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Gran Turismo 4 Review for PlayStation 2 (PS2)
Posted on Sunday, April 10, 2005 @ 05:02:35 pm E.S.TThe light turns green and tires peel with frightening ferocity. Your hands become sweaty and you notice your breathing pattern become increasingly heavier. You have climbed two positions but you notice you’re going far too fast for the upcoming s-curve. What now? You think fast and take advantage of the conveniently placed AI driver who has taken a turn for the worse. You manage to overtake a monstrously powerful Skyline GT-R. The car tears through the dirt and the engine roars with authority. Time for the straight, this is where you freeze up and nervously brake at the most inopportune moment. The Skyline passes you and takes the race. You sigh in both relief and emotional exhaustion, maybe next time champ. This is Gran Turismo 4 in all of its glory.
After playing GT4 extensively (And I do mean extensively), I’m convinced that Kozunori Yamauchi is psychotic, but in a good way. Polyphony Digital has already shown us that the GT series is and shall remain the benchmark of driving simulators. Keep in mind that GT4 is a daunting task to complete; to call it overwhelming would be a gross understatement. With its 600+ vehicles, over 100 tracks, and seemingly endless variety of modes, you are looking at one involving game experience. While length my be a negative factor to some, gamers will quickly notice that GT4 presents some of the most impressive game design to date.
Yamauchi and his incredibly talented staff do a magnificent job of capturing the realism and intensity of race car driving to the point of insanity. The level of dedication and ambition in GT4 surpasses every other racer on the market, and it does it with class. Cars are immaculately designed after their real life counterparts, from the aesthetics all the way down to physics of the car, GT4 still showboats its notoriously obsessive attention to detail.
Veterans of series will no doubt know that this is nothing new, but what they don't know is that this time around upgrades and vehicle maintenance are more crucial than ever. Mainstream titles such as Need for Speed Underground 2 offer heavy visual upgrades, yet GT4 opts for more practical upgrades such as a new shock springs kit, brake balance kit, and weight reductions
Once the upgrades are equipped, you can then manually change the settings to your vehicle thus making it a force to be reckoned with. Not happy with the damper on your shocks? Not a problem, just go through the settings before a race and set the damper to your liking. What makes this upgrade system so great is that the alterations in the settings make a major difference in your vehicles performance, if done properly.
In four years one would think that GT4 is vastly different from its predecessor, unfortunately it breaks my heart to say that the only change to the series is little more than a mode that allows lethargic lazy asses have the computer do the driving for them. GT4 now has a nifty little feature called B-Spec mode which allows payers to let the AI do the driving for them. While this does come in handy during the monotonous and painfully long endurance races, it seems as if the team should have come up with a bit more to evolve the series. There have been a few minor changes here and there, but hardly enough to push the series in a different direction. The menu has changed slightly, and navigation is much easier than in previous installments. It would have been nice to see the series progress a little, and Polyphony Digital killed what little evolution they had by deciding to cut the online play out at the last minute.
If you thought GT3 was impressive looking wait until you lay eyes on four. The environments are rich with detail such as blinding lens glare, animated crowds, and breathtaking landscape. The rally tracks in particular seem to be the tracks that feature the maniacal fans that jump out onto the road just as you come out of a hair pin turn. The outdoor tracks feature majestic landscapes that will have you drooling in awe. As if the environments weren’t enough, the vehicles are a work of art, showcasing the PS2's power with stunning reflections of the environment that bounce off the beautifully rendered machines. For those lucky enough to own a high definition television GT4 is capable of being played in stunning 480p and 1080i widescreen, so you can now view it in true def, this is the only game on the PS2 to utilize the 1080i feature. GT4 is by far the best looking game on the PS2 bar none.
The sound design in GT4 is absolutely astounding, with a solid sound system your ears will be bombarded with roaring engines, thundering gear shifts, and the thrashing of burned rubber. The development team specifically designed the game for Dolby Digital surround sound and it sounds tremendous. One thing that should really impress "audiophiles" is how there is a noticeable change in sound when adding any engine or muffler upgrades. For instance, a 3000GT will sound significantly different than a Corvette, this is just a testament to the teams attention to detail. Not everything is peaches and cream though, the music in GT4 is vomit-inducing commercial trash. Whoever thought this would be great music to race to obviously has questionable taste in music, to add salt to the wound there is no option to turn the music off. This is the type of game that would be perfect for customizable soundtracks, but alas the PS2 does not support such an innovation.
While GT4 does not go leaps and bounds beyond its predecessor, it still provides an engrossing gaming experience, despite the fact that the AI is still atrocious and the fact that there is no online play. We're a bit early into 2005, but with new and rising competition, such as Microsoft's Forza Motorsport, we must wonder how long this reign shall last. Will GT4 be the racing game of the year or will the new kid on the block show us how it's done? That remains to be seen, as of right now GT still has it, and shows no signs of relinquishing its throne. Review By: Jonathan Ortiz - 2207 Reads
Gran Turismo 4 Review Scores for PS2 :
| Gameplay |
| 9.0 |
| Graphics |
| 10 |
| Sound |
| 9.0 |
| Replay |
| 9.0 |
| Overall |
| 9.2 |
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