MC_Pucci's Full Review: Gran Turismo 4 for PlayStation 2
Graphics
It looks up to par with part 3, but they made some good fixes. My favorite fix is when you hit something hard, the screen will blur. That’s a good feature since it will teach those people who like to play bumper cars a lesson and forces you to drive clean. Another major graphical improvement is with the sensation of speed, I would have preferred more blurring at higher speeds, but the faster you go, the more the resolution gets blurry. Its not dramatic like need for speed underground, but it makes you slow down when you need to whereas part 3 made everything look like 54mph.
License Tests
Yes, they are still here. I still hate them. Now with a more improved physics engine expect to retry each segment for another 10 more times. Polyphony really needs to let this be an optional part of the game.
Tuning
On the outside you can only put rims and a wing. On the inside you can still do the same thing as before. They did make a tuner village which is a mode they should have worked on longer because every manufacturer’s specs for the parts seem the same. Why are HKS turbos just as powerful as TRD turbos? The only thing I like with the tuner village is that the aftermarket companies have special edition vehicles which have custom settings to them. Tuning is more serious in this game because the controls and physics have become so tight that depending on your driving style your tuning can make you or break you. This might be an overstatement, but if you have trouble with tuning your ride do some real life tuning searches on the internet and research your vehicles potential and start tuning from there.
B Spec
First time I heard that this is the mode where the computer does the racing for you, I thought that was the lamest idea. Why buy a racing game when the computer can race for you? There are 700 reasons why and they are called automobiles. Imagine racing those easy money races over and over so you can buy another car and tune it out. It takes a long time and can be very monotonous. What if the computer did the boring races for you and won the money at a third of the time? Third of the time? Yes, the computer can do the races for you statistically and depending on your tuning it should win them too. So you can win a whole series in 10 minutes, get the money and sell the car so you can focus on your real racing strategy for your self raced games (A-Spec mode).
No Online?
This is my only gripe with the game. It’s got an amazing physics engine, 650 cars that you just can’t stop collecting and with high replay value. What good are your race cars if you can’t test it on total strangers? However if you do a search for kai xlink on google, there are some good people out there who are trying to make the online work by fooling your ps2 into thinking you are running a lan game but you are using your pc as a way to connect to other ps2s. So far it has its glitches, but wait another month or so and it will add so much more life to this game.
Cars
Let’s talk about cars in this game; there are over 650 cars. However, if you think you are going to get Ferrari, Porsche, or Lamborghini, you are not! The closest you can get to Porsche is the aftermarket group RUF. Imagine your Porsches, but improved. Now looking at the age old argument for car licenses, would you rather have those top three exotics or a whole bunch of (sleeper) tunable cars? I still prefer tunable cars because you can adjust them to your driving needs and break records in them. Imagine getting your cousin’s legacy station wagon and making it fly around turns at 100 mph. It’s a rush and that makes this game a selling point. So far, I have only owned 30 cars in the game and have only bought stuff in Japan and I am very happy with how my cars are tuned. Collecting cars in this game gives the same feeling as it would if you collected hot wheels, this time you can make your hot wheels as fast as possible.
Tracks
Besides a wide variety of cars, you will find yourself racing through various styles of tracks. From the world famous Suzuka Circuit, Nurburgring, Laguna Seca, various dirt, snow, and city streets all to make the driving experience much better. With every different track you race, your tire and car settings will matter. Sure, in the easier races it might not, but when the situation becomes tight; each track will demand so much out of you and your car. Driving on these tracks are not only a pleasant sight, but the feel of pushing your car to the limit on each race will be also satisfying.
The races and challenges besides the license tests are also fun. There are simple missions where you have to beat a certain car or a one on one race in the streets of Italy. There’s also generations races where all generations of a certain vehicle type can go at it to see which generation vehicle is the best. There’s also dirt rally and snow races which is really nice to see a 97 Camaro z28 doing crazy drifts in the snow. Endurance races are back and there is even a 24 hour Le Mans style races. I have spent over 50 hours on this game ever since its release date and I still haven’t fully explored every type of race in the game.
Physics
The physics model used in this game is amazing. Every modification done to your car will have an impact to how it handles in a race along with the tracks you are in and driving style. For example, if you change your vehicle’s drive train to top racing features and keep everything else in stock, you will feel it by how much easier access you have to the stock horsepower. Understand, the third Gran Turismo also had something similar, but in this game ever inch, centimeter, pound, or other measurement unit will affect the drive. The third Gran Turismo doesn’t come as close because the controls and other variables don’t work with the game as it should. Another cool feature in the physics department is the gravity meter which will help you become a better driver by understanding how your limits will have to compete with gravity.
Photo Mode
I did mention in the review on how beautiful the environments are designed compared to the previous Gran Turismo titles. There are two ways to take pictures, stills or video replays. If you know how to take real pictures in the real world, you will highly enjoy this mode. And if you have some good shots plug in your memory in the usb drive of the system and transfer it to your computer. Now you can obsess about your car on the computer too (the wallpaper ideas are inifinite).
Questions, comments, I’ll fix it if necessary going to play it some more.
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