Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec

Upon first playing of this game I could not believe the superb graphics; what an improvement over GT2! I like GT3, but I am disappointed with the dramatically less number of vehicles you can drive in the game compared to its predecessor. I think you only get around about 150 - 200 cars in GT3, which is disappointing when you could drive more than 600 in GT2. Then again, with the release of the game early on in the Playstation 2's lifespan, I suppose this is to be expected.

Of course, with GT3, we are rewarded with extra tracks and a more detailed driving experience, but perhaps the main flaw with this game - and its two predecessors - is that you cannot damage the vehicles whatsoever. However, the replays are superb!

Although the aim of the game is no different to its predecessors (win races in GT mode to unlock new vehicles and courses etc), GT3 is still a massive contribution to a racing game series that redefined the genre, and will continue to set the benchmark in that respect.

Ok sacrificing gameplay for graphics makes a bad game. This game proves this. Ok so I was playing the game and it says 200 kmh and I started thinking "its more like 2 kmh"! The gameplay is so slow it makes a Lada look fast! In the second game the gameplay isn't sacrificed for graphics instead it's balanced. It has good graphics and good gameplay. The first sacrificed graphics for great gameplay. So number had great gameplay but the graphics weren't good. This game has amazing graphics but terrible gameplay! This is the worst GT game with the second being best but Gran Turismo Concept looks class so I'm hoping its a good Playstation 2 Gran Turismo game.

After playing the game for the first time I was totally blown away by the realism of graphics and gameplay, the cars handled just like the real thing and the reflections on the car were absolutely incredible.

If you ever contemplate buying a video game this is one you simply must have.

If you like cars or not, you'll be amazed by this work art.

The cars actually look like the real thing and the replays look awesome.

When I bought my PlayStation 2, I purchased GT3:A-Spec despite not enjoying the first two games of the series. However, I felt that the power of the PS2 would make this game more appealing. Four months later, and plenty of trophies later, I discovered that the GT series is the best racing game series ever made and GT3:A-Spec is their biggest creation yet.

Polyphony (sic) Studios has delivered the definitive racing game. With over 150 cars, all with their own characteristics, the player competes in multiple races to win money for upgrades and new cars. Tracks include Seattle, Rome, The French Riviera, and Laguna Seca. Car manufacturers from all over the world have their cars licensed. Some of the cars include the Chrysler PT Cruiser, the Honda Civic, and the Mazda Miata. As you get better, more exotic cars in the Formula One vein and rally cars are won.

While time trial and Arcade are O.K., it's in Simulation mode where the fun is. You start with a little money to buy a car and then win more money to upgrade it. Win a series and you'll win another car for your garage. Eventually, you'll be hooked on this game trying to win all the cars and races.

The graphics are beautiful with lots of detail for the courses. The cars handle beautifully even with a gamepad. There could have been more tracks (19 in all plus reverses) and also the later courses require from 10 to 100 laps to complete and I couldn't find a way to save the game in progress. Hopefully, GT4 will correct this.

Of course, the sound is the icing on the cake. Every car sounds different and has each manufacturer's quirks in them. The soundtrack of songs is stellar with a wide variety of licensed tracks. Jimi Hendrix's "Stone Free", The Cult's "She Sells Sanctuary", Motley Crue's "Kickstart My Heart" and others from the likes of Lenny Kravitz, Papa Roach, Masters of Mayhem, and Grinspoon. My personal faves are Grand Theft Audio's "As Good As It Gets" and Snoop Dogg's made for the game tune. The only disappointment is that you can't raise the volume of the songs; they can be lost sometimes in the engine's roar.

Still, the best racing game ever made and now a part of PS2's Greatest Hits. If you have a PS2, you must own this one. ***** out of *****

Poliphony Digital really knows how to make games to feel realistic out of the box, thats what they proved with the Gran Turismo series and a few of their other series that were strangely forgotten (maybe one day i would talk more about them), and, despite not convincing me, I recognize that they were the pinnacle of the fifth and sixth generation in many things... including the graphics. One of the most detailed video games on the PS1 and PS2, and in this case, the PS1 was already saying goodbye and giving way to the next generation. How Gran Turismo could be improved on the next gen? Well, i wouldnt repeat what i always repeat with the series because it would be redundant. Poliphony Digital arguably was the only company that could rival Naughty Dog. In the past it really was one of the companies that pushed the hardware to its absolute limits and made PC gaming cry to shame. But, thats not enough to make a game good.

The Gran Turismo series up to this point wanted to impress more than give the player fun, and while at least in GT1, 2 and 4 i could appreciate various innovations to the racing genre, those were pretty much non existent in 3. Is clearly that GT3, being released early in the PS2 lifespan and developers having problems with the hardware, ended up being pretty much inspired in GT2, but i didnt expected for the most part to be a carbon copy, even the UI looks the same which is very lazy, and a lot of things that made GT2 a more "memorable" experience in the genre here were gone, the insane amount of cars, the racing modifications or the variety of events (for some reason all of the different tiers have almost the same race events just harder).

For a moment i though that reducing heavily the amount of cars like GT1 would make the experience more focuses and feel each car awarded satisfying like the first game, but GT3 reminded to me that the series at this point was more like a car museum and not a classic career experience. Having only 100-200 cars and still somehow recieving the amount of cars per race like GT2 makes the money pretty much useless in this game, no car feels like my cars, it all feels like rental cars. I barely bought 10 cars and recieved more than half of the list.

And well... i guess i shouldnt mention all of the criticism of previous and newer games, because increasing the power of the hardware wouldnt automatically fix anything without work. AI is still trash, crashes at high speed still arent penalized, is only realistic on a surface level when it wants to be. It wouldnt be that bad for other racing games, but for one that wants to take itself so seriously? It is a shame because the "slogan" shows that the devs really wanted to make you feel inmersed in this beautiful car simulator, but things like this only go on the opposite direction.

GT3 is kind of dissappointing, and this comes from someone who isnt a fan of the series. The other games like GT1, 2 and 4 werent perfect games either, but i can admit they had a sense of innovation and a great core that... unfortunately GT3 lost. If you played GT2 then you played most of GT3. It could had pass as a remake of the second game honestly (which to be fair, it was the thing they show on the PS2 tech demos of the late 90s). Despite having its own improvements over GT2 like the handling and looking great, and not being terrible (of course), honestly GT3 wasnt even worth my time.