Nothing wrong with variety, just slap some wheels on it and make it go!
While certainly two of the most important ‘technical’ factors of the game have been discussed in length, the gameplay itself should be singled out. It’s basically broken into four modes: Single Player (which goes through the Classes C – A), Arcade Mode (Like Sega’s Daytona USA, except cooler), Two-Player mode (head-to-head) and the long-awaited Online mode (guess what that does).
The Single-Player mode is remarkable. It sends you through a series of ‘Classes’. For those familiar with the series, this is nothing new. For those not familiar, it’s basically a series of races at different levels of difficulty and with special bonuses here and there. It’s a great way to learn about the game. Instead of going through a licensing phase, which I just needed a break from in the series, you get to start racing from the get-go. I could not be happier about that. By the time the big version of this game is finished, I’ll be in the mood for licenses, until then… this reviewer is happy! Anyway, getting back to it, in the single-player mode, you race through a variety of stages, some which require a certain type of car, some which don’t, and you have to win to move on to the next class. When I say you ‘have’ to win, I mean you HAVE to win. It took me forever to move on from Class B to A. I had one single race that was holding me back. It required me to drive a crappy car, no exceptions — it had to be this car, and start at the back, working my way up to at least third place. I had to nearly drive this particular track perfect. While frustrating, driving the same track over and over again is a bit much, it does help you become a better driver in the game. Ultimately, that makes life easier when you get to Class A. GT has always been known for this element, making you a better driver through frustration. It can only be compared to playing Resident Evil and completing a very stressful stage, turning off the game and declaring to the world your accomplishment. That’s the same feeling and strangely enough it leaves you craving more.
While I won’t get into the arcade mode too much or the two-player mode, those are pretty self-explanatory, the online mode sure is fun, but unfair at times. While the world has truly been waiting for this mode to come alive, the world is an unfair bastard. I weep for the future drivers of the world, especially the US, who have no concept of a brake. The red line on the road, which is an indicator to brake during the game, seems to make most of the kids want to go faster. Why is this a problem? Well, when one of them crashes, they all crash. It’s like watching synchronized swimming in the Olympics. It’s choreographed perfectly. You could have used the music from the Hitman movie trailer to see what is most certainly always a catastrophe in perfect harmony. In all seriousness though, the online mode works great (outside of the bad drivers). No lag at all, you have no delays, nothing to keep you from swinging your car out of the way of the bad drivers. In fact, it works like a Halo type of online would. The service compares your driving stats, cars and abilities to those online, searches and finds you a perfect group of terrible drivers to drive with. What makes this even deeper is that it breaks the rooms, or tracks, up into a series of categories (depending on car type) and gives you options. In the online world of console gaming, you don’t get a lot of options thrown your way. And what could make this even better? When they update tracks for online use, you aren’t charged a single penny. When I cranked up the game tonight it had me update GT. After such an update, I had new tracks online (and a calendar on the main screen). I can only hope and pray that Sony keeps this trend up.
So do you get enough depth here between these four modes? I would say so. Think about it, there are some good racing games out there (none which I can recall at the moment) that certainly don’t match this smaller version of Gran Turismo. It’s frightening to think what is to come after the prologue. Truly frightening.