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 | Gran Turismo 4 Playstation 2 SCEE/Polyphony Digital  Now in its fourth iteration after spanning both of Sony's console offspring, the 'Gran Turismo' phenomenon has been a constant companion to the world of Sony console gaming and led the field of realistic motor vehicle racing. It is always a daunting task when delving into a new 'Gran Turismo' game, simply for the fact that you know you will lose a fair amount of sleep and accept that addiction on some level is inevitable. Obviously 'GT4' features more of every aspect involved in the franchise, namely tracks (100 of them, including the remarkable Nurburgring Nordschleife), cars (around 700), control over car mechanics and paintjobs, graphical details and soundtrack and more. 'GT4' is undeniably gorgeous to look at, with all kinds of reflections and lighting effects shimmering all over your high polygon-count vehicle. The soundtrack is a huge improvement in regard to the scope of artists involved, with some unusual inclusions such as Ulrich Schnauss, Debussy, Yello, James Brown, Photek, Erik Satie, our very own Spiderbait... and, ahem, Jet. However, this isn't perhaps the game we were hoping for. The much-discussed multiplayer net options are absent, purportedly due to frame rate issues which Polyphony did not want to let slide in the final release build, much to the chagrin of many a racing fanatic. Furthermore, 'GT4' boasts about their completely rehashed physics engine, yet when the cars collide with barriers at high speed it seems like some of the most awkward and unrealistic physics that I have encountered for a long while, the lack of car damage probably being the main culprit. With such a formidable amount of racing to be done the B-Spec mode is a welcome feature that allows the player to almost act as the "director" of their driver, making broad-ranging decisions such as racing style and driving technique. B-Spec thankfully softens the blow of boredom that is dealt by such a huge amount of racing events and activities in career mode, letting the player sit back and take a less active role in racing. This is 'Gran Turismo 4': nothing more, nothing less, and a rock solid addition to the franchise that basically sells itself before it even hits the shelves. With Sony's PS3 looming it will be very interesting to see where the 'Gran Turismo' franchise can go from here as this iteration of the series, whilst undoubtedly impressive, seems to lack a lot of both passion and progression.  | |
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