Introduction

I’m not really sure how to categorize this article. It’s not an addition to the review, nor is it our GT4 USA review. It’s not a formal gaming guide either. Think of it just as additional fan discussion about Gran Turismo 4 that I think other fans will enjoy. There will be some talk, some track discussion, and of course some great photo mode car shots. Think of it like you would a bonus feature on a DVD movie.

My assumptions

I’m assuming you’re a fan of the Gran Turismo series, or at least driving games. I’m assuming that you’ve already ordered Gran Turismo 4 and read our review from the beginning of the month, and you are probably the type of fan who already knows that February 24, 2005’s episode of The Apprentice will have the teams working on making a promotion strategy for the game (and if you didn’t, you’re probably getting a tape of the show).

My perspective

I didn’t start writing for FiringSquad as a game reviewer. I’ve never been a full-time writer for FS either, even though I started writing for the site in 1999 and “retired” from writing last year. Now, the only time I write is when some website needs some sort of specialized expertise I can bring to the article. One of those specialized areas of expertise is driving games with force feedback wheels. That said, I’m a driving enthusiast and not a hardcore driving game enthusiast.

One of the gee-whiz features of Gran Turismo 4 are the extended endurance races, including several “24 hour” races. This is a race where you drive, non-stop for 24 hours. No breaks. No saving your game half way through (though you can cheat and pause). There are gamers out there with the interest, willingness, and stamina to do the 24-hour endurance race. To those gamers with that kind of stamina and focus, I salute you. I’m not one of those gamers. I enjoy driving, but not that much.

There are other Gran Turismo fans who want to “beat” the game. They want to complete every last race and license challenge in the game with gold, own every car, and even own multiple colors of the same car. They may even keep track of the mileage and oil changes for every one of their virtual cars, as well as their fastest time on the Vegas Drag Strip and the ‘ring for each configuration. To those gamers with that dedication to achieving the highest score, I also salute you. I’m not one of those gamers either. I appreciate fine machines and enjoy driving, but it’s not my only thing.

I enjoy Gran Turismo 4 for its fairly realistic experience of driving. I’m not a professional race car driver, nor do I aspire to become one. I have a colleague who owns a Carrera GT, and another who’s confirmed to be invited to purchase the next Enzo, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy test driving a regular car such as a simple Volvo S60 or even a Mitsubishi Galant. For me, playing a game like GT4 is like skiing down an intermediate difficulty slope. It’s not about going for the triple black diamond and having the impending sense of doom, or taking it too casually on a bunny slope.

Note that I said it was like skiing rather than snowboarding. This was intentional – with snowboarding, you learn the right technique from the very beginning and so while it’s tough to get started, once you make it past the first hurdle, it’s all downhill. Driving is like skiing – it’s pretty easy to get started, but you learn bad habits and it’s much tougher to break those habits.

So, coming back to GT4, I think that if I had access to every single car and every single track in the game from the beginning in the arcade mode, I’d rarely touch the GT World part of the game. I’d already be able to get all my fun from the actual driving. So, this article is here to help those of you out there, reach that goal of being able to drive almost any car you want from GT4’s catalog. Some dedicated fans will call our strategies cheating, but I think it’s simply about having different goals.

In the second half of this article, I’ll talk about some of the tracks and cars in the game that I’ve really enjoyed.