For 4 years, I’ve been waiting for this moment, and now, it’s finally here.
Look at it, look at it. It’s so preeetty…
And now that I’ve finally gotten my mitts around a copy of the game, I’m going to gush even more about it like some excited little girl. But importantly, I can now try it out for myself and neglect my work. 800 real-world cars (!!!), including the Nissan GT-R, the Ferrari F2007, and the Le Man Prototype Audi R8 race car, and around 40-something tracks. Yes, I know, most of the tracks don’t really exist in the real world, and you don’t see what all the fuss is about because you’re boring, but still, 800 cars… That’s pretty awesome. And with so many cars and tracks, it seems like a game I’ll be playing for a really, really long time to come. My CAP score screams in horror as I spend hours playing the game everyday, but I love Gran Turismo. Until I get my results…
And that’s not the only drawback with this game. It may have a “Challenge” mode, where you learn more about driving on a track through series of challenges, but there’s no career mode… which is fine actually. Also, I can race with a maximum of 3 other cars at the same time. Yes, not 1, not 2, but 3 opponents. That’s even more than the number of girls I’ve dated.
So exciting…
But then again, the silliness of a 4-car race is justified by, and probably caused by, the frame rate of 60 frames/sec(which is almost unheard of for a driving game on the PSP), and the mostly immaculate modelling of the cars. No grainy, vague looking shapes here. The shape of each car model faithfully conforms to the appearance of its real world counterpart. You can really tell which car you’re looking at just by looking at the shape of it, because here, unlike in NASCAR, a Ford Mustang really looks like a Ford Mustang, which is brilliant. And it’s not just the shapes of the cars that are accurate. You can really discern the different handling characteristics of each car as it pitches and rolls through the corners as well. And if you’re driving a Ferrari Enzo or a McLaren SLR or something that’s supposed to have spoilers that extend at higher speeds, the spoilers actually do that in the game! The first time I drove up behind the SLR in the game and watched the spoiler come up on the SLR, I was so impressed, I drove into its rear end.
It’s this attention to detail that makes Gran Turismo stand out from the rest of the games out there, especially on the PSP, because it’s first and foremost a simulator. If you’re a fan of arcade-style racers, you probably won’t be very fond of this, because this is something that actually requires you to brake 200m ahead of a hairpin turn. It requires you to drive sensibly, and driving sensibly is good. All drivers should learn how to drive sensibly. That way, we’d have fewer women driving on the roads…
One thing that did bother me though, was that you can only purchase cars from 4 manufacturers at any one time. The manufacturers randomly rotate after every other race or event that you enter, so theoretically, you should eventually see all the cars from all the manufacturers after a few lifetimes, when they’ve all become obsolete. I wouldn’t mind this too much, but my PSP seems to be incredibly fond of Nissan, Toyota and Mazda, which is annoying, because I don’t want to buy Nissans, Toyotas or Mazdas anymore. But that’s pretty much the only thing I don’t like about this game. Otherwise, it’s a simulator, and simulators rock. Especially good ones.
After all, who needs 3 girlfriends when you can race 3 other cars around the Nordshleife?
Many thought it would be nothing but vaporware, relegated to the depths of the eternal trash can of development hell. But my faith in Kazunouri Yamauchi and Polyphony Digital has finally paid off – the reason that I really got my PSP is finally here!
Well, at least it’s going to be here. First announced with the original PSP, and with its latest announcement on the same day as the new PSP Go, it’s been christened Gran Turismo Mobile, and is set for release on the 1st of October this year, which means I’ve gotta wait 5 more months to get my hands on it. Unless it gets delayed again, in which case, I’ll probably have to wait for a PSP Come before I get any wind of it again… But my faith in Kazunouri Yamauchi and Polyphony Digital shall prevail, and I trust they will deliver on October the 1st.
And the new Gran Turismo 5 makes me wanna get a PS3, because it just looks absolutely stunning:
I feel so infatuated now…
Ok, that’s probably the most “duh!” title I’ve had on any of my posts so far, but I was watching Iron Man with Yujun, Nik, Vince and Yuan Chuan on Monday night, and after we got out of the theatre, Yuan Chuan said “This movie is so ‘Engin(eering)’ lah,” and he’s so right! There’s got to be at least a couple of Engineers among the folks who did the CGI effects for the movie, because all the way the machines in the movie look and function are just so cool! If you’re a gearhead or majoring in any form of Engineering, this movie is a must-watch. Yeah, sure, the tech involved is all fictional, and the physics behind the action sequences are, well… what physics? But despite all that, it’s just so techie! And I never knew Gwyneth Paltrow could be so cute…
But oh man, that poor, poor Shelby Cobra…
After numerous delays with the window tinting and rustproofing, our new car has finally arrived! The Nissan Latio, as driven by Hiro Nakamura, or rather, by his accomplice, Ando Masahashi, in the American TV series, Heroes (which really rocks, by the way). Except in America, it’s known as a Nissan Versa and has a bigger engine, and Hiro’s car is black.
Why can’t they just market the car as the Versa here too? It sounds so much nicer than “Latio”…
But this is just as well. You can really feel the improvement in the amount of power the gas pedal is controlling, probably due to the CVT (continuously variable transmission), which also makes this car more fuel efficient than the conventional 4-speed automatic gearbox in the old Nissan Sunny we used to have. The steering feels a lot lighter than the old car, although the turning radius on the Latio Sports is wider, but I can still make a U-turn in 2 lanes if I keep more to the left of my lane on the approach to the turn.
The interior is really something else. The back seats are so roomy it doesn’t really feel like a compact car. The front seats are pretty comfortable as well, with height adjustments for the driver’s seat for a higher sitting position. The tachometer and speedometer are housed in a sharp looking binnacle – or rather, trinnacle, if there is such a word - behind the steering wheel. The handbrake has morphed into a pedal to the left of the foot-brake pedal, which takes some getting used to, but also provides space for an inclusion of an exceedingly long armrest, which makes driving the car that much more comfortable. Add to that a head unit that includes an auxiliary input, plays MP3 and WMA CDs – and cassette tapes, if you are THAT old – and a 12 disc CD changer, and I could drive this for the rest of my life.
With breaks in between for meals, sleep and other activities of course.
So what happens to the old Nissan Sunny?
It’s going to be scrapped. Which is pretty sad, because it was actually a pretty good car. It was reliable, it took us where we needed to go, and most importantly, it doesn’t spontaneously combust. Sure, the power plant was somewhat thirsty, and the rear seats were a bit cramped (but why should I care? I don’t sit there…), but it served us well and got us where we needed to go. And it’s still looks pretty new, despite the battle scars on the front bumper.
Kinda sad, but that’s the way it is.
Anyway, my brother and I were watching Wildboyz on MTV the other day, and they played this game with some Russian nomads, called “Vodka Slap”.
“Vodka Slap” is the name of the game, not the name of the nomads.
So “Vodka Slap” is a 2-player game. And the idea is that the first player holds a shot of vodka in his/her mouth, and the other player has to slap the first player’s face once, to force him/her to expel the vodka in his/her mouth. The players take turns being the slapper/slappee until one of the players manages to hold all the vodka in his/her mouth after being slapped. Then the game would end, and that player wins.
It doesn’t look like a fun game to play, but it sure is fun to watch.
Filed under: Automotive
Ferrari fans might not like this very much;
The guy in the car was Eddie Griffin, practicing for a charity race in promotion of his new film – Redline. The Enzo Ferrari belonged to Daniel Sadek, who is also the executive producer of the movie.
For those who have been hiding under a rock for the last 5 years, the Enzo Ferrari costs around US$1,000,000 – US$1,500,000, and only 400 Enzos have ever been made.
Ouch…
