Games directly featuring the Cinquecento.

Many cars get featured in games, this used to be regulated to the faster flashier cars in the world but nowadays with the maximisation of advertising or 'product placement' as its known, many other lesser or normal vehicles are being written into games, just as the Seicento is included in Sega Rally 2 on the Dreamcast. I can only remember one game which has featured the Cinquecento in the past this was a top down view rallying game back in 1995 which was available on the Amiga only the name of which escapes me for now (let me know if your memory is better than mine) in those days it was the cutting edge of gaming technology but i'd guess that compared to todays offerings it looks pretty sad indeed.

Gran Turismo and its follow up Gran Turismo 2 on the Playstation have changed all this, as hardened gamers and car nuts will know the earlier version featured georgeous graphics and an excellent attention to detail, the only possible criticism which could be levelled was the rather myopic view of the car world which the game offered with only Japanese manufacturers products on show and although these are very good (I have been very lucky to have experienced the real thing first hand due to a friend of mine who was importing these very vehicles) it had the effect of giving the game a lack of realism due to many of the vehicles being out of reach to the man in the street.

It would seem that the coders of the game were also aware of this and for the latest incarnation have created different versions of the game for the different continentinal markets which the Playstation is tied to, this has lead to the pure joy of having both the Cinq and Seicento Sporting's featured in glorious 3D. Many other manufacturers cars are also featured including all the other branches of the Fiat Auto family excepting Ferarri for contractural reasons. Other European manufacturers include Volkswagen, BMW, Audi, TVR, Renault, Peugeot, Jaguar, Lotus, Ford, Vauxhall, Citroen, and Rover.... comprehensive is not the word to describe the content of this game unfathomable would be closer, as no sooner does the player feel he's seen it all than something else appears which has'nt been seen before.

As far as the Cinquecento goes, to start with you get just the standard item with 54 horsepower which is hard to win any races with, but as those familiar with the features of GT will know there are so many tuning options that it can almost be confusing to know what to buy next !, these tuning options are so very comprehensive and accurate that just an air filter change for instance yeilds one horsepower and a 'Level One' Turbo conversion at the other end of the spectrum gives 101 hosepower just as the Hormann or Van Aaken Turbo kits do, it strikes me that someone has gone to great deal of trouble to research this game fully and they should be applauded for their accuracy. With all the tuning parts available to to the Cinq in the game fitted 187 horsepower is what you can expect add to this a little weight reduction and garnish with some sticky rubber to give you a cooking car which is able to overhaul most unmodified cars with up to 500 horsepower under the bonnet, unlikely perhaps in real life but this is a virtual world we are talking about here !

Gran Turismo mode features single manufacturer races in which you can take on a brace of other cars with the same shape and similar power meaning neck and neck racing action but beware if you intend to go straight out and win with a standard car as all the other competitors have some sort of modification, I reckon you'll need about 70hp to start winning races you have been warned. One thing which is possible in arcade mode is head to head where 2 gamers can race each other in split screen mode (the bigger the telly the better) ideal for comparing the Cinq against is competitors like the (Rover) Mini, (Toyota) Yaris, (Ford) Ka etc and of course also 2 Cento owners can duel it out to the death with no fear of damaging the paintwork at all !

My own observations about the game in general ?.... well I personally don't think that graphically it is as good as its predecessor, unlike the original the objects on screen are blocky and pixelated when viewed close up and also the depth of field is not as deep as in the original quite often one finds oneself driving along waiting for the machine to draw the sceenery which includes the next bend (a real problem if you don't know the circuit well). Overall the game is generally better with more cars, more tracks, more tuning options infact generally more of everything including the fact that it comes on two disks now as well. Personally I cannot wait until the next version comes out which will possibly be called Gran Turismo 2000 you will however need a Playstation 2 (Due out in the UK Autumn 2000) to play it on but if the screen shots on the Sony website are anything to go by it will be well worth the money and the wait, don't let this put you off buying this version of the game though as there are a good 9 months of racing available before the new version finds its way to our shores.