| Gran Turismo 4 review |
|
1997 saw Gran Turismo arrive on the Playstation, heralding in a new era of videogame entertainment and introducing the wonder of Sony’s Analogue controller. Eight years later, with Prologue filling the breach for some time, Gran Turismo 4 has arrived with plenty of new glitter to entrance the hardcore and casual fans alike.
The most unexpected new feature is B-Spec mode. Polyphony’s previous titles, already revelled in their all encompassing nature, take in everything from the life-consuming Gran Turismo mode through to the pick-up and play arcade mode. B-Spec now offers players the chance to step back from the direct action to instead manage an AI driver. Sending commands to either step back (in an attempt to decrease tyre wear or preserve fuel) or go full-throttle, sees your minion improve over time. And it’s as well that they do as those early efforts wouldn’t earn this fantasy racer a role as a test driver for the lowest placed Sunday league team.
This progression, for a title attempting to be the best simulation it can, is a concept that seems logical in a perverse way, resulting in something close to the god-sim of four wheel gaming. It’s just another way in which the creators have found time to suck the rest of gamers' real lives away. But there have always been plenty of ways in which Gran Turismo can do that.
There’s now over 700 cars to collect (via a wealth of manufacturers), from the most exotic to the everyday/mundane. And not being content with simply allowing players to sample modern day greats, Gran Turismo takes in many milestones from motoring history en-route, all the way back to the Daimler Motor Carriage that first appeared at the turn of the twentieth century. Though, as if mimicking so many real life collections, some can’t be raced - merely viewed. It’s the muscle cars of 1970’s America and the European rally cars from the restriction light early 80’s that can supply most of the games sheer fun. But there are still some yawning gaps that even the least petrol headed players will notice; no Ferraris for one.
There’s plenty of tarmac to test out the favourites too, with over 50 tracks available. Despite the developers' efforts, their fantasy creations rarely beat the digital interpretations of real-life tracks, with Laguna Seca and the Le Mans raceway (in current and historical form) proving real highlights.
And with so much variety on offer Polyphony have seen fit to allow players to capture their favourite moments via the new Photo Mode, allowing for shots either picked from race replays or from a fantasy set. It’s yet another way the game immerses players, vying for their every waking moment. The License tests too have received a boost, with not only more on offer but the bar set higher for those wishing to attain a cupboard full of Golds.
Of course it all happens beautifully. Gran Turismo has always attempted to stretch the hardware that it relies on, and this fourth rendition proves no exception. Painstakingly modelled cars and tracks, made shinier than ever before thanks to stunning lighting effects, are abundant. Utilising one of the progressive scan modes on offer only heightens the sense of disbelief. The beauty and solidity of frame-rate comes at a cost though, with only six cars taking to the track at any time. Get past all the new glitz and glamour and the frenzy bought on by the car collecting aspect and the realisation is that there is so much still missing from this latest iteration.
Online play, mooted for some time, has been put on hold once more. Six player LAN support is available, providing there is sufficient hardware available, otherwise a rather too claustrophobic split-screen mode will have to suffice.
Perhaps more damaging to the game's ‘realistic’ moniker is that collision-damage still doesn’t feature. True, bumps and scrapes now trigger impressive screen effects and slow momentum, but there is still no lasting effect.
What’s really missing, is the opponent AI, which has clearly been lightly tuned when a full overhaul was much needed. Too many other developers have made headway for Polyphony to pass their efforts off as anything but outdated, as becomes apparent the first time an opponent so politely allows human opposition to pass. The virtual drivers lack variation and are all too easy to read, sticking, as they do, so rigidly to the racing line. All too often this results in bumps and shunts that illustrate, so clearly, the lack of human intervention. With no online play available it’s an area in which this latest release desperately needed greater strides to be made.
The DualShock does the best it can, but steering is still a nervous affair with ever diminishing adjustments needed in order to really feel in control. Triggers are far better suited to the subtleties of analogue braking and accelerating required for this kind of control. Some improvements have been made to the handling models since the previous release, with the cars providing a greater sensation of weight. And there are clear differences in handling as progression through the game makes more and more power available. Unfortunately, this still manifests itself too distinctly in variations of under-steer and twitchy handling. Gamers requiring a more immersive experience would do well to purchase a quality steering wheel.
These limitations wouldn’t hurt the game so much if it wasn't so easy to pay for success. Patient drivers may not need to, but those less inclined to stick to a car and learn its intricacies can simply add more and more power until races can be won in the space of the first few contact heavy corners. Hold back on the spending and gamers are likely to find themselves choking on exhaust fumes as the opposition quickly accelerates away. Though there are many race classes available, a tightening of power restrictions is a necessity in order to gain parity and true competition.
Take a different approach all together and the rewards are plentiful. Getting behind the wheel of more modest cars not only allows players the chance to drive a machine the power and control of which can be comprehended by real life experience, but it also creates some self restricted parameters in which success can truly be measured and earned. Racing the Nürburgring is always going to be a torrid adventure, with Polyphony’s recreation an altogether different experience from the one first made available to most gamers through Project Gotham Racing 2. The track feels narrower, bumpier and tighter and, as a result, more nerve-jangling than Bizarre Creations could have imagined, or possibly desired. Attempting to master, rather than just completing, reaps real rewards. Do so in a Clio 172 or a beefed-up but still recognisable Evo, and it’s easy to become embroiled in the time-trialling ethics of racing, where shaving fractions of a second off a personal-best brings much more reward than winning a race by half a lap.
Gran Turismo has grown to become something much more than a racing game, in its attempts to offer something (or everything) to everyone. But lost among the vast raft of offerings is a game that has grown, but barely improved, certainly not at the rate gamers really deserve. In so many cases it will be irrelevant, with those that have waited for its arrival so eagerly lapping it up, and being washed away with all its new twinkling extras. Still, those willing to admit it might find they are left with a slightly bitter aftertaste that they weren’t quite expecting. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
System: Sony PlayStation 2
Genre: Racing
Developer: Polyphony
Publisher: SCEA
Players: 1-6
Version: United States
Reviewed: Apr 2005
Writer: Gareth C
|
Pros:
- Graphically beautiful, pushing the PS2's limits
- Huge and varying options provide plenty of hours of play
- New B-Spec mode attempts to offer something new to gamers
|
Cons:
- More race restrictions needed in order to create more competition
- Still no damage model present
- AI improved but still falling short of what should be expected
|
|
|
|
|
|
