Gran Turismo 5

You can call me a bit of a cynic if you want but I always get just a tad bit worried when things are over hyped. Take my friend for instance; there we were both on the tube and he just stands there clutching his copy of Gran Turismo almost like he would a new born baby, looking at it so earnestly with love in his eyes.
“Yes…” he manages to say at last “there is a God! Heaven knows just how long I have waited for this…” In response all I can manage to do is just look at him pitifully, watching as a lonely tear rolls down his cheek before I say slowly “please man, just get a grip before I call in the Shame Squad!”

Mind you, I am sure that his response is fairly typical of many gamers around the world, Gran Turismo 5 is perhaps one of the most eagerly awaited titles since the Playstation 3’s launch almost 5 years ago and yes, gamers have been waiting that long. I remember when the first title came out on the Playstation one way back when I was in my teens. Here was a title that considered itself so good that it wasn’t just a racing game; no, it was a ‘racing simulator’. True to the hype being circulated, playing it provided an unbeatable ‘kid in a car showroom experience’, and indeed such was the sheer quality of graphics that many people rushed out and got their Playstations ‘chipped’ just so they could play the Japanese version of the game; a game I might add that they probably couldn’t even read. And guess what? If you were to ask any of them they would probably say that it was money well spent.

So here lies the critical problem with probably the longest awaited, most eagerly anticipated game of a generation – the issue of expectations. Just imagine going out to eat at a fine restaurant owned by say Gordon Ramsey. Yes you may have had to wait as long as it took to get Wagner booted off X Factor; but my gosh when that food get puts in front of you, you want it so badly and appreciate the hands that have cooked it so much that even if it comes short or doesn’t taste as nice as you expect you just accept it and brush the faults under the carpet and say ‘that was the best rabbit’s testicles I’ve ever tasted!’. Is it little wonder that all over the globe, so many reviewers have scored it 10 out of 10?

Well, no senor, I regret to inform the millions of racing enthusiast out there that it is not a 10 out of 10. I hate to say it but it is true. It is however still exceptional at what it is and that is providing a unique experience, good solid fun and breathtakingly detailed graphics.
From the start it seems that waiting is what this game is all about. After the endless teases that have come in the form of demos, screenshots and the Prologue; Gran Turismo 5 keeps up the trend from the moment you insert the disc. One of the first decisions you’ll face is whether to opt for a full install of the game’s data or get straight to the track and endure some drastically longer load times. I’d definitely recommend the full install as we found out to our peril loading happens for each menu screen you enter. But beware the install takes around 40 minutes. I found this really annoying as basically you are caught between a rock and a hard place. Owners of the older PS3’s will regret the day they bought the cheaper 40 GB machines as it takes a whopping 4GBs of space. Every time Ihad to wait I ended up looking at my PS3 and the more I had to look at it the more I thought it looked like an, erm…steak grill.
Once in the game though it is business as usual; that is race, open more tracks, race open more cars and more events etc. It is pretty formulaic stuff, but hey, if it isn’t broke don’t you dare try and fix it. For creators Polyphony, it is evident that they spent the last 5 years perfecting the detail. Take any one of Gran Turismo’s 1000+ vehicles out for a spin on the Le Man’s track at night and you will see what I mean. My mate ran out of ‘Ooohs’ and ‘Ahhhs’ and I have to admit there is an undeniable feeling of quality about the game. The reflections that glisten, the breathtaking backdrops, even the sounds of the engines come together in a beautiful entourage and are just so obviously meticulously rendered.

The original career structure of the Gran Turismo series is there, for example License tests, A-spec events, and car dealerships. There are some notable new additions as well like the B-spec Events, which give you the chance to create a team of drivers and coach them through a series of races. I thought that this would be an interesting concept but was immediately disappointed. It turns out all you can do is issue commands whilst you view from different angles. One serious question is why this is even in the game. Lets be honest the whole point of buying the game is because you want to be behind the wheel and not a spectator – if you want to watch a race you can just watch it on TV, so this is just worthless.

In contrast the Special Events are a nice touch and presents the opportunity to try out different types of events for example kart racing, which delivers incredible speed and requires different driving techniques compared to racing the regular vehicles. I found this part to be largely entertaining and a thrilling aspect to the franchise.
When it comes to handling I am pleased to report that the Gran Turismo driving experience is back. Tweaked a bit from the original, yet as fine as ever, the feel of the cars on the road is practically faultless, The trick is it knows what it is, it is a racing sim pure and simple, which means unforgiving turns, tight racing lines, acceleration balanced with brakes. The cockpit view has also been refined and whilst not as good as say Need for Speed: Shift’s cockpit view, it is still effective.

A subject of criticism lies in your competitor’s difficulty level. Early on in the game they are just a joke to be honest, however once I had increased substantially to a higher driver level, they weren’t just aggressive they became unpredictable. I understand that this is all to do with the learning curve but I think it gets ramped up too quickly, too high.

Another area of criticism lies in the much-talked-about damage modeling for the cars. I was frustrated to find that this didn’t fully come into play until later in the game and when it did it was laughable at best. When I opened the option I decided I would go all kamikaze and hit a barrier at 160mph, the result; only the bonnet and bumper was slightly damaged, I couldn’t help but think – are they kidding me? Fair enough the car manufacturers or games developers may not want to see their impressive beautiesdamaged in Hi Def but I do, and if you create an option for damage then expect it to be used. It should work and not be a downright con.

My last area of complaint lies in the faults created by the developers. For a game that took so long to complete I didn’t expect so many re-cycled tracks and that’s not the only area that lets this title down. There are some vehicles that seem to come from the GT4 era that just aren’t given the same ‘spit polish’ as the modern ones. On the track, in the heat of a race, admittedly it is difficult to tell, but close up and in replays it is obvious that their polygon count is lower and their shadows are jagged and kind of Playstation 2-esque. They just feel very ‘undeserving’ to be in this game.

So my final verdict – It is great to see the ‘racing game of excellence’ return after so many years. Yes, it is beautiful and also incredibly realised but like it or not, it does have its faults. Compared to other modern day race games I just couldn’t help but think that they could have put more into this, also it is worth noting that besides racing there is very little else to this game, to be completely honest there is only so many times a corner or a bend or another driver can be challenging, so this title is one for the enthusiasts only.