Looking at Gran Turismo's list of
videogame achievements is like looking at Wayne Gretzky's phenomenal
decade-plus old career. It's overwhelming to the average person, or even
the average fan. Gazing at the surface of Gran Turismo 2,
it's easy to make the same mistake. At a quick glance, GT2 looks
relatively the same as its predecessor, and for newcomers the racing
initially seems overly hard and much too much like a simulation.
The sheer brilliance behind Gran Turismo 2, however, is embedded deep
under the hood of each and every car. It's in the timing of player as
she or he takes on Laguna Seca's 90-degree final turn, or in the power
slides of the cars racing through the Rome Circuit, or the endlessly
deep selection of cars, licenses, courses, and upgrades. It's in the
accurate descriptions of each car, it's specs, history, and mechanical
possibilities. The genius is hidden away under a wall of rather harsh
looking pixels until you realize that every one of the 500-plus
replicated vehicles races so exactly like the real thing it's shocking.
Keen car dealerships can now delight in the fact that for those looking
to buy, they can simply play Gran Turismo 2 for a test drive -- without
ever to drive the real thing. Gran Turismo 2 is no ordinary racing
game, it is the greatest racing game ever created.
Gameplay
Big boastful words, yes, but GT2 backs it up with variety, hundreds of
challenges, and more depth and replay value than any other racer on the
face of planet. Gran Turismo offers several kinds of racing experiences
ranging from arcade to simulation, street to rally racing, and some
other very interesting alternatives. The two-disc set offers a
straightforward approach in Arcade mode, which provides three different
classes of cars to choose from, three levels of difficulty, and either
direct competition against the computer or head-to-head play. In Arcade
mode, players can simply get right in and race. If you simply want to
get used to the game, this mode is for you. You can take part in street
races, rally races, check out a cool Replay Theater mode (to watch your
own exquisite replays), and race against time in Time Trial, or your own
Ghost Car in rally mode.
It's the Simulation Mode, however, that is the true pearl in Polyphony's
oyster. The set up is similar to GT, but it's been streamlined. The
central menu is a top-down map displaying different visual icons that
represent various hubs of car manufacturing. For instance, East City is
the place to buy a new or used Japanese car. North City consists of all
German and British cars, West City is all French and Italian cars, and
South City is made up of American cars. Each hub has anywhere from eight
to 15 car manufacturers, and each manufacturer offers a lineup of five
to 30-plus cars. The menus are easier to toggle through, and provide you
with simple choices, with backup questions, like, "Are you sure you
want to buy this car?" for hesitant or hasty folk. The menu also
includes a place to clean your car (Car Wash) if you decide to sell it
(washing it increases the value a bit); a place to test your machine's
power and speed (Machine Test); a wheel shop, if you're maniacal hub cap
or wheel man (Wheel Shop); home (home, what else?); a place to race (Go
Race); and License, where you will want to pass tests to acquire
different licenses. There are at least six license tests, including
B-Standard, A-Standard, International-C Class, International-B Class,
International-A Class, and the Super License, which offers a chance to
beat 10 courses within a certain time limit. To open up the Super
License, you pass all of the other licenses.
It's easy to get going in GT2 whether you've played the first game or
not. First enter the B license Test, and pass each mini-test with at
least a bronze award to move on. Once you get into it, shoot for the
Silver and Gold awards. Having beaten the B license tests with all
Golds, you're rewarded with a brilliant Spoon S2000, free of charge. If
you decide to just pass with basic colors, you start off with a little
wad of cash -- 10,000 credits -- so you can buy a used car start racing.
Last, but not least, is the killer little trick Polyphony Digital
did for those who played the first game. If you already have passed the
tests in the first GT, you can convert them into credible ones in GT2.
Simply plug in your Memory Card, go to Data Transfer on the Main Menu,
Select Convert, and you're there!
We've already written about many aspects of GT2, so if you want a
complete breakdown of the game, it's all here, listed in several
different sections. You want tracks, a list of 99% the cars, or perhaps
impressions, music tracks, or rally cars? They are here:
- Day 1 GT2 Impressions
- Day 2 GT2 Impressions
- Complete Gran Turismo 2 Car List
- The Cities of Gran Turismo 2
- Gran Turismo Opening Movie
- The Music of Gran Turismo 2
- All Tracks Gran Turismo 2
- The Total GT2 Rally Experience
Second, the text is terribly small in several sections, which makes upgrading, specs, information, and other sections hard on the eyes, whether you are 15 or 33. That's it.
What's New In GT2
Cars, Cars, And More Cars: Ok, so I love it. The game is great. I'm hooked and have been playing it all weekend. So why should you buy this over any other racer, or even over Gran Turismo 2? The changes and improvements are decadently abundant. First, Sony Computer Entertainment American says that there are 500 cars in the game. Well, that's putting it subtly. There are well over 500 cars in this game. That's more than twice as many as the prequel, and about 485 more cars than the very best competitors on PlayStation. It's a stunning fact, and so overwhelming that most people simply get confused as to which car to buy when they first unwrap GT2.
Wrong! You say -- R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 has lots of cars, dozens of dozens of them. True, and R4 is an awesome arcade racing game to boot. It's one of my favorites. But not only are there tons more cars here, there all fully LICENSED CARS, that look, feel, drive, and sound just like the real thing. No other racing game does that. You can drive cars that range from one extreme to the next, from the Dodge Viper, the new Volkswagen Beetle, the HKS Drag 180SX (a totally decked out drag racing car), a 98 Subaru Pleo, a Dodge '71 Charger, Mustangs, Cougars, BMW, Mercedes Benzs, Aston Martin V8 Vantages, and well, you get the picture. Needless to say, GT2 is a car lover's dream.
More Tracks: The original game provided nine tracks. Those tracks are back in this sequel, which has 18 additional tracks for a true total of 27 tracks. Counting the mirrored and night tracks, there are 49 total. Many of these tracks are identical replications of the real world courses, bringing a chilling deja vu to those who have been to, say for instance, Grindelwald or Leguna Seca before.
Rally Racing : Gran Turismo 2 offers exquisite rally racing. Rally races take place all over the world, but they're especially popular in England and other parts of Europe. In GT2, not only can you race in straight rally races, but players can go head-to-head, or actually adapt their own street cars into pseudo rally cars, given they're fitted with the proper tires.
The accurate and spell-binding physics experienced in GT2 are even better spotlighted in the rally races, which provide plenty of hills, twists and turns, jumps and ledges from which to get some serious air. Monster powerslides are run-of-the-mill. Being a big fan of rally racers ever since Sega Rally hit the arcades in 1995, I can seriously say this is the most realistic and impressive rally racer I've ever played. It's easily the best one on PlayStation -- light years above the nearest competitor -- and it takes Sega Rally 2 and gives it a serious run for its money. The depth it adds to GT2 is immense, and immensely gratifying.
Bigger Variety Of Cars: The first GT had a great selection of cars. GT2 slaughters that lineup with not only more cars, but different kinds of cars: Japanese, German, French, British, American, American muscle cars, rally cars from all over the world, concept cars, and more.
Plus Much More: Then there is the new soundtrack, great new replay options that revisit how you actually pressed your acceleration and brake buttons during the course of the game, and a faster, more efficient, and easier to understand menu system, to name a few things.
Graphics
The first aspects to any game you see are the visuals, the graphics, CG and cut-scenes, and the movies. From the start of the game through every single race, GT2 is a winner, graphically. The intro movie, in my opinion, is way cool. Just like the GT, it's about two minutes long, but it's a different kind of intro, showing old cars, rally races, and lots of in-game shots as well as renders for longer sequences. As was the case in GT1, the post-race replays are absolutely stunning. It's as if you were looking at a real car race replay on TV. If you squint your eyes just the slightest bit, you will be convinced it's real. GT2 makes replays a wildly entertaining part of the game, and what's more, Polyphony's aim isn't just to entertain, but in this case, to teach as well. You learn from your mistakes by watching replays.
The actual pixel-to-pixel graphic improvements over GT, however, are minimal. The game looks essentially the same. Even after hours and hours of piercing this game with my bionic eyes for graphic changes and new details, I have to say there is not much to report. Graphically, the designers went for a minimal upgrade, not a drastic alteration.
Still, there are improvements. The biggest changes, if you can call them that, are in the car models themselves. Each one gleams and shines with more texture reflections than previously seen, and the actual car curves and lines are smoother and the designs sharper and more detailed. As for road details, believe it or not, a few alterations have been made. The overall set of courses is less pixilated, and the chunky look has been toned down. Pop-up still occurs, seams in the courses, and even an occasional collision detection problem can bee seen here and there. But these are all trivial little points. The real game here, just like the great, old school 8-bit and 16-bit classics, is in the gameplay. And the gameplay is so absurdly fantastic that these minor complaints are nothing more than my chance to say something other than pure praise.
Music and Sound Effects
Immediately after the stunning gameplay comes the beautiful, stereo sound of GT2. Each of the 500-plus cars was hand-recorded with microphones for the most authentic sound possible. From the wheels screeching and spinning out, to the revving engine, to the gas-pipe and muffler, each car sound was captured to bring an audio cacophony to your ears.
The details here are too much to fully detail, but a few of them must conveyed. There are at least two ways to truly experience the game's brilliant sound. First, simply plug in a decent pair of headphones to your TV. Second, hook your TV up to stereo and crank it up. It's unreal. The screeching sound of tires against pavement often times seems too tainted, compressed, or something, but after a while you can tell it doesn't sound just right. But the revving engines, the sound of gears shifting, the sound of tires skidding on dirt, and the cheering crowd are great stuff.
A few additional details surprised me. In the close, out-of-cockpit perspective, you get a better sense of the cars roaring behind you. When you select the rear view mirror, the sound switches from front to rear sound and each and every vehicles behind you sounds alive and ready to pass your @ss up. Also, each time I upgraded my engine, the car not only felt different, but it sounded different, too.
Finally, the alternative soundtracks, ranging from Beck to the Cardigans, The Crystal Method to Filter, the Foo Fighters, and Gearwhore, are all right on the money for racing. This is a great soundtrack.
Douglass Perry
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