Enthusia Professional Racing

Grand Turismo is synonymous with racing simulator. Now ready yourself for Enthusia Professional Racing by Konami, synonymous with “average.” A little unjustified I felt as this was a realistic and enjoyable game that didn’t get enough spotlight. Let’s jump in.

The gameplay

Off the bat I want to do what everyone does when talking abhout this game and that’s compare it to Gran Turismo 4, which also came out in 2005. Offering fewer cars and tracks, this game still provided a decent simulation experience, even if it’s slightly marred by its confusing presentation.

Let me get into the meat of this game because theres a lot to upack. This title runs on a pretty simple thesis. You have to be the best to win.

Offering something quite different in its career mode, you’re success is gauged relative to what car you picked and how well you drove it to the finish line. Coming first isn’t the only thing you’re tested on as the worse a car you pick, the more points you get for winning in it. That tied in with its “Enthu-Points” system where if you bump into other cars or hit the barriers or drive off the road in any way, you are punished and the game deducts points as it doesn’t reward winning, it rewards perfection.

In order to attain that perfection the gameplay has to also be perfection and it is. The controls are perfect and the vehicles have a delightful weight to them that I cant fault for a second. Viewing the gameplay footage side by side real vehicle footage of the same car, I was blown away by how close they got it.

The Career Mode

This part of the review is something of a doozy. The career, named Enthusia Life, follows a simple enough strategy that works similarly to the seasons in a sports game. It takes place over weeks where you drive in whatever race in coming up. This tied in with the opening cinematic that does not fit the tone of the rest of the game at all implies that perhaps there was an overarching story that was supposed to be present in the game before it got cut.

That being said, there was still an element of time realism that this feature brings. One bothersome thing was that switching a car took a week away from you which I tried to form a head-canon about needing to source the car, in a bizarre way for me to justify what made no sense.

The Cars

There are 211 cars available for you to try out. Although the game praises you for playing in lower tiered vehicles, there is still a huge selection of powerhouses available for your pleasure.

Enthusia offers you cars at every chance available, through the fairest method of all; a raffle. However there is also a chance you won’t win anything with that method too so ultimately it’s up to you to decide if you like that feature. I, for one, found it thrilling.

Pros

• Great controls
• Realistic car movements

Cons

• Comparatively small car selection
• Hasn’t aged beautifully