Gran Turismo 4 - PS2 review

1 April 2005 8:11 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Already taking a pole position in the UK gaming chart, the latest version of Gran Turismo on the PS2 doesn’t let up on the attention to detail in both machine and course.

Gameplay, based over four areas; GT Career 'Simulation' Mode, GT Online Mode, GT Arcade Mode and GT Photo Mode and this time around across the two there are over 650 cars to master from Ford to Land Rover, and more than 100 tracks and race options to learn. The basic premise of the game is the same, i.e. to win races.

Career mode is what we’ve come to expect from the developers at GT and this will still see you racing other cars across world tracks, once you’ve passed your test. As a teaser (see review)those ultra keen players could have already done this with GT4 Prologue to save time, but then they’ve paid an additional £20 for the privilege.

Arcade mode doesn’t require a licence to get you racing and offers most of the maps from the start. There are four types of course: City Circuits, Dirt and Snow, Original Courses and World Circuits. The different types bring variety into the game and you can chose cars accordingly - you can’t race the ac cobra on a dirt track for example.

The most interesting and newest addition is the GT Photo Mode, which allows you to direct your own racing video. Players can choose and manipulate most aspects of their car and driving and even make them look like a pop video ported straight from MTV.

Verdict

The cars all react differently and the attention to detail on both car and track is second to none, so much so it might scare casual gamers looking for a quick fix. The gloss applied to the game is effortless, but we've struggled to see the improvements over the last outing. Yes there have been tweaks, better graphics and further development on the physics of how the cars react in the environment but nothing groundbreaking.

For the most part it seems the last four years have been spent improving the playback of your car whizzing around the track once you've finished the race. If you're not 100% a petrol head it might be one to avoid.

Score

Review Recap

Made by: Sony
Price as reviewed: £35
The good: Attention to detail, depth
The bad: To detailed to just pick up and play, do you really want to spend hours rewatching your races
Quick verdict: This is not for the faint hearted. Petrol heads only.
Score