Gran Turismo 5

[mmosu]

Finally got a chance to play GT5! 
The game suggests you let it install files on the hard drive in order to shorten load times . . . sounds like a good idea to me.  I hit "ok" and it informs me that the download will take 30 minutes ( ???)

. . . 62 minutes later the game started  :D :D :D . . .

Much to my delight however, the frustration of the previous hour immediately gave way to the photo-realistic world that is GT5  :-D.  After a brief tour of the menus and a glimpse at what cars I will soon have my sights set on, I again select the same trusty Honda Civic Type R that I have started every Gran Turismo with since the very beginning.  Soon I am winning races and making upgrades and my little hot-hatch is getting better with every outing.  I'm now just under 300hp and 900kg, and in the races I've entered so far there really isn't anyone that has anything for me  :-X

As for the actually game, it's exactly what we expect from Gran Turismo:  a sea of obtainable cars, excellent and realistic physics, almost infinite adjustability, and opponent AI that starts out pretty dumb and suddenly becomes nearly flawless at the most unexpected time.  At first the game menus are a little cumbersome (there are a lot of them, and they can look very busy) but veterens of the series will soon find themselves well oriented and right at home.  This game was definitely designed with the hardcore series fanboys in mind - and that's not a bad thing imo.  There also appears to be the beginnings of an extensive online community which I haven't been able to delve in to yet, as well as Gran Turismo TV - a feature that gives access to all kinds of racing media, including episodes of the BBC's hit series Top Gear.  There is a lot here to see, so I'm gonna get back to it . . . more to come  :-() 

[PZ]

Sounds like a great racing game - that photo-realistic environment is courtesy of 1080p, like in AC:B  :-X

[mmosu]

Right now I'm working my way up the ranks and trying to complete as many races as I can with the car I have.  Right now it's hard to chose between continuing to upgrade my car and thinking about what I'll need in the future to keep progressing, but that's the nature of these games - it takes a lot of effort to get your career rolling, so to speak  :-()

[mmosu]

My garage of highly modified cars has grown to include:
Audi R8 4.2 FSI
Maserati Gran Turismo S
Lamborghini Murcielago 670-4 Super Veloce
Ferrari 458 Italia
I've also got tons of prize cars, most of which I probably will end up selling off, a few others with enough potential to "invest" in.  My driver level is 17 now (max is 24) giving me access to all but the most extreme cars and races at this point.  I've also been dabbling with the photo-shoot mode and have taken some cool picks of my R8.  I'm hoping to be able to post some of these soon, along with a more in-depth review once I've seen more of what the game has to offer.

[PZ]

My garage of highly modified cars has grown to include:
Audi R8 4.2 FSI
Maserati Gran Turismo S
Lamborghini Murcielago 670-4 Super Veloce
Ferrari 458 Italia
I've also got tons of prize cars, most of which I probably will end up selling off, a few others with enough potential to "invest" in.  My driver level is 17 now (max is 24) giving me access to all but the most extreme cars and races at this point.  I've also been dabbling with the photo-shoot mode and have taken some cool picks of my R8.  I'm hoping to be able to post some of these soon, along with a more in-depth review once I've seen more of what the game has to offer.

Cool - looking forward to pics and impressions.  :-X

[RedRaven]

 Looking forward to playing this. Had a quick lap at a mate's, and despite my complete and utter lack of skill at racing games I reckon this, if any is the game to improve my abilities so that I can actually finish a race for a change.


And it is likely to be the closest I will ever get to driving many of the fantastic cars, (its the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG that does it for me :-D ).

[spaceboy]

yeah you definitely need to take braking properly and angles at turns etc. into consideration.  This is not aracade racing.  While you can skid/drift in some cars,you're best bet is to slow down and approach the turn wide and then hit the gas as you come out of the turn.  You will also notice a huge benefit from upgrading your tires.

The thrill of the game comes as much from executing your driving properly as it is in the winning/racing. 

[mmosu]

Agreed, I love to dive-bomb turns to get under another driver and then power through the rest of the turn as I wave bye-bye in the rear-view  :-()  Successfully completing a lap while thrashing your car on the knife-edge of disaster is definately where the thrill is, but equally important is knowing how to set the car up correctly and then continue to tweak and field-test so you can continually improve your lap times.  Take the suspension for instance:  ride height, spring rate, damper compression, damper extension, sway bar rigidity, camber, and toe are all independantly adjustable and influence the performance of the car.  So not only do you have to pick the correct racing line on the track, but you also need to have the car set up correctly to be able to take that ideal "out/in/out" through the apex.  The best philosophy is "slow is smooth, and smooth is fast" - you can try to barrel through the turns drifting wildly and burning the tires down to smoking nubs, but you're probably not going to be as fast as the guy who hit the breaks when he should have, hit the apex correctly, and then accelerated out properly at full throttle.   

[Art Blade]

burning the tires down to smoking nubs

^+-+

Indeed. Drifting means losing friction which means losing speed. I can tell you first hand and from real life (kart) race experience that slowing down before you enter a curve so you won't screech around the corners makes a difference in lap times. Sometimes you need to know when not to slow down.. some turns can be taken full throttle -- costs some nerve but pays off :)

The tweaking you described reminded me of NFS underground I+II, I spent hours tweaking and tuning my car for individual races. Your setup is only good for the track you plan to race.. like, if you're going to drive on an oval racing track with long high speed straights, your setup should be different from a track with tight left/right turns without high speed straights. Also the surface might differ, like smooth flat tarmac or sandy bumpy terrain... :)

[PZ]

My oldest gave me GT5 as a stocking stuffer, and I reluctantly (although not obviously so) installed it on my console.  Because I had the Prologue, I imagined that I would quickly bore of the game, however, I was pleasantly surprised at the sophistication and refinement of the title.  One of the characteristics of the Prologue that annoyed me so much was how proficient the AI drivers were even in the beginner races - you felt like you needed a GT-R in order to advance!  In the full game, I was pleased to see that the beginner AI drivers were little better than I was, which made it much easier (and commensurately more fun) to advance through the ranks. 

Also, my wife has a Honda, and I have a Subaru, both of which I purchased and played in the game - the game versions handle surprisingly similar to the real thing!

I give the game a thumbs-up, and am sure that I'll have quite a bit of fun with it.

[mmosu]

The spring after I turned 16 and got my license, I took an emergency driving course that was taught at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (a great course about an hour north of where I live, the American Le Mans Series actually runs there every year).  The class focused on emergency maneuvers like controlling slides and spins, but in the process had to address many aspects of performance driving as well.  It was taught by a pair of ex pro race drivers, and the first thing they taught us about was tires:  a tire can only do so much - another way to look at it is the tire only has so much "resource" it can contribute to the performance of the car, and everything the tire does uses up it's resources, including sliding.  The more sliding (or even just turning) a tire does, the less it can contribute to either braking or acceleration.  A tire that is turning and sliding is contributing less control over speed than a tire that is just turning, and a tire that is turning only is contributing less to the car than a tire that is straight.  The take home message was that both braking and acceleration are more efficient if done when the wheels are pointed forward and have not broken traction (either through wheelspin or from be locked up during breaking), and this is one of the reasons that the fastest line through a turn is at the apex, since this allows the wheels to remain as straight as possible during both the braking and accelerating portions of the corner.  These principles also apply to controlling a car that has lost traction - steer in to the slide and only try to power out if and when the wheels can be brought back to less of an acute steering angle, mashing the gas too soon will only perpetuate the slide, which is what you want if you're trying to drift.  I learned a lot about cars in that course that I've never forgotten, and the world of Gran Turismo is so realistic that these lessons have helped me there too  :-X   

[Art Blade]

nice :)  :-X

[PZ]

I can relate to what you wrote  :-X  Driving appears to be quite realistic, especially when you're using a steering wheel/pedal controller

Here's a funny moment - I entered a B-spec world compact car championship which was supposed to be for small speedy hatchbacks.  On a whim, I tried to enter the series using a 500 hp Subaru STI that had been well-tuned - the game allowed me to enter.  Because the Subie is so fast, I actually lapped some of the other cars before the race finished.  A Mini Cooper or Pontiac Vibe is not the car to enter in a race with a modified STI  >:D

[mmosu]

I've had similar experiences with my Civic Type R, and I actually completed the European Hot-hatch competition that you're talking about in a raced-out Lotus Elise 111R!  :-D  At least your Subaru fit the specs of the race a little more closesly than that!!

[PZ]

 ^+-+ :-X

[PZ]

This image was actually captured by mmosu, but he was having problems uploading the image.  Care to comment mmosu?

[smg id=2667]

[mmosu]

This is a shot of my Audi R8.  It's fully race tuned and it was my workhorse in the early stages of the game.  The background of the shot shows how detailed the environments get, and even though you can only see the back half the car model looks pretty good too.  I'm gonna try again to get more images up soon.

[PZ]

It's a beautiful image, and I'm very impressed with the graphics.  I've not managed to purchase anything as fast as the R8 yet, but am having fun modifying my existing rides.  ;)

[Art Blade]

A friend told me he got and played GT5 until rather early in the game he had to stop driving but rather had to teach an AI team mate how to drive (instruct him during a race and make him win). My friend kept cursing and exclaimed, "I want to drive myself!" -- and quit playing it for good.

I reckon that it is only a small portion of the game and that you'll be able to drive yourself pretty soon again. Any comments?

[PZ]

Strange experience.

There are a couple of main parts of the game, one in which you do all the driving, and another in which you are kind of like the head of a racing team in which you coach the drivers from the pit while they do the racing.  It is an interesting twist in a racing game - your skill is now in selecting the correct driver, their skill level, and personalities (like aggressiveness, speed, etc.)

The later is a part of the game I've only dabbled in because the actual racing part is more fun, but it is kind of interesting to play the part of a pit boss and watch your novice racer become experienced and win you money and cars.

I've not progressed enough in the game to experience what your friend has - I was unaware that the game would force you to do the race coaching.  So far, I've had the choice to do what I wanted, much like an open world game.  Maybe he has completed all of the races and the coaching is all there is left?

[Art Blade]

Didn't sound like it, I was under the impression that he raced a few and then, rather early, was forced to play coach. I bet he never read the manual and he's very impatient, that's why he gave in once he realised he couldn't drive himself. I myself like the idea and I know a game that almost worked the same way (RaceDriver:GRID) although you were racing along  with your team mate. It was the same decision you said you had to make: Buy a driver (better=more expensive) and decide if he'd have to be aggressive or so, and the drivers to choose from also were specialised in a certain type of race, as in "good at rallye but bad at formula 3" -- It was great fun to buy better and better drivers and experiment with their character and skill sets how they best matched my own style :)

I remember I won the season and my driver was second, of the entire grid of hundreds of virtual AI racers. Once I kicked him out, he quickly vanished down the stats and score boards. So the drivers were even dependent on you -- together you could win but not any one of you on their own :)

[PZ]

That does sound quite similar, and I agree - the coaching aspect is kind of fun for a change of pace.  Then when you tire of coaching, you go back to racing yourself.  However, I've not been forced to do the coaching at all - purely my choice.  If I recall correctly, the "A-spec" events are the ones in which you race, and the "B-spec" events are the coaching races - you have the choice of either simply by clicking your preference.  I might be mistaken as to the title of the events, but it is something similar to the above.

[Art Blade]

Thank you, I'll tell him. :)

[PZ]

My pleasure - I hope it works out for him because it is a rather well thought-out game overall  ;)

[spaceboy]

PZ has it right, the A-spec events you drive, the B-spec events are for B-Spec Bob and other drivers that you direct... The menus are two huge sections of your GT Life menu.  They are separate and you are not forced to do B-spec if you don't want.

He probably clicked on B-spec not knowing and thought it was forcing him to do so.  There are also lots of special events and practice runs, and license tests etc.