Blown out windows, smashed bumpers, and doors that swing lamely in the wind are just a few of the nicely-rendered reminders of your indiscretions with the gas and brake pedals. What was consistent, though, was the sweet level of visual damage the cars show if you're not careful. But from a gamer's point of view, it really took away from the fun to go from an event that was too easy right into one that was almost painfully difficult to compete in. I understand that a lot of this is due to the nature of the beast - it is more difficult to handle an F-1 vehicle at 200-plus mph than it is to handle a four-wheel drive Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution going 100 mph slower. That said, there was a noticeable difference in difficulty level between the various disciplines. You may end up winning a race, but when the times are adjusted, you end up nowhere near the podium. Continue your reckless ways and you'll be slapped with a time penalty. Slam into a car to gain position and you'll be hit with a warning. When it comes to the actual racing, Gran Turismo is to ToCA what the UFC is to the PGA. Even if you've made it through the Gran Turismo games by playing bumper cars and cutting difficult corners, you'll be in for a rude awakening when you try those same maneuvers in ToCA. And I'm not just warning the Mario Kart crowd here. You'll need some serious sim-racing skills to make your way through this one. If you like to do your racing arcade-style, you may as well stop reading this now. And this brings me to the game's level of difficulty. It was one of the more memorable of my gaming experiences - albeit a humbling one - to hear my screen name (and I'm not mentioning it here, 'cause I'm still kind of embarrassed) spit out with such venom and hatred in thick European accents because I accidentally took the two top drivers out of the race with careless spinouts.
And to make matters worse, I was the only English-speaking guy out of the eight-or-so other drivers. The adjustment was too much of a shock to my system. After kicking butt in some less than artistic monster truck racing, I made the mistake of hopping into a series of races with million-horse-powered GT cars. Of course, having so much variety can sometimes come back to bite you. And with the breadth of different disciplines available, there's always an online race waiting for whatever vehicle you fancy jumping into.
Unlike GT4, here you can actually pit your skills against a mess of anonymous trash-talkers. The real benefit to having access to so many different racing styles is when you take things online.
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