Two PSM3 writers, both huge Gran Turismo fans, give their early verdict on retail code - with shockingly diverse results After a five year wait, we've only got a few hours until Gran Turismo 5 launches, and the global review embargo breaks tomorrow morning, at 8am Wednesday, 24th November. We've had final retail code since Monday, and thought it would be interesting to compare the initial thoughts of two huge GT fans, both PSM3 writers, who've been playing the game for a fair few hours. Their impressions couldn't be more shockingly disparate, both for and against; a primer for what we can expect from reviews tomorrow, which could vary anywhere from a glowing 9/10s, to angry 5/10s... Why you're going to hate GT5 Success or disappointment? As ever, it all depends on your vantage point... "First Exit On The Rantabout; Why You're Going To Hate GT5" ... writes GT fan and real life race fan, Steve Williams We've all waited so long, wondering all the while: what's taking them so long? And now we've played it. Played Gran Turismo 5! And we're thinking... what the hell took them so long? GT5 is a colossal disappointment. Epic. Global. GT2 added tons of cars to a genuinely revolutionary original, leaving all other racers floundering. GT3 (eventually) added muscle cars and PS2 visuals. GT4 added the Nurburgring Nordschleife - which consequently became almost a must-have for any serious racing game - and even Prologue added a (pathetically rudimentary) online mode. Increasingly, Gran Turismo has scraped by as an AAA driving game. And now this. So far, even after two days of play, I just can't see what GT5 adds. At all. It's just like GT4. Which was for the most part just like GT3. Which was just like GT2, which was just like GT. This once revolutionary game has stood still while the competition at first caught up, then surpassed it. Gran Turismo 5 still wants to party like it's 1999. We don't. So what, you say? What's wrong with more of the same? Most sequels do that. It's what we want. And in that case, congratulations. You know you'll love this already (you've already played it, after all). After five years of work the useless collision sounds are the same, the useless collisions are the same, the dry lack of speed or acceleration is the same, the environmental sterility is the same, the quagmire of dull shopping cars is the same. Those deathly license tests - so fun and innovative ten years ago - are the same, though at least here they're largely redundant at last. Tracks of my tears And for the most part, the tracks are the same. Polyphony's best tracks remain unrivalled, yet it hardly bothers to make more, while at least one here (SS Route 7) is one of the very worst circuits we've ever played. Ever. Plus, the spray effects are awful, anything further than five metres from the track edge looks like it was bought flatpacked from Ikea and there's noticeable screen tearing. It's stunning in places, upsetting in others, with some jarring low-detail backdrops and sterile crowds. Yes, there are new elements and redesigned menus, although the traditional user-unfriendliness has, if anything, risen as a result. This game does nothing to help you, nothing to signpost your way forward. You spend hours clicking through menus and watching them load, just trying to get a car onto an appropriate track with a few other appropriate cars. Thrills are in short supply, and often so is driving. New stuff? The track editor makes fun and ugly tracks. You can change the background for the car selection screens, which makes it even harder to pick a car colour. However, the feel of the tyres on tarmac is softer, more tactile and richer. Stay on line, push sensibly and it can feel pretty lush. Yet there's still almost no racing. Frequently you're either in a car that's 50mph slower down the straights and has no hope of winning, or you're 50mph faster and lead into the first corner. There's no 'rubber banding' to keep AI cars near you and spice things up, no suggestions or requirements from Polyphony Digital to get you in a well-matched car. This remains a chequebook racer - if you've got cash, you'll win. Maximum damage The much-hailed damage is haphazard and disappointing, while only 'premium' cars have a dashboard view and standard cars can't be repainted. Weirdest of all, GT5's vaunted vehicles don't even look that good. Yes, even the cars - those 1000-plus cars! - are disappointing. Sure, stick them in photo mode and ogle the hi-res versions and they're gorgeous, but on track and in motion they're surprisingly prone to jaggedy shadows, lumpy edges and blurry textures. The cars in NFS Hot Pursuit look better, go better and crash better. If GT5 took a pit stop, how long would it take? Nice rhetorical question to chew on there. It doesn't help that they're almost exclusively overgeared and under-tyred, either (as usual). For instance, our early 1.3 Mini topped out at 80mph-ish in third, with two gears to go. I've owned a 1.3 Mini. It didn't do that. I've also had the incredible honour of being driven around a Welsh forest rally stage in a Mitsubishi Lancer by the WRC driver Gigi Galli, and I can say - without a shadow of a doubt - that WRC cars have far, far more grip than they do in GT5. In real life, I couldn't believe it. In GT5, in contrast, the Focus WRC's tyres are so slippery I couldn't believe they weren't butter. So much for 'the real driving simulator'. Get one of these cars in the air or smash one into a barrier and they're just as floatily unreal as they ever were. Frankly, it breaks my heart. In case you were wondering, I bought GT for PSone on launch day, I've played every game since (special editions and bike-based Tourist Trophy included) and I've gone to a 4am bed seeing its tarmac twisting behind my eyelids far more times than is healthy. I've loved that game for years. But it hasn't changed. It's barely evolved and it still has all the problems, annoyances and poor design it always had. After more than a decade of development, Polyphony has simply used up every credible excuse. This thing is a dinosaur. Unless the later stages and the online sections (inoperable at the time of writing) can utterly override the problems - perhaps by loading an entirely new game I haven't seen yet - GT5 is going to be the monolithic headstone for a once-great series. Just what the hell have they been doing for five years? Why you're going to love GT5 "It's brilliant... the best GT yet" ... writes GT fan and real life race fan, Alex Evans It's almost tempting to feel disappointed. Five long years of anxious waiting, and the first thing I'm asked to do is complete the Dullest Race Ever in a pre-owned Lexus. It's as if Polyphony did it deliberately. This is Gran Turismo, love it or hate it, but don't expect it to rip up its own rulebook. First up: The iconic, the legendary, Sunday Cup. Ah, it's been so long. As a GT fan, though, one thing is immediately clear: Gran Turismo 5 is quite simply the greatest GT yet. It feels like the first game in the series to be on a system capable of coming even close to matching the lofty ambitions of its perfectionist developers. Spine-tinglingly epic intro FMV aside, the first thing to hit you is just how glossy it all is. In the menus, everything oozes with a delicious sheen. In-race, it's floodlight bright and spectacularly-detailed. I actually had to turn my TV's brightness down to save my eyes. The new level system is the biggest change. After every race, you get experience points depending on how well you did and how tough the race was. Your level affects everything, from which races you can enter to what cars you can buy. It means you can't just repeat a race over and over to get enough credits to drive a car you shouldn't have yet, but you need to work up through the career properly. It's pretty much the largest single tweak to the formula since the series' inception. It'll certainly be interesting to see how it feels over the full course of a career mode. It seems like it could be quite restrictive, but in the early hours, it's more addictive to improve than frustrating to be held back by. Slide away From just these early experiences, what's clear is that the handling system destroys Prologue. It definitely 'feels like GT', but even standard cars seem to have more freedom. Enough twitchiness to slide, enough responsiveness to nip into the apex. And slamming into a track wall pulls the car up into the air in a much more natural way than GT4's dull thud and sudden stop. Vehicles genuinely threaten to flip over at high speeds, and seem to react to contact from each other in a much more realistic way. Visually it's at once comfortingly familiar, in that squeaky-clean sort of GT style, and impossibly beautiful. It's the equivalent of a warm bath on a cold night - with Megan Fox in it. What is immediately obvious is that Polyphony Digital have achieved a technical masterpiece. The staggering full HD 60fps simply never struggles for a single second. Turns out, the standard models don't look bad, nor that great either. Granted, a Toyota Vitz in pale lilac was never going to set pulses racing, but the standard models are a bit plain Jane next to premium drives - which look PS4 standard, easily. It's also a bit disappointing that there seems to be no damage at all for standard cars, at least in the early races - and no, they /don't/ have an internal cockpit view. But they have been given a polish and do look much better than GT4 did anyway. More is more From the lush, photo-filled menus, the always-online social network options, even the ability to pick your driver's outfit, it feels like GT has been expanded in every direction, improved from every conceivable angle. The amount of depth clearly visible just from the home screen is, on first impression, a little daunting. Gran Turismo 5, then, is not about reinventing the wheel, it's about making the perfect realisation of it at long, long last. And in many ways, as a GT fan, Gran Turismo 5 is everything I've been waiting (and waiting) for. It does everything GT should, in a GT-ish sort of way, but does it all with a gloss, depth and dynamism never before possible. it's brilliant: the best GT yet, but in true GT style there are of course a few things I'd change. Does it matter? Does it hell. GT5 is THE Gran Turismo. Here's to losing the next five years in a cloud of exhaust fumes. For the full review of Gran Turismo 5, based on an extensive playtest, and comprising full online impressions, check PSM3 magazine on-sale 10th December, 2010. Are you picking up the game? Loving it? Hating it? Share your thoughts below, or contact us on Twitter @PSM3_Magazine or via our Facebook page. PSM3 http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=277401&site=psm
[video=youtube;8b_bmgyItqY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b_bmgyItqY"[/video] Burnin' out! watch the whole thing!
2 player races online = boring *shrugs* mediocre at the best of times..maybe at a price of $19.99 or less
I did hear about that, the game doesn't seem to be complete, but i reckon some people have waited over half a decade for the game, so they just 'like' it or else they failed hard. still gota wait and see what the peeps on the Gt forum are saying. I was all about getting a PS3 for the game but from what ive heard and seen, ive changed my mind, definitely not worth it unless you already own a PS3, which means i should stick to LFS and Rfactor.
Why are 2 player online bad? i haven't done 2 player splitscreen online? Or 2 player online? If its splitscreen, i haven't done splitscreen yet.. but how is it bad?
The 2 player split screen is lower quality just to maintain 60 fps I think. Online races is up to 16 people online.
^ yup thats what i heard, BUT i hear it is a free-for-all. no car restrictions, so you may find your Riced out accord (can you even modify cars much on GT5, i hear you cant change wheels even) going against a veyron for example. supposedly they are going to release a patch that puts restrictions on cars in lobbies or something but this shows that the online element is gona be a bodge-job and i reckon its the online that will make or break this game cus people will soon get bored of collecting shiny cars.. its all about online mode.
i gave this game a go when a friend brought it over to my place.... all I can say is.... i rather play burnout.... LOL
This is def. not a game for everyone.. it's almost like what Street Fighter is to fighting games. You really have to put in the time to do work. And for all the car connoisseurs this is right up their alley. And if you want to just chase cars and ram them all over the place, then best stick with burnout n new NFS series lol. GT5s like more relaxing n therapeutic.. when I'm on burnout though.. road rage like a muthafucka.. hahaha
If you have a wheel compatible with the PC try LFS, Rfactor or the best one.. Iracing... if you learn to play that i doubt youll bother playing console racers again, put it this race, REAL race drivers use Iracing to practice their driving. As for rammers... dude... if PD fix the online your gona rage when you see the rammers in every race.. its like they live for it, same with Forza 3 too. live broadcasts on iracing http://www.iracing.com//multimedia/live-broadcasts/
wow.. the g27s are sold out on logitech website.. I wonder why.. lol shit.. [video=youtube;5tdoQCUrtgs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tdoQCUrtgs"[/video] I tried one of those d-box chairs a while ago..
yeah people are buying it for GT5.. if i was waiting 5 years for a game i would go all-out too. but im still leaning towards a fanatec wheel for the belt drive. But that game (Rfactor) and the other sims like that is what its all about, thats why i lol when GT5 and Forza fanboys say they are playing a sim. That seat is $15,000, allow dat But you know wat geeza, soon as i get my wheel, im jumping on Underground 2 cus that game is pretty sick with the wheel, PC version ofcourse.
