Reviews// Gran Turismo HD Concept

The cars you open, in sequential order, are: a 1989 Mazda Eunos (aka MX-5) Roadster, a 2004 Honda Integra Type R, a 1996 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV GSR, a 2006 Infiniti G35 Coupe, another Evo – this time a 2005 Evo IX GSR – a 2004 Lotus Elise 111R, a 1994 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec II, a 1995 Toyota Celica GT-Four rally car and – hurrah – a 2006 Ferrari 599.

Once you’ve achieved the target time in the Ferrari 599, you gain the ability to negotiate the course backwards (which is a slight improvement, as you’re now going uphill when you come to the worst two hairpin bends), you unlock tuned versions of all the cars and Drift Trial mode is opened.

As the name suggests, you have to drift around the corners, earning a points total per lap. As you sustain a drift, you fill up red flags that appear on the screen; you have to exit cleanly without nudging a barrier or going off the road, or else you will lose your drift points.

Drift Trial swiftly becomes a bit frustrating, as it would be impossible to find a less suitable circuit on which to drift. If you’re going to drift, what you want is a nice flat purpose-built circuit with lovely sweeping bends, not a series of hairpins. Surely Kazunori-san could have come up with a different driving mode to add?

In general, the driving experience that Gran Turismo HD Concept provides is as good as ever. I found that, typically for Gran Turismo, you can achieve more control using the D-Pad to steer rather than the left analogue stick, and I soon turned the rather intrusive traction control, which has a nasty habit of slowing you almost to a stop in the middle of the tight corners. The game does look stunning, and there were no detectable frame-rate issues.

SPOnG Score: C
Conclusion