Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
94 of 108 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
not quite five..., May 31, 2001
i love this game but, with that said, i want to get the bad stuff out of the way... LESS CARS-many less...a lot of my favorites have gone the way of the dodo. 126 cars to start with, with a few more added later, is a lot, but when compared to four to five times that in gt2, it pales in comparison... DUMB A.I.-sure the computer cars are a little more "intelligent" than before, but when a random car that had never been touched slams its brakes, effectively taking it out of the race, just to stop the player, then their is work to be done... besides this, all cars still follow a racing line, albeit not as religiously as before. a.i. could be better... NO DAMAGE-understandably, the manufacturers will not allow the gt producers to portray their perfect cars as anything less than that(i.e. no scratches or dents in these work machines), but slamming a wall at 200km/h plus,(i have japanese version) will have repurcussions. i will gripe and gripe until this is corrected! NO WORKING HEADLIGHTS-i will give my right eye for a left one that can see the road! why turn on the headlights at all? the street lights obviously do an adequate job! the headlights look pretty, but do nothing! yes this is a minor gripe, but simple physics is not too much to ask for! argh... ok...with that out of the way, time for the good... GRAPHICS-obviously being the first thing one will notice, the graphics are phenomonal! sure, the audience remains a cardboard cut-out and the rear- view mirror does not present all the fixins(very generic), but with these being the only flaws, this game is truly a sight to behold. the lighting is extremely impressive(i was actually blinded by the sun) and the textures are right on. i have read of texture lighting problems, but have yet to experience any. all the touches are in the right places. and the replays...beautiful! MUSIC-again, sony got different bands for the soundtrack...like lenny kravitz, feeder, grand theft audio, overseer...it really keeps you motivated. although i do like the music in gt2 a bit better(one of the best video game soundtracks ever), this music was still right on! MORE RACES-even more races including the gt2 rally races and some f-1 racing this time, the race options are amazing! IMPROVED PHYSICS-not a very noticeable change, as gt2 had great physics, but a significant one at that. rear and mid engine cars do not flair as wildly out of control as in the past, and the new wet ground physics are great. the pinball action off the side rails remains, however... running out of space, i realize there is a lot to say about this game, and it is an extremely enjoyable experience. granted, the time to make each car model limited the selection this time around, but there are still more cars than any other ps2 racer. try it out and see...especially if you have never played a gran turismo game...you are sure to enjoy!
|
|
|
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Worth buying a PS2 for this game alone, April 23, 2003
I literally have not bought another PS2 game since I've had GT3 for over 4 months. I've taken it out of the player maybe once or twice. It is the most realistic driving simulator I've ever tried.Good points:
* Good selection of cars (and colors). Everything from econoboxes to muscle cars to sports cars to F1 and prototypes.
* Good selection of tracks, including city, race track and rally. Plus several real-world (the challenging Laguna Seca and Monaco tracks)
* Cars are customizable: add parts, fine-tune settings.
* Good custom wheel selection
* Realistic driving physics. Oversteer/understeer, wheelspin, weight shift, suspension mods, etc. behave as you'd expect.
* Great graphics
* Challenging
* 2-player battle and iLink (you can hook up several PS2's and compete) Not-as-good points:
* AI cars hit you, each other and the walls, and can be annoying.
* Car selection emphasizes Japanese cars (not that they're bad, but I'd like to see more European)
* No damage model or rollover, so bouncing off walls has no effect
* Rally races aren't set up like real rallies (they're all head to head as opposed to beating a time)
* Only appearance change is wheel. I'd like to see custom graphics, paintjobs, bodywork, etc. If you're looking for an arcade action game, this is not it. You'll likely be frustrated by the license tests which need lots of practice to get through. And most of the races require some level of license. But if you're looking for a challenge and to improve, the license tests will make you work for your skills, and enable you to beat some tough AI competition. But even with a few problems, I give it 5 stars. I could probably get by without buying another game until GT4 comes out. Seriously, it's cheap. Buy it.
|
|
|
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Seriously fantastic, August 29, 2001
First, let me offer a critique for people who haven't yet played this game and are interested in it. While GT3 has a robust Arcade Mode component, this game is really aimed at people who are seriously interested in, and love, auto racing. You cannot accomplish much in GT3 by just mashing the accelerator and pointing the car. This fact will frustrate some to the degree that it addicts others. This is almost as real as it gets in a racing game; this is not a fantasy racing game where cars function in a Universe ruled not by the physics of Newton but by those of a Saturday morning cartoon.
The game's physics engine is astonishing. Every car feels different. Those who claim otherwise do not know what a car feels like. The downside to this, for some, is that you absolutely must know how to set up a car, depending on track, type of race, and your personal driving style. There is no "one" right set-up for any given car. You have to learn how you drive, and then set your car up accordingly. Again, for some, frustration, for the rest of us, heaven.
You must also pass licensing tests to compete at higher levels of the game. I have passed them all, with no cheating, and I assure you, you will need to skills polished by the tests to have fun at each new level.
The graphics are stunning. Clearly, Sony realized so much customer satisfaction would derive from being able to replay the results of your efforts and look so good.
Sadly, the game's AI sucks raw eggs, especially compared with the game I constantly compare GT3 with, F! Championship Season 2000. The one good thing about GT3's AI is that the other cars make mistakes, and do not drive like RoboCars all the time. The bad thing is, they seem oblivious to the presence of your own vehicle. These are, for the most part, fendered cars, so some bumping and shoving goes with the competition. I accept that, when fighting for position-but not when I'm lapping a guy repeatedly. The other guy can be five laps down, and he still fights you for the best line, even when you are already occupying it. The good news is that the AI sets the competition at appropriate levels throughout the game. The guys at the higher levels are going pretty quickly, and you have to have some talent to beat them.
There is no destruction from contact, let alone impact. Here, the F1 game is far more realistic; in F1 Champ Season, your car falls apart if you sneeze on it. I understand the manufacturers that licensed Sony to use their vehicles stipulated they wanted no crash realism, lest their cars look bad. I can live with that.
I'll end this segment by saying I am completely addicted to this game. Selecting your cars, tuning them, then setting them up before the race is, in my opinion, 80 percent of the battle for victory. This is a game that rewards doing your homework. How you feel about that statement will probably determine whether or not you love this game.
Now, for people who are playing the game:
I've got both the Super and Rally licenses, so I feel I can say this: Some of the tests are needlessly sadistic, especially when you flunk for knocking over a rubber cone or brushing a railing. This happens in real racing all the time. Having said that, they are all passable. Some of them took me over 100 tries; and who in his right mind turns off traction control on a racing car, like they do in the tests? If you persist, and understand that each test is trying to teach you something, you will learn what the lesson is and pass the test.
The tire wear simulation when you hit the IB license level throws you for a loop at first. There is a whole lot the game's documentation neglects to tell you. When your tires get worn, pull into the pits, and the game will automatically reset your tires to "new," which also means "cold." You will have to learn (1) how to drive to conserve your tires, (2) how to drive on cold tires, and (3) how to keep going fast on worn tires. The best strategy is to start on very hard tires. For a car of any kind of power, and a race more than 3 laps, you are really only going to use racing tire levels 2, 3 and 4, and 4 only rarely. Ideally, choose a hardness that will let you run the whole race without pitting, but without the tires going completely off. If some cars seem considerably faster than you at the start, and your hardware is on a par with them, they are almost certainly on softer tires, and will fall back into your clutches.Therefore, if you are going to plan to pit, take advantage of qualifying to find out, you know, WHERE THE PIT ENTRANCE IS! You don't want to have to be hunting for the pits when you need to stop.
I have also found that cranking in all the downforce a car has helps with the tire and handling situations. Find the downforce settings on your Car Settings menu. Most street stock cars don't have this option, but all the racing cars do.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
