Gran turismo 4: my attempt to play this game
Some time ago I bought a copy of GT4 after playing GT3. I like a lot the third game of this serie, for what I decide to get a copy of its sequel, which improve in every aspect compared to the previous.
Since the start of april I left it in its box, and this in turn in a transparent tight bag (from those designed for DVDs boxes). The disc is in perfect condition. Asking for more would be a sealed one. Everything it is OK till this point.
I remember playing this game twelve years ago. Now I did not have the save file from my earlier playthrough so I had to start a new one. I don't remember exactly why I erased my more than a decade old save, but it almost certain it was because it takes a lot of space in the memory (~1,5mb).
What triggered my interest in playing this game now, seven months after buying it, was a post in the Gran Turismo subreddit (r/granturismo). It was a picture of someone whose save file got corrupted. Days ago I wanted to put game and seeing this post was like a final reminder (although by the nature of the post it should have caused the opposite effect). In the post someone said that the save got corrupted because of the autosave function. To ovoid damaging the save the autosave function has to be on "restricted" (this way the game only autosave when we change cars. We cannot turn off the autosave completely). I read afterwards that it is recomended to have two memory cards for this game: one that you actively use and other where you copy your progress as a backup.
I tried the game the morning after I saw the mentioned post. I was cautious to put the autosave on restricted. I played the first set of beginner races and stoped. I manually saved on my house in the GT mode and turned off the PS2. To my surprise when I tried to load my save file after lunch It was already corrupted. I couldn't even load a save file once!
It could have been worse. Way worse. My progress was minuscule, and that makes my bad luck more striking.
I said that this fourth game in the serie improve in every aspect in comparison to its prequel, but in fact it gets worse in a key elelment. if my time of leisure becomes a fight against a game that tries to break itself then it is a problem, which it seems big enough to me as so that I cannot recomend GT4 over GT3. Good luck if you try to play this game with only one memory. Maybe just stick to the arcade mode.
Imagine having to use two memory cards. ~1,5mb used in each card of the 8mb. After each sesion save manualy, restart the system to check if the save is still useful, then restart again to copy the save in the other card, and finally turning off the PS2. All of this again, and again, and again after each session. GT4 is a pretty long game, you know. Too much of a hassle to me. No thanks. I'll pass on this one.
ESP - Esto lo había escrito en noviembre del 2020 en un blog que no seguí, por lo que lo posteo nuevamente acá. Probablemente el uso de un emulador evitaría corromper los datos guardados.
