Imagine having your own showroom, where automobiles from the world's top manufacturers are conveniently
put together in one place.
Now, imagine taking each and every car in that showroom onto the racetrack or dirt road.
This is what has attracted automobile aficionados to the Gran Turismo series that calls itself
the real driving simulator, and when the series left the Playstation with Gran Turismo 2,
it was because it was moving on to greener pastures. 2001 saw the rise of better graphics
and performance, and none could doubt that the Gran Turismo franchise would continue
to shine with beautiful detail and refined gameplay in Gran Turismo 3: A-spec.
Special thanks to my good friend Jason for his kind donation.
There's just so much that can be said about this powerful racing simulator.
Once again, development team Polyphony Digital and Sony Computer Entertainment would join
forces to develop photorealistic graphics, a precision-based physics engine, and a vehicle
lineup that might just leave you drooling at the dealership in Simulation mode rather
than actually taking them for a spin.
Arcade mode and Simulation mode are now combined onto one DVD disc, a pretty big novelty at
the time.
To be sure, some things were left unchanged from GT2, such as the driver AI which operates
much the same, lots of crashing and forcing rather than finesse movement around an opponent.
But unless you're a true racing game snob, you'll be heartily challenged by the gameplay
mechanics, which test your skills at the wheel rather than just the speed and handling of
your vehicle.
I think it’s safe to say that this is the closest a racing game has come to an RPG.
And with the ability to challenge your buddies or the computer at racing the hundreds of
cars you will collect with your hard earned cash, it’s safe to say the replay value
is through the roof.
Gran Turismo 3 A-spec may not be for everyone, including a select few racing fans.
This certainly isn't Mario Kart we're talking about.
It's an in-depth look at the automobile industry and everything it has to offer.