Gran Turismo originally popped its head up on the PlayStation in 1998, fast becoming not just one of the most successful car games of all time, but simply one of the most successful video games of all time. It was hard back then to see how they were going to improve on what they'd built but the sequel arrived and blasted it out of the water. The game was immense, the number of tracks, cars and modifications had never been seen before and it once again raised the bar for all other racing games. Then their first PS2 outing arrived; Gran Turismo 3 was essentially a smaller version of GT2, with a serious lick of graphical and aural polish, but size isn't everything and this still proved to wow everyone who played it. So what happened since?

This game's been in production for what feels like an absolute age. GT3 was the first game I bought when I got my PS2, so it shows how long we've been waiting. We've had reported release dates flying further and further back, the online section gets scrapped to ensure the Christmas release deadline (which it obviously didn't make, but they still left out the online anyway) and they release "Prologue," which was basically a twenty quid demo of what's to come. Then out of the blue, I go to buy my morning paper and it's there in the supermarket. So has it been worth the wait?

Of course it has! Gran Turismo 4 is quite simply amazing, even the loading screens look classy! I'll give you a car themed comparison on why. In much the same way as essentially there's not much difference between a 2 litre Audi A4 and a 2 litre Mondeo, once you actually pay attention you can tell which is which blindfolded; the doors on the Audi clunk, rather than click, the engine purrs rather than whines, everything is simply thought about and tweaked that little bit more. That's what we have here, like Halo compared to other first person shooters. It's not so much bigger or better than a lot of the competition, it just feels far better to play.

The guys who made GT4 must love cars, and I mean really love cars, to the extent that if they didn't produce games of this high calibre then I'd be worried about them. Stashing copies of Auto Trader under their mattress, or scurrying to turn off the telly when the wife catches them with Top Gear on pause. The level of detail they've reached here is nothing short of astonishing; there are over five hundred cars, from vintage through to concept, each one looks and handles differently and can be modified to give you that extra zip or improved handling.

The number of tracks is also huge; there's over fifty to go at, including racing circuits, cities, snow, rally and in addition each one can be played in reverse, so in real terms you can double that fifty. I think you're starting to get an idea now of how huge this game is. It'll take you absolutely ages to get through; I've been on it non-stop for nearly a week and it's still nowhere near finished (and I'm still loving it).

Those of you who did waste, sorry, spend money on GT4 Prologue, are rewarded with being able to bring over some credits and license test passes from your old saved game data, so you can get a good head start on the crowd. Also, if you had GT3 you can carry over up to a hundred thousand credits, easily enough to get you a pretty mean motor. Unfortunately I had neither of these things, so I had to start from scratch and I found it a bit tough to begin with. The initial ten grand was fine for getting me a decent enough car to get through the first of the Beginner courses but little else, so I restarted a few times and always ended up stuck. However, once I decided to start afresh by taking all the license tests, things changed and I was soon ploughing through the game with no problem.

There are absolutely loads of them as well, five licenses in total, each comprising of sixteen tests, they're pretty challenging but not so difficult that you're bored before you've started. These are also perfect for showing off the car physics Gran Turismo is famous for. You get to drive cars of all types, ages and speeds throughout these tests and they all feel wonderful. The road surfaces feel sublime, as you can feel every bump and bank, thanks to the expert use of the vibration function on the PS2 controller. Later on, to shave off those precious couple of seconds, I found myself having to change my game. I always play car games from the outside view, as far away as possible but I found it was easier to see the racing lines if I opted for the in car view, I'm still playing in this view now and it's really improved my game. After each licence is passed, you're rewarded with a car that you race to earn more cash, unlock more courses and win more cars.

The gameplay map seems a little daunting at first, as there are options all over the place. Once you're familiar with it however, the layout is definite improvement on its predecessors. The race types are broken down into groups, each country can be visited to race, buy and modify cars and there's also a specialist tuning shop and used car garages scattered around. Whatever you need to find, you can usually come across it in more than one place, so you're never left frustrated navigating through hundreds of menus.

I only have a couple of small gripes, the first being that each time you enter another race you need to change your car manually. For example, if I'd finished the 4WD races and wanted to try an FF race, I'd have to go all the way out to the garage and change the car, to go all the way back in and select the race. It would have been cool if when you entered a new race, the game automatically brought up a list of your compatible cars so you could switch instantly. The other gripe is about the trade option. You can trade a vehicle from your friend's memory card by accessing it and then paying going rate for their car, which sounds great but in practice they've missed a trick here. You get the car but without any modifications and your friend doesn't get any credits for it. This makes the whole process a bit pointless; he may as well just give you the make and model number and let you go find it on your own. Of course, these are very minor issues in a truly superb game.

Once you've gone through the faff and got into a race, it's worth the wait. The graphics are amazing, better than any I've seen on PS2 and better than a lot I've seen on Xbox too. The cars look beautiful, each one shining and polished, the lighting is excellent, the backgrounds and tracks are all incredibly detailed and the draw distance is amazing. The only obvious flaw is the lack of damage and dirt to a car throughout the race but this is a small price to pay for a game that looks as beautiful as this does.

Once actually racing, you're rewarded with the best handling in any car game; it really is as close to the real thing as I can imagine anything getting. TOCA does an excellent job at realistic handling versus playability, but GT4 raises the bar. It takes some getting used to though, as having spent the last year or so playing Project Gotham Racing 2 and Rallisport Challenge 2 on Xbox, it took my a while to unlearn the bad habits I'd picked up from those more forgiving games.

Once you're in the throes of a race, a bigger problem becomes apparent; the AI cars are on rails. They have one set path from which they don't deviate and if you're in their way, they smash straight into you. It would have been fantastic had the game felt a little more like playing against real people, especially since the online option has been dropped. It is possible to approach a corner at speed and simply bounce off the AI cars to gain the lead, while if you did this in TOCA, your vehicle would be knackered and you'd have the car you knocked off trying to get its own back for the rest of the race. Those would have been welcome additions here.

This is nearly compensated for, as each of the race types is handled brilliantly; even the rally and snow sections are excellent and once again the attention to detail is remarkable. I remember watching an episode of Top Gear where Jeremy Clarkson was taking a Jaguar around the Nurburgring; he was interviewing some English bloke that had been practicing on Project Gotham to learn the track. The guy said it showed him the track and he knew where the corners were but wasn't expecting so many bumps on the road surface. Whether they're all in the correct places I don't know, but you can certainly feel them here - and the replays - wow! Especially in the rally sections, the way the tyres move, the car banks and reacts to the road is verging on the level of obsessive compulsive disorder on the part of its makers. Which can only be a good thing.

In two player, the game's great, not a hint of slowdown and from the beginning there's loads of tracks, race types and cars to choose from. Although the game can also be played over a LAN with up to six players, it's such a massive disappointment that the online section isn't here. This game could have been (hopefully eventually will be) the ultimate online racing experience. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the reason the game was ten pounds cheaper than normal is that they're going to release an upgrade disk soon that rectifies this. For now though, at least we've all got time to get plenty of practice in.

Sound wise the games fantastic too, Pro Logic II is supported (if you've got a new enough amp to decode it) and the engine noises, clunks and bumps all sound spot on. The soundtrack is huge, with around ninety songs to choose from, all by original artists, ranging from classical to metal. So even if there are songs you don't particularly like, it doesn't matter; simply access the Jukebox option in the game menu and tailor the play list to your own specific tastes.

The only other new thing to report is the addition of B-Spec mode. This basically allows you to play the game as a manager rather than a driver, giving orders to a computer controlled car on how aggressive to drive, when to pit and overtake etc. I don't really rate it that much but the game's certainly no worse for having it in there. There's also photo mode, where you can take pictures of your car and print them. I can see where this function would have had its perks in DOA Volleyball or Rumble Roses but I can't really get that excited over it here. Again though, these extras can only add to the game.

GT4 only falls short of the perfect ten because of the lack of online play and the on-rails AI, yet these are small prices to pay for an otherwise outstanding game. Chances are if you've got a PS2 you've bought this already. If not go buy it NOW! If you've got an Xbox then there's a good chance you're probably reading this to see if it really is that good. It is, so buy a PS2 and GT4 NOW!

There's not a game I can call to mind that comes anywhere near Gran Turismo 4 in terms of lifespan. Pound for playtime it must be the cheapest game ever made; the career mode is huge, there's endless arcade options and once you've tired of it ages from now, the official steering wheel might have dropped to a more reasonable price (it's £100 currently!) so you'll be able to buy that and start from the beginning all over again. I love this game and so will you, it's an essential purchase that you simply must have in your collection.

Reviewed by Mark Hayhurst for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).