Gran top B*llocks 3 (Gran Turismo 3 (PS2))

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Product:	Gran Turismo 3 (PS2)
Date:	15/05/03 (40 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 1

Disadvantages: w

A near perfect illusion, Gran Turismo 3 A-spec blends the want of fantasy with the need of reality to create a simulation so pleasing to the senses that the morning drive to work will drop ten levels deeper into drudgery.

This is the methadone of auto racing. A virtual experience that fluidly meets to fulfill the wants of any driver at the controls, whether they simply want to tear up the streets the way stuntmen do it in the movies or practice the art and science of drifting, turning and inching past the competition the way the professionals do.

Glorious fanfares of rock and hip-hop trumpet through picturesque landscapes in support of some of humankind's most beautiful metallic creatures as they pause the heart with an initial glance and then kick-start it alive with the rumble of their passing.

DEAL WITH THE DEVIL
Here's an interesting daydream for you to consider. There's a knock at the door and in steps a gaunt-looking man with a whispy smile. He steps past you to turn on the television set and change the channel to a security camera overlooking the parking lot outside. It's a channel you never knew you had and by its broadcast there appears to be a Dodge Viper GTS sitting in your driveway that you weren't aware of either.

Your initial jump towards the door is stopped by the gaunt-looking man who pins you with a mischievous grin and pulls out a remote control from within his jacket, the kind used for toy cars. He points to the car on the screen and motions back to the controller in your hand and you quickly realize that the controls belong to anything but a toy.

This is the illusion Gran Turismo 3 offers, that you are controlling real sports cars on far off tracks from the remote location of your living room. It's an effect achieved not just through visual detail, but with realistic motion as the cars hold a solid presence in a solid world that whips past your view with alarming clarity.


Shafts of the morning sun stream down through laced branches to trickle over vibrating bonnets that sift through raised dust clouds and bounce over changes in elevation. Minutiae abound, from the mini-nova flares inside the headlights to the pieces of rock and dirt trailing drifting wheels in mid-air jumps, all achieved with a remarkable sense of depth of field.

There's the 3D of a cube drawn on paper and then there's the 3D of the person who drew it and that's the level of difference you'll see here from other "3D" games made for the PlayStation 2.

There are cracks in the illusion of course, not just the imperviousness the vehicles have towards any kind of damage, but the lack of anti-aliasing creates the minute jaggies that critical gamers find annoying. While those can be easily overlooked, the incredibly two-dimensional spectator crowds will have you laughing in disbelief.

So out of place with the realism around them, I can only imagine that the game designers purposely created them to look like cardboard stand-ups, as if the race organizers couldn't afford to hire live extras and instead chose to line the tracks with standees instead. An amusing gaffe that only takes on importance if you look at it too long.

TWO WAYS TO PLAY THE CURVES
There's a variety of racing styles offered from the NASCAR-like march around an oval track, to the rough and tumble rally duels along dirt paths, and the finesse of a formula one pushing match around a twisting circuit. You can play any of these within two fields of reality. The Arcade mode which reflects the layperson's idea of racing, of turning only when the corners hit you and it doesn't matter how you get there as long as you're the first one past the finish line, and the Simulation mode which reflects the professional driver's reality of taking the corners with a calculated sense of geometry and reaching first place is not
as important as completing the course with the fastest time.

Both modes are great fun, although the Arcade mode is limited to six tracks and a smaller selection of cars which need to be unlocked through the Simulation mode. I'm not fond of that option as I know many people who will only be interested in playing the Arcade mode and it seems unfair to penalize them for it.

The Arcade mode is the game's common area. This is where initiates begin to practice and gain confidence with three difficulty levels (easy, normal, and hard) as well as the area for all drivers to meet for 2-6 players races. Car and driver stats from the Simulation mode can be brought over to this area, not only for practice and multiplayer races, but also to be tested in time trials for each of the tracks in the game, the real test of your virtual acumen.

The Simulation mode is a single-player campaign, allowing you to create a driver character and develop that racer through a kind of career. This begins with earning a selection of driving licenses (for the different classes of racing vehicles, from the C to S class as well as the Rally cars).

Each license is divided into several lessons, each with a bronze, silver, and gold completion level. Completing each class gives you a purse of money, and with that you head over to the car dealership.

There are over 150 different cars available from manufacturers in several countries around the world including Australia, France, Japan, Germany, and others. The selection is the best you'll find in any racing game, from PT Cruisers and New VW Beetles to the Viper GTS I mentioned earlier. Each comes with its own price tag, some that are not for sale initially.

Players have to take what they can earn and work with it, entering and winning races to expand their banking accounts so that they can move on to better cars. Driver skill may be the main factor in this growth, but a garage has also be
en included so that players can work special tune-ups to help give their (ahem) less-expensive cars the edge over the more lavish competitors.

Enhancements include changes to the brakes and suspension, engine and air management, as well as upgrades like a turbo kit for the engine.

The races themselves have the pomp and circumstance of the real thing, with qualifying stages and splash menus that advertise themselves like travel brochures.

FULLY LOADED
There are many other features such as replay theatres and game data save options, but the best has to be the music list, a long customizable library offering a wide berth of tastes, from Judas Priest's "Turbo Lover" to Snoop Dogg's "Dogg's Turismo 3", there's an adrenaline anthem for all tastes. At times it can be difficult to make out the music over the thrum of the engines and the squeal of the tires, especially in the multiplayer mode, but it adds a level of audio excitement I just couldn't do without.

Display options include two formats: 4:3 and 16:9, the latter of which looks real good on an High Definition television set as you get the widescreen effect, matching more closely to the rectangular view you get in real life. It's looks really good on an Imax screen by the way, but that's just a fancy toy and I'm quite happy playing the game on by dusty old TV set at home.

The game supports steering wheels, in particular Logitech's GT Forcewheel, which is a worthy buy if you can afford it as the game's realistic physics model rewards the added range of control you get from a wheel. Knowing that most of us will be using a standard PS2 controller, the game software enables the pads to be "touch-sensitive" so that you can have some degree of range in acceleration and braking (although I think most players tend to jab the buttons for all their worth).

I can't see anyone turning the vibration
function off by the way, as it adds such a great layer of enjoyment to the game, especially in the rally racers (although both my hands are numb now).

SONY'S BEST RIDE
In terms of all-round performance, Gran Turismo 3 A-spec is the best you'll see on the PlayStation 2, making it the showcase title for this summer. It is the best all-round racing game I have ever played, including features and options and although it leans heavily to racing fanatics over casual players, it doesn't alienate them and the game should be great fun for everyone. It's the racing game to have if you own a PlayStation 2 and for that reason I'm giving it a full recommendation.

Hope you like my first review
Thanks
Rich t

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