Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec Turns 25 Today

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This is the discussion thread for an article on GTPlanet:

Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec Turns 25 Today​

Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec turns 25 years old today. First released in Japan on April 28, 2001, the PlayStation 2’s debut Gran Turismo title remains one of the best-selling games in the franchise’s history, and arguably one of the most important...
 
The heat haze at Seattle. The TOM'S Chaser in all its four colours. The Tickford XR8. That GT map! Complex String. The Autobacs MR-S. The eerie coolness of Deep Forest. The static sunrise, sunset and wet track graphics!

Not my favourite GT, but for so little in size it did pack a wallop in keeping me entertained.
 
Wow, my stepdad got me this game for my birthday in September 2001, when I also got the ps2 a month before that. I had a lot of fun as a kid playing this game with him and my friends/cousins. Of course my mom didn't play that stuff, she had her own things going on and staying online on the computer. I enjoyed some of the music in gt3 too, like when you were at the license test screen.

That's not counting all the great modes that it had to offer. Hours and hours of insane gameplay, glitches and tests for people of all ages to complete.

Who else remembers this from their childhood?
 
5lab
Wasn't 3 also the first GT game to support a proper force feedback wheel? I've fond memories of the early GT force wheel
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I don't remember but I think that the first ever wheel for the ps2 and all gaming systems came out around that time. Around 2001-2002, idk. I'm just making a guess.
 
People who weren't there can't comprehend the graphical leap from PS1 to PS2. I still remember seeing GT3 and NHL 2001 for the first time in a store, standing there completely blown away. Funnily enough, I picked GTA 3 as my first game, but couldn't stop thinking about GT3 and finally got it a couple of months later. Man, I really wish I could re-experience that excitement.
 
GT3 holds a special place in my heart. Not only was it my first GT game, but it helped solidified my love for motorsport and brought me here all the way back in mid-2003, where I've been able to meet some amazing people and form a lot of lasting memories. It's fair to say GT3 has made a bigger impact on my life than any other video game and by quite a margin.
 
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GT3 A-Spec was revolutionary from a graphical standpoint but the one GT that will be forever etched in my memory was the original, released in December 1997. It was particularly loved since I was in hospital at the time and my Dad bought it for me. Great times ❤️
 
In GT3, I had my first ever trance-like moment in a game on the Super Speedway.

The endurance race had a lot of laps, I don't remember exactly how many, but easily 70.

Anyway, around lap 21, I looked at the display and thought, okay, I've still got some way to go. About five minutes later (so my Feeling was), I looked again and was on lap 60. I didn't know what had happened in the last 30 or 40 laps, but I had only lapped everyone twice and had also made one or two pit stops.

Those were the days.

Unfortunately, I haven't experienced anything like that in GT7 yet.
 
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Rash-182
People who weren't there can't comprehend the graphical leap from PS1 to PS2. I still remember seeing GT3 and NHL 2001 for the first time in a store, standing there completely blown away. Funnily enough, I picked GTA 3 as my first game, but couldn't stop thinking about GT3 and finally got it a couple of months later. Man, I really wish I could re-experience that excitement.
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I only started playing Gran Turismo with GT4 and let me tell you, when I saw the pictures in the magazines, I thought they were fake. It couldn't be possible a car game looked that good, could it?

Yet, it was real and it looked even better in person. Those replays were legendary, back then.
 
Ah, the days of FMV videos...

Having played since the original on PS1, I was blown away by the jump in graphics when GT3 A-Spec arrived. It was a system seller and I was one of many who bought the PS2 for it (and then amassed lots of other games afterwards)

Even then, PD were able to get Sony consoles to do things, graphically, that other developers couldn't get close to.
With the short turnaround in games at that time, it felt like I had barely finished GT2 when GT3 arrived and I had barely finsihed that before the behemoth of GT4 appeared.

Thanks @Jordan for marking this special anniversary with a great article.
 
Chris30
I don't remember but I think that the first ever wheel for the ps2 and all gaming systems came out around that time. Around 2001-2002, idk. I'm just making a guess.
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there were a few ps-compatible wheels before but I think they just mapped to inputs of the analogue sticks on a controller (and didn't have any feedback beyond "rumble") - there were proper wheels before that on PC (I had a microsoft sidewinder wheel back in '98 - worked great with TOCA) but I don't think any of them were compatible with gt2
 
rearwheel69
I'd love to see all of the older games get remastered and become available to play. Why isn't it happening?
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I can't recall any racing game that's ever been remastered.

But I can think of several that I'd like to see remastered.

NFSU 2
TOCA 2
TOCA WTC
GT 3 u. 4
Carmageddon
The Need for Speed (German: NFS Brennender Asphalt)
DTM Race Driver
 
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25 years ago?

Matt Damon Grandpa GIF


rearwheel69
I'd love to see all of the older games get remastered and become available to play. Why isn't it happening?
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www.gtplanet.net

Why You'll Never See a Gran Turismo Remaster

Something pretty remarkable is set to happen this fall, when Nintendo releases the SNES Classic Edition. No, it's not that you won't be able to buy one, nor is it the fact that unscrupulous scalpers will try and bleed every red cent from your childhood nostalgia. What truly makes Nintendo's next
www.gtplanet.net www.gtplanet.net

Licensing is the biggest reason you won't see it happen.
 
Jordan
This is the discussion thread for an article on GTPlanet:

Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec Turns 25 Today​

Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec turns 25 years old today. First released in Japan on April 28, 2001, the PlayStation 2’s debut Gran Turismo title remains one of the best-selling games in the franchise’s history, and arguably one of the most important...
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GT3 came out just as I was at the sharp end of my doctoral studies, and I made the wise decision to hold off buying a PS2 and GT3 until I had finished in 2002.

Indeed, I waited until my first pay-check from my first postdoctoral job in London before buying it - and despite having tremendous patience in waiting several months to buy the game, I still managed to buy the game before I even had a TV to play it on 😅 (which I bought the next day...).

IIRC, I bought the console and game in HMV's flagship store on Oxford Street in London in early 2002, and one of my musical heroes - Bill Bruford (drummer for King Crimson, Yes, Genesis and others) was walking out of the store just as I was walking in.

Having GT3 also got me my next room in a shared house in London, and also earned me the nickname 'Turismo', which has persisted to this day (well, with the guy who originally called me that anyway!).

-

GT3 remains the only racing game that I've ever hit 100% completion on, and golding the Super licence test at Laguna Seca in the Oreca Viper remains one of the toughest things I've accomplished in the series. It was a remarkable game, and still compares favourably to subsequent titles despite all the advances the series has made; there was a simplicity about it - just great at everything it was trying to do, and no more. As such, it will always rank among the very best games I've ever played.
 
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I truly miss all the awesome tracks in gt3. Tokyo R246 was a banger. So were the Special Stage Route 5 and 11 ones, I'd play races for hours and hours with AI drivers. Seattle was a popular track too back in the day(early 2000's).
 
Jordan
This is the discussion thread for an article on GTPlanet:

Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec Turns 25 Today​

Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec turns 25 years old today. First released in Japan on April 28, 2001, the PlayStation 2’s debut Gran Turismo title remains one of the best-selling games in the franchise’s history, and arguably one of the most important...
Click to expand...
Congratulations GT3, it wasn't my first GT but it was my first GT bought with my own money in a bundle with PS2.
 
5lab
there were a few ps-compatible wheels before but I think they just mapped to inputs of the analogue sticks on a controller (and didn't have any feedback beyond "rumble") - there were proper wheels before that on PC (I had a microsoft sidewinder wheel back in '98 - worked great with TOCA) but I don't think any of them were compatible with gt2
Click to expand...

Yeah, I had a Jordan-branded MadCatz PS1 wheel briefly, and it was terrible. GT2 only supports the three Sony PS1 controllers plus the Negcon, and I'm not sure if the wheel even used the Negcon mode with analogue throttle and brakes. I didn't buy another wheel until GT5, that's how much it put me off.

venom85
I can't recall any racing game that's ever been remastered.
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Burnout Paradise and NFS Hot Pursuit (2010) both had big publisher remasters, while some lower-budget games like World Racing 2 and Crash Time Undercover have had modernised PC re-releases too. WR2 had to un-brand all of its licensed cars, while even NFS on an EA budget lost a couple of cars they couldn't re-license.
 
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25 years... damn that makes me feel old.

I skipped school to play it day one I was that excited for it, the graphically leap was unbelievable, you really had to experience it at the time. It felt like graphics literally could not get better, the replays especially looked amazing for the time.

I still play it to this day through emulation on my Steam Deck.

GT4 blew it out of water with so much more content but the impact GT3 had as the first next gen GT game was much bigger. Amazing game and great times.
 
Definitely still holds up so well as a game - even if License A7 was indeed brutal! I reckon if all or most of the cars and tracks from GT2 had made their way across along with some of the cars that appeared in the concept sequels, it would have been the greatest racing game than how very great this game is now! And of course the NTSC-U version had a Snoop Dogg exclusive too!
 
Absolutely legendary game and IMO the best GT until Sport came along.
Congrats to Kaz and his team.
 
Oh my god, this game stuck with me hard in my childhood.

I remember when a friend of my mom came from the USA with a PS2 and a copy of GT3. He lent it to me for one weekend.
I connected the console to my small box TV and turned it on for the first time… excitement and emotions all over the place. The first thing I saw was the intro movie, so many instant mind blowing moments, but the frame that stuck in my head for years…
frame_0000.jpg

When the Panoz appeared in the scene for a second "What car is that? Wow!". The whole movie was amazing with Lenny Kravitzs music.

After that, I went to Simulation Mode and the dealership section, looking at every car one by one and the peak of it was the Pagani section and this screen...
full


I played all the licenses (Complex String my god), bought a PT Cruiser (I don’t know why), finish the Sunday cup, some beginner races and arcade races without saving.
sddefault.jpg


The weekend ended and the PS2 was gone, but I kept thinking about it all year, i try to replicate some time trials and things in Gran Turismo 2 all of that time. With my parents help, I bought a PS2 for christmas 2002 with a copy of GT3 and the rest is history. I still have my GT3 copy and sometimes I play it.
 
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GT3 was my intro to the series. I remember when my parents gifted me and my brother with a PS2 for getting good grades, and one of the games they got was GT3.

This game has a special place in my heart.
 
Happy Birthday, GT3!

I didn't play GT3 as much as GT2 and GT4 back in the day, but more than a decade later, it still holds up as one of the best racing games ever made.
 

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