The Gran That Didn't Last Long (Gran Turismo Concept (PS2))

Member Name: tom1clare

Product:	Gran Turismo Concept (PS2)
Date:	13/11/06 (113 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Pretty visuals, excellent handling, return of Autumn Ring course

Disadvantages: Utterly unoriginal, nowhere near enough content, over in a flash

Polyphony Digital's Gran Turismo series has a rather fine pedigree in gaming circles. The self-proclaimed 'real driving simulator' raced onto the PlayStation scene in 1998, reinvigorating the racing genre with its remarkable depth of handling, superb design, dazzling visuals and unparalleled roster of cars. Subsequent sequels saw the series go from strength to strength, with the only slight hiccup coming in Gran Turismo 4, thanks to the bizarre inclusion of the self-defeating B-Spec mode, which made much of the racing and gameplay elements somewhat redundant.

Still, Sony have four very popular racing games, but as the more-knowledgeable of fans will know, two other GT games were released in the interval between Gran Turismo's 3 and 4. The more recent was GT Prologue; aimed as an appetiser in the run-up to the fourth games release, whilst the other, more amply-named Gran Turismo Concept 2002 Tokyo-Geneva was released off the back of the success of the surprisingly-still-the-best third game.

Released (as the title suggests) in 2002, GT Concept was the series first attempt to more away from its simulation roots and expand its appeal to more casual gamers and fans of less-heavy, more arcadey fare. The 'Concept' refers to the 25 or so new 'fantasy' vehicles that can be unlocked during the course of play, and weren't available in the previous game.

So was the series detour a worthwhile one? On the whole, no. Concept has a smattering of nice extras going for it, but anyone who has played a previous GT game will be far more aware of the glaring omissions. As a standalone game, it certainly isn't terrible, but in the context of Polyphony Digital's illustrious past, it does appear an unbelievably lazy and half-baked project.

The chief problem is, it becomes impossible to see the game as anything other than a drastically stripped down version of Gran Turismo 3. The vast, involved 'GT Mode' of old has been removed entirely, leaving a version of the less-significant 'Arcade Mode', which in itself feels watered-down.

Remarkably, Polyphony Digital saw fit to include only five circuits in the game – three track-based and two rally courses. There are no tournaments or specific competitions – just single races, and this lack of content is further emphasised by the heavy use of reverse courses. In all then, it contains ten course variants, but its counterpart in GT3 has 34.

Progression through the game is rapid and simple, though even in its arcade iteration GT Concept requires you to complete one-lap licence tests to open up the courses. Once this is done, you can enter single races that last either two, three or five laps (if you unlock the 'Ace' difficulty). New cars are your reward for winning races and can be admired on the Game Status screen, whereby you can also monitor your overall progression.

The basic gameplay is fine, as there is little discernible difference between this and the aforementioned Gran Turismo 3, and so as such, the superb handling and sense of speed remains as strong as ever. The five circuits up for selection are a bit of a mixed bunch, perhaps chosen because they would work best in an arcade environment as none of them are overly-long. The highlight for many will be the return of the twisty, slaloming Autumn Ring course – an omission from the previous two games and making a welcome PS2 début – though it has to be said none of the series most challenging, memorable circuits (such as Grand Valley Speedway or Trial Mountain) have made the grade, which is disappointing.

Graphically, the game is absolutely stunning. Movement and sense of speed are still incredibly well-realised, whilst each track is packed with a remarkable level of detail and the presentation as a whole is unbelievably crisp. Thanks in part to the excellent replays, the game is also able to show off its exotic Concept cars, including the Pod vehicles, which even have their own race.

Sadly though, in its attempts to be more user-friendly, GT Concept has castaway many of the series greatest strengths. Though it looks and plays like GT3, it has none of the depth or longevity. Tuning options are no longer present, and you can no longer buy, customise and admire cars in your own Garage. There are small niggles that have gone unchecked from the previous game too – the music, fine as it is (though again, exactly the same as in GT3), still proves far too quiet in-game, and there remains no option to alter the volume of any of the audio effects.

Dumbing-down for the sake of accessibility could be forgiven if the game kept you playing, but ultimately its the complete lack of originality and lifespan that prove the final nails in the Concept coffin. It does appear the primary reason for the games existence is merely to show off the 20-odd new cars (and to make an attractive cash-cow for Sony) as everything else has been seen and done before. I worked out that to complete Gran Turismo 3 in its entirety, you would need to win around 500 races (over 100 of these in its Arcade mode), whilst finishing Concept requires a shockingly-meagre 30 victories. Sony's claims that it would take around thirty hours to complete turned out to be utterly ludicrous – I finished it in just three sittings, so in reality you'll be lucky if it lasts you more than 5 or 6 hours.

The cars you unlock prove a brief novelty, but as the only real game mode is 'Single Race', there is little feeling of accomplishment or reward to the system of uncovering them as it all happens in such a quick, uniform manner. You'll find yourself racing in the same five or six motors all the time to give yourself a realistic chance of victory, leaving the other ninety or so to gather dust – some model-specific races would have helped here. There are four other unlockables you'll encounter; two of them are FMV's – an intro and an ending (snore); there's a nice if short-lived Pod race diversion and a nifty feature that allows you to transfer 10,000,000 credits over to your Gran Turismo 3 save data (if you have one) as well as all the licences.

I feel genuine sympathy towards fans who paid anything approaching full-price for this – I bought it for only £3.99 and I still feel pretty aggrieved. As a standalone racer, it could be considered fairly good, but after what has gone before it, it feels like Sony have jazzed-up an extended demo disc and slapped a price-tag on it.

And on this basis, its very difficult to recommend. Fans will have seen it all before, whilst those after an arcade-style GT would still be better off buying GT3 as its Arcade sub-mode alone is three times bigger than Concept is in its entirety. One for absolute car nuts and completists only.

Summary: Gran Turismo 3, with all the lifespan and value surgically removed