Hailed as the best driving series in the history of gaming, the Gran Turismo series has been a car enthusiasts dream since the release of the original on the PSX. Every installment sets a new standard for options, car physics, and graphics in a genre crowded with average racers. At least that's what I've decyphered from most reviews and the mega-hype sorrounding GT3.
Not that I think GT3 is a bad game. In fact, I'm far from that. I just think it's not the end-all and be-all of driving video games. I've had much more fun with other driving games but I could definitely see why GT3 is so popular. Besides one major complaint that can truly be attributed to the game's development, the criticisms I have against the game are minor. I found so many, however, that it sort of adds up and bogged down my whole experience with it.
The premise is simple. Buy a car, earn your licenses, get on the raceway, earn cash, and buy yourself better parts or cars and advance until you complete the hundreds of races that are available to you. Ranging from normal circuit tracks, to whole 10-race championships, endurance races, and actual rally races, there is no shortage of ground for you to race your wheels.
Therein lies my major complaint. While it is true that if you decide to play it all the way through and complete everything you'll lose plenty of hours to your PS2, it's only because you'll spend a lot of time doing the same thing over and over. See, the thing is you'll have to do one race and then a few levels down, you'll be doing the same race, only this time you'll do 5 more laps. Then you'll do it again, except you'll have to do 10 more laps and then 15 more and so on. Granted, some of the races can only be raced with a certain class of car, but I still wish there would be more variety.
That in turn leads to another problem. Sure racing is fun. How fun is it, however, to race 5 laps on a decent-sized track in a Toyota Vitz that goes 80 mph max (and that's souped-up!) against other Vitz. In case you can't decide... not fun at all. It could have been better implemented. I shouldn't have to be forced to drive a certain car to advance. Street Fighter never made me play with a one-legged Ryu to open up Ken.
The whole set-up leads to an eventual third criticism. Often I felt that I wasn't beating the cpu because of skill but because I earned enough cash to either build a monster of a car or just buy a monster right away. In other words, I felt as though I was racing for parts. After placing second, I'd take my earnings, improve my engine, and I was ready to leave everyone in the dust. It just gets very repetitive.
As far as graphics go, there is no denying it; the game is beautiful. Not only is it beautiful as a driving game, it's a beautiful show of software, period. The cars look so realistic it's hard to tell the difference between the game and tv sometimes. The backgrounds are nicely detailed and there's depth and texture to them so that they never look flat. Not only that but some of the effects are just dazzling; the rays of light shining through trees and onto your car, the glare of the distant sun and the reflection of light off the ground. This is all during actual gameplay, too, so one can't even begin to imagine what the replays look like.
The only complaint about the visuals, however, is the camera. There are only two in-game camera angles; inside-the-car and directly above and behind the car. For all those gamers used to trailing their car, forget about it. For some reason, the cars not only look weird, but they feel kind of floaty with that camera angle. I myself had never really used the inside-the-car camera in any driving game but I had to for this one. I definitely found it to be more enjoyable than the other angle.
As far as sound goes, it is exactly what you'd expect it to be from a racing game. The cars sound great, from the revv of the engines, to the sounds the wheels make when they're hitting the pavement at a turn and such. The soundtrack has a few superstars too including Snoop Dogg, Lenny Kravitz, and my favorite, Raekwon of the Wu-Tang Clan. Don't get too excited, however, because this isn't exactly their best work, but it won't make you cringe you either.
I can't bash the car physics either (at least not yet!). The cars handle just like they're supposed to. I'm not talking about cars in general, but the way each car handles, respectively. Not that I've ever been behind the wheel of a 400-HP Cobra, but using whatever intuition and imagination I might have, I believe Polyphony Studios has nailed it down perfectly. If a car is supposed to be slow (VITZ!!!) it will be and you will feel it. If a car is supposed to fly, it will and you'll almost feel the breeze hitting you in the face.
The physics are spot-on (at least on the ground they are!). You won't be able to make turns at certain speeds if your car can't handle it. If you try to do too much, you'll lose control. Unlike other games, following the proper line on a track will help your chances for victory (even if you need to soup up a few times). But it isn't without it's nuisances.
The problems I have with the handling are two-fold, however. First, while I know it isn't Polyphony's fault, I hate that the cars don't take damage. They won't show any dents, scratches even if you drive into the wall at 180 mph. They don't roll over or flip either, no matter how many times you try to follow the real world's law of physics. But like I said, I can't blame Polyphony because the car companies won't allow them to depict damage on their precious vehicles (as if though we believe cars are somehow invincible).
The other problem I have with the control is the whole idea of taking flight when hitting a downsloping hill. Except for the Seattle Circuit, this never happens! Now I realize GT3 is not meant to be a street-racing type game and in real life, GT cars have better grip than consumer cars. However, I know that if any car goes fast enough off pavement in a downslope, it will leave the pavement for a few seconds. It's almost as though the cars tires are equipped with some sort of magic adhesive because they never leave the ground. So when you finally do take to the air in Seattle, it almost feels scripted as though someone at the development table said "well, let's get them excited at least a few times by placing these scripted jumps here and here". These minor complaints kind of hinder Polyphony's claim that GT3 is the driving simulator.
Besides the first (three-fold) major complaint I have, all others are nitpicking. The game's control does feel great. The sense of speed is realistic whether slow or fast and the game does drop jaws at a visual level. A car nut would definitely give it a 10, but that I am not. It is not for everyone, but GT3 has me hoping that some of these issues are addressed for the fourth installment. Hopefully, the big wigs up at Ford, BMW, Mercedez, etc. realize that their cars aren't invincible in the real world. They shouldn't be so in the digital world, either. Score---> 8.3
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