There's a new camera angle that is higher up than the standard 3rd person view and I must say I quite like it. Not to race with though, it's most useful feature is that you can see corners much easier due to the higher angle, which certainly helps when learning the tracks.
Although i'm expecting improvement for the final game, the AI is currently still pretty average which is a shame. Once you know the tracks a little better it doesn't take much effort to win on the 'Pro' setting. It's also still too easy to use them as walls. One thing that has been added is the penalty system. Hit a wall or another car too hard and you'll be locked down to 50mph for 10seconds, which will certainly help somewhat in online play to stop people ramming the back of you to get infront and encourage proper driving.
There are 2 modes to be found in Prologue, Arcade and School Mode. The latter is basically a reworked Licence Test. Some are the standard 'follow the blue line' tests found in previous GT's, while some of the newer ones see you taking control mid-race at the back of a pack of cars. It's then your job to finish as high as you can, with obviously 1st place winning you Gold, 2nd Silver, etc. The former is your standard Arcade mode which are races of 5 other cars over the following tracks.
1. Tsukuba Circuit - Standard racing circuit which gently eases you into the game.
2. New York - Obviously a street racing stage, so expect huge long straights and a large selection of 90 degree corners.
3. Grand Canyon - This one is a rally circuit which has been much improved over past GT games. Everything is much more narrow and much tighter, more like Rally should be. Also, you dont race any other cars, so im assuming, like real Rally, its against the clock.
4. Fuji Speedway - Another standard racing track with a really nasty S-bend at the end.
5. Citta De Aria - This course introduces a new type of street racing where the streets are very narrow, barely wide enough for 2 cars in most parts. It seems like you dont race any opponents on these, so much like the rally stages, it's against a clock.
Graphically everything is a solid 60fps and looks better than ever. At first it doesn't look too much different from GT3, but it's not long before you realise that it's much better. Better texturing, more detailed environments, more geometry, better reflections (on both cars and building window ala PGR2) and much better lighting and shadows. The cars of course are still the biggest attraction of show and dont fail to impress yet again. A nice addidtion are the animated spectators on the rally course who jump out in the road to grab a quick photo which gives the rally stages a more rally-like feel. At the moment there's quite a bit of pop-up (and REALLY bad pixelation in the 'you have won a car' scene) but I would fully expect these to be ironed out by full release. Plus it still has that 'harsh' look that all PS2 games have. Still, it will be the best looking PS2 game there is if they can sort out the pop up.
There doesn't seem to be an option for in-race music for some reason (i assume/hope its because they haven't settled on the soundtrack yet) so I can't really comment on the music, but the engine sounds are brilliant. Very crisp and very clear, easily the best i've ever heard.
Overall, GT4 Prologue is pretty much how I expected to be - GT3 with advanced handling, better graphics, etc. The pop-up MUST be sorted out as it's pretty bad in its present state, and some more work on the AI before final release would be nice, but Polyphony have always said that GT is more about driving than racing so im not holding my breath on that one. As I said earlier, a Logitech Wheel is just amazing with this game so if you want to get the maximum out of it then start saving for one right now.....
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