never mind trawling through all those prerendered beauty shots with big landscapes that you'll never really look at up close til you crash - take a look at this enormous infodump. someone has taken the version of GT4 that's now out in japan, managed to get all/a lot of the cars, and started snapping away. yes, they're all fully expandable. it's a truly gorgous and jaw dropping sight to behold some of the machines in here.
considering there's a screenshot of a Volvo 240 Estate on the starting line recently added to Gamespot, and at very least a couple other cars not included here, i think it's safe to assume that it's not even an exhaustive list - i dont feel like i've just scrolled through 670 thumbnails, for one thing (mayyybe 400), and i bet - hope, anyway - the company will be tweaking and adding things to it right til the day either their DVD burner refuses to pack in any more data, or the decision comes in for the european version to Go Gold.
however i wouldnt get up hopes of seeing much polo action - polyphony seem to have a major boner for the Lupo, particularly the hilariously big engine ones (i suppose if you want to manufacture a fast but impractical car, taking a polo and cutting the boot off is a good place to start
). They should be a hoot to drive, at least.There is a Polo GTi, a five door one (the only 5 door water cooled VW on offer! Perhaps it's only reason for inclusion?) for which you can pretend it's a G. If all else fails, there's always the Ibiza Cupra, and who knows - a Fabia vRS may be dumped in at some point.
And of course, the mk1 Golf GTi, trupled with the very latest GTi model (the engine stats alone are a joy to perceive), and the R32.
Other hilights
Power:
well i'm a bit of a freak-and-unique geek, so i didnt concentrate too heavily on the high powered stuff. There's a nice pimptastic lowrider that looks to be the american competition winner, putting out a good 600 horse (looks fine and goes fast - oh yeah), the Tuscan Speed Twelve that TVR chickened out of selling unrestricted for UK road use (over EIGHT hundred in the same almost polo-sized frame as an already mental speed six), the W12 concept, and of course the daddy - the Escudo Pikes Peak, looking.... well... cant exactly say better than ever. Looks just like it did on the PS1, but with smoother textures and a higher rez (it's so angular!).
History:
Lets beat about the bush a little (to save the surprise). you can choose cars from a LONG way back, and i get the feeling the stage is set for at least two limited-model low speed showdowns, probably around paris, as exhibition or special challenge races. One class with 2 cars, another with 4 (possssssibly a full Gran Turismo-grid busting 7, if a trio of the japanese entries are eligible), all of them being pioneering and highly important vehicles. I'll let you discover them, they stand out like sore thumbs amongst the rest of the pack! Lets just say two are returning entries (one common, one quite rare)... another is an early prototype of a returning (and already lovable novelty) vehicle... the other 6 are DEFINATELY fresh metal to GT but welcome additions for longevity albeit not speed's sake.
Pick a side (though which you should go with should be obvious - "ours" will be the most powerful, but heaviest) and go have a hardcore classic showdown.
Then mod the t*ts off it!
With LAN play and the NOS feature, could even recreate a chase from a fave film featuring a gadget-happy gentleman thief, if only a '40s Humber Super Snipe turns up somewhere to complement two of the above
Plenty other less revolutionary but still stunning stuff up for grabs though - not one but two renault alpines (gorge!), alfa spiders and giulias, a triumph (yes!), a quartet of some bike-engined japanese 2 seater drop tops that could be monikered to correspond near perfectly performance-wise with each level of the mk3 polo petrol series, plenty of brilliant muscle cars, 50s roadsters, a karmann.... just name it, there's probably some representation. There's even a Jensen Interceptor - finally, a driving game even our dads can play and enjoy.
Beauty: Its hard to pick anything more to go in here because most of it was just covered in the last paragraph! The whole lot are in amazing detail and brilliantly rendered. Not a one looks a dog*, even the cars you know are.
Some still stand out though - the GT40, you just want to reach out and touch. It looks just like ---- no, better than a photo. No dirt!
* tell a lie. I just found the chevy ssr. but if i can find a second minger, the statement will become true again
...aha, redeemed - the dutch one. Explosion in a drainpipe factory!
Surprises:
plenty of them! here's a first clue... "Lutécia" -- no, me neither. that, a kit car that wants to be a 355 (memories of RUF, anyone?), a Honda Cube from 1975 that looks identical to the 2004 version save for the lights, and the koreans going all kerayzee on us with ill suited ralliers and scary concepts.
For all the talk of there being a few diesels and turbo diesels in there, the only one i've found is the BMW 1-series, unless a couple of the VWs are, in stealth.
Fun:
lots of the other concepts, from the Squarest Car in the World (frighteningly i think it reached production... even got square wheel arches) to the i-3 and several animalistic offroaders.
Caterham Fireblade (max power at about 10000rpm) --- presumably vs other cats and westfields i've heard proposed for it, along with elise etc.
Lots of rally cars as ever, including some bankable classics. Not just a choice of about 8, but loads.
Battle of the hybrids.... its not just Prius for breakfast any more.
Something which appears to be the car Mikey Jackson turned into in Moonwalker...
And of course, what you're all here for - 80s hot hatch showdown!
(and 70s, 60s if you can tolerate the usual enormous over-splurge of every last japanese model compared to slightly random euro/US choice cuts)
Final thoughts:
This is the game that will make me buy a playstation 2.
I will leave both of them in the shrinkwrap in a time capsule until I am 30.
Then I hope I shall be healthily able to play the game without destroying my life to do so.
Isn't it funny how even a lot of "Concept" cars these days follow the "vaguely brick-shaped, high sided 5 door hatchback with optimal airflow and minimum of unique design cues" look? Almost all of them in silver, too.
Final final thought:
Having only seen a few stills and the car lineup, i can say that i will buy a ps2 for this. Even if it just runs in reply mode where i never win because the handling and gameplay somehow are intolerable and impossible, it will be a point of pleasure just to leave such a replay running. It will just look so good.
In short.
Awesomeness. More so if it plays alright (ie, leaning a little further to GT2 than GT3)
thanks for your time
addendum
a piece of paper had just been handed to me in the studio
it says, you moron, you spent all your time there when you could have been at http://www.gtplanet.net where they have full lists and stuff like that.
whoops.
