Gran Turismo 4

STORY / GAMEPLAY
You main goal on Gran Turismo 4 is simple. You just choose a car and race around trying to leave your opponents behind. The game features 52 different tracks divided into 4 different groups (World Circuits, Original Circuits, City Courses, and Dirt & Snow). It also provides 700 different car models from just about every major car manufacturer (sadly except of Ferrari and Porsche). You can also modify any car you own by gathering money from each successful win. A new feature to the series is the Driving Missions which are similar in experience to the real-life driving license tests. Also a new Photo Mode is included that allows you to control a virtual camera, taking pictures of your car either running on the track or staying still at specific locations! As an overall, this game is one of the best -and most realistic- racing games ever created for the Playstation 2 console.

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The game's engine handles a countless amount of polygons making each car almost photo-realistic. The environments and the tracks are absolutely beautiful and replicate real-life racing tracks with great success. Just watch a replay sequence and enjoy its magic! In terms of lighting, the track scenery, the car modeling and the texture details are awesome, although there are no real-time weather effects or any daytime changes during gameplay. The game's sound effects are fantastic and add great realism to the whole package, offering digitized engine effects from real sports cars. Top notch! Additionally, there is a cool variety of great music scores that accompany your winning efforts behind the wheel of a 400Hp little monster! If you're a racing games fan and you own a PS2, you should take a ride!