The Definitive Racing Sim.
Gran Turismo 4 is all about giving you that 'Professional Racing' experience. There's no 'street' racing nor any of the annoying things that come with it: lame car models, repetitive gangstah music and a tacked on storyline.
In fact GT4 has no storyline. This works perfectly fine, because it's a racing game. You're a dude who races cars for money in a professional setting, that's all the info you need, and it's all the info you're given.
GT4 works very much like previous GT titles. You start the simulation mode with a little bit of cash. With this cash you have a few options: Go to the License center and get a couple of licenses needed for entering certain events (along with a car provided you score high enough in the tests), find a cheap, new car, or try your luck with the used car listings. You can also choose to transfer the A and B licenses as well as 100,000 CR (the money used in GT) from a Gran Turismo 3 save file to help you on your way. This is a great option for people who'd prefer to jump straight into their virtual racing career, since the game starts off incredibly slow while you get enough money for cars that are even capable of competing.
Whatever you choose, once you have your first car, your free to enter races, and participate in special events. GT4 offers you a huge amount of different races. The first one you're likely to go to is the Beginner Hall, and later the Professional, and Extreme Halls, but there's also an Endurance Hall (which is exactly what it sounds: Incredibly long races, reaching up to 24 Hours), Driving Missions that put the odds against you through opponent head starts and other handicaps, Special Conditions is where you go for Rally events, there are Halls for specific regions (North America, Europe and Japan) as well as races found through certain manufacturers. You can also tune your car to very exact specifications to try and get the right feel you want. All told, there's enough racing and customization to keep any car guy busy for months.
Before each race, you have the option to quickly change parts on your car (turbo kits, tires etc.), run qualification laps, and access the options menu.
The racing itself is as fantastic and realistic as ever. The tracks themselves look almost too real and the cars simulate every sound with precision. Often, you'll play the game for a while and then have to drive somewhere and you'll want to keep ahead of other people on the road.
The one area where the game suffers is in the multiplayer aspect. Your only option is to race one-on-one split screen. You can race with any car (even ones from your own garage), and on any track, but but it feels like just an add-on and the lack of online support is disappointing to say the least.
All said though, GT4 is an amazing game that any racing fan will get the utmost enjoyment from.
