Jaw Dropped

My daughter is pretty good at some video games.  Soul Calibur 3 is one of those she kicks much ass on.  In addition to fighting games, she also enjoys racing games (arcade racers).  Her favorite amongst those is the legendary Burnout 3.  Up until two days ago it had been months since we played it.  At that time she did the same thing all little kids do when first learning racing games:  spun around a lot, hit the guardrails a lot, had to reverse a lot. 


Then everything changed.

The other night she asked to play it with me.  I loaded it up on the trusty PS2 and we picked our cars.  The countdown began, and I reminded myself that I would be stopping along the track a few times to let her catch up, much like I've done for Mirror when she attempted to master Gran Turismo 4 (and she will kill me if she reads that).

As soon as we got the green, she was past me.  In fact, it was an honest-to-goodness race, with her leading most of the time (she officially won two of three).  No rail running.  No out of control spins.  Just good ol' fashioned madness that the game is supposed to deliver.  I was so stunned that at one point I was convinced that I was playing the system and not my six-year-old.  Somehow between the last time we played and now she got good at it.  She hasn't been practicing at someone else's house.  She hadn't been practicing when I'm asleep.  She just got good.

Besides being impressed, I started mentally ticking off all the games I could introduce her to.  Games I have avoided because they take more precise control.  She was interested, too.  She started asking me about ones she could see in the stacks.  As she said, "I want to beat you at those, too."

Perfect.



Mandatory FTC Disclaimer:  Clicking on a link can earn me a small commission.  It could lead to some cool games, too.

A Sweet Pass

Man, Gran Turismo for the PSP just gets better and better. I'm currently driving the Kompressor ('98, for those who care). Took it on Laguna Seca and made some beautiful passes.

Racing simulators are best when played as you would really drive. If you play them like an arcade racer you are going to be disappointed. If, however, you drive the car like you would in real life, you get such a sense of accomplishment when winning race. It's a state of euphoria that I can't say I've ever experienced in a video game.

A lot of players of this franchise are notorious for using other cars as guide rails when going through the corners. They also try to knock them out of the way. If those same players would play the game as if it were their own car they were driving they would quickly see how incredible it is.

Face it, few things in video games can match a 80 mph pass in a tight corner on the inside while you're in a Skyline up against any Mazda you can dream of. It's just mind blowing.

I never want this game to end ... and it never will. Serious GT players know exactly what I mean. You see it in your dreams. You think about where you could shave .002 off your time. You see a glimpse of a track on television and you immediately know where it is because you've been around that same turn 800 times.

Sublime.

Wii've Come to Play With You

My daughter played the Wii at a friend's house and has expressed a desire to have one. (Honestly, she's expressed a desire to have "every toy made for kids," so I don't know how much she really wants one.) I've had no interest in the system, but there are plenty of people who have told me it is really fun, and I'm starting to think it might be a good investment.

I haven't bought a PS3 for several reasons. Money, lack of exciting games, and lack of backwards compatibility being the main ones. At this point, I see buying a Wii before the PS3, though Gran Turismo is enticing.

If anyone reading this (all two of you) has a Wii and wants to throw in your opinions, feel free. I'd love to get more input before I make a final decision (I'm also considering a PSP for her).

More Reasons for the Gran Turismo PSP Addiction

I don't listen to the music in the PSP Gran Tursimo game. If I listen to anything, it's my music, which includes King Kahn and his Shrines. I love this band, and have ever since I heard its Voodoo Rhythm release. Oddly enough, while strolling through the game credits I read that the mighty King has a song on the soundtrack! Reason number 437 to love this game.

A not-so-great thing, but kinda cool -- Jay Leno does the voice work for the game. Granted, this is minimal, but now that I know it's him I can't help but picture him every time I hear, "Finish!"

God, this game is incredible for a hand held.

This is Why I Love Gran Turismo

Gran Turismo for the PSP has not left my system since I got it. This is why.

I am not a fan of Jaguars. In the game, however, I obtained a 1961 E-Type Jaguar coupe. If you race it on the game's default settings you will find a standard car that handles with understeer, but is thoroughly drivable. I like to set the cars up closer to the original versions, however, for added realism.

I set up mine with a manual transmission, TCS off and ASM off. At this point, the Jaguar becomes a monster to control. Tires squeal to the breaking point, it takes forever to get to a decent speed (which was the case before, too, but now I can control that more), and it handles somewhere between driving through molasses and driving on ice. And I love it.

In Gran Turismo, cars handle fairly close to their counterparts in real life. They don't take damage (always a sticking point), but who cares. Drive it like a real car and that won't bother you. When you set up a car like its real life version, it makes the game more exciting. Setting up the Jaguar made the game incredible. What made it even better is when I started winning races against Toyotas and Mazdas. That was a feeling of exhilaration you just don't get in many games.

A car I once added is soon to be added to my favorites. You gotta love a game that can do that to you.

Like a Dream Not Quite Come True: Gran Turismo PSP

If you are a fan of the Gran Turismo series, and you own a PSP, this is the game you have been waiting for. It was announced as coming when the system was first released. In typical Gran Turismo fashion, it was a bit late ... by a few years.

The game itself looks beautiful, plays great for a handheld and contains 800 cars. Sweet motherfucking Jesus. All your favorite tracks are there, too. So what is the complaint? (No, not lack of damage -- that has been the standard complaint of the series since day one). It's the fact that much of the challenge is gone.

In the previous games in the series, you had to finish the license challenges and you had to finish certain races. If you did these things you got cars. Now you can simmply just buy cars with credits earned by doing driving challenges and winning races (including the new drift events). It has taken away a lot of what made the first four games so damn fulfilling.

Make no mistake, this is still a great game. It's actually an incredible game. I can't believe it's on a handheld. The franchise has always been porn for car fans, and this is no different. It just is lacking that extra special bit that made the originals classics.

This game will stand the test of time. It has tons of replay value, and it is a no-brainer for fans of racing games. Die hard fans of the series, however, will already be planning what they want to see in the sequel, which is sure to come out ... six years or so down the road.

PSP Go And Gran Turismo

The PSP Go is making it's way around the web, and the talk of Gran Turismo actually coming to the system has once again arisen. For those who remember such things GT was supposed to be there at the launch of the very first PSP. It never showed.

GT games have always been late. The PSP game was non-existent. I don't expect it for the PSP ever, and I won't be buying the new PSP system. I was going to run a photo here, but it's just ugly and the control scheme looks painful at best. No UMD drive, so those without Internet access are screwed.

Sony lost a billion dollars by its own admission. This will help how?