When Gran Turismo first came out for the Playstation, I was one of the first people to buy it and everybody asked, “What the hell is a Gran Turismo?” But it ended up revolutionizing the racing genre and the third game in the series is still changing what a great simulation racing game should be. The awesome graphics and tons of races will have you playing for hours on end.
Graphics
This game has the best graphics ever seen on PS2 so far. Graphically, this game is to racing as Madden 2001 was to football. The car models in the game are exact duplicates of their real life counterparts and are perfect down to the smallest detail. During the replays, you could actually start to forget that it’s really a game. The cars now reflect almost everything. From streetlights to trees along the track, you’ll see the reflection of it off your car. But the most impressive races are on the wet tracks. The reflections look exactly like what you would expect to see on a real wet road at night. With all the great visuals, one would expect tons of loading and slowdown, but the loading isn’t too bad and I’ve never experienced any slowdown in gameplay. GT3 is a really good example of what is already possible on the Playstation 2 and what we can expect in the future.
Sound
The sound in GT3 is another thing that has been really improved on since the previous games. The cars now each have their own unique sounds to them. You can really hear the difference in each of the cars. The music has also improved. They have a long list of songs from well-known artists from Snoop Dogg to Lenny Kravitz. You can even edit your playlist to play songs in a certain order and play only the songs you like.
Control
If you’ve played GT2, then you’ll do fine with this game. The controls are almost the same as those in GT2. But if you’ve never played GT in your life, it might take a little time to get used to. The license tests are really good at helping beginners learn how to follow the “line” when going around corners and get used to how the controls work. Some license tests include markings on the road to help beginners follow the best path around a corner, telling them when to brake and when to turn.
Overall
GT3 is probably the best PS2 game out there right now. The graphics are great, the sound is perfect and there are around 60 championships per difficulty level, each containing at least 3 races, so you have plenty to do. The only real problem I can think of is the AI. I heard that it was supposed to have a much more advanced AI, but the computer racers still seem to follow a pre-programmed line and don’t really react to the way that you drive, like I thought it would. But that’s just a small problem and I think that whoever has a PS2 should be required to buy this game. DO NOT RENT! You’ll just find out that you’ve wasted your money when you get hooked and buy the game.
--Vince
Graphics: 10
Sound: 9.8
Control: 9.7
Satisfaction: 10
Overall: 9.9
