Part of growing up is realizing just how good you had it. Back in 2004, I was a middle schooler in a suburb south of Atlanta. I was already a massive car fanatic, having grown up playing with Hot Wheels and going to the Atlanta auto show with my dad (back when it didn’t suck). I had just recently gotten a PlayStation 2 and I had a bunch of the classics, like the original Burnout, Midnight Club I and II, and my most recent obsession at the time, Need for Speed Underground 2.

But on December 28th, 2004, a new game launched in Japan and would arrive in the US two months later. I didn’t know it at the time, but that game was going to have a bigger impact on me than any other. It would not only give me something new and exciting to play with after school, it would open me up to an entirely new world of motorsport and car enthusiasm that was much bigger and more diverse than I could have ever imagined.

Gran Turismo 4, for me, is the one piece of automotive media that made the biggest impact on my life’s trajectory. And as we approach its 20th anniversary, I just wanted to put into words what that game has meant for me. Maybe some of you can relate.

A whole new world

Image Credit: Sony Computer Entertainment

Looking back at how the world consumed media and obtained info in 2004/2005, it sets the stage for how much of a mind blowing experience Gran Turismo 4 was for a suburban teenager like myself. The internet was mostly confined to a big machine in the office that you could simply turn off and walk away from when you were done. There weren’t algorithms feeding you shit you didn’t want. I, like many others at the time, would read up on the latest in various automotive magazines. If Ferrari brought out a new model, I wouldn’t know about it until the news hit the shelves at Kroger. I was certainly aware of the world of cars and motorsports, but I didn’t know what I was missing.

Enter Gran Turismo 4. It had cars I had never seen before. It had brands I didn’t know existed. It had tracks I couldn’t locate on a map. And even by 2024 standards, it was incomprehensibly massive.

Though exact figures vary depending on which region you were in, the game featured over 700 cars from 80 different brands and 51 tracks. Those are numbers that wouldn’t be surpassed for a very long time. For reference, the most recent Need for Speed title at the time (Underground 2) had 29 cars. To this day, few other games can match the range and diversity of Gran Turismo 4‘s car list. Kei cars, commuter-grade hatchbacks, family sedans, pickups, muscle cars, rally cars, prototypes, and supercars ranging from 1886 to 2022 were represented in this game. Revisiting the car dealerships in this game 20 years later is one hell of a nostalgia trip, by the way.

Image Credit: Sony Computer Entertainment

But it wasn’t just the cars I was learning about, it was the tracks too. This game introduced me to the tracks that are among my favorite even to this day – Suzuka, Le Mans, and Laguna Seca. It also had this big track in Germany called the Nürburgring Nordschleife, which as far as I can tell is very likely the first time this behemoth was featured in a major game release, certainly with this level of accuracy. I can’t wait for someone to prove me wrong on that point.

It also had its fair share of rally stages set in real world locations as well as city stages from different corners of the globe. Some tracks, such as the New York City circuit and Tokyo R246, could actually be driven in real life if things like one-way-streets weren’t important to you, which was pretty remarkable for 2004. Some of the most memorable tracks though were fictional circuits that only existed in the world of Gran Turismo yet remain some of the most beloved in the world of gaming. The real ones still know Trail Mountain by heart.

With 51 tracks to play on, each event felt like it was taking me somewhere new. And it was a novel thing at the time to memorize the layout of a track even though I’d likely never be able to go there in person.

“The Real Driving Simulator”

Image Credit: Sony Computer Entertainment

That tagline may have done a bit of heavy lifting, but at the time there really wasn’t anything else like it. Certainly not on console. In sharp contrast to the exaggerated high speed thrills you’d find in NFS or Midnight Club, GT4 offered a more grounded, somewhat realistic approach to driving that holds up better than most games from that era.

It was the first game I played where I actually had to drive the cars properly and within their limits. The tires, aero (or lack thereof), and weight all played a direct role in how the car reacted to inputs and what it was capable of. It then forced players to manage those strengths and weaknesses against an opponent whose capabilities might be the exact opposite of theirs. The easiest way to succeed in that game was to learn the proper driving line around a race track, from picking out braking points and finding the correct line to identifying the best passing opportunities. In short, you had to drive the damn car.

It was the only game I had at the time that forced me to actually think about driving, and I was hooked instantly. I still primarily play racing simulators today and I have GT4 to thank for that needlessly expensive hobby.

I revisited this game recently and was pleasantly surprised at how well it holds up. It certainly can’t hold a candle to the more advanced sim racing titles we have now like Assetto Corsa Competizione or iRacing – which, fun fact, launched only 3 years after GT4 arrived in the US. But considering the technological limitations of the PlayStation 2 era, it honestly drives shockingly well for such an old game. It’s fun, fairly intuitive, and can still be a proper challenge at times too. Is it a perfect recreation of the real thing? Absolutely not. But they were closer than any other mass-market video game at the time, by a huge margin. And in some regards it may still have a better tire model than iRacing.

A more complete experience than most games today

Image Credit: Sony Computer Entertainment

What GT4 delivered on a single disc 20 years ago was a massive experience that provided hundreds of hours of entertainment. According to the Gran Turismo wiki on Fandom, there were 132 events to compete in, each with a couple individual races making it up. They’d force you into cars from a certain brand, era, or displacement. This ensured you’d eventually get to pretty much everything the game had to offer.

But it wasn’t just racing. There were license tests you had to pass before even getting to the next set of championships as well as driving missions that awarded exclusive prizes. It became a point of pride if you were able to get gold medals in all of them. You also had to maintain your car to a certain extent with oil changes and other servicing. There was an extensive photo mode as well that I played with a ton and is what sparked my interest in attempting motorsport photography in real life.

Above all else though, they just nailed the core gameplay experience. You only started out with 10,000 credits, so your first car was likely an old subcompact that was only going to get you so far. If you wanted to drive your hero sports car, you had to work your way up from the very bottom. Along the way you’d be exposed to everything from different racing disciplines and locations you may have never even heard of. And you’d often find yourself relying on a car you would have never thought twice about beforehand.

The road to glory was a long one, but it was rewarding. When you eventually climbed the ladder and got your dream car, it felt like a real victory. The best cars weren’t being handed out like candy (glares at Forza Horizon 5). Every single thing you got in that game was earned. Sure, there were prize cars, some of which were very good ones. But they required being good at the game. I was able to buy the Ford GT of my dreams because I had worked for it. That felt incredible as a kid.

There wasn’t an avatar or some generic character we were being forced to live through either. No one was there to call us a superstar every 5 seconds to make us feel extra special and important lest we get our feewings hurt (glares extremely hard at Forza Horizon 5). The only star in Gran Turismo 4 is the car you’re driving. And even with 700+ cars in the game, each one felt special in its own way. More importantly, it wasn’t just the supercars that were deserving of love.

Why it was special to me

For all the reasons I mentioned above, this game has stuck with me for 20 years. It wasn’t the only racing game I played but it was the most memorable by far. In my most formative years, it opened my eyes and exposed me to things I may have never learned about otherwise. It was a lovingly-crafted, intelligently-designed, mature, and fully interactive lesson in what made cars and the art of racing so special.

What Gran Turismo 4 taught me, and surely many others, was how to truly appreciate this hobby of ours. My passion for cars was reignited. My love and knowledge of motor racing was expanded tenfold. It inspired me to pick up a camera. This game, along with Top Gear, were the biggest contributing factors to my decision to even start writing about cars in the first place. This new world that Gran Turismo 4 opened me up to has resulted in some incredible experiences as well as numerous friendships that I still hold dear to this day. The impact this game had on my life cannot be understated.

When I revisited Gran Turismo 4, I was worried my feelings on it were all just rosy retrospection. But I instead felt validated. This game is a time capsule that not only reminds us what the automotive landscape was like back in 2004, but also how much the gaming industry has changed for the worse. I dare say that Gran Turismo 4, a 20 year old game, feels refreshing in today’s landscape. So imagine what it felt like for a kid to experience this back when it was new.

I got my first car about 4 years after this game came out and I felt my time playing this game had prepared me in some way. I wasn’t just driving a car, I was experiencing it, learning it, and loving it. 20 years on, I can still feel the influence from those long nights I spent playing this work of art.

To Polyphony Digital and the 772 people credited with the creation of Gran Turismo 4, thank you.

[Sources: Gran Turismo Wiki on Fandom | MobyGames | Kotaku | Sony Computer Entertainment]