GamePlay Modes

What's the Breakdown?

Gran Turismo 3 is split into an Arcade and Gran Turismo (story) mode and offers 20 distinct courses with some courses offering reverse-direction variations. Like most racing games, the basic premise is just to win races - you don't need to steal 60 cars in one night, or blow anything up. At the end of every race you are treated to a replay which uses dramatic camera angles. New to GT3 is the music-video-like replay which offers more aggressive editing, dynamic camera angles, Matrix-like 360s, and a number of filters such a color cast, a high contrast mode, a black and white mode, and motion blur. The algorithms used to generate these replays are remarkably good and so it is more resistant to repetitiveness than other racing games.

In California, the most dangerous time to drive is just after it rains	View Full-Size in another window."> Not so "Imprez"-ive
Stop moving the camera!	Is that Sony's office?

Arcade Mode

The arcade mode of GT3:A-Spec is exactly what you would expect from a console racing game such as F-Zero, Mario Kart, Sega Rally 2, or Ridge Racer. From the very beginning, you'll have instant access to a wide range of cars from different performance classes. You pick out your car, choose among a few different courses (including rally tracks), and participate in a single race against 5 computer opponents in cars from an equivalent performance class.

The Arcade Mode

Nice airfoil

After you beat the first set of six courses, another group of courses will be unlocked. Beat those, and you get another six. There are a total of 34 different courses to unlock. Although you have a healthy set of cars to choose from, earning 1st place in each group of tracks will earn you new cars. You are also able to use cars you have bought in the Gran Turismo mode.

In addition to the single race, there is a "Time Attack" mode, a Free Run when you just want to drive, and a multiplayer race, which we will go into greater detail later.

Place your bets!

Widescreen?!

The arcade mode alone can be considered a complete game.