Why This 20-Year-Old Racing Game is One of the Best Racers You Can Play Right Now

When it came out in 2004 (or 2005, if you’re from the US or Europe), Gran Turismo 4 was, hands down, the best racing game you could buy. 20 years later, the game is still a must-play racer, especially if you’re a gamer who loves lofty single-player campaigns. Here’s why.

Gran Turismo 4 Is a Must-Play on Its Own Merits

I’ve been playing Gran Turismo 4 for the past couple of months, and I can honestly say that the game still slaps the way it did on the PS2. I emulate it on the PCSX2 emulator, and it runs without issues \ on a variety of machines. You don’t have to own a powerful PC to play it, you can even play it on a Steam Deck, which is a fantastic emulation machine.

The driving model is just right; a meticulous balance between simulation and an arcade feel. While it’s heavily skewed towards the former, you won’t be overwhelmed by its complexity. Spend a couple of hours doing license tests, enable driving assists, finish a few beginner races, and you’ll get the hang of it.

Once you learn the basics, you’re hooked. I’ve been driving my favorite retro cars for months, and I still can’t get enough of the game’s brilliant handling model.

Another of the game’s strong points is its campaign mode. It features hundreds of races with varied entry requirements, constantly encouraging you to try out new cars while at the same time allowing you to enjoy your favorite rides aplenty.

Since many races have similar entry requirements and because you can massively upgrade most cars, it’s possible to take them from beginner to pro events with just one stop at the tuning shop. It’s a perfect game for racing fans yearning for the glory days when racing games focused on single-player campaigns instead of online multiplayer.

Aside from its splendid driving model and a blast of a campaign that’s a godsend for any single-player campaign connoisseur, Gran Turismo 4 is still a looker. The visuals look impressive for a 20-year-old game, especially when you play it on the PCSX2 emulator at high resolutions. Download the high-res textures and UI patches, and the game can match any early PS3 title.

But it gets even better.

Introducing the Gran Turismo 4 Spec II Mod

A few weeks ago, Gran Turismo 4 Spec II, a massive mod that had been a long time in the making, was finally released. The mod makes Gran Turismo 4 better than ever. It not only improves the game in gameplay terms but also brings a nice number of quality-of-life upgrades the game had begged for.

The biggest improvement, for me at least, is overhauling Gran Turismo 4‘s clunky menu system. With Spec II, you can reach every major menu from the home screen, allowing you to enter any event in just a few seconds instead of navigating around slow, PS2-era menus for minutes.

I also love the Event Synthesizer, found in some other Gran Turismo games. The Synthesizer allows you to race any car you own on a random track and adjust the difficulty to your liking. This is a major upgrade for everyone who likes collecting cars because now, you can drive every car you own to your heart’s content and get paid for it, which is awesome!

Your current car isn’t suitable for a specific championship? No problem. You can visit your garage from any event hall home screen instead of having to go back to your home, pick a car, hope it’s suitable for said event, spend a minute navigating back, only to find you can’t use it, rinse, and repeat. The QoL improvements alone make the Spec II mod worth installing, but they are just the tip of the iceberg.

With Spec II, every road car you buy now comes with road tires instead of sports. This makes driving less-powered, budget sports cars much more fun and exciting, granting the game’s fairly limited AI a fighting chance in beginner events. Some event requirements have been modified, making them more realistic and encouraging you to try out more cars than in the base game.

The engine sounds, one of the original’s low points, have been overhauled for more than 400 cars. The mod also includes a few must-have Gran Turismo 4 PCSX2 patches. Now you don’t have to install a patch to use triggers for brake and acceleration pedals or to automatically save the 480p option in the display menu.

Spec II also introduces new events and missions, upgrades car dealership home screens to look more modern, and includes an award randomizer, which is great news for Gran Turismo 4 veterans who have gotten bored with always being awarded the same cars for winning championships. The mod also corrects the physics for many cars, making them behave more like their real-life counterparts.

I’ve listed just a fraction of the content included in the Gran Turismo 4 Spec II mod. If you want to check out the full list of features, visit the mod’s official page and feast your eyes.

Want to Play Gran Turismo 4 Spec II? Here’s What You Should Know

If you’ve checked out Spec II and now want to try it out yourself, there are a few things you should know. Firstly, the mod only works with an NTSC copy of Gran Turismo 4 Online Public Beta. You can use this handy installation guide to learn everything you need to know about installing the mod.

You should also know that other game versions, including save states, aren’t compatible with Spec II. If you’ve been playing Gran Turismo 4 on the PCSX2 emulator, you’ll have to start over unless you’ve been playing the NTSC version of Gran Turismo 4 Online Public Beta.

If you ask me, starting over is definitely worth it, if only for the improved menu system, which will save you hours in the long run. If you refuse to start the game over because you don’t want to slog through those boring license tests again, don’t worry. The mod comes with built-in cheats for license tests. You can earn the licenses you’ve previously unlocked in a minute, get your car rewards, and start racing without grinding those annoying tests all over again.

Last but not least, if you’re a retro gaming purist and want to play Gran Turismo Spec II on a PlayStation 2, you can! In case you’ve got a PS2-compatible hard drive, you can copy the game over and play the modded game on a PlayStation 2 console. How cool is that!

After more than 30 hours of playing vanilla Gran Turismo 4, I switched to Gran Turismo 4 Spec II, and I have no regrets. The amount of improvements is staggering, and I recommend everyone who loves that game to try the mod out. I also recommend Gran Turismo 4 to every racing fan looking for a racer with great handling and a meaty single-player campaign.

The only real downside is the fact that races only support six cars on track, but maybe the Spec II developers will find a way to increase this number. If they do, Gran Turismo 4 will become a must-play for every racing game fan out there.