The Impact of Gran Turismo

For those of you who do not know what Gran Turismo is, it has been touted as The Ultimate Driving Simulator developed by Polyphony and Sony Computer Entertainment of America. Developed back in the day of the original Playstation, the game was state of the art at the time, highlighting for the first time, sports cars in an ultra realistic race car genre that was unlike anything ever conceived before and has been hard to topple since. Using near perfect physics, power-to-weight ratios, an actual licensed soundtrack with real bands and utilizing the authentic sounds of each car's engine with state-of-the-art graphics made the game an instant hit with the gaming community.

Personally, as a fan of anything with wheels, I fell in love with the game, devoting too many hours in front of that console playing that game until the CDs became scratched and unreadable. CD repair tools work great, by the way.

I opine about this great videogame because of what I am doing right now. It sounds innocent enough, but I am listening to heavy industrial music that was featured in the original Gran Turismo game. I realize that I am pretty addicted to the game in all aspects. Since the release of the first game, I tried to get everything I could that involved the game, including the limited release soundtrack to the game (which is now out of print, but own two copies) and every strategy guide I could find.

I realized I was in trouble when I was looking for the musical artists featured in each installment of Gran Turismo to play as my own personal driving soundtrack. Looking at my driving history, I am surprised I haven't been stopped in the Mustang for speeds in excess of 100mph with the emotions I feel at times while listening to the soundtrack.

The artists I have gone out of my way to purchase:

• Grand Theft Audio - One-hit wonders from the UK, who's song We Luv U is featured in other games and movies.
• Cubanate - British Industrial/trance musicians who now no-longer make music, still provide that kick in the teeth music that makes you wanna smash that gas pedal into the floorboards for all its worth.
• Fluke - Dance/Trance musicians responsible for the Nissan Altima commercial of a few years back, where the car does a few turns and spins... Guess you had to be there...
• Manic Street Preachers/ The Chemical Bros. Gran Turismo Open Movie Mix - What else is there to say? Manic Street Preachers are folksy, British pop.
• Garbage - Who had two songs featured in separate GT games.
• The Cult - 80's rock, still great to race to
• Judas Priest - Has two songs on two separate GT games, including GT 4.

I think I may have a problem. I don't know for sure, better consult someone -after I finish this game...