can mentally reconstruct that in 1999 if I played a driving game for two hours straight, I would think that was a long time.
Click to expand...

Yea. Remember when it took just a few minutes to an hour to finish up the All Stars races? :lol: The other day I did GT4's GTAS and it took me two days! Assuming I didn't have to stop playing (to get to bed) it would have taken me somewhere between 6 and 8 hours. Not the actual races themselves, but all the preparation and time practicing them, setting up my Nissan Motul Pitwork Z, etc.
 
SportWagon
You know, I can mentally reconstruct that in 1999 if I played a driving game for two hours straight, I would think that was a long time.
Click to expand...

I know that feeling. Back then a few hours of playtime feels really long. I remember doing the Normal Championship and thought "Gee, this is taking forever to finish" I think this might have something to do with the races being very short in GT1/2 (1-2 laps for most). In later GTs the races are longer (5 laps min) and there are more enduros, so in the same span of time you're doing less races and restarts, hence you feel you haven't been playing for a long time.

I remember I have this car combat game (anyone knows Ray Tracers?) which I used to play quite a lot. The whole career mode took you around 30 mins to complete start to finish. When I played through it back then I felt exhausted after the last stage. I recently replayed it just for nostalgia's sake, and it felt waaayyyy too short.

Time's changed (pun intended), I guess.

Parnelli Bone
GT5 is awesome in lots of ways, but you are right, there's something missing compared to these older games for sure. Sure GT5 is more realistic and stuff, but realism isn't always what makes a game special and purely exciting.
Click to expand...

For my case, it's not a case of something missing. The ingredients for the right experience is all there, but it seems GT has now expanded way too much and ends up losing its original focus. Take the WRC, NASCAR and F1 cars for example. They're nice and I do enjoy driving them, but I feel like they're misplaced. Then there's the levelling up XP system and fancy-but-useless B-Spec. The repair bill (chassis refresh option) also makes me scared of driving fast & expensive cars at their limit, which completely defeats the purpose of a video game as you get the same fear as in real life. I dunno, I feel that sometimes less is more.

For me, the 'Essence of GT' is racing street cars 200-400 HP with stock exteriors around tracks that flow through the most beautiful landscapes imaginable. It's just you, car, track and brilliant physics system working silently under your fingertips. THAT is the spirit of driving. If you see GT5's intro, there's a part where the picture is black and white, and around 10 street cars (IIRC Audi TT, Evora, BMW 135, 370Z, Jag XKR and STi are there) are going over the hill after the first tunnel in Trial Mt. That scene sums up what I think GT is all about.

Yea. Remember when it took just a few minutes to an hour to finish up the All Stars races? :lol: The other day I did GT4's GTAS and it took me two days! Assuming I didn't have to stop playing (to get to bed) it would have taken me somewhere between 6 and 8 hours. Not the actual races themselves, but all the preparation and time practicing them, setting up my Nissan Motul Pitwork Z, etc.
Click to expand...

No kidding. I just did the Formula GT race in GT5, and it took me almost 4 hours of intense, white knuckle, wing-to-diffuser driving. It rained for the last two races as well :crazy: The Millenium Rome enduro in GT2 seems like a joke in comparison.
 

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