* race it in the Super License test with the Alfa Romeo 155 Touring Car
* race it in Arcade Mode (Single Player, vs., or Time Trial)
* race it as a randomly-selected race from a One-Make Race or through the Event Generator.
Take a look at these videos to get a feel for what Rome-Night is like:
This is one of the most underutilized tracks in Gran Turismo history simply because a perfectly-fine track simply isn't being used much. When you put a track in a racing game, you expect to be able to utilize that course fully (or at least to a great degree). Gran Turismo 2 did very little with the exception of using this in a license test. And it isn't like this course is Circuit de la Sarthe or Indianapolis. It's a city street course that looks perfectly fine as a racing venue. Trouble is, it was never used or utilized in a favorable manner. It's actually quite depressing considering this is a perfectly fine and pretty challenging race course. It was just never utilized to where it can be respected. Hell, even Rome's SHORT course got more attention than Rome-Night. It makes you wonder, why would Polyphony Digital include a perfectly-fine racing course, but not put a series of races together to race this course? It's a shortcoming that I'm sure PD has learned in putting tracks in games.
--- Why Do I Call Rome-Night the Most Underutilized? ---
Motor Sports Land is a good Easter egg track to me. It's great for drifting, but I don't know about putting multiple cars on the track for intense racing. Complex String is more of a test track than any proper racing course (and it should just be a test track). The track is too unrealistic to be a true race track for intense racing. The Las Vegas drag strip in Gran Turismo 4 has been seen more as a testing facility, but I do wished there would be better usage of it for drag racing purposes. But take a look at Rome-Night. It's a proper circuit track that just didn't get much loving and usage. It's a long course, it could have been a better-utilized course... but it just didn't get a lot of attention. When you have a situation like this, you basically just wasted disc space by putting in a track that rarely, if any, gets any proper usage.--- What to Learn From This? ---
If you're going to have a track in the game, make sure to utilize it fully. Gran Turismo 2 has too many shortcomings that really make it my least favorite of the GT games. People are likely going to disagree with me all because I didn't praise GT2 well enough. Fact is- too much failed execution to really make me love this game more than Gran Turismo 1. I even went back and enjoyed GT1 even while GT2 could have been MUCH better. I'm saying all of this as a Gran Turismo fan. I'm not some Microsoft "fanboy" who works for Microsoft hating on Gran Turismo any chance I get.If you're going to market a game with a series of tracks, make sure to utilze all of them and give them the loving attention they deserve. Not utilizing Rome-Night is like not giving a plant abundant sunshine or water. You know what happens when plants lack sunshine or water? They die, and Rome-Night is just that dead plant in the pot. And it isn't likely any water or sunshine will revive this dead plant of a track for the upcoming Gran Turismo 5. So enjoy this track while it remotely lasts in Gran Turismo history...
Don't have GT2? Find it in my aStore, or check out my blog entry reviewing Gran Turismo 2.
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