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What else can be said about this incredibly hyped game apart from the fact it kicks ass! Jaw-dropping graphics, unbelievable physics, a huge number of cars to choose from, well architectured tracks and a huge variety of gameplay.

Some day, Polyphony Digital will get the artificial intelligence right as well and turn Gran Turismo into the ultimate driving simulator.

Graphics

The eye candy is great: environment mapping, realtime lighting, headlight/tailright halos, dust in rally driving, sun glare, heat haze and the most beautiful looking "wet road" effect with accompanying water spray! When this much eye-candy is pushed past a player in each frame, it no longer looks like a sweet effect in a game, it makes the entire game look photo-realistic.

Even though you can admire the screenshots above, like many games, GT3 has to be seen in motion to truly understand what it looks like. The GT3 engine can also do some very interesting real-time effects that are implemented in the music-sensitive replays such as an inverse effect, motion blur and a large variety colour effects.

The tracks look incredible as well - the trees and bushes no longer look 2D (apart from a few isolated instances), and the tarmac roads look very realistic. Flags and banners will wave in the wind, cars will leave tire marks, and bystanders will take pictures as you go past.

In short, you will not find a more beautiful game to date. Gran Turismo 3 definitely takes complete advantage of the PlayStation2 awesome polygon pushing capabilities.

Gameplay

Lets have another quick look at the arcade section of GT3. As with the other two GTs, the arcade section allows you to race a limited number of cars on a limited number of tracks. You add more tracks and cars by winning races at varying difficulty levels. The arcade mode has additional features such as time attacks and free runs. Two player GT3 is excellent fun, especially with the fast and mean S-type cars, or drifting nose-to-tail rally races. With the additional resolution that the PlayStation2 offers, the split screen longer makes things harder to see.

The Gran Turismo section of the game allows players to mass wealth and cars by racing and winning a variety of competitions. GT3 has tens of different competitions to enter for all types of cars. Most competitions have some form of restriction - be it the type of car, engine type, tuning, licenses required, or year of manufacture! These ensures you will nearly always have a car that is suitable to run in a competition. I say nearly, because I've found that it is possible to tune a car that isn't quite ready to compete in the higher competitions, but easily defeats other cars in previous competitions. This means you redo certain competitions in order to win more money to outfit your car more. Still, it means you practise the tracks for the later competitions!

The actual driving is a very realistic experience. The physics modelling is unparalleled, with ever feature of the car from the obvious gear ratios to more subtle features like wheel camber. Each car definitely handles in its own unique way and responds differently to components being added or tweaked. Different road surfaces make a definite difference to the driving, be it tarmac, dirt/grass or a wet surface. During longer races, you tyres wear down requiring your to make pitstops. You even have to change your oil occasionally to keep your car in optimum condition!

Artificial Intelligence

In favour of the GT3 AI, I did notice that the computer AI was a lot more varied. I've seen the computer "make mistakes", like misjudging corners or skidding off the track - although these mistakes are made each time the AI plays the track. The cars also take different race lines, making the race environment look a lot more realistic - not a bee-line.

Conclusion

	8.6
	Platform: PlayStation 2 Liked: Beautiful graphics, physics, options, playability, bonus items, longevity. Disliked: False AI claims. .: Buy at Amazon.com :. .: Buy at Amazon.co.uk :.