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Find: Games - Movies - Music - Free Stuff! - Electronics - Computers By: Mike Weatherup Without a doubt one of the most highly anticipated Playstation 2 titles for 2001 is Polyphony Digital's Gran Turismo 3: A-spec. Originally known as Gran Turismo 2000 and as a U.S. launch title, the development team at Polyphony Digital felt that GT 2000 would only give players a taste of what could be done on the PS2. GT 2000 was only going to have 50 cars and a measly 4 racing tracks. As development time went forward, the team started to realize that they could offer so much more and as a result GT 2000 was cancelled. There was now enough content to warrant the third installment in the GT dynasty. Recently announced as Gran Turismo 3: A-spec, Polyphony Digital and Sony are once again ready to deliver one of if not the most realistic driving simulations available on any gaming system. Sony was kind enough to provide us with a limited demo of GT 3. While quite small, it is a pretty good indication of what lies a few months down the road when the game is scheduled for release. GT 3 is going to offer 150 selected cars and 15 racing tracks including real-world tracks such as the Laguna Seca Raceway. While the car count is considerably lower than previous installments, the developers promise that only the best cars have been included for GT 3. This includes special race-spec versions that were unavailable previously. Most of the manufacturers from GT2 are present, it is just the sheer number of cars that have been reduced. As always, a few manufacturers such as Vector will be absent due to licensing difficulties. Let's talk graphics for a moment. This is a bit of a mixed bag at the moment and I know people are going to be upset with me on this issue but I am critical when it comes to the power potential of the PS2. Yes, the game is indeed gorgeous when it comes to the car designs representing their real-life counterparts. Each vehicle is made up of more than 5,000 polygons each. The cars are the most realistic looking to ever grace any game system. The physics of the cars have been vastly improved since the last outing in GT2. When cars make a turn the whole suspension moves in the direction as it does in real-life. We had fun going fast around a corner coming up on the grass and ending up driving for a couple of seconds on two side wheels, only to drop down and try to regain control to continue in the race. Very cool to say the least. Now a word about the environments. Most of the 15 tracks sport nice visuals from the screens and videos we have seen. In the demo we played we were only allowed to play the Trial Mountain Course. While not bad, this course only offered a couple of neat visuals that have not been seen before. Most impressive are the rays of sunlight that manage to squeak through the trees. This is real-time lighting and not some pre-rendered visual trick. A true testament to the juice under the hood of the PS2. The actual course design seems lacking quite a bit of detail. This is especially true when you compare it to the design found in Metropolis Street Racer for the Dreamcast. While many will say that I am being picky, I will argue that I should be picky as after all this is PS2 we are talking about and thus I expect a lot more than I have seen done before on previous consoles. It would appear that the artists at Polyhony Digital are just starting to come to terms with the PS2 development environment. Something that may change in time for the final product but something that will be apparent in future GT installments. Nevertheless, there are some quite impressive track visuals. For example, in the Trial Mountain course, the detail in the trees is breathtaking. They are represented in 3-D and not some cheesy pre-rendered sprite. It is this sort of visual that I would like to see more of. The game speeds along at what appears to be a constant 60 frames per second refresh rate. The sensation of virtual speed has been recreated like never before. This is evident when you drop the camera to first person view of the race. Unlike other webzines, we looked at this demo for hours on end before committing anything in written word. As a result, and this will break many hearts, I was able to find 2 small instances of draw-in in the one course we were given to play. It will not affect gameplay but it is present and hopefully will not show up in the final release or in other tracks. This is another example of not enough console power but how well developers can program using the tools and skills they have. My faith lies with Polyphony Digital to remedy the problem before final release. The replays are quite incredible and once again demonstrate the superiority of the PS2 in terms of eye candy. The developers are able to focus on the selected car while blurring the other cars in front or behind the desired car. This is a similar effect EA used for Madden 2001 but it looks a lot more realistic in GT3. Another treat is how the PS2 is able to present an accurate representation of heat haze that distorts your view of the track in different places. Add to this enhanced weather conditions that will affect driveability. What about sound? For the demo it would appear that the sound track and aesthetic effects have not been finalized. The audio effects present are your standard fare for a racing game. I was looking for a little more depth here in terms of skid sounds and grinding against other cars but hopefully these will be included in the final version. The soundtrack consisted of only one song at this point and which is more than likely a demo track only. Regardless, who can go wrong flying around the mountainside with the sounds of Motley Crue's Kick Start My Heart blaring out your speakers. Visuals? Sounds? Who cares? What about control and A.I.? The control is what you have come to expect in the GT series. We were able to take 3 cars for a spin around the Trial Mountain course. This included the Honda S2000, the Honda NSX and the muscle car favorite Ford Mustang Cobra R. Each with its own unique physics, I preferred the NSX of the three. Being able to master each of the 150 cars should prove challenging and well worth the time it should take. Overall in terms of playability, GT3 will play the same as GT2. A major difference between GT2 and GT3 is undoubtedly the advanced A.I. thanks to the Emotion Engine. The A.I. represents an advanced and quite intricate rivalry system. We decided to test this out in the demo and it was quite amazing. I cut off one driver and later in the race it was as if he remembered and decided to take revenge on me by swiftly cutting me off on an important turn in the race. Therefore, not only will players have to figure out how drive each vehicle, they are also going to have to practice each course with a careful race plan in mind. Simply bumping others out of the way will cause havoc for you later in the race. Just yet another feature in GT3 that deepens the already high replayability of the game. What now? The wait is on as Sony plans to release GT3 later this Spring. Seeing what Polyphony Digital has already accomplished is enough to go out and pre-order this game right now. With an extra couple of months to tweak the game even further, PS2 fans have something to truly behold this Spring. Screens: Dirt course: pic #1, pic #2, pic #3, pic #4, pic #5, pic #6, pic #7, pic #8, pic #9 More screens: |
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