Gran Turismo 5 is a playstation exclusive game that I have been looking forward to for years - I bought the Playstation 3 system for a few games and this definitely was high on my list. After a long 4-5 years, the wait is finally over and their product finally broke out of that delay limbo all GT fans are familiar with. We finally get the game we've been all waiting for with an option of a collectors edition that comes with the following extras: a GT-R model car, keychain, exclusive booklet , and numbered certificate of ownership + 5 bonus in-game cars.
The playstation had released two other games prior to this final release to help feed some of their anxious fans, including myself: Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and Gran Turismo for the PSP. The only thing i remember from playing the "Demo-ish" Prologue version were the very irritating loading times between almost all actions - I'm glad I only borrowed the game from a friend. I own the PSP version and have mixed feelings about the game - it has a lot of cars which is good, but it's like playing Gran Turismo arcade mode only which is not what I was looking forward to. I'd say the prologue was not worth the money since you only get a few cars/maps to play with. The PSP version will force you to try a lot of different cars because of the lack of upgrades. After playing the real GT5, I will not see myself going back to either of these games.
I have played GT5 non-stop for the past 3 days during my Thanksgiving weekend and think I have a pretty good idea of the game and its direction. GT5 has a lot of features that are new to the series, they are mostly geared towards creating a closer community thanks to the internet and the Playstation network. You can view exclusive video content from the GT TV in-game, share your progress with friends, share and take pictures of your dream cars, and of course online multi-player competition. There are probably other features that i've not played with yet and possibly new features with future updates but lets go over the gameplay.
You start off with $20,000 much like in the previous version of GT and this means you start off with an inexpensive car and work your way up. It's not going to be as easy as the previous version because of a new "player level" aspect that grows as you progress through the game. Basically it limits what players can buy depending on their skill level - the game labels all cars with a level requirement and they must be met before you can purchase/use them. You can level up by taking license tests or winning races/challenges. There's a new AI-based gameplay called Spec-B where you act as a manager for a race team and build up a list of drivers that will help drive for you - it's pretty frustrating because the drivers start off as drivers that spin-out, understeer and oversteer; you need to give them commands (controlling their pace) to help them during a race. It's interesting and gives you an alternative way to unlock cars that you might not get in Spec-A (The traditional GT single player mode). Tip - just keep pace in the middle and you'll win a map usually (that white line between the blue/red).
There were a lot of hints that GT5 will have some sort of damage system, and it does but just not as realistic as you would want it to be. The damage system is very subtle and can target two areas: power and handling. For instance, if you abuse your car's engine a lot, you will see a decrease in horsepower after a race. If you damage your car's body you will lose handling performance and notice difficulty around corners. You can make repairs outside of a race but it's quite expensive, so this forces you to become a better driver and think twice about abusing your car to win a race.
The graphics in this game are quite good overall and even better with "premium" cars. The premium cars are cars that have higher quality detail than the "standard" cars; premium cars are all the cars that are shown at the dealerships in the game and possibly other cars you obtain in the game. These premium cars offer that high quality GT5 detail most of us were looking forward to and there is also a Photo Mode to photo-shoot your car at a several different virtual locations. The photo mode also has an "SLR" like feel to it because it allows you to adjust aperture and exposure settings as well as focal length. I've taken pictures of the NSX-R and love the results.
The driving experience is as good as it gets, very serious and simulator-like -- you will need to really use your skills if you want to play this game well. The game, by default, has the racing lines in-game so that you can take it easy and enjoy the game. With the racing lines on, I got to enjoy the advantages of an MR (Mid-engine Rear drive) type car but after turning them off, I also felt difficultly of actually driving an MR car. Tuning cars is also a pretty large element in this game and you get to adjust every suspension detail as you have in the past. This game really does push you to become a better driver and also gives you the opportunity sharpen your suspension/tuning skills.
I bought the collectors edition at first just because I liked the GT-R model car, but the real treat was the booklet it came with. The book is like a car encyclopedia, it contains so much information that it deserves the title of "Ultimate Car Guide". The book goes over everything from how a car is created to how every individual part functions in a car. I found the book helpful because helps illustrate how different tuning adjustments affect your car's handling/power. About 200 pages of this book is general information about cars, tuning and racing advice - the remaining 100 pages contains a listing of all the maps/cars in the game - THIS BOOK IS JUST AWESOME!
There is a lot more to say about this game and after playing it for 3 days i'm sure I haven't tried out everything just yet. So far I am satisfied with the game and would firmly give it 9.0 out of 10 and a perfect 10 if they improved loading times. Loading still takes some time even after the 8GB install, I am considering an SSD hard drive to increase performance on these load times. The multiplayer is working fine but I would also like to see improvements in the future. The single player mode is challenging enough for me and gives a realistic simulation of the actual cars. I believe this game is a must-have for those who like cars or love realistic racing games. This game is probably not too interesting to people who expect something fun because it definitely is not "fun" until you've spent hours sharpening up your driving skills. If you are not prepared to spend a lot of your time perfecting your driving skill, this might not be a good game for you. If you want the best possible car-simulator there is, this is as good as it gets for the PS3 and you should definitely get it.
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