Confessions • PlayStation • 1999
I BlameGran Turismo 2
The Land Cruiser, the Fiat, the Miata, the tiny yellow Honda, the camera bag, the blog. None of this is my fault. I have a two-disc PlayStation game to blame.
The real driving simulator
It's Not My Fault
Every car guy has an origin story. Some had a dad with a garage full of projects. Some had a poster of a Countach over the bed. Mine came on two PlayStation discs.
Gran Turismo 2 landed in North America in December 1999. Polyphony Digital packed in about 650 cars and 27 tracks, which is an absolutely unhinged amount of car for a console that ran on a CD. It came on two discs: an Arcade Mode disc for when you just wanted to go fast, and the Simulation Mode disc, which is where lives were ruined.
Simulation Mode didn't just let you drive. It made you earn it. You took license tests. You started broke. You bought a used car, raced it, won some credits, bought parts, and slowly worked your way up. It was basically a car-ownership training program disguised as a video game, and millions of us signed up. GT2 sold more than 9 million copies and still sits at a 93 on Metacritic.
Where it all started
The Used Car Lot That Changed My Life
Here's the thing nobody tells you about Gran Turismo: the used car lot is where the damage happens. New car dealers were fine. But the used lot was a rotating treasure chest of weird Japanese cars you'd never seen on an American street.
Like this one. A 1991 Honda Beat. Mid-engine, rear-wheel drive, 63 horsepower, 1,675 pounds. A tiny Japanese convertible that looked like a Ferrari that went through the dryer. In the game, it cost 7,079 credits, which I didn't have, because I had 1,619 credits and a Celica.
Fast forward a couple of decades. There's a yellow Honda Beat in my garage. Coincidence? I don't think so. Gran Turismo planted the seed, and real money watered it.
Then I raced it
Yellow, Red Stripes, Absolutely Flat Out
In GT2, you didn't just buy a car. You could build it into a race car. My Beat ended up in yellow with red racing stripes, which is a look I'd absolutely put on the real one if I were braver.
Look at those screenshots. Sixth place, then third. Seventy miles an hour in fifth gear, tach pinned near the redline, three cylinders screaming for their lives. That's not a race. That's a hostage situation. And I loved every second of it.
That's the Beat experience in a nutshell, by the way. It's not fast. It just feels fast, all the time, at every speed, and you're grinning the whole way. The game got that right decades before I owned one.
What it taught me
Things Gran Turismo 2 Taught Me
Every car is interesting. GT2 put a Honda Beat in the same game as race cars, and the Beat was the one I wanted. That's basically the whole philosophy of this blog.
The used lot is where the good stuff is. Still true. Every car I love is old.
Licenses matter. The game made you learn to brake before it let you race. Real life does too. It's just meaner about it.
You can't afford the car you want. The game taught me this at 1,619 credits. Real life has continued the lesson with a very consistent curriculum.
Bugs are part of the charm. GT2 shipped with a few famous ones, like a 680-horsepower Vector M12 that could show up in a race that was supposed to be capped at 295 horsepower. Also, the game wanted 223 events for 100% completion, but only 219 actually existed. Somewhere out there, a kid is still trying to finish it.
The verdict
Thanks, Polyphony. I Think.
So yes, I blame Gran Turismo 2. For the Beat, for the Land Cruiser, for the camera, for the cars I'll never stop looking at on Cars & Bids and for every dollar that went with them.
Would I change anything? Absolutely not. But if anyone at Polyphony is reading this, I'd like my 7,079 credits back.
What Game Ruined You?
Gran Turismo? Need for Speed? Initial D at the arcade? Tell me which game turned you into a car person. I want to know who else needs a support group.
Gran Turismo 2 screenshots are from the game, © 1999 Sony Computer Entertainment, developed by Polyphony Digital, shown for commentary.
Drive Fast · Take Chances · Never Lift.
