Volume 10

I saw this game in action quite early in its development. The reason is that my brother absolutely loves the series—I like it as well—is that it's a simulation racer and is well balanced in both presentation and difficulty.

Graphicly the game is still some of the best on the PlayStation 2 as far as racers go. The tracks are all believable and the road actually looks like road. One of the best tracks in the game is, in fact, a real track...one called Laguna Seca in Southern California. Based on the world of Gran Touring Racing, the game strives for realism and this is demonstrated in the cars. Under hard breaking the break pads on the car glow red, something that will actually happen in a real race car. Every decal on the car that the game could get to sponcer it is readable on the car. The game also includes Rally cars. Also several car manufacturers, including Subaru, Mitsubishi, Fiat, Dodge, Ford, and Aston Martin, Have placed their full support in the game by featuring several of their cars and allowing the game developers to drive the cars to allow them to faithfully allow the game developers to program in the way the car handles. This also allowed the game developers to faithfully program in the cars details.

Engine sounds are also very well handled. However, while the game features several good bands in it's soundtrack, the music levels are so light that it is nearly impossible to hear them during the race. Another rather annoying thing about it is that the game doesn't allow you to modify the music level, only turn it on or off. Something else that can be annoying is the sound of the car's turbo when you change gears. Though that only happens when you are racing an endurance race, each of which last over two hours.

This game features the most accurate steering of any racer I have ever played. While the game is not nearly as big as it's predicessor with sheer number of cars, the game makes up for it in quality. The CPU drivers drive with varying degrees of skill and are rather smart about it. While the car colissions are not very realistic you can draft other cars and will spin if tapped in the bumper at high speeds.

Gradually as you proceed through the game your opponets get more and more difficult. At the begining it isn't very hard to defeat your opponets but soon your getting very much left behind if you don't learn how to properly drive the tracks and your cars. The hardest part of the game in the earliest parts of the game is that money isn't plentiful. However when you get into the higher level races you can get much more money to get better and better cars.

Probably the best Simulation Racer out on the PlayStation 2 game console. This isn't a game to be missed by any fan of the genre.

This game rates a 9 out of ten due to the lack of being able to hear the music.

Draco's Game Reviews © Ben C. Broome 2002+