If you are a die-hard car enthusiast, Gran Turismo is the only game for you. If you are equal parts car and video-game enthusiast, Gran Turismo is still king but R4 is a worthy second. And if you are an arcade junkie who could care less about mastering the finer physics of a real automobile, R4 is probably right up your alley. This is a game that has to be experienced with the Namco Jogcon, and it never really tries to be a simulation: the cars are not realistic, nor were they meant to be, and the lack of any what-wheel-drive detail will disappoint folks coming from Gran Turismo. There are 45 base car models with around 300 variations in colour and state of tune.
The gameplay is very arcade-y, more or less pedal-to-the-metal with lift-to-correct-your-line. R4 fails miserably at simulating realistic performance cornering, but succeeds beyond Gran Turismo at reproducing lane-change and traffic maneuvers on the straights. There is little emphasis on weight transfer, though the basic lift-throttle oversteer is present (and a driving game without it is not a driving game), but I do not think you can really spin out. The emphasis here is FLOW, and the Jogcon is what facilitates it: you cannot slam lock to lock with a thumb-flick, and you cannot lean on the self-centering of a normal stick, because the Jogcon is a genuine force-feedback controller that centers to however your car is tracking. It cannot produce the G-effects of an arcade cabinet, but it lets you feel exactly when the car will break loose, which is an improvement over GT. The toggle accelerator and brakes, on the other hand, are a big letdown.
The framerate is a little lower than Gran Turismo, but the backgrounds are busier and more flamboyant, in the vein of Sega’s Super GT without the horsepower to match. I am not sure there are reflections off the cars, but a big deal was made of the light trails from the taillights, which come off rather anime-ish.
The sound is where it trails GT most: engine whine, tire scrub and squeal are all much weaker, which is no surprise given how hard Gran Turismo worked to capture that real-car feel. The theme is Jap-pop, worshipped by some and merely tolerated by others, me included, while the driving music is a laid-back techno and new-age blend that is fine but not especially memorable.
R4 knows exactly what it is: a stylish, flow-focused arcade racer that plays second only to Gran Turismo, and with the Jogcon in hand it is a genuine pleasure.
A PlayStation and the disc; the Namco Jogcon is the way to play.
