Sony PlayStation 2
1-2 Players, 1-6 LAN Players
Rated E (Everyone)
Release Date 2004/12/28 (JP), 2005/02/22 (US), 2005/03/09 (EU)
Retail Price $49.99
Buy at Amazon

Overall Rating 9 out of t0

First Impressions

The Gran Turismo series of racing simulations have been generally recognized as the best available for the PlayStation and PlayStation 2, if not for all consoles. This installment in the series further refines the fit and finish of an already great game. There’s not much to complain about – in relation to Gran Turismo 3, everything is better, including graphics, sound, physics, and game modes.

The one flaw with Gran Turismo 4 is damage modeling – or the lack thereof. It’s really amazing just how realistic much of GT4 is, but the indestructible cars leave you with a surreal sense of invulnerability. If you can hurtle wildly into a tight turn and bounce off the barriers or other cars with no penalty, it leads to very unrealistic driving strategies, to say the least. With all the time and attention paid to every other detail, it would seem that the development team could devote some time to this aspect.

On the whole, however, Gran Turismo 4 is incredible and well-worth the cost. It will take many months to complete this game. By then, hopefully, GT5 will be out and be able to reflect realistic damage and repairs to the cars.

On Second Thought

We will revisit GT4 in a month and see if the game continues to hold our interest.

Dissecting Gran Turismo 4

ESRB Rating – (E for Everyone)

Gran Turismo 4 is rated E and is indeed for everyone who enjoys racing simulations. The box warns of Mild Lyrics, which is probably appropriate.

Play Modes — (9 out of 10)

The various modes of play within Gran Turismo 4 cover the gamut from quick racing to long, involved career modes, to the gimmicky-but-fun photo travel mode.

Gran Turismo Mode, or GT World, is a career mode. Start small, earn credits to upgrade or buy cars, pass license tests, enter race events, and so on. There are 650 or so cars and 100 or so tracks to work your way through.

A-Spec racing is the traditional in-car simulation driving. New to GT4 is B-Spec racing, where you act as a race manager, watching the race from the broadcast cameras and giving commands to the driver.

Arcade Mode supports one player or two player, split-screen racing, in addition to LAN racing where up to six players can compete by connecting multiple PlayStation 2s in a Multi LAN Race.

With Photo Travel (located within Gran Turismo Mode), you can take your car to various international destinations, set up photo shoots of the car, and save the pictures. It offers surprisingly good control over the camera and resultant pictures, allows you to save to memory card or a USB device, or to print directly to a USB-attached Epson printer.

Sound / Music — (9 out of 10)

The sound track is nicely done, for the most part and particularly in the opening sequence. However, it tends to become unnoticable at times.

Controls — (9 out of 10)

The controls are mostly standard fare. X to accellerate. Square to brake. O for emergency brake. Triangle for reverse. The right analog stick can be used for accelerating and braking as well.

Graphics — (10 out of 10)

The graphics are incredible, particularly in light of the age of the PlayStation 2 platform.

Fun Factor — (8 out of 10)

Part of the appeal of the Gran Turismo series is working through the very complete "Gran Turismo Mode." However, this can lead to nearly endless races to build credits so you can enhance your cars or buy new ones, or unlock additional areas of the game. This tends to get repetitive and mildly boring after a while.

Innovation — (5.5 out of 10)

There really is not much innovation in Gran Turismo 4, except for micro-evolutionary steps (which, in the end, leave you with a very satisfying game, but nevertheless it’s not that innovative).

Overall — (9 out of 10)

Gameplay elements, graphics, sound, and polish are top notch fun. The graphics are superb and stretch the aging Playstation 2 graphics subsystem even further than before.

Such a near-perfect racing simulation should reflect damage on the car and its performance.

Tags: Platforms · Playstation2 · Reviews