Over the years, we’ve played games from pretty much every genre under the sun, but there is one that is notably missing - the racing sim. We’ve dabbled with arcade racers like Burnout 3, and have played several kart racers - Diddy Kong and F-Zero GX to name a couple. But this is the first time we’re trying to learn how to actually drive a racing card under somewhat realistic conditions.

And what better game to start with than the highly lauded Gran Turismo 4? It boasts hundreds of hours of gameplay, and you’d be hard pressed to find a racing sim fan who hasn’t at least heard of it. There are an endless number of cars, tracks and conditions, and it's the kind of racing game that requires you to do tutorials on how to brake and turn simple corners before you get to the actual racing part.

So with all that in mind, just how good a video game is Gran Turismo 4? What does it offer to someone who knows nothing about cars, and wants to go round a track really fast? Is this a fun and engaging time, or is it a bland and dry simulator, for the ultra-enthusiasts only?

On this episode, we discuss:

Tutorials

• In what ways does GT4 attempt to teach the player the basics of learning to drive your car on the race track? Does it do enough to explain the why or does it just focus on the how?

Mechanics

• Just how fun is it to race around the tracks? Does the difficulty of taking corners and controlling steering end up being frustrating and repetitive, or is there a kind of satisfaction to be found here?

Tuning and Upgrading

• GT4 features an incredible number of different cars to choose from, upgrade options for them, and a bevy of ways to tune them to perform in different ways. How good is the game at delivering this information to the player so that they make informed choices?

We answer these questions and many more on the 119th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Gran Turismo 4 OST: Various Artists

Is Gran Turismo 4 the best racing sim of its era, or is there a better retro equivalent? How have modern racing sims changed from the formulae of the original? Are there any racing sims with a gentler learning curve when it comes to tuning your car? Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

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