Developers were able to exploit the console’s advanced graphics, processing ability, and larger storage space to create far more realistic environments. Nowhere was this more obvious than the Gran Turismo titles, first with Gran Turismo 3‘s huge leaps over its predecessor, and then Gran Turismo 4 which earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records for its enormous 700+ stable of vehicles. The two titles racked up 26.5 million sales between them, and GT3 was in the top ten fastest-selling games ever at the time.
However the PS2 brought something else to the table too: network play. A staple of PC gaming, network play brought a new dimension to consoles. Initially the PS2 used a network interface called iLink, developed by a working group of Sony, Panasonic and Apple, to connect up to six consoles together in the same place – a Local Area Network, or LAN. GT3 supported iLink, bringing the ability to race against other people to a realistic console racing game for the first time.
Sony moved to a standard network connection, offering a network adapter for the original PS2, but also bringing out a new, smaller version of the console with an integrated network port. While this still allowed for LAN modes, it also opened up the possibility of playing against others over the wider internet.