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Completist I think it's fair to say I have a love/hate relationship with driving.To elaborate - my adoration for driving comes in the form of racing games. Always has done and probably always will do. Over the years I've played numerous iterations of Ridge Racer, F-Zero, Wipeout, Project Gotham and Burnout amongst many, many others and with the exception of the Devil's spawn, Mario Kart: Double Dash on the Gamecube, I've loved each and every one like they were my very own children (albeit ones with strange looking bodies and wing mirrors for ears). My hatred for driving comes in the form of, well, driving. Proper driving in a real car going down real roads. I don't know why but it's never really clicked with me. At the grand old age of 28, despite completing at least fifty hours worth of lessons, I still haven't passed my practical driving test. Admittedly I've only applied for it once but, unless I pull my finger out, it doesn't look like I will, not any time soon at any rate. To be honest, I’ve never felt particularly comfortable in the driving seat of a car which doesn't exactly bode well for fellow passengers and other road users should I ever pass... Why bother then, I heard you cry! Why carry on doing something you quite obviously don't like doing? Well...I'm going to blame it all on Gran Turismo 3.
Backtracking a little... By my usual 'early adopting' standards, the PlayStation 2 was a very, very late introduction into the Deggy household and, rather expectedly, was met with some consternation from the missus. "What do you need that for? You've already got one of them Gamebox thingys!" she wailed. If truth be told, she had a point - it was bought on a whim purely for Eye Toy: Play. This and the choice of one other game came as part of the deal and GT3 was it. At the time it seemed like the best of a bad bunch. For months after purchase, it stayed sealed, slowly collecting a layer of dust. The previous two titles in the series, despite receiving rave reviews, failed to spark my plugs. In fact, they never made it out of the pits. The words "Real Driving Simulator" struck fear into my heart. They seemed a tad too close to the actuality of my driving lessons. This one was no different. Until November 2003, when I actually went and opened it.
Much in the same way the tracks from Super Mario Kart have become engraved on my gaming memory through countless plays, so too have the circuits from Gran Turismo 3. Midfield Raceway, Deep Forest, Apricot Hill, Tokyo Route 246, Laguna Seca...as well as knowing every single twist, turn and rumble strip, if I close my eyes really tightly, I can probably visualise the perfect racing line for each track, every braking point and every optimum entry and exit point on every corner. Yes, I know there's no damage modelling - smashing into an opponent at 150 mph incurs no detrimental effects to your handling or bodywork whatsoever! Yes, the AI is poor, very poor in fact. So much so that you can usually just barge your way to first place before the third corner. Yes, the limited number of tracks means things can get tedious pretty fast (I'm looking at you here Super Speedway!) And yes, it's more than tempting to just modify a half decent car to the max and blow away the competition without even breaking a sweat. But it didn't matter, not one bit. For once I was fully in control and it felt like proper driving in a real car going down real roads and everything. Of course, playing Gran Turismo 3 is nothing like driving an actual car, far from it, but it gave me the incentive to not only take up driving lessons but also try and attain that magical 100 percent completion mark. I played it near enough every day and for nearly nine months it consumed me, nay, owned me. Hand on heart, I did not touch another video game in my collection until it was finished. On the 11th July 2004, at about 6:00pm, I owned it.
Ironically, the final task to stand between myself and the games conclusion was the very last license test - completely forgotten about until I’d reached the end! Once completed, the whoops of joy were probably heard five streets away and I was on cloud nine. However, if I remember correctly, my elation was short-lived. I’m sure the missus said something along the lines of "Right, you can turn that off now and wash the pots!" Since then, I’ve gone on to buy Gran Turismo 4 and completed precisely 1.6 percent of it. Much like driving an actual car, I’m too scared to go any further. Too scared to become consumed by it once again. I love its predecessor but I think the day I truly own this particular game is the day I truly own a real proper driving license. October 2006
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