GTI Club is a racing game released, originally, for the arcades in 1996 by Konami. It runs on PowerPC-based hardware. The game's graphics were very good for the time. In the original game, the player could choose from 5 rally cars, including a Mini Cooper and Renault 5 Alpine Turbo, and race in Côte d'Azur. The game allowed free-roaming of the environment, which was revolutionary for the time, and contained several semi-hidden shortcuts that could be used to reduce lap times. A handbrake is provided which the player is encouraged to use to perform handbrake turns round sharp corners.
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The original title in the series was released in 1996 in Japan and 1997 overseas. It features a single course and four classic supermini cars plus a Bugatti EB110 supercar which could be used only in the single player game, at the cost of an extra credit.
The first sequel (ＧＴＩクラブ・コルソイタリアーノ) was released in 2000, it was published overseas in 2001 as GTI Club 2. The action moves from France to Italy with Town (Easy), Coast (Medium) and Mountain (Hard) courses, hence the title. It features eight unlicensed cars resembling the likes of Morris Mini and Bugatti EB110 plus a selection of new cars including the Fiat 500, Lotus Seven, AC Cobra, Volkswagen Beetle, Nissan Fairlady Z (S30) and Fiat 131.
In December 2008, Konami released the third episode in Japan with the original "France Course" and "Italy Course" plus two additional circuits (England and U.S.A.) and twelve cars.GTI Club ワールドシティレース (lit. "GTI Club: World City Race") was later released for the Wii and PlayStation Portable in February 2010 in Japan and in March 2010 in North America.
GTI Club+: Rally Côte d'Azur, an HD port of original GTI Club, has been released for the PlayStation Network (2008 in Europe, 2009 in United States). The port was by British studio Sumo Digital and published by Konami. The game features a number of improvements over the original game including enhanced graphics and sound, eight player online multiplayer, new modes and compatibility with the PlayStation Eye.[1]