Gran Turismo 4 Turns 20 Today

28 December 2004. As far as the wider world goes, this date has little significance in history. It was any other Tuesday really, and as far as culture highlights go, Band Aid 20’s rendition of Do They Know It’s Christmas topped the charts for us in the UK. We told you it was insignificant.

Yet, over in Japan, it was a big day for game developer Polyphony Digital. The fourth game in its now globally-popular racing sim series Gran Turismo 4 would be released in its home market amid much anticipation.

It had to follow some big shoes left by GT3, which by that point had sold well over 11 million copies worldwide. The best-selling game on the PlayStation 2 at the time before GTA San Andreas would go on to take that crown. One which had been an incredible showcase for the now-ageing console’s technical capabilities but, owing to a compromised car list as a result, left anyone who had played earlier Gran Turismo titles just wanting a bit more of it all.

Without anyone really realising it at the moment, 28 December 2004 would turn out to be a very significant one for millions of us with a love of cars. Gran Turismo 4’s release marked just the beginning of something that would shape a generation, even if the rest of the world had to wait until Spring 2005 to get their hands on it.

Before we even consider the game itself, the sheer numbers on paper were unlike any video game that had come before it. Give or take a few region-locked cars, it had comfortably over 700 to toy with – following on from a game released four years prior that had fewer than 200 – and each impeccably modelled by the standards of the time. Those could be driven on (including variations and reverse courses) 51 different track layouts. Remember, this was in a period when the most data you could fit on a disc was 8.5GB.

The technical stuff wasn’t compromised at all, either. In fact, there was even a high-definition mode for those loaded enough to buy an HD plasma screen in those years.

Yet the stuff on paper would mean nothing if they were presented in a dull package. Fortunately, Gran Turismo 4 proved to be very, very far from that.

It returned the series to something GT3 had lost in the cross-over to PlayStation 2. Once again, you’d start by having to delve into the classifieds for your first car with a pretty small budget – all 10,000 credits of it.

That was the beauty of the GT experience, something that’s been lost by racing games since. It forced you into a slow car you’d otherwise not consider, and your only way to progress realistically was to upgrade, race, upgrade and race again. Yet, because events were so varied and wide in scope, the grind was an enjoyable one.

Of course, you could game the system a little by winning cars from the almighty licence tests. These were nothing new for GT4, but some of its tests are the most infamous in the series – S-16, I’m looking at you. Impossible to hear Yello without getting PTSD flashbacks, either.

There was so much more to it, too. The special events, endurance races, the often-forgot arcade mode and seemingly endless bits of text to read about cars you never even knew existed before putting that disc into your PS2.

Playing GT4 today on a crusty old DualShock 2 blurs some of the joy of nostalgia, but the community has solved that through means of emulation. Earlier this year, the mod GT4 Spec II breathed a whole new lease of life into the title just before it entered its second decade.

Opinions on which Gran Turismo is the best usually come down to which one you grew up with. For me, although GT3 was the real starting point, GT4 was the game that solidified my love for the car. The game that, without, I may not have ended up chasing the career I now hold dear. For me, it’s the best game to ever have existed – full stop.

I’m sure I’m not alone with my GT4 stories, given it would eventually fall just behind GT3 and GTA Vice City to be the fourth-best-selling game ever released on PS2. So genuinely please, do share yours with us on socials.

So, happy 20th birthday Gran Turismo 4. Here’s to another 20.