The best driving simulator on the Sony PlayStation 2. Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec is perfect in almost every possible way.
This game is the answer to your car-craving.
Remember way back in March 1999 when the Sony PlayStation 2 was announced to be in development to succeed the already-legendary Sony PlayStation?
And do you remember when Sony officially announced the development of Polyphony Digital's third installment to the Gran Turismo series as the very first PlayStation 2 title to be announced?
Sorry to bug you with all these questions, but Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec screams nostalgia. This is why I think it is one of the greatest PS2 titles to date. It's that fantastic.
First of all, let me say that this is a driving game. There isn't really a story at all, unless you'd like to make one up. But this game is so immersive you won't have time to do so.
Right from the get-go, this game makes a striking first-impression. The graphics are great. The licensed music choice is top-notch, and the handling is incredibly realistic. Gran Turismo 3 just strikes a near-perfect balance of intense gameplay and deep customization.
And by "deep customization", I mean really deep.
In Gran Turismo 3, you can do almost anything to your car - you can wash it, change tires and wheel rims, fine-tune the suspension and handling, remove parts of the car to make it more lightweight, adjust the axle balancing to improve handling, and so much more.
In fact, there's so much content in this game it's just incredibly hard to explain every single thing you can do here.
But let me explain how the game works.
In Gran Turismo 3, there are two main gameplay modes in this game: the Arcade Mode and the Simulation Mode/Gran Turismo Mode.
The Arcade Mode is basically a really quick way to play the game. There is a lot to do in this mode. From here, you can do a single-player race to a split-screen match, and you can make use of the LAN Feature to race with more players. This is only a piece of the pie, however - and I don't want to spoil you on the immense amount of content in this game.
Then there's the Simulation Mode. It's called the Simulation Mode in the USA and Gran Turismo Mode in places like Europe, Japan, etc.). Yeah; the title varies depending on where you bought the game. Well, they're pretty much identical, so don't expect any changes except minor differences between the two. I happen to own a GT3 copy containing the Simulation Mode, so yeah.
The Simulation Mode is completely fleshed out and it's really expansive especially in the later parts of the game. First of all, the game starts you off with about 25,000 Credits (Cr.) if I remember correctly. From this point you can purchase a car from any of the dozens of car developers from the dozens of regions all over the world in which these car companies are stationed. Obviously, you can't buy a super car in the beginning of the game (unless you completed the Gran Turismo Concept and got 10,000,000 Cr. for GT3), so you'll have to start with something small. This is basically the roots for the game.
The objective of Simulation Mode is to clear 100% of the mode itself. That goes for all races, all license tests, and all cups/championships/endurance/rally events. And doing so will take you really long time to do - I myself haven't even finished the game and I've had it for about seven years.
But let me get back to the "roots" of this game. The amazing thing about Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec is the sense of completion and how polished the game is. It's simply phenomenal on how you started off with your 25,000 Cr. and worked your way up the food chain to gain millions of credits and owning a super car. It's pretty much what I call the "Gran Turismo Effect" - that sense of completion when you work your way up to become the best of the best by just starting off as the puny guy you once was.
Remember earlier on in this review I said that there was a lot to do in the Simulation/Gran Turismo mode? I wasn't kidding. There's even more than what I just listed.
First of all, the game's races are organized into cups or championships. The number of races in each cup can vary from about three to five while the races in each championship can be around ten races. And trust me: championships take a long time to complete. At the end of each race, you can get Credits to use to buy more cars or to purchase parts to upgrade your car(s). There are three trophies which you can get at the end of each race. If you finish a race, you get one of the three trophies (bronze, silver, gold) depending on what place you finished in. If you finished in First (1st) Place, then you get the gold trophy. Second (2nd) Place earns you the silver trophy, while the Third (3rd) Place finisher gets the bronze trophy. If you finish in Fourth (4th) Place or worse, you get no trophy at all. At the end of each cup and championship, there is a reward you can get for getting 1st Place in every race in the event. This reward is the prize credits and a free car. The system works pretty well, actually - sometimes.
The reward system if you're getting a car will vary - sometimes there are two to four cars that will be sitting around in a red backdrop. There will be a black circle that will glow underneath one of the cars (all of which will have sillhouettes shown only so that you don't see the car's make and model), which will stay there for half a second until it switches to the next car. Getting it? Once enough time passes by, the circle will finally stop moving, and the car that happens to have the black circle underneath it will be your prize car. Innovative at times - and other times its incredibly frustrating.
Apparently, if you're going to be a professional racer, then you're going to have to prove it, right? This is where the License Tests come in. In order to get into some championships or cups, you need to prove you're a racer. The only way to do that is to get licenses. Some events have limitations - from the cars that are banned to the license you have. There are several licenses to obtain - and to do that you need to pass the license tests. These tests are really going to test your patience and skill at driving games. The tests can vary to driving at a fast speed and braking at the exact time and with the exact amount of pressure so that you don't hit the cones to heading to the finish line before the time runs out. The variety is pretty large in these license tests - they'll never cease to amaze you on how well-structured the tests are.
Professional racers race in professional races, correct? There are some racing events in this game that are not for the faint of heart. Some of these races need pure skill and patience to win. The professional races - the endurance ones - are especially difficult. They require a very high license accommodation and take an extremely long time to complete. One of these races is the 2 Hr. Rome Circuit. And yes - it'll take you two or more hours to complete. That is how realistic this game is - it mashes up all kinds of difficulty levels and throws them out everywhere. It's pretty neat - especially since there are some modes that differ from very easy to pretty darn hard. It's just the way it is in Polyphony Digital's world.
Those are only a few of what you can do in this mode. Again, I don't want to spoil you guys - that would only ruin it, wouldn't it? So I'll stop it there.
The controls in this game are flawless. They are really well-thought out. Since the DualShock 2 controller is pressure sensitive, the amount of pressure you apply to a button will always matter during a race. In short, the controls are perfect - you can even change them around to a great extent so that you have the perfect driving experience.
The visuals are so jaw-dropping for the early life cycle for the PlayStation 2 that they're comparable to PlayStation 3 graphics. They are that amazing. You can tell that thousands of polygons were put into every single vehicle. The detail is amazing - right down to the brake calipers inside the wheels. Technical flair and graphical touches have been added everywhere in this game so that this would be "The Drive of Your Life", such as reflections on windows and mirrors, the detail of the paint jobs, and the detail put into the stages are just exceptionally brilliant. The graphics in this game are just stunning - and even now I'm still impressed on how far ahead of its time Gran Turismo 3 was.
The music choice? Outstanding. The licensed tracks Polyphony Digital chose were exactly what I would listen to if I was driving in a super car going down 200 miles per hour in a 200-lap race in Super Speedway. Heck, even Snoop Dogg was hired to make his own music track to promote the release of the game. And even that song (if you want to listen to it, I think it's called "Snoop Dogg's Gran Turismo") is well-done - and I'm not even a big fan of that kind of music either!
Alright, you've heard enough of the good. But now it's time for my more critical side of reviewing. There are some things that I just hate about this game.
At some point in the beginning of the game, you're going to run low on credits. So low that you won't have enough money to upgrade your parts to compete in the next race. So what do you do? You grind. "Grinding" is the term used for when you are forced to go through a specific procedure again and again to advance through the game. In Gran Turismo 3's case? No different. Sometimes in the game you'll run so low on credits that you'll have to race in an event that has a low reward again and again just to upgrade your car. It's just too repetitive. That kind of hurts the first impression of the game - especially if you happened to purchase a slow 99-horsepower car in the beginning of the game.
Another thing I hate about this game is how the reward system can bug you sometimes. Imagine fine-tuning your car out to the max of the max and racing in a championship in hopes of getting a super car that's insane fast. And then you race in a championship and you get all gold trophies. After spending about an hour to complete the championship, you are excited to get your reward car. And then you see the four cars and the black circle glowing underneath each of them. "That car looks really fast! I'd like to have that car!" You exclaim. The tension. The sweat. And all of a sudden the circle stops underneath a car that you didn't want. And it is unveiled. A slow car - a Mini Cooper. "#$%@!" You say. In short, you were hoping that you'd get the car you wanted, but instead got a car that was insanely slow compared to the rest. It's just the name of the game in the world of chance. That's what I don't like about this game. I'd rather have you be able to browse through the prize cars you can obtain, view their specifications, and choose the car you want. Sometimes the reward system in GT3 can be really frustrating - that's what I don't like about the game.
And yes - I have another thing to gripe about. Sometimes the game will punish you insanely hard at times. At one point the difficulty will be easy, and all of a sudden it'll be hard. I don't get it sometimes. Especially the license tests (which are mandatory to complete, in other words you are forced to complete them). The license tests are just too hard - and having the game make you do it in order to advance is just too hard. It's just too much at times. Especially the endurance races - I don't think casual players will enjoy the idea of racing for two hours in the Rome Circuit just to find out that you finished in 2nd Place. The learning curve in this game is just downright absurd at times but other times it's alright.
Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec is a great game - even though it has its share of problems. But the good thing is that there's more good than bad - so it all works out most of the time. Great job Polyphony Digital. And thanks for reading this review. So go ahead - pick up a copy of this game if you're enchanted.
I'll see you in the winner's circle.