This game is huge. The car selection is huge. Amount of tracks does not disappoint. Variety of car tuning options is vast. And there is just so many races to do! It goes without saying that this is the one of the best Gran Turismos ever - over 711 cars, more than 50 tracks, astonishingly realistic looking replays, awesome graphics, slightly improved car sounds and handling - even the details in the cars has increased since Gran Turismo 3. Refelections on the cars are also improved which now seemingly reflecting the stuff they go past.

There are 80 licence tests to pass which vary in difficulty and type. New to GT are 'missions'. Such as passing a select amount of cars in one lap or passing a car after only one corner. Also new to Gran Turismo is B-spec mode. Basically this is where you take the role of race director (sort of, you only control the driver in your car). No driving is required by you, instead you tell your 'driver' what to do. You can increase his pace so he catches up/gets away from other cars, you can make him pass the car ahead when he gets close enough or even to make a pit stop if fuel or tires are needed. His skills and abilities will continue to increase also.

Speaking of pitstops you now have the option to refuel, change tyre type (i.e. from super-slicks to medium slicks) and change back and forth from B-spec mode to A-spec mode (which is a good idea if your B-spec driver is rapidly falling behind the other cars). You can now place huge rear wings on the back of most cars but unlike Need For Speed Underground they aren't just for show they help create downforce. Used tyres is another new thing and you'll find that every tyre in there is off another car in the game. So you can have Skyline wheels on your BMW etc.

Please check out my GT4 review in the link below, as it really explains how i feel about the game!

Read my review

RACES

Yup. There's plenty of races here. Some of the ones from GT3 return too which is good. You can also remove all your trophies in a race series/event if you want to win the car (which you win for completing the series/event with all wins) again, but like previous titles there are some cars that can only be won once. Manufacturer races are back and a bit of an incentive to actually do them (to those who never did in GT2) is the fact that you win a car for each 'series' of races completed! And a decent amount of money in championship events.

There are three (real time) twenty-four hour races; one at the old, 6 km long back straight version, of Le Mans. One at the current version of Le Mans (chicanes cutting up the back straight) and one for touring cars at Nurburgring Nordschliefe! If you don't want to do them yourself, you can get your B-spec driver to do them, and speed it up so it only takes about eight hours instead of twenty four.

I am disappointed with the races in GT4 though - Polyphony have listened to the people who complained about all the series's being too long/too many laps and have drastically reduced the amount of laps - thus ruining a few of the championships which were fun in GT3. Nevertheless they are still fun to participate in and some REALLY close races can be had, just like GT2.

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VIEWS

There are three car views to choose from in GT4. The first is the drivers view which is where you don't see any of the car just the track. This view also 'moves' like it would if you were really driving it. i.e. when braking the camera goes down, when turning left the camera leans left etc and when you hit a wall really hard the camera shakes badly which is quite realistic. I think.

The second, my favourite, is the roof view! The camera stays 100% solid all the time and only moves when the car does. This makes it the best/easiest view (for me anyway) as you can see exactly where your car is without a moving camera. Finally we have the normal behind car view which seems to have been tightened up a little since GT3 in terms of the camera 'swaying' left and right etc when turning.

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CARS

There is a simply insane amount of cars in this game (but still not enough, as my real car isn't in the game!!). Over 711 of them which, when compared to the 184 or so in GT3 and 594 (or thereabouts) in GT2, gives you the impression that you'll never drive every single vehicle. It is probably true too! You can fit an incredible ONE THOUSAND cars in your garage which is every single car plus some! I only have about 500 so far and an awful lot of them are of the same make/model of car!

There are 20 cars below but if you want to check out the whole lot then click here.
~ BMW M3 CSL
~ Holden Monaro CV8
~ Toyota 7 Race Car
~ Nissan Skyline GT-R M-Spec NuR (R34)
~ Chevrolet Corvette Z06 (C5)
~ Ford Performance Vehicles F6 Typhoon
~ Mercedes-Benz SL 500
~ Jaguar S-Type R
~ Audi RS-6 Avant
~ TVR Tuscan Speed 6
~ BP Falken RX-7 (D1GP)
~ Fiat 500L
~ Jay Leno Tank Car
~ Suzuki GSX-R/4
~ BMW M5
~ Cadillac Cien
~ Jenson Interceptor Mk.III
~ DMC Delorean S2
~ Audi ABT Sportsline TT-R DTM
~ Mercury Cougar XR-7

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TRACKS

Plenty of tracks in this game and even more if you count the reverse versions.
You've got circuits from all over the globe from France, Switzerland, China, Germany, U.S.A. and even Korea.

They are all sorts of lengths and altitudes too. Laguna Seca at 3.60 km's long, Circuit de la Sarthe (a.k.a. Le Mans) at 13.65 km's long, High-Speed Ring at exactly four kilometers and even the awesome 20.83 km long Nurburgring Nordschleife!

For more information on all the tracks please click here.

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