Gran Turismo 4 Import Preview
We take another detailed look at the Japanese import version of Gran Turismo 4.
Wouldn't it be nice if all you had to do to drive the most luxurious high-performance cars in the world was to buy a beater and win a few races? For years now, this has been the central recipe for success in Polyphony Digital's Gran Turismo series: win races to win money to buy better cars to win more difficult races. Whatever its limitations, this formula has worked for the series, as the GT franchise has enjoyed phenomenal success worldwide and spawned numerous copycat games over the years. With the Japanese import version of Gran Turismo 4 currently making the rounds at the GameSpot offices, we wanted to sit down and take a look at the game's simulation mode.
When Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec hit the streets in July 2001, gamers were blown away by the PS2-powered visuals, which were stunning to behold and, at that time, the best example around of the next-generation console's pixel-pushing power. After some time with the game, however, it became apparent that while GT3 looked and played great, it was a bit light on content, especially when compared with the massive two-disc Gran Turismo 2, released in late 1999. While GT2 featured more than 400 car models, GT3 included only 150. Gran Turismo 4 looks to trump all previous versions of the game, however, boasting more than 700 cars from more than 80 manufacturers. It was with these huge numbers in mind that we began our exploration of GT4's simulation mode.
After booting up the game for the first time, we were excited to see that we'd be starting off our Gran Turismo career with 1 million credits in our pocket. That is, until we figured out that the 1 million Japanese-yen-based credits were roughly equivalent to what many Tokyo school children spend on a school lunch. Despite our paltry financial beginnings, we were certain grand things were ahead for us as we embarked on our quest for automobile greatness. With such a meager amount of cash, the only affordable cars that would give us a shot at winning a race would be found in the used car lots. On the main GT4 simulation world map, there are two locations to purchase used cars: used cars '90s A and used cars '90s B. Had we wished to go a bit more old-school with our first purchase, we could have entered the so-called "old timer" section to find an assortment of affordable '80s-model rides. In the end, however, we settled on a mid-price 1991 Nissan Skyline GTS-t Type M and headed out to earn a license or two.
The license tests, another mainstay of the GT series, return in GT4. Like in Gran Turismo 3, there are five sets of license tests--A, IB, A, IA, and S--and each set consists of 16 individual driving events. Just as in previous installments in the series, these driving events range from simply braking within a specified zone after a long straightaway, to navigating complex series of turns within an allotted amount of time. Events take place on courses found throughout the game--including city streets and the famed Nürburgring--and in a multitude of cars.
However, the license tests do have a couple of new twists this time around. The first is the introduction of a pace car in some of the events. During these events, the pace car drives ahead of you for one full lap, during which you are not allowed to overtake it. Do so, and your license test will be over and you'll be required to start over from the beginning. This can be tricky, especially on courses you are not familiar with, as the pace car displays the typical early-braking tendency found in the Gran Turismo series' AI, making it easy to overshoot the pace car if you aren't careful. What we haven't been able to figure out in these pace-car tests is just how to achieve a gold or silver medal without passing the pace car. It's unclear whether or not the pace car runs at a pace that's relative to your own (thus allowing you to achieve gold or silver status by simply improving your lap times).
The other new license-test wrinkle is the coffee break, so called because of the cup-of-joe icon denoting each test. Each license includes one coffee-break trial, which typically consists of either avoiding orange road cones on your way to the end of a course, or knocking down a string of road cones configured in a winding design. While you can still earn gold and silver designations for completing these "relaxed" challenges in a certain period of time, there is no minimum time to beat to earn the bronze medal. Simply making it to the end of the course, or knocking down all the cones--no matter how long it takes--will be enough to pass the test.
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- GameSpot Score8.9great
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Related Unions
- SCEA
- Polyphony Digital
- GT / Street Racing
- Release: Feb 22, 2005 »
- ESRB: Everyone
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