The Premise
The premise of the game is important, as it rides on it's own idea for the entirety of the game with a ton of enthusiasm. This game loves racing, and in particular, cars. Naturally you would assume that, considering the game you just bought is considered a 'racing' game. Although as much as it has racing in it, it admires not the actual action of the event, but more the feel. The feeling I describe is extremely palpable in it's controls.
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| Hold your line! |
Hopefully someone that buys this game makes an informed purchase, because this isn't your average handling game. Unless you've played a game like this before, you will be floored and lucky to cleanly finish a lap in the first tutorial. You see, the game touts itself in being as realistic as possible, so all the real-life cars that you'll be driving will handle like real-life as well. Before you play, please get rid of the notion of fantasy Mario Kart style racing. Even more, you should erase all arcade style racing games from your mind in general, because they will do you no good in this game. You can set the controls to your liking in the menu, but you will find that optimal methods of racing require analog control of throttle and braking. The more precision you allow yourself, the better. For the best and most immersive precision you'll need to buy yourself a racing wheel, but with prices for those going for as much as a few hundred dollars, it's understandable if you pass on the investment.
Driving
The game's bread and butter lies here. With your precision controls, you got to find a way to navigate your way to the finish line in the fastest way possible. Depending on what car you choose, your experience can have you trying to fight a car's brutally unforgiving handling, or trying to find an advantage to having an annoyingly low top-speed car. Sometimes the speed is too high, and sometimes your suspension is almost too good. Gran Turismo has enough confidence to call itself, "The real driving simulator", and it really shows. You'll find that in the racing events, the other drivers are really just an extension of the track, acting like obstacles of sorts. But it's not like they aren't acting like AI drivers in other racers, it's just that the soul of the game isn't in how you do against others, it's how you do against yourself. In other games, you'll win by sabotaging or strategically positioning yourself as to avoid others from passing you, but in this game, you just want to try to get the best times possible, and success will follow. The game recognizes that true racing requires you to be "one with the car" and accelerate, brake, and steer with the utmost care. One slight mistake will send you careening off the track and tack on massive seconds to your time. Yes, seconds are that important. This is why you need to learn your strengths and skill level when playing this game, because being uninformed and using the wrong car or taking the wrong line will be the difference between last place and first. Mastering the driving is one thing, but the track is a whole other beast.
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| Turning... It's hard |
Track selection is expansive and inspiring. You can be racing on the Indianapolis Speedway in one race and taking right angle turns in the city streets of London. Amongst real life tracks are collections of GT made courses. I find these to be a little more enjoyable since they are tailor-made for challenging and roller-coaster racing. The Matterhorn is a particular favorite racing venue in the game, as its tracks have you driving up and down a mountain, providing a perfect combination of speed and precision turning. It is truly exhilarating. Really though, all the tracks have the potential to be amazing when you put in the time to get better. Mastering the tracks are key to success, so they'll definitely require multiple runs if you want a good finish. When you finally nail the relationship between car and road, there is no greater sense of accomplishment. In addition to road courses, there are also snow and dirt courses as well as rain effects. While the rain effects feel somewhat negligible (although there is some difference), snow and dirt affect handling greatly. I only suggest highly skilled players to venture into these surfaces, because rookies like me will get trampled and frustrated at every turn. Of course, any course won't be as bad if you can ride with the right car.
Cars
Are there cars in this game? Yes, yes there are. In fact, there are over 1200 of them, and each is added to your garage by earning enough credits in races to buy them, or by receiving them as gifts for completing challenges. Each car is a replication of their real life counterparts, attempting to nail down both it's presentation and handling. Whether it hits the realism aspect will be beyond me, since I've never driven cars as exotic as these in my life. But wait, there mainstream consumer cars here as well, so I can test that! Indeed the car selection ranges from the Formula 1 vehicles to the humble Honda Civics. I have driven one of the cars in the roster before, and for the most part, it is extremely accurate. Of course, driving these cars in real-life would require more precision than what a Playstation controller can offer. Something quirky though is the disparity between the "premium" cars and the standard models. The standard models have blacked out interior and low-textured paint jobs, making them look a little disturbing to the eyes when taking a closer look. When purchasing cars to admire as well as race, I suggest seeking out the premium models, as they are much more pleasing to behold. However, if you're only buying them for a particular event, then buying any car will do, as it's not like their performances are affected. Plus, you won't be looking at the car much during races anyways.
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| These represent only a fraction of the dealerships to choose from |
The main single player mode has you going through stages of licenses, and when you reach the final license stage, you will have had a pretty good sense of what the game has to offer. You go through stages by earning stars in races and racking up enough to meet a certain criteria. Once you reach that criteria, you go through license challenges like brake mini-games or entire championships to get your new license. Once obtained, you go through the same process to reach the next level. Thankfully, each stage has a variety of events to keep things from getting boring. Better yet, they give you more than enough events necessary to rack up the required stars, so if you know you're pretty weak in the classic car races, it is up to you if you want to skip them and earn stars another way. This flexibility is much appreciated.
There is also an online multiplayer mode, in which players make their own lobbies for others to join. Some are intense races, while other lobbies only ask players to play nice and share tips while everyone practices on the same track. The experience was smooth enough with not many hitches and bugs. In all honestly, I find this mode to not be that entertaining, since I feel like the game is best enjoyed when you challenge yourself.
Lastly, there are more miscellaneous game modes, like moon rover driving. This is just the game showing you just how much it knows about vehicles, and it succeeds. These modes can get tiring quickly though, as there isn't much variety in the challenges. At the very least you can give yourself a break from serious racing with these events.
Presentation
The game is both beautiful and ugly, but mostly beautiful. The realistic venues and car models are nothing short of amazing. There are moments in the game in which you just have to take a lap to soak it all in. If you took a snapshot of the game, you would be hard-pressed to tell it apart from the real thing. The problem though, is when the game shows you everything else. As mentioned before, the standard car models are a little embarrassing when seen on a late PS3 system, and there is major pop-in when looking at the crowds and trees surrounding the track. Of course, you won't be looking at them much, but it is a little disappointing when such a great looking game can have problems like these. The soundtrack is hit or miss. With a wide range of tracks, you'll often be hearing jazz, techno, and rock all in one sitting. The song "All My Life" by Daiki Kasho is a personal favorite though, and sits on top of my song playlist due to the intense tone it provides you as you're trying to maneuver hairpin turns. You can hear this track in the opening cinematic.
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| Beautiful |
This brings me to the real reason I wanted to talk about this game. It amazes me just how much character the game has in it. What I mean by this, is just how much it wants you to love what it loves. And what it loves, is racing. Again, not the sport racing, but the feel of it. It doesn't want you to see cars as instruments of successes, but rather as partners in a journey. You can see this when you boot up the game. The opening cinematic shows school children, curiously, but it's there to show you just how basic the relationship between life and racing is. These kids are in a school that shows them the basics of driving, with a kart track just sitting right outside. As the video progresses, it shows just how complex cars can get and how big the races become. The video eventually ends with the camera looking upward from a NASCAR race, only to see the lone moon overlooking everything. This video not only shows just how big racing is, but how racing is another way of living.
The love for racing is also seen in the car selection. When you are purchasing a car, you can read a short biography on it, telling you it's history and features. Most stories are uninteresting, but when you come across a great one, you really learn to appreciate these vehicles, and want to buy more. And when you get to the point when you want to buy cars just for the sake of experiencing them, that is when I believe you are truly understanding the message of the game. Without spoiling anything, the ending credits feature a live-action video that will floor you. It will especially enthrall you since it comes right after driving in an important race. I understand I'm being incredibly ambiguous, but I don't want to ruin it.
For these reasons and more, you can tell that the game loves what it's doing. It almost seems like the developers are making the game for themselves and are just letting us play it. I find that the best games I play have this quality, and it is inspiring while being a joy to play.
Final Thoughts
If you are going to buy this game, please understand the big jump you are making. This game is not for the faint of heart. It wants to challenge you with realistic driving while attempting to make you appreciate exactly what it's all for. Remember, it's about the journey, not the destination, and your tantrums from your small mistakes will only be met with tears of gratification in the end. If you find yourself booting up the game just to read the biographies and take new cars for endless laps, you know you're getting your money's worth. I know I did. Admittedly, there is a McLaren MP4-12C gracing my desktop background because of this game. I would say that I'm looking forward to the next game (which I am) but I'm too content on just admiring this one. Plus, imagining this franchise on PS4 hardware is a little overwhelming for me at the moment.
RATING: 9.5/10
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