Kept me up till 2am

Author's Rating:

Pros: Addictive, cool graphics, sensation of speed, car physics, role playing elements

Cons: Frustrating at times, time delay switching between features

The Bottom Line: 
All in all a great game, it's got that "one more go" playability. Anything that keeps me playing till 2am the first day is a keeper.

Author's Review
Intro:
I read other reviews before buying this game and found complaints about no visable car damage, car choice and track limitations. Hmmm....

Now I grew up with Pole Position and Super Sprint and it was about the gameplay not the graphics, my son got himself a PS2 before leaving for college and I played GT3 and it blew me away with the realism. So back to GT 2002.... It looks great, sounds great, plays well and has more than enough cars and tracks to shake a stick at. The car damage? I suppose it would be nice to see something but it really doesn't detract. Anyone who has had some real world experience in this area will know that any kind of bump over 30mph is going to pretty much wreck your day. I suppose a minor scuffle with another car could have been depicted but where do you draw the line? Smashing into a barrier at 100mph and continuing to drive it not realistic guy's. So it seems to me there is a choice, put that level of realism in, and everyone will most likely complain it's too difficult, or go Sega's route and deal with it as a damage bar and effect your cash but keep the game to a good balance of playability. Oh and FYI, I have not seen or played Project Gothem Racing.

Objective:

Buy a car, race and earn cash to maintain and upgrade your car/s or buy new one's. Simple...

Details:

There are four area's of your car you need to keep an eye on. Tires, engine, suspension and brakes. These wear out and need either replacing or overhauling from time to time to stay competitive. This is a neat feature as it makes it all the more realistic, just when you thought you had the cash for a turbo charger, you need to buy new tires leaving you short. Frustrating sometimes, but adds that "One more race" playability. Being new to the game I didn't watch this and then suddenly my car began behaving like a bus... checked the damage screen and everything was red. Erk...

Let me give you my story so far: I bought myself a Celica GT 1600 and entered my first race, it took a few attempts and then I started winning, and upgrading the car. Then I entered the Official events to work towards my licence and won another car and more cash. I went back to the events and won some more cash to upgrade the car. Back to the Official events and I soon grabbed my class C licence. At which point I suddenly struggled to win any races. Selling the car I won got me the cash to upgrade my trusty Toyota some more and pretty soon I was winning again, now I have me an awsome machine, turbo charged, racing suspension, etc,etc... and was trouncing the competition, but now I had my eye on the Nissan 350Z so I went and bought that. And ended up at the back of the pack????? Huh?? now this was a little odd to me, but I guess a highly modified old car would probably thrash a stock showroom model. So I started with the upgrades, and managed to get comfortable again, not so easy to win, but winning I was. Next I went for my next licence class, and got it... only now I am left behind at the start line, hopelessly underpowered. My 350Z is no longer competitive and the Celica is only competitive in the 70's class. In the meantime the Jag I won can't even compete in the single class as it's stock. :( And thats where I am currently.

Now you know why I listed Frustrating in the Con's.

Having said all that the game is excellent and knowing how things work now, I would not take my next licence until I have a real firebreather of a vehicle....

Strategy:

How to win a race... There are three options:

1. Fast and Clean: If your buggy is all hopped up and able to smoke the other cars off the line, do it.... weave through the traffic before the first corner and you should manage to avoid any damage, then it's a case of staying cool and driving carefully. Yes there is a temptation to go as fast as you can, but hold back and only do what you need to do. Why? Because if you finish with a Perfect, no damage, you get a nice cash bonus.

2. Timing/Timing: Stay back initially and let the pack string out. This is a much more interesting race in terms of pressure. You have to time your moves and slip passed without hitting your competition. Just like real drivers, the CPU will try and avoid you, but they are not perfect either and if you slide in front of a car at the last min, they will nudge you, and then you can move to strategy three. Why stay at the back of the pack? Unless you can make it up front before the first corner, everyone is packed so tightly that the chances of staying clean are not good, on the other hand, if your car is not that quick, leaving it too late to move up means you may never catch the leader.

3. Dirty and Reckless

Sometimes the only way to beat another car that is faster than you is to shove them out of the way and then block em! This is a great technique to use for the Chronological races as damage is not counted. On the main game, a judicious shove here or there will not dent your cash winnings too much and could mean the difference between placing or not.

Likes:

- Graphics tracks and cars are sweet
- Photo taking
- Replay of winning races
- Role Playing style of upgrades
- Engine sounds, hear that turbo blow off
- Controls (straightforward enough, need no explination here)
- Speed, this is just like the real thing. Things get crazy and come at you too fast over 130mph... lets just say I have seen XXXmph on the road and it's not comfortable, the straight freeway is NOT straight at that speed no matter what you are driving/riding. The game depicts this perfectly.

Dislikes:

- Have to press too many buttons to skip the replay
- Drag racing is too much of a lottery, you can't see the stats of who you are up against so you never know if you should enter or not.
- Going to the garage or parts shop between races takes too much time in loading. Sega should have had a warning status so you don't have to keep checking your car wear and tear.
- Difficulty ramps up a little too quickly.
- Should have included a Stock racing event for unmodified cars

Oop's forgot the music... it's vanilla, unoffensive.