Gran Turismo 5

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This isn't my favorite game bar none, life changing, or perfect, but it's definitely the most bang for the buck of any game I've played this generation.

But if you're considering it, you need to understand: this is Gran Turismo. It's not like other games. For better or worse, they are not attempting to make it like other games or fundamentally change their formula. Many of Gran Turismo's fans over the past 15 years liked the game because there wasn't anything closer to their tastes, but today, there is more competition.

Do you want a Gran Turismo style game? If so, this is excellent. Do you instead want something that doesn't take many hours of work to open up? It's up to you.

Gran Turismo 5 is excellent, but there may be other games that are closer to what you actually want. Dirt's series is much easier to dive into and has plenty of graphics punch. Blur and other more arcadey games present cars you see on Top Gear or other TV shows, but with Mario Kart style action.

Gran Turismo presents a tremendous amount of content. Many cars, many tracks. With that content, you can painstakingly perfect your driving technique and develop tuning concepts while enjoying a very wide array of driving situations. The graphics, particularly the lighting, is superior to other games. Period. Forza presents the stiffest challenge, but is somewhat less realistic and has inferior graphics (at least 1-3... I have yet to play the new one) and levels of content. That said, Forza is a great game. Some will find it more fun. Some will wish it had that extra depth GT always brings.

GT has added 'levels' to this game, and you build experience when you do various things. You need a certain level in order to buy cars or drive in events. The licenses are there, but are totally optional. This is my primary gripe with GT. The licenses force one to learn proper technique. I think you'll have much more fun with the game if you do the licenses.

Otherwise: here's how to play. Buy a cheap car with your starter money. Race some easy races while upgrading the car. Race harder races and buy better cars, building your empire of cars and trophies. It's great fun.

GT5 has an A spec mode, where you do the driving, and a B spec mode, where one of your fleet of AIs do the driving. The AI is really good, in my opinion. They track stress and mental and physical fatigue and have differing levels of skills. And in B spec, you can tune the car and enjoy the amazing graphics.

GT5 has added Seasonal events, which you have to download from the internet (for free). This provides constant variety as you build a collection of cars from the three dealerships (premium new cars, standard used cars (Which inferior graphics, I should add), and online dealer.

The seasonals are essential to loving this game, as there are far fewer standard offline races than in GT4.

The audio in this game is a radical massive improvement. In most cases, it is obvious the audio is a real recording of the actual car. I can tell how many cylinders and the exhaust system, simply based on the car. A few times, I have heard a car passing me and realized what car it is, simply from having heard that car in real life. It is amazing, and you will love this game if you have a quality surround sound system. Even spectating is great, simply because the audio engrosses.

The graphics are ridiculously good. The standard cars look good (some look amazing and would be the best except they pale in comparison to the premiums). This game has crossed the threshold of graphics. It looks more realistic than real life. Watching the shadows of trees flicker over your leather dashboard, as you use cockpit view without any heads up, it is often impossible to tell this is a game rather than a video. The photo mode is also amazing, and you should check out gtplanet's photomode forum. You actually can learn a great deal about photography from this game.

For the money I paid, this game is a tremendous value. It's not perfect. In particular, the game is not evolving from the Gran Turismo formula, and some didn't want that game when they bought this. I did, and I'm thrilled.

This game suffers from a degree of fanboy mentality that has plagued this generation of PS3 and XBOX 360. Don't let that bug you. This game (And Forza as well) are excellent and worth the asking price. If you love realistic racing, you should buy this game.

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I wish this game was recognized for the things it did do rather than the things it didn't do.

I've never spent more time with a game in my life, let alone a racing game.

It all boils down to WHY one plays a game and, for me, one of the greatest factors is immersion.

So expectations were enormous. The damage modeling is moderate, there are a huge number of "standard" model cars, there are a few jaggy shadows here and there, and some of the details in a handful of tracks don't scream PS3.

BUT, the detail in the cockpits of those premium cars, those cars that I dream of sitting in but probably never will, is phenomenal. Sway your view left to right and in reverse and the sense of immersion is unparalleled. When it comes to graphics, I always ask myself, "is there enough here to keep me in the game or has the game blatantly broken my sense of immersion?" The goal of Gran Turismo 5 is realism so the minimalist approach to details on the track is actually appreciated. You won't find any exaggerations or artistic indulgences here. The result is pure focus on the vehicle in which you are seated and the driving experience--an aspect of the game that needs no explanation or defense.

Tune one of the hundreds of high-powered premium cars, take a seat and hit the road. For me, this was enough.

Buy Gran Turismo 5 Now

So GT5 would rate 4-stars normally, but given the fact that Polyphonic developed this for 6 years, expectations are higher, and this game doesn't meet them.

I'll start off with the good parts of the game first.

Graphics:

It's got outstanding graphics. The photo mode is insane. Yes, only 20% of the cars are fully scanned by GT5, but it's not a big deal, really. Asking GT5 to put that amount of work into all 1,000 cars is just asking too much for such a small improvement. The game size is already large enough as it is. Stages also look very good.

Car selection:

Couldn't ask for more. You can look up which cars are available on the web. I won't list them here. However, some races require used cars, and since dealers don't have a WHOLE lot of those, you'll have to wait for them to be offered on the very small Used Car lot. This could take forever. I still can't find a truck.

Presentation:

Outstanding. Menus are navigable and simple, races are easy and quick to restart, and everything looks very clean. Load times are OK.

Content:

Pretty good amount of content. You won't be disappointed.

OK, now the bad parts.

Collisions:

One of the big things they promoted about this game was the collision physics, new to GT5. However, I'm not sure if they changed anything at all. Two cars hitting each other at any speed sounds like someone kicked a rubbermaid trashcan for some reason, and barely ever causes any physical change in the car, nor the kind of collision response you'd expect (touching a wall or another car at any angle, even just a glancing touch, brakes you as hard as if both objects were made of rubber). Also, just like in previous game iterations, computer cars are planted securely on the road no matter how hard you try to knock them off. God forbid you position yourself to run them into a wall or try to force them into a tailspin, they'll win the battle every time, knocking you across the track. I guess you could argue that GT5 isn't about such aggressive contact racing, but then why can the AI run me off the road? In 20 hours of play never once have I been able to force someone's car more than 1 or 2 feet off the road, much less spin it out, yet they do it to me constantly.

Physics:

Car physics and performance seem good until you get to some of the mid-engined cars, when they go nuts. The Lamborghini Murcielago LP670 SV performs far below where it should, often being unable to out-accelerate Miuras or Gallardos, and with brakes so bad they'll constantly send you spinning into walls. The Lotus Elise race on the Top Gear track is famous for being essentially impossible. Touch the brakes and you'll spin out. Touch the throttle and you'll spin out. I did the course about 70-90 times and I've only been able to complete the first lap (of two) twice. And, by the way, I use to have a Lotus Elise that I tracked, and it DOES NOT perform like it does on GT5. There are various theories on the web as to what the problems arise from (someone forgot to program down force on some cars?). Despite all this, the Ferrari 458 and the Lamborghini Miura, both mid-engine cars, perform very well.

Customization:

Where to begin. Customization has been getting worse and worse in GT5 games, and the pattern continues. You can upgrade about 30 different things but not your brakes. Overly-expensive turbos add a minuscule amount of power (what kind of turbo adds 20hp?). You have EXTREMELY limited amount of control over what you can adjust on cars compared to previous GT5 games. No camber, toe-in/out, splitter, brake force, or wing adjustments, among others. You have a limited control over transmission, suspension, and brake balance, but only if you buy EXTREMELY expensive upgrades, which you won't want to do usually. That's about it. The only visual customization is paint color.

B-Spec:

B-spec mode, another new thing they added to allow you to direct someone else while they're driving, is horrible. There's no introduction so you don't exactly know how your driver is interpreting your commands, but there's only 4 anyway. Aside from those 4 commands, there's nothing else to do. You just sit there and watch. Oh, and B-spec races are twice the length of A-spec.

Music:

The music is ABSOLTELY TERRIBLE. Half of it puts you to sleep, the other half just leaves your mouth puckered in disgust. I don't recognize a single song other than the zany rendition of The Entertainer that plays when you go in the maintenance shop.

In the end, this game makes you wonder what they've been doing for 6 years. I mean, companies make entire universes of content if given 6 years (like MMOs). GT5 seems to have spent all of that time in the following way: 85% lets' scan 200 cars into GT5 in minute detail, 9% new courses, 3% photo modes, 3% new menus and screens, 0.0001% collision physics.

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First let me start out by saying, if you dont have a wheel at least like Logitechs driving force gt at around 130 bucks you will probably be quite underwhelmed wth the game.

The game has undergone numerous updates which have gone a long way to fix the slow plodding menus, some graphical anomalies, and the terrible ai.

The AI now isnt bad. They will dodge you, theyll try to find their way around you. However, the AI ISNT exciting. You dont have different personalities come through. But it's still perfectly serviceable.

The graphiocs are FANTASTIC. You really cant ask for more. The engine sounds sounded nice at the start but just not quite beefy. (Update: I set it to the full dynamic range (large theater setting) and got a good headphone setup that can actually do this very thing. Oh my goodness. Problem solved :) It sounded phenomenal. I was racing a ferari enzo and I was in cockpit mode. I heard this roaring engine deafening me at loud RPM's not in the center but slightly to the right of the center as it should be in real life. But most people probably will not have this type of setup so I imagine the engines will still not very beefy. . )

One other MAJOR CON is that you have to get to level 20 to really get much enjoyment out of the rich graphics, or the damage etc. This takes a looooooooong time. So, if you dont have the time or a wheel, dont bother.

Also, it's nearly impossible to slide an AI car out. You just cant.

Now the Good.

Graphics!!! Wow. After level 20, most cars you will drive are the 200 premium cars which look stunning including the interiors.

PHYSICS and gameplay: Incredible sensation of control on the steering wheel. amazing handling. The different tires make a difference. Drifting isnt easy as it should be. The cars just feel like they behave right. For instance if Im taking a turn and let off the throttle the car will not steer as well as if I had momentum going. If I brake at high speeds on certain cars without ABS enabled, Ill feel the steering wheel pulling as I struggle to keep the car from spinning out in a straight line. A ferrari enzo handled very different from the 458 italia though both had great performance. The enzo was tougher to control. But the incredible bit was there was a billion subtleties in the control system that it was just sublime.

The mini was a blast to drive as was the Evo and the lancia delta. The lancia delta being incredible at drifting. The mustang not as easy. All the different styles of cars behaved differently from model to model. The tires made a huge difference. Racing tires had the best grip but lost a bit of the wildness that standard tires had etc.

I cant emphasize how gorgeous the models are and there is a lot of satisfaction watching the replays just because your car looks stunning and you look good driving it.

When I discovered the ehandbrake button, things got much better as it allowed me to perform wilder maneuvers. Throttle and breaking feel great where you need careful control on the throttle and brake. For instance if you try braking in a turn you are more liable to spin the car out. But if you do you can cut the opposite way if you are fast enough and try to initiate a drift, but if your speed is out of the correct range this technique doesnt work. As you can see the options are nearly infinite as are the selection of vehicles.

You have TRUCKS! Mini cars! Cars! Electric cars! Karts! Dirt Cars! Incredible.

After level 20 the damage looks nice but it feels mainly cosmetic and doesnt really contribute much. But the point of gt5 is clean racing. This is a realistic game (for a console) that is just not meant to be played as an ass.

My friends came over and tried the steerring wheel and kept crashing constantly as they tried to steer at way too high speeds.

The force feedback is great, from bumper pads on the corners, feeling your wheels spin out, the steering tensing up at higher speeds, shuddering at ridiculous speeds. Slamming that h-shifter in gear. Even using the paddles are great. With a g25 you ca even use the clutch though I havent tried this. You can tell which side is spinning out or even in sopme cases which tire by the accuracy of the feedback.

Amazing.

The Veyrons spoiler goes up and down with speed and the airbrake comes on if you brake at a certain speed. As you drift, lots of smoke is given off and then as the back end touches the grass dirt flies everywhere.

Driving a classic benz 300 on the nurbrughring in the rain i nthe evening, the rain spray off the other cars was lit up by my headlights making it hard to see. Nice. Apparently you can turn off the lights during these events.

Certain tracks have great changes in elevation which make a difference in the handling. Accelerating on an inclined cuve will give you more grip than on a regular curve etc. I dont know what magic they put in their physics system but its near unbelievable. Frame rate drops have beeen improved by updagtes.

Even the upgrades dont provide the sae performance increase in different cars. And your top speed wont necessarily go exponentially up past a limit while you upgrade a crappy car.

The SEASONAL EVENTS are much more balanced than most of the races in the game. So spend your time on these things as you will get a greater challenge.

This game is not for you IF:

You use a controller. You want to race dirty or crazy and just arent very good at doing so. You dont have an extraordinary amount of time and patience. If you liked TEST DRIVE unlimited or arcade racing games. This is not an arcade game. This game isnt like another very good game called Dirt 2 or 3. This is slower in pace and not as crazy.

Is for you:

If you like realism. If you have a wheel. If you have patience to get to level 20. You dont mind somewhat simplistic upgrade systems. (You still have options but they are dumbed down a bit, and you cant upgrade your brakes, though the dfferent cars braking capabilities all vary).

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As someone that spent months playing Gran Turismo 3 I was very excited for the release of GT5. I eagerly picked it up on the first day of release and jumped right into it. As everyone will find out pretty quick it's relatively easy to play. There is a lot of depth to this game and you will find many ways to customize the car of your choice. The early skill level events of the game are usually easy to get first place in even if you have decided not to tune your car. Soon you will find yourself repeating the same 5-10 tracks over and over in an attempt to build up credits to buy new cars and new mods. While this does start to get monotonous it's fun to learn every area of each track to really hone your skills. Also you're going to need that kind of experience on each track as the level of competition and number of laps increases through the intermediate level to the advanced level. Eventually you will open up the endurance events, which in my opinion are the most fun and challenging events in the game.

Pros:

+Classic Gran Turismo controls and game play

+Many cars and tracks

+Pretty good music library

+Responsive controls with standard and wheel controllers

Cons:

-Shading and rendering of many vehicles looks unfinished

-Tons of menu screens and loading times

-Vehicle damage was hyped, but didn't deliver!

-Grinding tracks 100+ times for credits

Overall this is a very fun game and excellent value for fans of the previous Gran Turismo titles or anyone willing to spend hours and hours playing a racing game. There are some glaring flaws in the visuals that you would have hoped that 5+ years of development would have fixed. With that being said I really enjoyed playing this game from the first race I completed in my 75 HP car all the way up until I stopped playing with 98% completion. Order today!

EDIT 18 Sep 11

So, its been several months since I have touched this game. After watching a few episodes of Top Gear I really missed playing GT5 so I thought I would give it another go around. Whats the first thing I see? I need to install the last 7 updates that I have missed since I stopped playing...BLAH! After the updates are finally finshed I start looking around at some of the new features and I gotta say, WOW! Buying/installing/uninstalling parts and tires can now be done on almost any menu screen. This may not seem like a big improvement to some, but for those of us that have spent numerous hours playing the game and have been frustrated having to back out of menus to fix the smallest details its completely awesome! Another improvement is to the placing/prize system for seasonal events. Before when you finished first place you would get the prize money, but if you raced and finished first on that same track again you would get nothing. Now instead of having to resort to grinding an A Spec track, for a weak $90,000 to save up to buy that new car you want just hop on your favorite seasonal event and grind it for sometimes up $400,000+ a race.

Im really enjoying playing GT5 again. Best racing game ever!