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Gran Turismo 2000

Four blazing new shots that show off incredible lighting and real cars. Vroooom!

February 25, 2000

Since they first hit magazine pages two-plus years ago, Gran Turismo and its successor Gran Turismo 2 permanently changed the face of videogame racing. The realism and detail of each car, the skill required to handle any one of the fully licensed cars, and the sheer depth of each game has made everybody look at their own products with more scrutiny than ever.
When Sony first debuted the PlayStation2 in Japan last September, the first game they showed to demonstrate the system's power was GT2000. Even with Gran Turismo 2 in the works, developer Polyphony Entertainment was able to construct a fully playable GT2000 demo for both the PS debut and the following Tokyo Game Show. At that time, the game was scheduled to ship with the launch of the system, on March 4 in Japan. Since then, however, the date has been pushed back. What's more is that Polyphony told the press that GT2000 wouldn't be a true sequel to Gran Turismo 2 in the same way GT2 was to the original GT. These two questions, the release date, and exactly what kind of successor GT2000 will end up being, are still up in the air.

What we can tell you is that, based on our first hand impressions at TGS, the game feels a lot like Gran Turismo 2, but looks 100 times better. Below are our first impressions of the demo.

First Look: Tokyo Game Show
Just as soon as we got all excited about Gran Turismo 2 coming out last December, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. laid down the most superior smack that ever was, when it debuted GT2000 (or Gran Turismo 2000) on the PlayStation 2 at the Tokyo Game Show last September. By far the most superior looking game at Tokyo Game Show, GT2000 made its own still-in-development brethren look like an 8-bit NES game almost instantly. That’s not to say GT2 looks bad, because it’s one great-looking PlayStation game, one of the best ones, in fact. But there simply isn’t comparison between the two.

If anything can be said about GT 2000, it’s that the game is too realistic. Yeah, we know, that sounds like criticism for criticism’s sake, but it’s rare that even the best polished, most manicured, pampered, spiffed out car looks as good as these cars. It’s like Sony and Polyphony reinvented car wax or something, or added diamond chips to the paint coat of each car. These cars glisten, shine, and beam with light. Brand new looking Dodge Vipers coming straight off the conveyor belt look like a sad sack of potatoes in comparison to these cars.

It appears that thousands of polygons make up each car. It’s hard to tell from this early stage if Bezier curves already are implemented, but the smooth, fluid car designs show no sign of seams, clipping, or a sharp edge out of place. And or course the backgrounds and streets were finely detailed, to an extent that hasn’t been seen before on the PC or the Dreamcast.

But if the sharpest looking cars in the world didn’t grab us instantly, the ferocious sense of skill required to play this game sure did. There’s no doubt about it, Gran Turismo is not for the faint at heart. You must be skilled in order to play, and for that to happen, you have to play a lot. It’s not just casual playing, either. You must learn the courses and the cars. Don’t go out picking an "A" grade car, manual shifting, and selecting “drift” in your first race. Heck, don’t pick that combo for the next six months. The level of practice, or sheer depth in gameplay, is defined right here in GT2000.

IGNPSX readers always ask is you can flip your car in Gran Turismo or Gran Turismo2. Well, from the looks of GT2000, you can knock your car on two wheels, and spin-outs are a dime a dozen if you suck, or if a not-so-friendly friend touches you off in to a tailspin, but I have yet to see a car flip. What I did learn is that keep a spin from ruining my race is an aspect that remains in GT2000. Once in a spin, just pull up on the accelerator for a second or two, keep the wheel turned in the same direction and then floor it again, and you’ll generally pull right out. Sony’s own videos of GT2000 show the same skills being performed.

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Page Updated Sat Apr 29, 2000 5:29am EDT