Gran Turismo 2
| Gran Turismo 2 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Polyphony Digital |
| Publisher(s) | Sony Computer Entertainment |
| Designer(s) | Kazunori Yamauchi |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation |
| Release | November 20, 1999 |
| Genre(s) | Driving |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
Gran Turismo 2 (GT2) is a racing simulation game for the original PlayStation and is the sequel to Gran Turismo. It contains 22 courses, 6 endurance courses, and the first rally event courses, including the famous Pikes Peak hill-climb course. GT2 comes on two discs: an arcade disc and a simulation disc, of which the simulation disc has a "scratch and sniff" cover, which disappeared when the game joined the Platinum range of best-selling games. The separate discs are testament to the amount of depth added to the simulation mode in GT2, nearly doubling the number of available vehicles, adding new tracks, and structuring the events in a more logical fashion. GT2 also reorganizes the license system accordingly and keeps track of the player's completion percentage. The game itself bears nearly 650 licensed automobiles.
Differences from first game
The most noticeable difference is the fact that you could race events in separate races, not one big tournament. Qualifying was also cut, and the car number increased to 600. The graphics are also smoother, and gameplay is smoother.
The challenging Special Stage Route 11 track was cut, while other tracks were added. The game is now on 2 disks, and you could now race with your career cars in arcade mode, along with a garage from the memory card plugged into the second slot.
Critical Reaction
Gran Turismo garnered up nothing but positive reviews from professionals. Gamespot gave it a 8.5 rating out of 10 [1], and reccommended it for any gamer, car enthuiast or not. [2] Brett "nemesis" Franklin gave the game all 10/10 ratings in all catagories and even asked "Can we give the game an 11?" [3] And described it in just two words "buy it." [4]
Criticism
Many people complain about the glitches that are found in the game, and just plain wrongness unique to each game. Many people don't like the fact that the AI cars bump you and don't seem to know where they are going, but are determined to stay in a racing line. Other people don't like how there are less than 10 songs for racing, so they get very repetitive, but this can be solved just by going to settings, turning the music sound down and turning on the radio or playing a CD.
The most annoying part of GT2 is though, the fact that there are a bunch of glitches that are not just annoying, but they can interrupt gameplay and even ruin your game. There are a few known glitches that occurred multiple times, yet most of the time, there are certain glitches that only happen once, and are just plain strange, that appeared on early copies.
Sony later openly admitted that the game was rushed to the market, without development being fully completed. This is mostly because Sony wanted to get the game out on the market, because of the original game's success, they wanted to have the game to be on shelves by the time of the holiday rush, because it is obviously the biggest shopping time of the year. Sony said that they can debug your game if it is sent in, and newer versions of the game are bug free. Because the game was rushed to the market, you can only complete 97% of the game, mostly because it was supposed to include Drag Racing, but this was later removed from the game to get it to the market sooner, and they couldn't find a filler. This is proven because there is evidence of Drag Racing to be in the game, because they reference it in the game's manual, and you can unlock 3 drag racers. 2 from races, and the last one by race modifying a Dodge Intrepid. Despite this, fans have theories of how to complete 100% of the game, while many other just leave it at the fact that the game is incomplete because the Drag Racing was removed to get the game to the market in time for Christmas.
Notes
See also
Cars included in Gran Turismo 2