GT Pro Series Impressions

We get our first look at this cel-shaded GT racer and go hands-on with the wheel accessory that will come with it.

Though the upcoming Nintendo Wii racer GT Pro Series isn't the first cel-shaded racing game featuring actual licensed autos (anyone remember Auto Modellista?), it does enjoy the advantage of having controls that are utterly its own. We recently got a chance to see a sneak preview of this Wii launch game, as well as get our hands on the driving-wheel accessory that will ship with it.

Our only exposure to the game came from a brief video of it in action, but during the presentation, we got a good idea of some of the features that will be included. As we mentioned above, GT Pro Series is a cel-shaded game, with the cars featuring an animated, yet slightly more subdued look to them. We're not sure if it was the video we were watching or if the whole color palette of the game was a bit darker than we expected, however. Regardless, while the cars might look a bit cartoonish in execution, they still appeared fairly realistic, overall. The game will include more than 80 licensed car models, and we noticed several makes, such as Subaru, in the demo movie shown.

In addition to standard race and time-trial modes, GT Pro Series will include a drift mode, which will reward you not necessarily for posting the fastest lap times, but instead for pulling off the longest drift in the many corners found on each track. The game will also feature split-screen play for up to four players.

Driving the car in GT Pro Series will be accomplished by holding the Wii controller sideways and grasping both ends with your hands. As in other Wii racers, you turn left by turning the controller left and right by moving it in the opposite direction. The two buttons on the face of the Wii remote will be used for throttle and braking when using automatic gears, and there will be three separate control schemes to choose from for manual gearshifts. The addition of the Thrustmaster-designed wheel add-on will make the driving experience feel a bit more like piloting a real car.

The wheel itself is smaller than in real life and roughly the size of a Formula 1 steering wheel. The wheel acts as a shell for the Wii remote, and all you need to do is snap the Wii controller into a horizontal opening and then grasp it as you would a regular car steering wheel. It's not a huge difference, but it should feel slightly more authentic to be holding a steering wheel, rather than a strange rectangular device. The wheel, which will be packaged with GT Pro Series--as well as another Ubisoft racing game, Monster 4X4: World Circuit--will come in three separate parts that you assemble yourself.

We'll have more on GT Pro Series, as well as the Ubisoft racing wheel, as we get closer to the Nintendo Wii's launch.

87 Comments

  • afroman67

    Posted Nov 13, 2006 12:37 pm PT

    graphics aren't everything. A game could have the best graphics in the world but it still could be rubbish if its gameplay was bad. What im saying is gameplay should come before graphics.

  • Wanderer5

    Posted Oct 5, 2006 7:05 pm PT

    I just wait for mario kart when it (hopefully) come to the wii instead.

  • 198d

    Posted Oct 4, 2006 11:35 pm PT

    reminds me of initial d

  • xXKINGPINXx

    Posted Oct 4, 2006 11:37 am PT

    DAM what a stupid game well it is not gonna get any better then forza 2 not in gameplay or experience or in graphics of course!!!

  • damnet

    Posted Oct 4, 2006 8:36 am PT

    I hope this is some kind of joke, i mean we all know the wii is a underpowered pos but this is ridiculous.

  • skemaal

    Posted Oct 4, 2006 6:27 am PT

    Cell shading...BOOOOO! Including a steering wheel to make it more realistic and no extra cost YAAAAAYYYYYY!

  • Agent-FTO

    Posted Oct 4, 2006 2:31 am PT

    looks ugly!!! i do like cell shading such as XIII on PC, ps2 & xbox. but this looks aweful

  • C0ldasICE

    Posted Oct 3, 2006 2:39 pm PT

    Come on guys...how many of you thought that Zelda Wind Waker (cel-shaded game) sucked... ??? I bet pretty few... SO don't come saying that the game sucks only cause you's people do not like cel-shaded games.. In my opinion what makes a great gane be great is not graphics... IT'S GAMEPLAY !!!

  • GodsBusy

    Posted Oct 3, 2006 12:19 pm PT

    @romanzor

    Driving a car=real life Simulating the real life act of driving with a cartoon=lame

    And while I understand the point your making - that graphics aren't everything - your C64, NES analogy is flawed. It's like comparing movies from the early 1900s with the movies of today, and saying that we don't need fancy things like CGI, or sound.

    Games have advanced, as have people's expectations of them, and that is natural. There was once a time when I would have played River Rage on my Colecovision for hours - but that time has come and gone. And games don't have to look realistic to look good, but sometimes if they don't it ruins the experience because the style just doesn't fit with the theme, which seems to be the case here.

  • bobreturns

    Posted Oct 3, 2006 9:07 am PT

    why the f*** make it cel shaded now it looks crap

  • OGTiago

    Posted Oct 2, 2006 12:07 pm PT

    ewwww to the graphics, cell shading car simulator uh uh.. even for a wii the graphics are letting me down. excite truck ftw.

    anyway, hope this plays well.

  • romanzor

    Posted Oct 1, 2006 5:13 pm PT

    I'm impressed that some of you know the word "graphics", and manage to write it correctly. Because you obviously don't know what you're talking about.

    When did graphics matter, anyway? We had Atari, NES and C64 back in the days, and nobody complained. Nobody. Nobody sat down and said "I refuse to play this game, because it doesn't look like real life." But then again, kids these days... Regardless, this sums up my opinion on this matter:

    Games = Not real life. Real life = Not a game.

    And I, personally, adore games that stray from trying to resemble real life. I turned to games in the first place because I needed a break from real life! It's realistic enough when I drive my car to job, I don't need a boring "realistic" looking game to entertain me when I come home from work.

  • Jaysonguy

    Posted Oct 1, 2006 11:41 am PT

    For the people who say this game does not look like Forza or Gran Turismo I'd just like to thank you for showing us you're not blind. I cannot tell you how many countless nights I've been having wondering if you'd ever be able to distinguish between games, at last my prayers have been answered.

    The game is cell shaded for crying out loud.
    For the sake of keeping the explanation easy for everyone I'll simplify it...

    Cell shaded = cartoon

    This means that this game will look and play the same on EVERY console.
    There are no high end cartoons.

    What?
    Still problems?
    Ok,since some people have a problem calling things cartoons let's call it "anime inspired"

    It's an anime inspired game that's meant to showcase the racing engine with an anime design on top of it.

    For people who want realistic this is not where you should be looking.
    I don't understand why I even need to point that out to many of you.
    Should I go over to a thread about the original XBOX and tell people that it's not the best portable gaming system to buy next?

    If you like the style of this game and want it polished chances are you'll get your wish.
    If you think this game is crap because it doesn't look real meet me over in the portable gaming system area in 5.

  • gforce85

    Posted Sep 29, 2006 1:50 pm PT

    The graphics are obviously not final material. I think that's a really cool idea, it'll look amazing.

    I love cel-shading, it drives me nuts how many people make such a huge deal about it. It's not childish, it's stylish. Cel-shading gives so much precise, clean, stylized beautiful animation.

    Stop ragging on cel-shading. Thank you!

  • andrewkozis

    Posted Sep 29, 2006 10:24 am PT

    ok i never want to see that game .................. ever again.......................

  • Brokendemise

    Posted Sep 28, 2006 6:42 pm PT

    Yuck, cel-shaded games. Like, their nice and all, but, I kinda have sensitive eyes and cel-shaded games tend to be really bright, iunno, kinda makes me feel like I should be playing a comic-esque game like Cel-Damage.

  • alfre82mx

    Posted Sep 28, 2006 11:12 am PT

    I think that Wii's graphics looks like last gen, dont you think it will be better if nintendo gets more power in wii

  • Hoppe_c80

    Posted Sep 26, 2006 1:00 pm PT

    it comes with the wheel which you can use in any racing game

  • sallad

    Posted Sep 26, 2006 6:07 am PT

    This game looks more like the game of torture because of how bad those flippin graphics are hurting my flippin eyes.

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