Sega GT Online - Review

Added March 17th, 2004 by Sallizar

Introduction:

Racing games are a dime a dozen on today’s system. Most of them tend to be pretty arcade-like, but Sega GT Online follows in the footsteps of Sega GT 2002 and aims for simulation style gameplay. Wait a minute, what am I saying? Sega GT Online isn’t following in 2002’s footsteps. It IS Sega GT 2002. Sega just added Xbox Live features, some new cars and a few tracks. Sega try’s to pull a fast one again on Live players by taking an old game, think Phantasy Star Online, and wrapping the bright orange Live logo around the cover. It worked pretty well with PSO, but can Sega go two for two?

Gameplay:

Sega GT Online actually has an incredible OFFline mode. The entire single player experience from Sega GT 2002 is here as the base of the game. Sega also threw in 40+ new cars, new tracks, mirrored versions of old tracks, and new car parts. The single player game consists of racing through various events over and over to make money. You than get to spend the cash on new cars, upgrades for the cars you have, and various knick-knacks for your garage. To raise the amount of cash in the event race purses you can attempt license tests. After each test you complete, the game gets a wee bit more difficult. With over one hundred cars to try out and the various mechanical tinkering you can spend a good bit of time just in single player. The bad part is that it’s just Sega GT 2002 all over again. Nothing has changed except for the minor additions. The worst part is that during development Sega promised gamers they would be able to import their garages from 2002. Didn’t happen. All you can grab from your Sega GT 2002 save file is a small amount of cash and whatever junk you had cluttering up your garage.

Since it has online in the name, I’m sure you’re wondering about the Xbox Live play. It’s horrid. The first thing you’ll notice is the broken English in the menu translations and it just goes downhill from there. Most races I’ve attempted on Live have been plagued with lag. Cars vanish and reappear causing all sorts of chaos in close quarters racing. After a race, you may be kicked all the way back to the main lobby screen and have to start all over or you’ll end up with the folks you just raced with and get to race again quickly if you’re lucky. I have had a few good almost lag free races, but the amount of time I spent fighting the menus and laggy races just doesn’t seem to make it worthwhile.

Graphics:

The online version of Sega GT uses the exact same graphics engine that Sega GT 2002 uses. If you never played 2002, than you should be satisfied with the slightly above average graphics you get in Online. Fans of the series however, will be somewhat let down. The graphics haven’t changed at all from the 2002 version. In fact, I personally think the aliasing has been turned up a bit and Online looks slightly blurrier to me than 2002. Also the user interface has changed for the worst. It’s just plain ugly in Online. There is no other way to describe it. The game does runs smoothly in offline mode, but it just doesn’t have the sparkle and shine that modern racing games need to have.

Audio:

I’ll admit it. When I take my car to the mechanic I usually just say “Yeah, it kind of sounds funny.” Suffice it to say that I have no idea what the cars in Sega GT Online should sound like. The cars all sound a bit different, even to my undiscerning ear, and changing parts seems to affect the growl of the motor as well. So that’s a plus for the motorheads. Tire squeals, wall bumps, and fender benders are also all well done. Musically the game is average. The elevator music from 2002 is back, but thankfully gamers also get the option to select from some licensed punk and rock tracks, or add their own custom soundtrack.

Controls:

Just like Sega GT 2002, the Online version controls like a dream. After a few laps you’ll have the feel of the car quite well thanks to the fairly simple control scheme.

Left Thumbstick/D-pad - Move cursor/Steer
Start - Pause
A – Select/Accelerate
B - Cancel/Return to Previous Screen/Handbrake
X - Brake
Y - Take picture/Adjust BGM after pausing game
Black - View Position
White - Back View
Left Trigger – Down shift (if manual transmission)
Right Trigger - Up shift (if manual transmission)

Replay:

The offline mode of Sega GT Online is expansive, but buying yet another new car, upgrading it then racing the same old track starts to wear thin the umpteenth time around. This is especially true if you already did it all in Sega GT 2002. Unless you’re just nuts about cars and racing you’ll eventually get bored. So how about playing against the folks on Xbox Live when you get tired of massacring the AI? Good luck. I talked about it in the game play section, but I can’t stress it enough. This is the worst net code I’ve ever seen for Xbox Live. It’s playable, but for a service that requires broadband connectivity, you’d expect lag to be a thing of the past. Their are downloadable challenges that give you unlockables based on your race results that help the replayability a bit, but they are hampered by the fact that they must be attempted online. Luckily, the low price point helps to ease the pain of this one sitting on my shelf more than in my Xbox.

Summary:

What do you get when you take a racing sim that was great a little over a year and half ago and combine it with a buggy, laggy online mode? A pretty mediocre game. If you never played Sega GT 2002 and you want a deep Gran Turismo like single player experience for the Xbox, Sega GT Online is a pretty good deal at twenty bucks. If you’re a Sega GT fan and want to try all the new cars and race the mirrored and new tracks it’s also a bargain. Just remember you’ll have to start pretty much from scratch. If all you’re in the market for is an Xbox Live racer than I seriously recommend looking elsewhere. The lag and crazy online interface is more than enough to keep anyone but the serious driver from giving Live play more than a second look.