Gran Turismo mode is where the heart of the game lies. You start with 18,000 credits, and basically must race to earn money. In order to race, you must first buy a car, and earn a licence. As you progress, the races get harder, and you must upgrade your car with numerous tuning parts, or simply buy a newer, more powerful car. With 6 licences, 100 or more tournaments, and at least 170 cars (from numerous countries and companies), there is a huge amount to do here. In the latter stages of the game, there are even F1 cars to win, at least 9 in all, though nobody yet seems sure how many. With this volume of races and challenges to win, you can expect at least 100 hours or more playing this game, of which every second is pure enjoyment!

The courses are equally impressive, with road surfaces that look like the real thing, trees that have visibly individual leaves, buildings that look like they could be lived in, and other background features that look better than ever before. On the rally courses, the dust trails are awesome. Most impressive though are the suns � each one is unique, and makes you react as if they were real. Ranging from moody red balls of fire in the evening, to glaring spheres of light at midday that actually make you look away, these are quite remarkable. Similarly outstanding are the wet courses, accessible in both arcade and gran turismo modes. The glistening water reflects the scenery with mouth-watering realism, and adds exciting twists to the race!

As with previous Gran Turismo games, there is a powerful sound track to accompany your driving. This time its provided by popular bands such as Feeder, who seem to be able to provide music that suits the kind of solid, powerful racing found in this game. You are able to select which tracks you would like, and also allow replays to �react� to the music, making for quite spectacular videos.