Retrobot presents: Hardcore games

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Think you're hardcore? Then you should have beaten all these

Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (PS2)
Racing sims tread a fine balance between realism and accessibility. Making a racing game too realistic will make it unplayable - you just can't replicate the feel of a car's grip and weight shiftingthrough a simple Dual Shock controller.But making it too easy will make it unsatisfying.

Gran Turismo 3 finds that line and sticks to it like a train track. Its graphics are still incredibly pretty six years later. Its frame-rate is a solid 60fps, the cars are reflective... everything that attracts people to videogames from afar. But it also plays superbly. Track design is inspired, putting to shame other racers like Sega GT which almost reproduce the whole game, but fall down in the excitement department.

Justin Towell
Justin Towell

Justin was a GamesRadar staffer for 10 years but is now a freelancer, musician and videographer. He's big on retro, Sega and racing games (especially retro Sega racing games) and currently also writes for Play Magazine, Traxion.gg, PC Gamer and TopTenReviews, as well as running his own YouTube channel. Having learned to love all platforms equally after Sega left the hardware industry (sniff), his favourite games include Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, Zelda BotW, Sea of Thieves, Sega Rally Championship and Treasure Island Dizzy.