Gran Turismo 3 PS2 - It's still the most beautiful racer out there

A little bit of past and present
I’ve never really liked racing games in my 12-13 years of video games due to the fact that I wasn’t into guiding a car on a track for no reason. Thus, this is why I always stuck to the Action/Adventure, RPG, and FPS games.

My first ׁ-D” system, was in fact the Nintendo 64. I didn’t even know what an RPG was while this was my only system. I was however, absorbed by Goldeneye,Super Mario 64, and Banjo-Kazooie.

Then at one of my friends house, he was in the midst of beating a very challenging game called, Final Fantasy VII, on the Play Station. Of course I asked a whole bunch of questions about the game, and I also found out WHAT an RPG was and what the point of them was.

Then about a month later, I got myself a Play Station, and my very first RPG, FFVII. After that I was hooked on RPG’s for the Play Station, considering the N64 had no real good RPG’s.

Well... now Sony has released their new PS2, which has currently been out for about 6 or 7 months. While sitting at home being a lazy bum like always, I saw the first commercial for Gran Turismo 3: A Spec. At first glance, I thought it was a preview for an upcoming race on TV or something, but alas, it was GT3. I had read many reviews about how awesome it was and how you can earn money to buy new cars to meet certain race standards, so I went out and purchased GT3, and here’s what I think...

Plot/Story
Well now, this is an easy one. It’s a racing game, so therefore, the plot is to come in first place in all the races.

Game Play
Once you turn on the sleek black machine and the FMV sequence is over, you’re set with a list of different options. However, the Arcade and Simulation modes are the only ones where you can actually race.

Arcade
The arcade mode is where you can go to try out the different cars and tracks, leave your friends in the dust during 2P mode, and you can just screw around without losing money in the Simulation mode. I also use the Arcade Mode to get familiar with the car feelings.

Simulation
Now we come to Simulation mode, the heart of the game. When you first start the game, or start a new file or whatever, you’re given 18,000 credits, which is your money, so you can buy your starter car at the car dealer.

Car Dealer
Once you come here, you’ll have a list of 5 or 6 countries to choose any dealer you want. Most dealers are expensive, so you’ll be limited. Personally, I chose the Mazda Miata, but the PT Cruiser does have more Horse Power. As you win races though, you’ll earn money so you can buy certain cars for races that require a certain kind of car, and/or beef up your original car with upgrades and parts and such. You will however, have to buy a new car to meet standards on some tracks.

License Dealer
After buying your car, you’ll most likely want a license so you can race more races. You can earn a B, A, IB, IA, Rally and Endurance license. When you have the highest drivers license, you’ll be able to compete in all of the races.

As for the license tests, you must take 8 for each license and have at least a bronze medal in all of them to acquire that license. On each test you must complete a certain ability in a certain amount of time to get either a Bronze, Silver, or Gold trophy. If you get a gold trophy in each of the tests for whatever license you’re taking, you’ll win a car.

Home Garage
Here is where all your purchased and gift cars are kept. You can look at any of them anytime you want. This is also where you save your first player game. You can also trade garages and cars between two memory cards.

Machine Test
Here you can find your max speed, max speed from 0-400 meters, and max speed from 0-1000 meters.

GT Auto
Here you can choose either car wash, oil change, or wheel shop. In the car wash, your car will be washed and will be all shiny. The oil change is obviously where you get your oil changed, and the wheel shop is where you can find different tire brands. you have nine to choose from, pick wisely my friend.

Tune Up Shop
When you want to race now but don’t want to waste money on a new car, then tune up your current beauty with new or improved Suspension and Brakes, Engine and Intake System, Drive Train, Turbo Kit System, Tires, and Stability Control and others.

If you started with a Mazda Miata, then you can soupe that baby up so much it’ll run like a ‘vette. Well maybe not, but it runs purdy.

Go Race
Well duh... here you can choose Beginner, Amateur, Professional, Rally, or Endurance leagues depending on which license you have, and if you have the right type of vehicle that the race requires.

When racing, you’ll earn a certain amount of money for each position, for example, first place would get 1,000 credits, second place 500, third place 400, fourth place 300, and fifth place 200.

As you race more, earn more credits, and tune your car up more, you’ll eventually have enough money to buy certain cars like rally cars and the “S” cars, which almost all are above or have 373 Horse Power. The fastest being the Dodge Viper by Team Oreca. I bet you know what I’m saving up for.

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Graphics 5/5
As I specified in my title, “I’m in beautiful car heaven!” I didn’t think this could be a game. But of course, the game was and is real, and the graphics are gorgeous. All the vehicles look so real and you’ll feel like you’re actually driving the car. The detail put into each vehicle is amazing.

You could probably spend hours upon hours, just going through and looking at each individual vehicle and its specs. Now that I’ve pointed out how nice the cars look, how about the tracks and special effects.

The tracks actually look very real, with some very colorful environments. On some of the races, if you’re not careful, you’ll get caught stuck admiring the environments, which I’ve done many times.

But wait... what’s a racing game without smoke when you use the brakes or when you peel out from a stopped or slow position? Nothing, so GT3 reigns over all. Almost every time you brake or peel out; like I have just said, you’ll see smoke burning from the tires or dirt flinging up if you’re in a dirt or grassy area.

You wouldn’t think that as graphical and awesome this game is, that it would have cons would you? Well, it does. It’s not a big deal and it won’t affect game play, but your car never gets damaged. Now I know that no one would WANT those beauty’s damaged, but I think it would add more to game play. Like you know, if you smash your whole right side up and your tires are jammed because of it, you can go into the pit stop or even be disqualified or something.

Control 5/5
Realistic. That’s what the developers of the game wanted, and they got it. Like in real life, you can’t just swerve around a corner or 90 degree angle without spinning out or crashing into something. If just doesn’t happen, so you’ve got to use your brakes, just like in real life.

That’s why there are driving license tests, to get you familiar with slowing down and using your brakes to slide around a corner. Then once you make it around the sharp turn, you can gun it and regain your speed just as fast as you were going before you started slowing down. For some races, you’ll have to take the turns so sharp without slowing down, so the other racers won’t pass you up. You’ll often find that using your brakes and cleanly cutting a corner could easily make the difference between you winning or not.

Driving controls are simple. You can use the D-Pad or the Analog Stick, the left analog stick, to steer, the “X” button is gas, “O” is brake, “R-1” changes the back of the car view to a first person view, and “L-1”, if you press and hold it, you can look behind you to see how close the other racers are to you so you can decide how to take on any upcoming curves and corners.

My favorite part of the controls is how you spin out. If you’re starting to spin out, and it’s most likely on a turn, keep pressing firmly in the way you’re suppose to turn and you’ll sometimes just slide sideways and regain control. I do this quite often. But anyways, when you spin out, it feels like a real car, because of how you use the brakes and which way you turn the steering wheel, er... D-pad.

Sound 5/5
“Vroom... Vroom!!” Like this game wasn’t good enough already, they went ahead and put in awesome music and sound effects. The music track consists of Powerman 5000, Snoop Dog, Lenny Kravitz, and other well known and respected bands. The only bad part about the sound is the fact that the engines are so loud, they nullify the music to like a whisper.

The tire sounds are beautiful. If you’re flooring the pedal right at the get-go or taking a sharp turn, that lovely “scccrrrreeeeccchhh” sound is played. Ah yes, the beauty’s of racing.

When you’re racing, you can hear the motor revving up for each gear soy you’ll know when it’s time to change without even looking at the gauge. When you’re in first person mode, the engine will be louder since you’re like actually in the car.

Overall 15/15
A perfect score. I highly recommend this to anyone who owns a Playstation2, and for those who don’t have one, well, go buy one along with this game. Right now, Sony is releasing the PS2/GT3 bundle pack for $329.00.

This game is one of the few that I’ve liked where I’ve given a perfect score for everything. Nice graphics, sound, control, game play, and overall the whole game, this is definitely a must have for any PS2 owners.

~Happy Gaming