GT Pro Series - hands-on

If there's one thing Wii's launch games have covered, it's gotta be variance. Pretty much any genre you can think of is represented in some way, even the gear-headed, customize-your-ride racer. GT Pro Series throws more than 80 licensed cars your way, each with tweakable options that you've seen in plenty of games up to this point. So what's the angle with this one? Well, a free steering wheel is a pretty cool bonus.

GT ships with a tiny plastic wheel that comfortably nestles the Wii remote inside, providing you with better riding experience than just holding a white wand. The wheel rests horizontally, so the d-pad is near your thumb (good for shifting gears) while gas and break lie on buttons 1 and 2. There's no real difference in performance with the wheel, but as a free toy that at least conveys the idea of driving, it's a welcome piece of "what's this thing for?"

As for the game, well, you've probably played it already. Increasingly difficult circuits give you opportunities to unlock new cars from the top Japanese manufacturers. Night and day courses change into rain-and-sunshine soaked laps through cityscapes. Tunable cars enable you to personalize multiple points of your favorite rides. In other words: nothing new, but nothing broken. As with many Wii launch games, GT seems designed to get the job done rather than exceed any pre-made expectations or rules. And given the casual success with the DS, it's a formula that easily has its place on any new Nintendo platform.

CATEGORIES
Brett Elston

A fomer Executive Editor at GamesRadar, Brett also contributed content to many other Future gaming publications including Nintendo Power, PC Gamer and Official Xbox Magazine. Brett has worked at Capcom in several senior roles, is an experienced podcaster, and now works as a Senior Manager of Content Communications at PlayStation SIE. 

Latest in Racing
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Nintendo knows you're waiting for Mario Kart 9, but it still wants you to run a million laps in Mario Kart 8 first
Wheel World
The spirit of Burnout Paradise lives on in this fabulous bicycle racing game from the makers of my favorite indie fighting game – a true Steam Next Fest gem
Sonic Racing CrossWorlds
Sonic Racing CrossWorlds announcement trailer proves Sega is coming for Mario Kart 9's throne with transforming cars and a closed beta this month
Need For Speed Unbound
The Need For Speed series is pumping the brakes as "Criterion are joining their colleagues working on Battlefield" instead of tuning more cars
Forza Horizon 5 the real deal reasonably priced car seasonal championship volvo 850 R racing
Forza Horizon 5 is the latest Xbox game to make the leap to PS5, and it's launching this spring with all of the same content and DLC
Tokyo Xtreme Racer
Cult classic racing series returns 18 years after its once-final entry on Xbox 360 to 95% overwhelmingly positive Steam reviews
Latest in Features
Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda in Wicked
Wicked: For Good release date, cast, story, and everything else you need to know about Wicked Part 2
Invincible
Invincible season 4 release date speculation, story, cast, and more
Key art for Assassin's Creed Rogue Remastered showing Shay Patrick Cormac in a black and red outfit that's a cross between Assassin and Templar armor, with his ship The Morrigan behind him
Assassin's Creed Shadows can wait – I spent 40 hours mopping up the map in the one game in the series everyone skipped
Avowed screenshot showing a corpse-like figure's face with glowing purple mushroom/spore growths
I thought I was going evil in Avowed, but one quest changed everything I thought I knew about morality in this RPG
Yakuza 0
10 years on, Yakuza 0 is still one of the strongest entry points to a franchise ever made
Mark in the blue suit during the Invincible season 3 ending
Invincible season 3 ending explained: who dies, Eve's new powers, and Conquest's fate