I finally had a chance to try Gran Turismo with an analog Dual
Shock controller. An already superb game became even better. The
vibrating controller is rather strange, but it can be switched off
and provides some useful information about when you're on the
edge, or the curbs. The controller itself is quite nice. I was
skeptical, but I much prefer it to a joystick. Think about it,
the fine motor skills of your fingers and thumb are much better than
those of your wrist and forearm, so the car is extremely driveable
with this controller. I wish there was something like it for the
PC, as I hate dragging out the wheel all the time.
I also watched the whole intro video for the first time. It's
fabulous, and really gets you in the right mood for the game. It
also makes me wonder what the game would look like on hardware
that could handle a higher polygon count... like a PC...
Finally, I still think the best aspect of the game is following
some sort of "career path". Forget the supercars... the most
satisfaction I have had with the game was a few hours building
a lowly used Toyota Corolla into a giant killer. Over the course
of a few hours, I piled enough earnings into the car to make it
run circles around Vettes. I think tomorrow I'll see what I can get
out of an old CRX.
Stephen