Looks like a Jaguar – Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec

Gran Turismo 2’s expansion and remarkable number of things to do left a wide legacy, and it left a quandary for its sequel. Managing that kind of step change again would be almost impossible even if its sequel was based on the same technology. As was, Gran Turismo 3 being on the PlayStation 2 meant that it was affected by one of the issues of a medium where much of the mainstream involves an ever-increasing level of detail. Even with better technology, creating a more detailed environment adds on work that wouldn’t have been there before. It’s a factor in the mainstream being held by an ever-smaller number of developers. And making a Gran Turismo 3 with even more cars in even more detail wasn’t a realistic option, so something had to give.

What Polyphony made Gran Turismo 3 excel in instead was to present the familiar in dazzling new light. It adds some new cars and tracks and doesn’t ditch all of Gran Turismo 2’s expansion, but it focuses in on a lot of what had been there since the beginning. The driving feels even more sophisticated and thrilling; the rival AI still has nothing on TOCA but feels less robotic; the sound of the car engine reverberating off walls and crowds in grandstands cheering adds even more life to tracks which are already filled with it. The new Tokyo R246 track, based on real roads, is hugely impressive with the level of detail in the buildings all around the road. But the experience is nothing compared to returning to Gran Turismo’s Trial Mountain Circuit and driving through its tunnels and trees with hazy sunlight poking through the foliage, reflecting off your car.

The feeling of revisiting the familiar but finding it brighter and fuller even extends to the selection of music. Feeder, whose scuzzy “Sweet Sixteen” was the highlight of the original game’s soundtrack, make a return, and by the time Gran Turismo 3 came out they had gone from minor rock group to fantastic power-pop success, complete with a top ten hit. Three of their songs are included and among them is that hit, “Buck Rogers”, forceful and shiny and with a gleefully silly first verse about a brand new car. Hurling a Mazda around Apricot Hill to “Buck Rogers” narrowly overtakes even Wipeout 2097’s use of “Firestarter” for most delightful use of licenced music I’ve encountered so far.

Gran Turismo 3’s revisiting of Gran Turismo also extends to the amount of grind needed to get anywhere in the career mode. I’m hesitant to say that’s a good thing, but it does help make the move up to new cars and tracks feel more special when it does eventually come. And something else happened in going through the motions of winning the Sunday Cup race at the Super Speedway over and over in my lemongelb Beetle to gain enough money to upgrade it and have a chance in more difficult races. As I got into the groove of shaving off fractions of a second from each lap time, for no reason other than because I could, the perfect balance in the game’s driving experience came into focus even more, and I found myself enjoying every moment of it.

The biggest success of Gran Turismo 3 is that coming into it new, I found myself even more drawn into the minutiae of racing and car tuning than I ever had been by the first two games. Some of that is because it does more to encourage it. It includes a lot more races around the Test Course, a gigantic oval which almost entirely serves as a test of your car’s top speed, so making tweaks and understanding gear ratios becomes essential. Generally, though, it’s because the driving is so enjoyable and detailed that getting upgrades and feeling out their effect is a pleasure in itself. Gran Turismo 3 still has plenty to offer for car obsessives, with that obsession extending to all kinds of cars rather than just the obvious racing ones (I couldn’t have been happier to win a pink Toyota Yaris). But it also uses its revisions and enhancements to make a better case than ever for why that obsession might come about.