Game:

Enthusia Professional Racing (2005)

Duration: 15:13

37 views

3

I played this game on the latest PCSX2 QT build with Vulkan, using 720p (any higher causes bad graphics and lighting) with the CRT lottes shader and FXAA enabled. It looks amazing this way and the vertical lines in the video are from the shaders interacting with the recording, there were none in my gameplay.

This was a serious attempt by Konami to weigh in on the success of Gran Turismo and create a fully fledged driving simulation to beat it.
The game was incredible for its time and was arguably more realistic than Gran Turismo.
The way the rear end loses grip was something that Gran Turismo never quite nailed until Gran Turismo 5 on the PS3, yet in Enthusia, rear wheel driven cars would step out like their real world counterparts.
The graphics were also very impressive. Tracks had a look and feel of quality in their creation and featured animated events, such as planes and laser lights, something which Gran Turismo's circuits did not have.
The car models were also faithfully rendered and more than a match for the models seen in Gran Turismo.
The area in which it does fall behind is content. Gran Turismo 4 offered over 720 cars and over 50 tracks. Enthusia offers over 210 cars and 20 tracks. I believe that 2 of those are wet version circuits so maybe 18. That is not exactly lacking in content and features some awesome cars and tracks, yet does not quite match the Goliath Gran Turismo's offerings.
Despite this, it does win in some key areas. Graphics are definitely a win. A buttery smooth 60FPS and cars/tracks have a polished look which even GT can not match.
Sound too. The music is not good, but what matters are the roar of the engines. Whilst not exactly Need for Speed good, they do sound considerably better than in GT. The rumble of the Impreza boxer engine or the high pitched rotary of the RX-7, with the turbo noise to go with it is definitely recreated. Physics are about even. It wins in simulating the rear end of the car, yet loses at the front. Gran Turismo has a more responsive and direct feel, with the tires grip at the front and weight shifting being very well passed on to the player, creating an unmistakable feel to the game. It has an extremely stiff feel to the rear though, which is where Enthusia shines. It doesn't feel quite as direct and responsive as GT, weight shifting is not felt as convincingly, yet it still does these things well and gets the rear of the car right. I'd have to call this a tie.
They are both good simulations for the time, yet have their own strengths. Gran Turismo has a better career and more longevity within it.
When everything is taken into account, it definitely is a rival for GT. It wins in some areas and loses in others. Some will prefer one, some the other.
I had an absolute blast with this when it released and spent a lot of time with it. I can say the same of Gran Turismo 3 and 4. I loved them both for different reasons, yet Gran Turismo just offered more once the game was finished. For this, it remains my winner, yet this game was so close.
It was a disaster for Konami, whose marketing was absolutely terrible, leading to dire sales numbers. If it wasn't for me seeing it in the game shop, I would have never even known it existed.
So many people who love GT still probably have no idea it exists. I would definitely recommend this game to all who like racing games.
It should have been up there alongside GT, with sequels to take the fight to Polyphony with Gran Turismo.
Because of bad marketing and basically zero advertising, it remains a relic, a hidden gem, lost to time.
If you enjoy Gran Turismo 3/4, do yourself a favour, play this game. It really is superb :)

MSI Z690 Edge WiFi DDR4
Intel i7 12700K @ 5GHz all core
RTX 3090 FE
32GB (16gbx2) GSKillz Trident Z RGB 3600MHz CL14