Gran Turismo 4 First Impressions
Gran Turismo was a remarkable game that caught many off guard with it’s dedication to realism and all of the modifications you could do to your car. Gran Turismo 2 took the experience from the first game and made it better, increasing the number of cars and adding rally racing to the docket. For me Gran Turismo 2 probably should have been the end of the series as it was. Gran Turismo 3 brought the game and its graphics to the PS2, but nothing else had really changed gameplay wise. The same race courses, the same trophys, the same rediculous number of Mitsubishi Lancers. And since I finished just about everything there was to do in GT2, GT3 really burned me out on the franchise.
So when I heard that GT4 was finally coming out, with new tracks and new modes, I decided that this was a game that I would wait on. There would be no impulse buys on this game. And now that I’ve rented it and played it for a while, I’m happy I made that decision. Because at the moment this is the exact same game as part 2 and 3. Again. Some of the courses that were chopped in 3 have been brought back, and there are supposedly many new ones, but I have yet to race on a track I don’t know like the back of my hand. And, there is still no car damage. They should have been able to get over that hump by now. Plus, the one and only thing that might have convinced me to buy this game when it was first announced has been chopped to get the game finished. Thats right, no online play.
The presentation in game is fairly good. I can’t really say for certain, but it seems to me that GT4 doesn’t look quite as good as GT3 did. This might be due to a foggy memory, but the cars don’t seem to have the shine they did in 3, and the courses themselves seem duller. On the map the races and car dealers and other things are all laid out for you, with your house centered in the middle. You are given a fairly large selection of music, but I can’t say there was much there I wanted to listen to. I was surprised to see some classical composers were included, like Bach and Beethoven. I guess those will be for the endurance races.
So, my first impressions of Gran Turismo 4 are thus: I’ve already played this game. Twice.