GT4: Prologue

Sony gives European gamers a brief taste of the highly anticipated Gran Turismo 4.

Despite the remedial nature of the driving school, it's all rather well put together. Each task is explained to the player by Vicki Butler Henderson, though unfortunately it's just a voice over job rather than voice/visual. The tasks are well explained at the graphical style of the school - looking like the road sign section of the highway code, works well. Yet even for people who've never played a GT game before the early stages are going to seem horribly simplistic.

The arcade section is the game's free mode. Players can use any of the cars unlocked in the driving school on the five tracks and race against AI cars on three of those. This is the place that's going to be more popular with GT veterans as it can be used for free hot lapping and recording replays. There are no car tuneup options in GT4 Prologue other than a choice of tires and turning driving aids of and on, but the arcade mode is still entertaining once the player has some good cars to play around with.

Alas there doesn't seem to have been much progress with the AI and once again it looks like GT4 won't really be that great a racer, but the arcade mode is fun none-the-less. Two of the tracks seem rather similar but the Grand Canyon rally course, Manhattan circuit and narrow Italian town course offer different challenges and some exciting action.

As far as graphic design goes, you'd be hard pressed to find anything better looking on the PS2. It's all rather cunning really, as some of the backgrounds aren't actually very detailed, the models often rely on alpha blended textures rather than polygons and the low texture abilities of the PS2 are well known. But Polyphony knows how to work that PS2 hardware and the lighting adds a realistic tough few can match. The replay cameras are still the best in console gaming and so despite the lack of trackside detail compared to many Xbox games, the cars and the way they look in replays is the best in the field. The animated spectators are a nice touch, especially on the rally track where they run onto the road to take pictures.

To get the best out of the physics model really requires a force feedback steering wheel. My Logitech driving force does a great job of conveying the feel of driving a real car with GT4 Prologue, though I'm looking forward to trying the new wheel that boasts 900-degrees of turn from lock to lock. The Dualshock pad isn't great at getting the best from the game by any means, especially compared to new controllers with analog triggers. Polyphony boasts that the physics system has been rebuilt from the ground up for GT4, but to be honest it felt just like GT3 to me.

So here's the problem with GT4 Prologue, as a taster for the full GT4 it really doesn't give the impression there's much new in GT4. Yes the finished game will have online and photo modes, but the actual driving experience feels the same as GT3, and the AI cars are still woefully inadequate when compared to the latest TOCA game from Codemasters or even more arcade based titles such as PGR2. Invisible walls on the rally circuit and poor collision physics with AI cars really do give the impression that the franchise isn't really growing in the right direction.

It's hard to recommend GT4: Prologue then. For those who have not played GT3 then it makes more sense to spend £20 on that game which offers months of gameplay. For veterans of the GT franchise this taster will seem like a return to elementary school and they will feel patronised by the very basic early driving school lessons. Okay, for the true hardcore who must have everything GT then perhaps it's worthwhile, and what limited content is in there is good fun, but unless you're the kind of person who bought GT Concept, you'll more than likely be better off spending £25 elsewhere.