Gran Turismo HD [PlayStation 3]

"I think they will have to do something to improve the illusion of speed, it feels a little bit too slow at least during the turns. The cars are a bit too stiff, also the sounds doesn't resemble the cars at all. The Ferrari sound is embarrasing and annoying compared to the real deal."

"I Think its an amazing game, have played for hours since i got my ps3 a few days ago and to top it all i just got number 6 in the world rankings score with the 94 skyline heh and i wasn`t even trying at the time which made my jaw drop.
Give it a try guys, beat them times! : )"

"This is a review of the free downloadable demo "Gran Turismo HD Concept 2.0"

Gran Turismo is the most popular racing sim series, with 5 editions released on the PlayStation (part 1 and 2 on the PS1, the rest on PS2). So many race game fans are waiting for Gran Turismo HD for the PS3 (or whatever the name will be, probably just "Gran Turismo 5"). Its release date is not known yet, but luckily Sony has released a playable demo. Freely downloadable on your PS3, through the PlayStation Store. And it looks like GT5 is going to be a top game again.

I usually start my review with my first impressions of a game and that's always about the graphics. But here I just have to start about the controls. Wow the steering is so great, so fluid and tight. The feeling of being in control over the car is excellent.
It has been a while since I played Gran Turismo, but I felt right at home here. Steering with the left analog stick, accelerating and bracking with the right one, the perfect setup for me.

Strangely enough the demo comes with the traction control and the ASM switched ON by default. Using those settings, your car will automatically slow down as soon as you start making a turn, very annoying. So switch both off immediately. Having both off is also the only way to do some drifting and that is going to be very important in this GT game.

The framerate is top notch, as in every Gran Turismo game, a necessity for having this precise control over your car. In earlier editions of GT some concessions had to be made to achieve these high framerates, especially in the graphics department. But it seems that with the arrival of the PS3, those days are over. Graphically GT HD is just as detailed as its competitors, maybe even more. The game plays in full HD on 1080p resolution, if your screen can handle it. My plasma screen only goes as far as 1080i, but even that looks perfect. On these resolutions, I was expecting the game to drop some frames here and there, but that's not the case.

The track in this demo (The Eiger) is een short lap through a Swiss mountain area and it looks almost photo-realistic. The cars also look better, but it's the scenery that makes this game look better that previous editions. The mountains in the background, the cabins on the side of the road, the details like cracks in the tarmac, the grass next to the tarmac. In GT4 we still got the cardboard spectators, now these are real 3D persons and they're even moving about doing their thing.

As opposed to other free demos this GT HD demo doesn't have a time limit, you can play it as long as you want. There is only one track available, but it has 10 different cars, or 20 really, each car is available in a standard edition and a race-tuned edition.
There are two play modes, the Time Trial mode and the Drift Trial mode. Initially only the Time Trial mode is open and only one car is selectable: the Suzuki Cappuccino '95. If you do a lap round the track within the set time (2 minutes), you will unlock the next car (the Mazda Eunos Roadster '89). This one is a bit faster so now the set lap time is 1 min 45... And so you continue to unlock the list of cars:

• Suzuki Cappuccino ‘95
• Mazda Eunos Roadster ‘89
• Honda Integra Type R ‘04
• Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV GSR ‘96
• Infiniti G35 Coupe ‘06
• Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX GSR ‘05
• Lotus Elise 111R ‘04
• Nissan Skyline GT-R Vspec II ‘94
• Toyota Celica GT-FOUR Rally Car ‘95
• Ferrari 599 ‘06

The tenth one is a surprise, the first Ferrari in a Gran Turismo game. Doing a lap with the 599 within 1 min 25 will unlock the ten tuned editions of all cars. If you have played Gran Turismo before you will manage that in your first half hour with the demo. This will also allow you access to the Drift Trial mode.

In Drift Trial mode it's not about the fastest time, but about achieving the highest drift score. You score drift points for drifting through corners as nice as possible and as fast as possible. And the higher your drift angle, the more points you get. Very addicting, it is here that you truly begin to appreciate the tight controls. After a little practice you can steer your car through corners in a controlled drift, all with surgical precision. But once you master this with one specific car, that does not mean you can do the same in the next. The difference in behaviour is enormous. The 599 is hardest to control, because of the amount of HP on the rear wheels. A bit too much throttle and you're in a fence.

For me, getting to know the tracks has always been the nicest thing about the Gran Turismo games. Doing lap after lap, until you know every inch of every corner, until you know exactly where to brake, where to steer into the corner and where you can apply full throttle again, until you can do your laps while blindfolded. And this "The Eiger" track brings back that feeling immediately. It is addicting to keep improving your lap times and that feeling is enhanced by being able to see your position on the world ranking list. You can even download replays for the top 5 of that list, very cool. Learn from the masters.

I always try to end a review with some sort of buy / don't buy advice, but there that's a no-brainer: freely downloadable and very good too. If you own a PS3, then you know what to do.
I had already been looking forward to GT HD, but this demo has made me even more eager. I'm afraid I'll be doing many more laps round that Swiss track in the upcoming months..."