Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec PlayStation 2

Gone have the days when we played on 12” screens with 2D cars on flat race tracks with little over 1 total colours, we now have the technology to create life like objects inside a small box, and experience that world ourselves. Racing is one form of world we all love and cherish, racing is part of our lives, but when you have the chance to thrash your Ford Focus around a race track without the threat of expensive repairs why bother with the real world?

In the past video games have been a form of entertainment. Remember Mario, we loves making him run around jumping and being enthralled in his weird noise as he pounced. How dull. Why not ride a kart, in Mario cart. No still not close. Alas, Gran Turismo arrives.

One look at GT and you’re hooked, forget the minor flickerings on the track surfaces, you are driving a souped up Toyota Supra! But that experience was never going to last, you suddenly realised the whole thing is poor; not in gameplay but in graphics. So out came Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec. Sure there was GT2 but you still cried for more realism. So here to cure that moan is the next generation of video game.

Insert Disc

How you shake with excitement inserting the disc, unknowing what might happen. Suddenly you are amazed at some high profile CGI and real video intro sequence, which alone makes you want to play even more. The intro is alight with powerful and exciting scenes of racing motorsport, and prepare to buckle up for the roller coaster of a game. You’ve seen the commercials on TV how beautiful the game looks but what you’ve seen is a understatement. Playing the game on a 14” TV is not the way to go. The levels of detail will astound, and you’ll desire that 32” WEGA Sony TV your wallet won’t allow. Those commercials don’t give the full impact, of course there run through shoddy coax cable, and reducing the graphics to a mere 30fps. Wait for the game to appear onscreen and you will be sat on the start line for minutes hours or day watching the sparking and seamless A.I cars pass by.

Matter Of Fact

Alone those graphics would sell the game itself, but its much more than visual treats. Gameplay has to be good enough or even better than enough. GT3 does not deserve benevolence – its way to high profile for that. The menus and sub menus are all beautifully placed, not one ounce of failure or hint that something has been over looked.
In showrooms the cars look better, probably helped by something like double the fps – which is always a nice treat. There are around 150 cars in total – something of a downer compared to over 300 of the first and 500 of the second. But you’ll forgive the developers – who spent over 2 weeks crafting one of the gorgeous cars.

Back from the past, a memorable shot

A.I has been tuned somewhat also; although some instances cause an afterthought to the intelligence they gave the other six cars on the road. The other racers have now bodies that can be seen through – yes through the windows. In GT and GT2 the cars had around two directions in movement excluding left right, forward and backwards, in suspension terms they have only the two: roll right/left, lean forward/backward. Now in GT3, thanks to the PlayStation 2’s power they have something like sixteen movements; its true too, the move all over the shop, accelerating out of corners show the car lean to the rear right/left tyres as the front opposite struggle for weighted grip! It’s all terrifically realistic.

License To Drive
I doubt there could be a Gran Turismo incarnation without the licenses. Addictive and infuriating in equal measures, they’re the passport to racing with the big boys, allowing you to try for bigger prizes and faster cars. Split into six types, B, Bi, A, Ai, S and R, there’s ten challenges for each, including all the usual stuff – acceleration, cornering, braking etc. Master these for each license and you can complete in tournaments that were previously restricted.

On Safari

Resurfacing from the dust of Gran Turismo 2 is the Rally section and boy does it make the road racing section feel limp! Containing a selection of heavily emblazoned motors, you get to thrash around some of the loosest circuits in the game, after having earned your Rally license. There’s plenty of scope for long sweeping powerslides and using the inside viewpoint makes for a right rough ride. The sensation of weight is superb and the control seems as balanced as anything in Colin McRae It’s just a shame that the same felling of hammering along at full pelt doesn’t translate to the road-racing section of the game – entirely anyway.

Arcade mode features new fancy animated menus

All that glitters…

Before its arrival, it would have been fair to assume that Gran Turismo 3 would look good. Now that it’s here I can safely say that this is one of the most visually impressive videogames ever, never mind in genre. Despite a paltry 4 Mb of textured RAM, PlayStation 2 has an enormous polygon count – 25 million or so at best; PS One has around 360,000 with 4Mb total RAM! This large count has put to ardent work throughout the duration of the game. The car models are all fantastic in terms of both solidity , accuracy and detail and every single track is flush with gorgeous scenery, such as the beautifully animated yachts trailing the water. But overall the greatest leap over PS One architecture is the light effect, with PS2playing host to some rather swish lighting and transparencies routines. The most obvious example of such, is the early Trial Mountain level where the sun keeps breaking through the treetops as you travel up a forested hill. Watch in awe as the shafts of sunlight cut paths through the canopy illuminating the path ahead of you. Just remember – keep your eyes on the road at all times!

There is a question which runs through my head every time I see such marvellous scenery on the PS2: “How will graphics improve after this!?”, and that was watching the demo of SSX!
How much power does the PS2 have in reserve, for GT4?

Smoke And Mirrors

Moving from the origional instalment to the sequel wasn’t that though a task. Marginally uprate graphics, chuck in a load more cars, add a token Rally and Drag option and voila! It was always gonna sell, irrespective of quality, irrespective of reviews. The gap between GT2 and A-Spec is not so marked.
Polyphony Digital has neatly sidestepped any talk of the real question –innovation- by letting the indubitable ‘Power of PlayStation 2’ do the talking for it. The brunt of improving the franchise has been effectively nullified by the leap to next-gen hardware. Those graphics are more than just a pretty face. They act as a clever distraction from the alarming, yet inescapable truth - GT3 is so close to its predecessor it’s touching bumpers.

Maybe that in itself is a plus point, what was wrong with GT2? You do only get the added bonus of the graphics and increased reaction by the PS2 when pressing X then square – instant. Don’t get me wrong I love GT3 - can’t get enough of it.

Odometric Considerations

For all its predictable inclusions – e.g. licenses - GT3 does have a few features worth a mention, the most fitting of which is the mileage counter. This effectively calculates the total distance each of your cars has driven so you can change the oil at relevant times. Doing so will keep the car’s performance in tip-top-condition, a nod to the way we all have to care for our property and cherished car. Let it run too thin or dirty and the efficiency drops like a stone. Regular attention to maintenance is also a requirement for the tyres, as the will wear of the difficulty settings above beginner. Four coloured icons slowly change colour, keeping you in the know to exactly how much tread you have in reserve. Again, you need to keep the rubber in good nick if you want to keep that instant feedback through the wheels.
Increasing realism – ha! You’re not even close.

Warp 9 Mr. Sulu

As with most releases it doesn’t take six seconds before a hardcore gamer is uploading his walkthroughs/FAQs/tricks to the Internet, having just spent eight consecutive days in front of the TV, in his (or her) underwear, hands cramping from the hardwork. One of the less ordinary rumours eating up bandwidth at the moment is talk of the F1 cars being souped up to 1907bhp. Now that in itself is ludicrous enough, but apparently there’s a trick you can pull during one of the races effectively set it airborne, whereupon it reaches speeds approaching 1,700mph. Yes, I now, I can stop laughing too!

Driving Forces

If it weren’t enough, the laws of physics come into the for front in this game also. Whether they were there in little presence in GT is questionable, but in GT3 well lets say that when you hit the grass when braking the car will turn with the excessive grip on the road side, causing a mass spin! What fun!
Get to know the basic laws of physics, some I wish to share, and you have some race wins ahead.

Prone to watching TV and playing GT I find that turning the opposite way when entering a corner, then immediately turning into the corner while braking gives you a bit more slide: you’re car will lean first into the corner, then with the natural roll of each car, will roll the weight back onto the opposite wheels which then almost forces them to skid; complicated I know but fun to try! On the other hand a classic hand-brake-turn will do – with FR and 4x4 cars only.

Red Limit Revs

If it weren’t obvious enough to long-time fans, tuning the car is your source for victory: unless you bought a racing car. Simply adding a hell-of-a-lot turbos and intercoolers and gearbox, and that it not the best to go. You first need to sort the balance out, with softer tires and suspension. It may be complicated to the extreme but is the only way to win the final trophy.

Adding weight reduction will help in speed, while down force will counteract those huge leaps-of-fate off the mountain hills and such. With each car you have limits, some not having any form of turbo or intercooler. The only downside is that you have no way to know which car will take one.

Perspective Decisions

Again you have three views of choice; two outside the car, one inside. I prefer the one inside: you get a nice and juicy line of speedo, and rev meter. Plus you can see the track in front of the car! The outside ones are able to change in the options, such as how far they are out or in, and change the way it follows the car.

Split Persona

Again, yes, again there is the ol’ fashion’ Arcade Mode, and the good’ ol’ Gran Turismo section. Choose the Arcade first – offering a number of sexy cars with a few tracks too. The GT mode will be better once you master the Dual Shock 2’s usage.

In my view the pad layout is better with the right analog stick being accelerator, and brake. Up for go, down for braking. Some may find it hard to control, but I think it is easier to vary levels of power and braking.

Is your wallet big enough – or memory card?

Straight out and in your hands you are given a healthy amount to settle down with, I think its around 1,500,000, which will buy you something like a 2nd hand Toyota Starlet, and maybe a set of alloys.

Progression may take you all the way to a billion, you could race the small races loads of times, or the longer 100 lap’ers! Which way you do it, you’ll get that brand new car you always wanted. And soup it up to your-hearts-content.

Split Racers

If split screen weren’t enough, Polyphony have made the first effort to use that small iLink socket: up to 400Mb per second remember. This can be used in two ways:

1. One player game across two/three/four/five/six screens using two/three/four/five/six PS2’s six copies of game.
2. Multiplayer between 2/3/4/5/6 people, with 2/3/4/5/6 PS2’s

The concept is a little confusing but enables a whole race line-up to be sorted between true A.I players! This is a true genius idea, can’t wait to play with this option!

Conclusion

[--End Of Race ~ Conference--]

Hopefully you will have learned something, and came to your own conclusion about Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec. In my view, this is still the best racing game ever, until something else appears. Even after all the complaints I gave out, this is still the best game I’ll play for a long time now. I hope I have succeeded in showing how puny those other reviews are: I wanted to give an idea to what you get but not spoil the effect it will have on you.
It will change the way you think about games. Leaving that question held in the space at the back of your head, demanding an answer:
“How will graphics improve after this!?”
Roll On GT 4