Gran Turismo 4 (GT4) is Polyphony Digital’s long-awaited sequel to a franchise that defines video game racing. In its fourth incarnation, it’s obvious that the makers created a much more polished game overall from the graphics and realism to the user interface on top of an expanded list of features. However, it’s that very polish that exposes the shortcomings and ultimately leads us to question the game’s claim that it is “The Real Driving Simulator.”

Describing GT4 is a daunting task of listing superlatives. Top graphics boasting up to high-definition resolutions, 700+ cars from over 80 world-wide manufacturers spanning the entire history of the automobile era, meticulously modeled race-tracks from around the world, and a 52-track background music featuring the likes of Bach to DJ Freq Nasty, GT4 astounds even the most hardcore real-life racer.

As veteran Gran Turismo fans already know, Polyphony wants players to focus on every nuance of Grand Touring (GT) racing from taking the correct line through a sloping chicane turn to tuning the gear-ratios for maximum acceleration. However, it’s the small things that really differentiate GT4 from its predecessors. The obligatory license tests that are easy to pass but require a near religious dedication to master are expanded to 16 tests per license (B, A, IB, IA, Super). Fortunately, players who have saved Gran Turismo 3 files can have the B and A license tests waived (and can import their old cars and up to 100,000 credits to boot). The rally races, first introduced in the previous game, are more thrilling now with narrower roads and 3D virtual fans that take pictures and jump out of the way of your oncoming vehicle. The interface is fully revamped with the garage housing all the cars collected being it’s crowning achievement: cars can be sorted by color, country of maker, model, horsepower, or even the number of times driven—a big improvement over a straight listing of cars in past games.

Although the mainstay of the game is the simulation mode where players win credits from racing tournaments to buy cars and parts, GT4 also features an arcade mode that allows two or, in a LAN, more players to duke it out head-to-head with GT super cars. Unfortunately, these staple features makes it more evident to die-hard GT fans who followed GT4’s development that Polyphony Digital never got their act together to implement multiplayer online racing.

An arguable downside to Gran Turismo 4 is starting your career: it seems horribly sluggish to be putzing around in older, inferior cars while earning pennies per race to make the next part upgrade. At first, GT seems all about dedication to winning tournaments at a steady pace so you can’t exploit the fact that you have a super-charged car that can lap your competitors with 300 less horsepower. Imagine to my mixture of joy and disappointment when, within six hours of gameplay, that I earn a 400+ hp race-modified car with some sweat and tears from an easy “special” tournament and then use that very same prize car to keep winning the same tournament to earn it again and again for a resell value of 265,000 credits. Suddenly, I only need to spend only eight minutes of racing and I can buy most of the new cars and fully upgrade them with each win. This makes taking the checkered flag in almost all the different tournaments a breeze except for the ones featuring full-loaded cars since driver-skills make the difference there.

Of course, the biggest negative mark GT4 earns from many reviewers including yours truly is just how “real” this driving simulator is. Ever since the first Gran Turismo, savvy players (a.k.a. the sneaky people that want to take every advantage of the game short of inputting cheat codes) know that literally cutting corners over grass, dirt, and gravel and playing bumper-cars with competitors can give you a huge edge to first place. GT4 continues this tradition minus a five-second penalty in only specific races if you decide that hugging a wall to make the turn or rear-ending a competitor without worrying about the health of your car will help your standings. Try all that in real-life and you’ll end up with a huge fine from the racing commission or even losing your life! To make this game more like real life, Polyphony should at least throw in some credit taxation in the form of car/life insurance!

Finally, reality hits another all-time low for GT4 when it comes to the artificial intelligence of the competitor cars. Polyphony promised that aggressive players who try to muscle through a group of cars will have smart computer opponents who will dish out what was given to them. In reality, the computer drivers follow a scripted line through all the racetracks. The simplest demonstration only requires letting your car sit at any point of the race. When the computer comes to lap you, the cars will invariably hit you from behind. If this aspect of the game is considered real, then you are racing with the dumbest drivers in the world.

Gran Turismo 4 is the best racing game in the history of video games, but it is also the victim of its own success with its improvements and more importantly, it’s promise to deliver a realistic driving experience that amplify its weaknesses. Perhaps its moniker should be edited to “The Mostly Real Driving Simulator” so we can forgive its makers. GT veterans and racing enthusiasts alike will eat up this game and casual gamers may even be rebuffed at the plethora of options and the realistic touchiness of the controls (especially when playing with a control pad as opposed to a $100+ race-wheel). GT4 improves on the formula of its predecessors, but it’s really time for Polyphony Digital to focus on the other aspects of the game to provide a more realistic racing experience.

- Duong Hang, Guest Contributer