Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec PS2 Review

The new game in the series form Polyphony Digital, and one of the best games on PS2. THE best racing game for PS2, but may be considered too “serious” for some. For those of you who like arcadey racers – avoid, go for Burnout instead, but maybe try this out, rent it to see whether you like it, but those who like any type of racer, not just arcade or sim, but both, should buy this immediately.

Graphics

Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec has the greatest graphics ever seen in a PS2 game. They look astounding in-game, and even better in replays. They have made others and I play for hours upon end – fixed, then go outside, see a car and think “Am I still playing Gran Turismo?”. It is a true landmark for all games to come graphically, as it has the most astounding graphics I’ve seen on any format – PS2, GameCube OR X-Box. However, one problem is the spectators – they are flat people. How can Polyphony Digital make such lovely 3-D views, lovely trees, and dust spitting up behing you at Tahiti, yet there are 2-D, ugly people just waving out at you, not even watching the car? It hardly seems right, and is a major issue Polyphony should deal with for Gran Turismo 4.

Sound

It has a great sondtrack, one of the best I have heard. it contains rock style songs from the likes of Feeder and Muse, a truly quality soundtrack, which I’m sure will impress, as it is although it is not HUGE… a few more tracks, with a different range of bands would be better.

Lifespan

It has a huge lifespan, with Arcade mode, including an Easy, Normal and Hard mode to get through, unlocked new courses and cars as you go along, some of which look gorgeous. It also helps that some of the later courses are not so easy, and may have you sitting there, even on easy mode, trying to figure out thebest racing line to be able to beat the opposition. Then there is the Gran Turismo mode, where you take on fictional competitions, with a few real tracks such as Seattle,a dn Cote de Azure (The F1 Monaco track), with the real tracks created to perfection. I am sure that this game will take you a huge amount of time to get through, as even the amateur league is quite difficult at first. The only possible way to make it easier, is to unlock an “Easter egg” in Gran Turismo Concept Tokyo-Geneva 2001, which gives you 10,000,000 credits to spend on whatever you want in Gran Turismo 3. However hard you may find some of the later levels, it will keep you coming back for more, trying to get the full 100% completed on the Game Status screen.

Gameplay

Some nice gameplay, with some very nice cars. A lot of cars available, but some fail to impress (purposefully, such as the Toyota Corolla) but some (such as the Suzuki Pikes Peak Version) will impress by a huge standard. If you can tweak the settings on the Suzuki Pikes Peak Version it is possible to make it go 300kph +, which is the fastest any car in the game can go. However, the major downside can be when the opponent cheats, as you can be cruising along, what seems like full speed in a faster car, when you’re on near the finish line when, you see this object beside you, and suddenly “2nd” pops up on your screen, this can be a major downside, and seriously deters from wanting to play again. Anotehr problem is with damage. You can be going 250kph in a Corvette, or even 100kph in an Toyota MR2, but either way, it is likely that you will hit the side at least once. But guess what? You just bounce off the side, and it isn’t very realistic at all, and it can make you feel hapy that you didn’t blow your car up, but also feeling odd, that you just hit a wall head on, and your car jsut bounced.

Overall

Gran Turismo is a truly great game. It is worth the £20 it is out now at Platinum price, and however many bugs you can find, as long as you are a racing sim fan, you will enjoy.

9 out of 10