Ben-DutkaSome people ask, "why do you do a Round 2 for these polls?" Well, just about every round, you get your answer: the votes stack up in a slightly different way very often, and titles that appeared to have Silver and Bronze medals all locked up the first week are left out in the cold.
It happened again this week, but the winner was once again never in doubt: it's Gran Turismo 2 , which fended off a big rush from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 during the first week, but dominated in the second and final week. GT2 was the sequel all racing simulator fans were waiting for after the original became a legitimate phenomenon. Everything about GT2 was better in just about every possible way; the physics were better, the graphics were better, there were more cars, more tracks, more upgrades, and in general, more overall appeal and quality. There was just no denying Polyphony's effort, and ever since then, we've been marveling at the developer's skill with every new GT installment. The series has advanced in the way a series should: with each new entry, a fan has absolutely no reason to ever return to an old entry. It started with GT2; once you'd played it, you never touched the original GT again, and the same was true for GT3, GT4, and we guarantee it'll be the same again for GT5. But for now, let's just say GT2 is indeed the best sports/racing PS1 title out there. Well deserved. Here are the final results:
Gold Medal: Gran Turismo 2
Silver Medal: Crash Team Racing
Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit
After the first week, it seemed as if THPS2 would actually give GT2 a run for its money, but it didn't even make it into the medals! Some of you guys had a change of heart, it seems. Crash Team Racing vaulted from fourth to second and claims the Silver, while NfsIII:HP takes home the Bronze. The new poll is up, and it's the final PS1 Best of the Best poll: it's a specially designed poll to give any great games that didn't quite make it into the genre awards. This ought to be very interesting! Feel free to talk about it in the official thread in the forums.
I played GT2, however never got GT4. Now I am messing about with Prologue hoping that they can introduce a physics damage model and better on-line lobby features. I suspect the GT5, at release anyway, would have all those improvements… here is hoping.
Ben, on the question of pushing hardware. Would you say GT4 pushed PS2 hardware as hard as God Of War did for the console? I never owned a PS2 and never quite got to see GT4 in action.
Q!
"aLL RoAdS LeAd ToO hOMe"
I think GT4 pushed it more than God of War. I believe there was a GT4 PS2 bundle, too… It was a definite system seller. The only bigger one was FFXII, IMO.
Last edited by Ben Dutka PSXE on 10/6/2008 12:47:42 AM
I'm not a racer fan by any means but how could you NOT have fun with the Gran Turismo series? I'm glad GT5 is PS3 exclusive.
I'm glad Crash Team Racing got better recognition this round, Though its still far better than GT2 as a multiplayer game.
Silent Hill!
Driver!!
TOMBA!!!
Which to choose…?!
Sad that Mr. Tony didn't make the list, but at least NfS is still there. Loved those games. Never played GT2 but I'm sure it was great like the rest of 'em!
Last edited by Daedusian on 10/6/2008 5:01:08 PM