Customer Reviews

Gran Turismo 2 (Prima's Official Strategy Guide)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

As the majority of the reviewers have stated, this book is basically worthless. 90, count 'em, NINETY pages that contain nothing but blurry side-view pictures of the basic cars plus their HP rating and base cost. NOTHING about any of the special cars you can win. NOTHING about what the hop-up parts can do for them. Just basic information that you can easily get in the game.

The "guide" begins with a very basic walkthrough of all the License tests, explaining things like "Drive smooth," "don't crash," and "go fast." Honestly, if you haven't figured out how to get through the tests after running each one a time or two, you should probably go back to playing "Pole Position" on an Atari 2600.

The "guide" ends with some useless wireframe (WHY! ) views of the tracks, most of which are done at a 3/4 view. Let me repeat: useless. There's a token 2 pages at the very end that reference adding aftermarket parts to your car to improve performace.

The BIGGEST sin of this piece of trash, in my eyes, is the fact that other than one sentance it makes NO mention of the Arcade disk. No commentary on how to open the hidden tracks. No list of what cars are released in Arcade mode by winning races in the Sim mode. Nothing.

Prima's "guides" have never been very good. They've always been light on real info, and heavy on parroting stuff that's already in the game or manual. But this is just unexcusable. Even the guide for the first Gran Turismo had a little useful information in it. This has NONE. The "authors" (and THAT'S a REAL stretch) ought to be ashamed to have their names on this tripe. The only reason it gets one star is because I can't give it ZERO or a negative amount.

Consider yourself warned. If you purchase this book, your mama raised a fool.

Unlike the strategy guide for GT-1, this book totally misses the mark. Poor car pictures and little valuable description. Nothing in here to aid the player in setting up cars. Don't waste your money--better information is available on the internet for free.

This book is, in a word, worthless. Gran Turismo 2 is one of most deep and involved games ever made. One would expect from a strategy guide--an OFFICIAL one, no less--an in-depth look at everything it has to offer. You might expect detailed lists of all the events. You might expect strategies for buying and upgrading your cars. You might expect something that would make the term "strategy" fit this book. Well, if you are expecting any of these things, DON'T! First off, 85 out of the 165 pages in the book are rediculously blown-up PICTURES of most of the cars in the game and nothing more. You'd figure if they go to such depth to create a picture book, they might as well have shown every car. Not the case here, folks. There's some maps of the tracks, but not anything that you don't get at the bottom left hand corner of the game screen. You get a layout of the license tests with "tips" as to how to tackle them, but this information is available in the game itself by clicking on the word "Demo" on any license test screen! And worse yet, the final license class (S-class) is not mentioned in the whole entire book! The tips alluded to earlier amount to nothing more explicit than "brake when you're going into a turn," and "floor it on a straightaway." Heck, the instruction booklet gives you more hints on how to play the game. The only strategy (if you can even call it that) presented here is the final 2 pages of the book, where Mr. Winding offers you one possible way of getting started in Simulation Mode. Big deal! The rather useless guide for the first game at least let you know the best options for ALL of the cars, not a single one. I think I've made my point. Prima's guide was nothing more than an attempt to cash in on a proven franchise. Avoid at all costs, and search for an online FAQ or an issue of Expert Gamer magazine to get something that could pass as a strategy guide.

I got more info from the booklets that came with the game. This book doesn't have any car setups? (the most important thing) Doesn't tell you the cars that you can win? Nothing about the Super license? Doesn't list all the cars? I'm pretty upset that I bought this! I pre-order this book before it was released...what a mistake! There wasn't any reviews written, so I would know what a rip-off this is! I hope the authors of this so called strategy guide read this!

It's nothing but a rewrite of the manuals that come with the game, it contains no useful information or strategies at all. An utter waste of money.

nearly useless...good for finding a particular car..but NO info on settings,special cars,special races,where to use certain cars.etc. very weak

This "guide" (if it deserves to be called that) is entirely worthless. "Wow, it shows all the cars!"---Who cares? They are sorry pictures anyway and the "information" on each car doesn't explain diddly squat. "But it tells you how to build the ULTIMATE WEAPON!"---Well, there is no Used or New Mazda RX-7 GT-X that costs 6,740 Credits. This piece of junk doesn't earn its title "Strategy Guide", at most it earns the name ONE BIG POS! Take this advice and don't buy the THING that has Prima's name on it. The people who invented GT2 shouldn't have to be disgraced to see this ignorant interpretation that Prima calls a "Strategy Guide". Besides, at 15 bucks a pop, it is clearly to high. I made an awful mistake buying this THING, so please, don't screw yourself over. If you are considering buying this THING, I BEG you DON'T!

I bought this book believing it would offer insight into the game. The game of course is superb, although I do believe it to be easier than the first.

The book is prefaced by some details about the authors. One is described as a GT expert and the other as a racing "nut".

Sorry guys, but this is one lame book. There is more insight offered by the games' included manual than in this guide. It is badged as Strategy, but around 80% of the book just lists the cars you can buy. I could be mistaken here, but I can find this info out by exploring the game. No skill required on this one!

The first Gran Turismo had a reasonable guide book. It offered which were good cars to buy and which were lemons. It listed the cars received when races were won, which allowed strategic entry of races depending on which car you really wanted to win. It offered advice on how to set up you cars and offered some guidance on how to pass the tests.

The only guidance this books offers is in the license tests. Even then, it doesn't cover all the tests, with no mention whatsoever of the Special License Test. It certainly seems that the authors didn't actually play the game, just picked up the manual and re-wrote it.

The driving tips section of this guide is also laughable. It is crammed into 1 page with no content at all. Optimum cars for each track would have helped considerably.

Prima, you can do much better than this. I only rated it 1 star, because I am not sure if I can give it no stars.

Don't waste your money. Read the games included strategy guide and just experiment. You'll certainly learn more than this book can ever hope to achieve!

This book entierely sucked. I had expected something of a much higher quality. First off it took forever to get the thing too me. Over a month. Then when it does get here the thing is absolute garbage. It says ALL cars.. not true.. It says great hints.. not true.. the maps of the courses are worthless.. you cant tell what is the map and what is the road etc... I am entirely dissapointed with this book and I am sending it back ASAP.

i've seen better things in the corner of my bedroom on a bad day!