Gran Turismo 5

[fuser]

It was worth the wait! There's some issues, shadows on the start grid and screen tearing and lack of brake tuning. B-Spec is really interesting as now they have a full race director mode in the game if you didn't want to actually race. Initial install took almost an hour for 8gb but thankfully screen loading seems faster then prologue.

If anyone in Canada is looking for it RCSS has it on sale for $49.99, and a friend PM at Futureshop with no issues.

[NiX]

The drama over the non-premium cars is .

[Falconeer]

I've been waiting for this game since 2006 when I bought the PS3.

[jakonovski]

I want it but I've barely touched Forza 3 so it'd be stupid to buy the exact same game for the PS3. Did motivate me to grind some more F3 though. 

[Falconeer]

Same game?! BLASPHEMY!

[MisterNoisy]

Same game?! BLASPHEMY!

I agree with the letter of this post, if not the spirit.

My brother just picked this up today, so I've only played through driver level 10 while I'm at his place for the holiday, but so far, the ridiculous menus, longish load times, fairly broken online play and near-complete lack of car customization features put GT5 well behind F3 as far as I'm concerned.  I love the vast variety of cars and the driving modelling feels right, but there's so much else that F3 and even Grid do better.   When you're racing in the campaign mode in GT5, it's amazing - the rest of the time, the game feels like something from 5 years ago.

[Falconeer]

Clearly we care about different things in racing games.
Even Prologue was 10 times the fun of Forza for me.

[fuser]

The GT5 servers are getting borked hence the slowdown in menus. If you sign out of PSN menu times are pretty quick. I have been playing from launch between the peak times and haven't noticed the slowdowns so I wonder if it's US servers. There's been times servers effected my gameplay such as having a car set to "share with friends" and then unable to take it offline to race.

[NiX]

[jakonovski]

Same game?! BLASPHEMY!

Yeah, I find that my memories from GT4 and Forza2 are getting mixed together. I think something like, omg running the Nurb in that one car was pure win, and then I have no idea if it was 2006 and GT4 or 2007 and Forza2.

[fuser]

image

You did it wrong, the shadows are always blocky not the cars in race and photo mode clears the block effects up on everything.

[Stewie]

If you are playing this game with out a wheel you are seriously doing yourself a disservice.
I got the logitech driving force wheel (the one with the GT logo on it) and it is brilliant.  Seriously I cant say enough good things about using a proper driving wheel.
I also ordered a http://www.wheelstandpro.us/servlet/StoreFront which unfortunately has been sitting in customs in Mississauga for the last 5 days :(

[Muffled]

I have only played Forza 2 and Forza 3, as far as console racers go, and am wondering what the hook is for Gran Turismo in contrast to that series. 

edit: grammar

[NiX]

You did it wrong, the shadows are always blocky not the cars in race and photo mode clears the block effects up on everything.

That's an in-game picture of that car from GT5.

[jakonovski]

I have only played Forza 2 and Forza 3, as far as console racers go, and am wondering what the hook is for Gran Turismo in contrast to that series. 

edit: grammar

It's the same game, sans some minor options. Honestly, it is.

[Sheepherder]

That's an in-game picture of that car from GT5.

Really?  For serious?

Because the entire screenshot looks fucking horrific, the car just adds flair.

[NiX]

Really?  For serious?

Because the entire screenshot looks fucking horrific, the car just adds flair.

The car is a bug with the way the game processes alpha something or other.

Digital Foundry breaks down the technical aspects of GT5.

[Sheepherder]

I assumed they were fucking around with some form of depth mapping on relatively primitive models and just managed to cock it up really badly.

But the backdrops look like ass too, which is fucking sad for a game made in 2010.

[jakonovski]

I assumed they were fucking around with some form of depth mapping on relatively primitive models and just managed to cock it up really badly.

But the backdrops look like ass too, which is fucking sad for a game made in 2010.

It's probably one of the tracks they ported from GT4 along with the cars.

[Falconeer]

You can nitpick as much as you want but none of that is visible in the game. When you play, not even the difference between premium and starndard cars is very noticeable. What you can see is a breathtakingly beautiful game running smooth as hell.

[fuser]

You did it wrong, the shadows are always blocky not the cars in race and photo mode clears the block effects up on everything.

That's an in-game picture of that car from GT5.

With the creeper? 

[jakonovski]

GT5 has this incredibly weird idea of unlocking realism as you gather exp and levels. You don't get full damage until level 40 (dozens of hours of playtime), tires don't overheat until level 10 (hours of playtime). The AI begins on rails like in GT4, ramming into you if you're in the way. It's only later that you unlock the ability for the AI to avoid your car. Completely ridiculous and arbitrary, only serving to drag down review scores and demoralising players looking for a sim experience.

[NiX]

With the creeper? 

He's The Stig, don't you know!

[squirrel]

GT5 has this incredibly weird idea of unlocking realism as you gather exp and levels. You don't get full damage until level 40 (dozens of hours of playtime), tires don't overheat until level 10 (hours of playtime). The AI begins on rails like in GT4, ramming into you if you're in the way. It's only later that you unlock the ability for the AI to avoid your car. Completely ridiculous and arbitrary, only serving to drag down review scores and demoralising players looking for a sim experience.

Really? That's one of the worst design decisions I've ever heard of.

[Yegolev]

Ah phooey.

[Falconeer]

Redundant quote but I really wonder what were they thinking.

There are also some big late-game rewards for the dedicated racers among you. For example, cosmetic vehicle damage doesn’t unlock until fairly far into the game, and full mechanical damage doesn’t kick in until even further on. The AI also doesn’t seem to put up much of a fight until later in the game, but when it does start to show its true colors, you’ll wonder if you’re even playing the same game anymore.

Sony buried more than a few other surprises in GT5 that they didn’t foreground much in the lead-up to release (the rally courses are procedurally generated, for crying out loud!). All I can say is I’m very glad I put serious hours into this game before passing final judgment.

Seriously, this is weird.

[Malakili]

Redundant quote but I really wonder what were they thinking.

There are also some big late-game rewards for the dedicated racers among you. For example, cosmetic vehicle damage doesn’t unlock until fairly far into the game, and full mechanical damage doesn’t kick in until even further on. The AI also doesn’t seem to put up much of a fight until later in the game, but when it does start to show its true colors, you’ll wonder if you’re even playing the same game anymore.

Sony buried more than a few other surprises in GT5 that they didn’t foreground much in the lead-up to release (the rally courses are procedurally generated, for crying out loud!). All I can say is I’m very glad I put serious hours into this game before passing final judgment.

Seriously, this is weird.

[Surlyboi]

With the creeper? 

He's The Stig, don't you know!

Some say...

[jakonovski]

I bought the game. I am crazy.

[Falconeer]

How are you crazy for buying an awesome game? Only because it's supposed to be very similar to Forza 3, with 600 more cars, better visuals and a better driving feel?

[Yegolev]

Descriptions here make it sound dissimilar to Forza 3, which I don't have but assumed was more or less Forza 2.

[jakonovski]

How are you crazy for buying an awesome game? Only because it's supposed to be very similar to Forza 3, with 600 more cars, better visuals and a better driving feel?

I could've been perfectly happy with just Forza. Now I will gorge myself upon GT5 and have feelings of self loathing.

[Bunk]

Funny thing is, this made me kind of want to play Forza again... There are no copies of Forza 3 left in the entire fricking universe (my town). EBGamestopcrap also has exactly zero used copies.

[NiX]

Funny thing is, this made me kind of want to play Forza again... There are no copies of Forza 3 left in the entire fricking universe (my town). EBGamestopcrap also has exactly zero used copies.

Try and convince the EB to call up another store and ship in a copy. They can do it and if they say they can't it's a lie.

[jakonovski]

This game's pretty good. It's clunky but still has the addictive quality of a proper GT game. So far I have spent my winnings on completely unraceable premium cars, with a shitty looking standard Mazda Demio bringing in the bread. You can totally see the minecraft jaggies during gameplay.

Here's my sweet first ride, the best I managed with it was second place on a twisty beginner track:





Photomode is awesome.