Evolution of an Evolution: Gran Turismo 4 vs Forza Motorsport 6 Apex

Of all the driving games I had, Gran Turismo 4 was my all time favorite title I played at home.

Back when I acquired my first Playstation 2 (it was black, thick and very temperamental when it overheated), I built up quite the library of games, across nearly all genres, but it was the driving games I enjoyed the most, plugging a lot of time in attempting to finish them.

I had titles like Need for Speed Underground, ATV Offroad Fury 2 (my first online, multiplayer experience from a console), Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 and an older PS1 game called World's Scariest Police Chases, just to name a few. However, it was the Gran Turismo series that really stole away most of my free time.

Despite the fact I recently bought a real world Mitsubishi, I have been driving the virtual versions for years (when available in games). I drove them in Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3, I drove them in Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec and I drove them a lot more in Gran Turismo 4.

Due to being a lot younger and not nearly as financially responsible as I am now, I sold my first PS2 and game library to a friend, just to cover a bill that came by "surprise mail." A few years would go by before I got my second (and last, the silver one pictured way up there) Playstation 2 as a Christmas gift from my wife. I wasted no time and partially rebuilt my library, only replacing the titles I really missed the most (namely Gran Turismo 3/4).

However, with the then recent arrival of my son and real life demanding more of my time with family and work, I drifted away from racing on virtual tracks and driving on a road to a much different "daily grind." That silver Playstation 2 and it's games wound up getting lost in the great shuffle of life....

Fast-forward nearly ten years later and Playstation is up to number 4 and I discovered a free to play variant of the Forza series for PC. I have talked at length and created many gameplay videos using this title, but I haven't shared one particular car I use a lot....

Since I am on the topic of virtual Mitsubishi's, wouldn't it be a cool idea if somehow I could play a favorite game from the past against it's modern replacement in my life?

Thanks to the mysterious power of emulation on PC, I can....