Review: Gran Turismo 3

Note: GT3 screenshots are courtesy of Justin Gould. Used with permission.

First of all, if you're a fan of the layout and the general gameplay of the previous games, you won't be disappointed. In terms of structure, the game is nearly identical to the previous games in the series; as before, there is an Arcade mode that allows you to pick and choose between different cars and tracks and race against the computer or a friend. However, chances are you'll spend most of your time in the Simulator mode, wherein you're given an initial outlay of $18,000 and must embark on a racing career. You can visit dealerships, buy cars, soup the cars up, go to driving school to get licensed to race in five different classes, and run different tests on your vehicles (such as seeing how fast it will run the standing quarter mile.) You can even wash your car and give it an oil change (which is highly recommended, by the way.)

All of this will be familiar to fans of the series. The game is played by starting off with a fairly modest car, winning lots of races, and building up your bankroll so that you can buy more powerful cars. You win races, which get you trophies, cash, and in many cases, bonus cars. You move up the ranks in the racing world, and progress from a small-time Sunday racer to a full-fledged driver with a 1,400 horsepower race car and a certified pit crew. And as before, there is a dizzying array of modifications that you can perform to your vehicles; if you want to supercharge your engine, you can -- for a price. The available modifications range from the obvious (such as putting on high-performance tires) to the esoteric (such as adding a carbon driveshaft or a molybdenum flywheel.) The hallmark of the Gran Turismo series is meticulous realism and an uncompromising physics model, and that has not changed in Gran Turismo 3.

An example of Gran Turismo 3's photo-realistic graphics, rendered in real-time.

The most obvious and dramatic change in Gran Turismo 3 is the graphics. The capabilities of the Playstation 2 have allowed Sony to take their existing addictive gameplay and realistic handling and overlay it with visuals that in many cases are indistinguishable from actual television racing coverage. As with the previous games, Gran Turismo 3 features a replay mode that allows you to sit back and watch a race once you have finished it. As before, the camera angles and points of view are user-customizable. The game features hundreds of cars, each of which are composed of an obscene number of polygons, and the Playstation 2's polygon-pushing capabilities are certainly put to the test. The result is a game that is a treat to watch; the scenery includes everything from lens flare effects from the sun to racing banners waving in the wind to heat ripples rising off of the racetrack. However, be warned: a lot of this scenery is difficult to digest at 200 miles per hour.

The sound in Gran Turismo 3 is also impressive. The game has been designed to take full advantage of Dolby surround technologies; if you play the game with a good set of surround speakers and a Dolby Digital reciever, you're in for a treat. If you're in the middle of a race and you have a Mustang SVT Cobra hot on your tail, you can hear the throaty growl of the engine behind you. If you are unfortunate enough to be passed, you will actually hear the sound of your competitor's engine move from behind you to beside you to in front of you .. an auditory reminder that perhaps you need to spend a few dollars upgrading your vehicle.

An SVT Mustang Cobra prepares to overtake a Corvette C5.

As with the previous games, Gran Turismo 3 features a soundtrack containing songs by many top rock artists. The game's opening sequence features a remix of the popular "Are You Gonna Go My Way" by Lenny Kravitz; other tracks include "Turbo Lover" by Judas Priest and "Kickstart My Heart" by Motley Crue. The game even features a brand new track by Snoop Dogg called "Dogg's Turismo III" wherein "Snoop" raps about Gran Turismo 3 and all of the features that it offers. This is unfortunate, because rap "music" is essentially a sanctioned form of African-American hatred directed at Caucasians; one would have hoped that such a blatant political statement could have been left out of this game.

Unfortunately, it gets worse.

The game's soundtrack also includes a Goldfinger cover of the song "99 Luftballoons", which was a popular anti-nuclear song in the 1980s. Pardon me if I'm out of line here, but am I the only one that is getting sick and tired of anti-nuclear propaganda coming out of Japanese video games? I played Metal Gear Solid and am considering purchasing its Playstation 2 sequel, but the amount of sheer liberal anti-nuclear preaching in the original game was enough to make me physically ill. The scary thing is that many of the people who play these games are young and impressionable teenagers who will actually believe the rubbish that games like Metal Gear Solid and Gran Turismo 3 trowl out. This crap was at least related to the events of Metal Gear Solid, which was, after all, a game about a walking nuclear tank. But what the hell do nuclear weapons have to do with auto racing? Namco didn't embed liberal messages like "save the whales" into Ms. Pac Man, for Christ's sake.

A Lotus Elise accelerates into the sunset.

Now, I am aware of the standard objection from the liberal "politically correct" crowd on this point: "Japan is the only nation to have been targeted and attacked by nuclear weapons, so they have a unique perspective on this issue." Bah. "Unique perspective", my ass. Harry Truman may have been a Democrat, but he somehow made the right decision. If we hadn't nuked Japan, then countless American lives would have been lost in the eventual invasion. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were legitimate military targets, and their destruction brought about the end of World War II.

Hey, Japan? You got nuked. Deal with it.

If the United States had not done what it did, then chances are that Japan would still be ruled by Emperor Hirohito's iron fist to this day. It is only because of the United States that Japan is the economic superpower that it is today; and it is only because of the United States that Japan is one of the leaders in crap racing games. You'd think that these jerks could show us a little bit of goddamned gratitude. Instead, what we get is an endless lecture about policy. Well, I for one am sick of it. I am sick and tired of being lambasted for heroic action that brought this planet out of one of the darkest chapters of its history. Japan needs to realize that they were on the wrong side of that particular conflict. The fact that they are using video games to try to make the United States a scapegoat is most unfortunate. However, rest assured that their transparent attempts to villify us will fail.

A Mazda RX-7 LM race car at night.

Bottom line: The silly, sorry sons of bitches that put this turkey together deserve to be banned from the video game industry permanently. Don't buy this game. It was made by a bunch of vindictive assholes.

Final Rating: 0.38 (out of 10.00)

	gawd that's side splittingly brilliant (2.00 / 1) (#11)
	by Anonymous Reader on Wed Jan 23rd, 2002 at 04:41:23 PM PST

	Dont mind me, I'm just happy to be alive.

	Hmmmm... (1.00 / 1) (#12)
	by Dr William King on Wed Jan 23rd, 2002 at 04:46:14 PM PST

	I don't think this kind of content is very adequate for this site. Thank you Dr. William King

	superb (4.50 / 2) (#13)
	by johnny ambiguous on Wed Jan 23rd, 2002 at 05:31:04 PM PST

	Insightful, incisive, a truly superb review. It's everything I expect out of you, 70%! ...Don't buy this game. I won't! Your fan, WDK - WKiernan@concentric.net Getting into my Chevrolet Magic Fire, I drove slowly back to the office. - L. Rosen

	Here Here! (5.00 / 1) (#14)
	by cac0f0ny on Wed Jan 23rd, 2002 at 06:34:50 PM PST

	Indeed, if Japan wasn't so stubborn, America wouldn't have had to nuke them. And it's benefit to the whole world can be seen as well. Has a nuclear weapon been used to attack since then? No. The reason? Because people say the destruction and realized that the weapons would be much more destructive now. No one wants to see that sort of death, but sometimes an example must be made before everyone can truely see the awesome power of the bomb. On a sidenote seventypercent, you write the best reviews ever. Patrick McFadden antispin.net

	confused. (3.00 / 2) (#15)
	by nathan on Wed Jan 23rd, 2002 at 06:37:59 PM PST

	It was made by a bunch of vindictive assholes... I thought it was made using Maya for Windows, rather than Linux. Nathan -- Li'l Sis: Yo, that's a real grey area. Even by my lax standards.

	Linux bashing (1.00 / 1) (#54)
	by Slubberdegullion on Fri Jan 25th, 2002 at 08:32:26 PM PST

	Oh, har-har-har, because Linux users are vindictive assholes. That is very witty. I'm glad that you brought this up at adequacy, since there has been a very obvious deficiency of debate about Linux. Way to jump on the anti-bandwagon, you jejune slubberdegullion.

	Forgot something (2.50 / 2) (#55)
	by Slubberdegullion on Fri Jan 25th, 2002 at 08:34:54 PM PST

	Oh, and another thing, you smell bad.

	Anti-American Propaganda (5.00 / 1) (#16)
	by jer on Wed Jan 23rd, 2002 at 07:27:00 PM PST

	One of the greatest issues I hold with GT3 is it's blatant Anti-American propaganda. The game features an astounding 9 Japanese dealers (listed first in the 'Auto Shop', a clear sign that the Japanese feel their capitalist system, which the US helped to invent in the 1950's, is superior th America's own), and an amazing 81 Japanese cars. Nissan alone ranked in as the number one, with an astonishing 17 cars (note that the Maxima, Altima, and Pathfinder, assembled in the American Tennessee factory). Not suprisingly, it only features automobiles by 7 'American' manufacturers (including the audacity to list Acura, the Japanese highline company of Toyota, and omit what may perhaps be America's proudest car lines -- the GM and Cadillac lines), and a total of 20 American cars. Furthermore, the one of the only true American raceslisted, the 'Stars and Stripes' race, is nowhere to be listed in the Professional league. What then is there? The 'American Championship', featured in the beginner league, is listed after the 'Japanese Championship'. After. That's right folks. There's no reason why Japan should be listed first -- this was a blatant attack on the good people of America. I fully support Mr. Seventypercent when I say to keep this Anti-American piece of refuse out of your, and your child's hands.

	Grammar fixes. (none / 0) (#17)
	by jer on Wed Jan 23rd, 2002 at 07:36:42 PM PST

	Excuse me. The rage inspired by the insipid developers at "Polyphony" caused me to type and submit the above message in haste. The first paragraph should read as follows: One of the greatest issues I hold with GT3 is its blatant Anti-American propaganda. The game features an astounding 9 Japanese dealers (listed first in the 'Auto Shop', a clear sign that the Japanese feel their capitalist system, which the US helped to invent in the 1950's, is superior to America's own), and an amazing 81 Japanese cars. Nissan alone ranked in as the number one, with an astonishing low number of 17 cars. Please note that the Maxima, Altima, and Pathfinder, assembled in the American Tennessee factory, are nowhere to be seen, showing yet more Anti-American propaganda.

	*stupid sses** (none / 0) (#20)
	by Anonymous Reader on Thu Jan 24th, 2002 at 03:07:50 AM PST

	hey stupids who claim this game is anti american to the american car industry; "Buy american", what the hell kind of stupid xenophobic remark is that?

	Yeah (none / 0) (#21)
	by Anonymous Reader on Thu Jan 24th, 2002 at 07:51:59 AM PST

	They sure definitely forgot the proud GM line, especially Chevrolet's Camaro and Corvette!

	acura is not owned by toyora (none / 0) (#62)
	by Anonymous Reader on Sun Jan 27th, 2002 at 07:25:50 PM PST

	Honda -> Acura Toyota -> Lexus

	Big mistake. (3.33 / 3) (#18)
	by Anonymous Reader on Wed Jan 23rd, 2002 at 07:43:08 PM PST

	This review missed the major problems with this game. I'm sorry, but Nintendo screwed up big this time. The game was unfairly weighted against the American cars. Where does it show the American families starving from laid-off workers if you buy a Honda instead of a Ford? Why does it play as if the Corvette didn't have excellent cornering? Why did they make the Viper so hard to control? It's unrealistic. Plus, the upgrading is nothing more than encouraging children to become car hackers. Your car is built a way for a reason, and changing the tires to the product of a fly-by-night company (like "dunlop" whatever that is) can do nothing but decrease performance. Perhaps this game is the product of several Japanese companies getting together and unfairly limiting competition from legitimate companies like Chrysler and Microsoft. There's even a name for these sort of racketeering groups: "Daihatsu". Remember that, and boycott Nintendo. Buy American games from American companies, like Namco.

	I really do despair (1.00 / 1) (#30)
	by because it isnt on Thu Jan 24th, 2002 at 06:57:13 PM PST

	Well, either your post was a joke or Let me just get this straight.... or? adequacy.org -- because it isn't

	Quit you bitching (none / 0) (#52)
	by Anonymous Reader on Fri Jan 25th, 2002 at 05:43:43 PM PST

	Big fucking deal. Oh my god! thier country was listed first! This is an attack on America. Americans are so hung up over who is listed first in the game you don't seem to realize that this is a great game. So what if there is a few more Japanese cars than American cars, if the game was manufactured in the US then you can be damn sure there wouldn't be a Mitsubishi in there. The bottom line is stop bitching over the petty differences and enjoy the game for what it is.

	Huh? (none / 0) (#56)
	by Anonymous Reader on Fri Jan 25th, 2002 at 09:07:15 PM PST

	I was, in fact, making a sarcastically poignant response to our dear poster. He complained about lack of "what may perhaps be America's proudest car lines -- the GM and Cadillac lines", which is of course an inane statement. GM is a parent company, not a line, and owns the Cadillac line in the first place (which, of course, does not make fast cars and as such does not generally belong in a glame like GT3). Of course, he also thought that Acura is owned by Toyota, so you can't expect much intelligence from such an inadequate poster.

	RE: Big Mistake (1.50 / 2) (#23)
	by Anonymous Reader on Thu Jan 24th, 2002 at 12:38:03 PM PST

	Well, either your post was a joke or you don't know what the hell you're talking about. Nintendo had nothing to do with this game, and it's not even on a Nintendo system. It's on SONY'S Playstation 2... wake up. And, if you know anything at all about cars, you would know that the Viper IS hard to control, and that's why it never wins races against Corvettes and other powerful cars. And, about the review... giving a game a rating of .38 because you don't like 2 of the songs is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Now... not being a "regular" at adequacy.org, I'm not sure if these types of reviews are supposed to be comical or what have you... so if that's the case, disregard my comments. I find it hard to believe anyone in here is serious, but if you are... WOW. People like this exist. heh

	Why don't admit to the wrongs in your post? (none / 0) (#66)
	by Anonymous Reader on Sat Feb 9th, 2002 at 02:59:10 PM PST

	Nintendo? Didn't you read the article?

	mhm? (1.00 / 1) (#19)
	by Anonymous Reader on Thu Jan 24th, 2002 at 02:42:57 AM PST

	Oh, you Americans gives me the creeps... /a swede...

	Oh yeah.... (1.00 / 1) (#26)
	by Anonymous Reader on Thu Jan 24th, 2002 at 03:33:49 PM PST

	Well, you swedes give us holy cheese and porn.

	The difference lying.... (1.00 / 1) (#34)
	by Anonymous Reader on Thu Jan 24th, 2002 at 09:43:18 PM PST

	....in the fact that Holy Cheese and Porn are good things, and Creeps are not.

	uhm no (none / 0) (#67)
	by Anonymous Reader on Thu Feb 14th, 2002 at 06:28:27 PM PST

	Holy Cheese is Swiss... as in FROM SWITZERLAND. Swedes give us Volvo's, crappy ass bands such as ABBA and Ace Of Base, and yes porn.

	Um... (1.00 / 1) (#22)
	by Anonymous Reader on Thu Jan 24th, 2002 at 11:11:54 AM PST

	"Nintendo screwed up big this time." Nintendo makes another system. What kind of rubbish is this? Rap music being against Caucasians? What about the white rappers? It's a video game review, I don't know why you had to go off in this tangent, the songs were put in due to the fact that they FIT IN THE GAME! I don't think you're fit to write reviews, your personal vendetta against rappers and Japanese people (psst, it was well over 50 years ago that we bombed them, most of those involved are DEAD.) has no place here.

	heh. (4.00 / 1) (#45)
	by derek3000 on Fri Jan 25th, 2002 at 12:24:51 PM PST

	What about the white rappers? What about them? Find me one underground, skilled white MC. Because if he doesn't run with that crew, he isn't worth arguing over. I'll give you a little hint here: Eminem is to rap what Blink 182 is to post-punk. Try some Anticon or MOP on for siz-ize. Bitch. ---------------- "Feel me when I bring it!" --Gay Jamie

	How many top quality white rappers do you want ? (5.00 / 2) (#46)
	by dmg on Fri Jan 25th, 2002 at 01:43:14 PM PST

	From the original himself, the Ice Man to the Beastie Boys to 3rd Bass to Insane Clown Posse to White Dawg to Fred Durst to Kid Rock to Everlast to Stereo MCs to 7A3 to Cypress Hill to WHAM to Icy Hot Stuntaz White rappers are at the cutting edge of hip-hop development, breathing fresh life into a scene made stale by boring second rate artists. White rap gets no respect not because it is bad, but precisely the opposite. It is because white rap reaches such a large audience and is so obviously better (if we talk in terms of saltes figures) that black artists feel threatened. Now I like good rap music as much as the next person, and I make no distinction based on race. I humbly suggest you check out some of the new 'white' rap. It may not be authentic, but it sure is entertaining. (unlike some garbage hip-hop) And while we are on the subject, some of the whitest rappers of all have been black. time to give a Newtonian demonstration - of a bullet, its mass and its acceleration. -- MC Hawking

	huh? (none / 0) (#49)
	by Anonymous Reader on Fri Jan 25th, 2002 at 04:26:17 PM PST

	"Find me one underground, skilled white MC" ... "Try some Anticon or MOP on for siz-ize" Huh? I completely fail to see your point. You contradicted the hell out of yourself. With Anticon alone you just pointed about about 10 skilled underground white emcee's. What about el-p? Lateef? Murs? The white guy in cunninlynguists? I can find you 20 pretty easily.

	Clarification (5.00 / 1) (#51)
	by dmg on Fri Jan 25th, 2002 at 05:30:12 PM PST

	derek3000 was trying to be elitist. He used the word "underground" in a way which leads me to suspect he is a player hater (n) One who despises or speaks ill of another because he does not have any game of his own. In other words, in derek3000's world, success is incompatible with talent. From this I can deduce that derek3000 is a Linux user, (he probably uses debian) and is rabidly agains the BSD license because of the freedoms it grants to capitalists to make crazy $$$s. So in derek3000s world, you can be talented, or successful, but not both. time to give a Newtonian demonstration - of a bullet, its mass and its acceleration. -- MC Hawking

	I couldn't have said it better myself. (none / 0) (#64)
	by derek3000 on Mon Jan 28th, 2002 at 06:19:35 AM PST

	Now let me get back to my commune. It's my turn to make the vegetarian chili. ---------------- "Feel me when I bring it!" --Gay Jamie

	Incest? Or are you just naturally retarded? (2.00 / 1) (#24)
	by Anonymous Reader on Thu Jan 24th, 2002 at 01:38:09 PM PST

	My god, you people are like the scum in the bottom of my trashcan. The kind of crap you don't bother cleaning out, instead you just throw the whole thing away. You go on about how great the game is blah blah blah, then say not to buy it because, well quite frankly, because the reviewer is an idiot. That comment, "you got nuked, deal with it". Sounds like your the one having trouble dealing with it. I hear people talk shit about this web site all the time, now i know why.

	hey, shut up. (none / 0) (#41)
	by nathan on Fri Jan 25th, 2002 at 08:32:51 AM PST

	Wow, a random, baseless insult from an anonymous coward. I'm soooooo upset. FOAD, loser. Nathan -- Li'l Sis: Yo, that's a real grey area. Even by my lax standards.

	what utter trash (1.00 / 1) (#27)
	by Anonymous Reader on Thu Jan 24th, 2002 at 06:02:42 PM PST

	I've never seen such ignorant american garbage in all my life. It almost makes me laugh, the keyword, is almost. You list their reason for having rap in GT3 as an anti-caucasion vendetta? Give me a fucking break. Try "good marketting", let's take a look at the kind of people that play GT3, and the kind of music they like. I'd bet on a number above 90% of GT3 players Enjoy if not love Rap music. And even funnier yet, is your declaration that Nagasaki and Hiroshima are logical military targets. I could laugh for days and days thinking about that.. tell me, what's military about them? That's like saying if a bomb were to be dropped on Atlanta, Georgia, or Miami, Florida it'd be a valid military target. Even funnier yet, is your reasoning that dropping the bomb saved American lives. No, it did not. Read up on your history before you start to claim to be a history buff. I'm afraid that there's novels upon novels of evidence suggesting that Japan not only would have surrendered, but surrendered UNCONDITIONALLY within the next few months, with no more lives lost to either side. Don't believe me? go read about it. The reason we bombed Japan was as simple a reason as I could possibly describe to you: It was to show the Soviets who had the big guns.

	novels upon novels of evidence (4.66 / 3) (#28)
	by Peter Johnson on Thu Jan 24th, 2002 at 06:08:44 PM PST

	I hate to break it to you, but novels are works of fiction. Can you please cite a source for your alternate histories besides Philip K. Dick. --Peter Are you adequate?

	indeed (1.66 / 3) (#33)
	by Anonymous Reader on Thu Jan 24th, 2002 at 09:23:47 PM PST

	Just ignore this [Peter Johnson] fellow's last post, he didn't pass the intelligence test as a child. Allow me to clarify: Nobody cares about you, Peter, and nobody could care less about your posts, let alone your opinion. True, novels are works of fiction; however, either you are a complete idiot or you were just fumbling with the author's original words to try and win a battle you already lost. Deal with it.

	true that (2.00 / 1) (#31)
	by Anonymous Reader on Thu Jan 24th, 2002 at 07:00:26 PM PST

	The guy who said that we nuked japan to make sure that the soviets knew that we had the big stuff is absolutely right. though my history prof. worded it a little more eloquently, it was exactly his point too. did we even care about the unconditional surrender? nope, but we needed some way to justify our nuking of them and still have the moral high ground.