Gran Turismo 5 (Sony Playstation 3, 2010)

I have to admit I was very excited about this game when I ordered it from ebay. I had been playing Forza 3 non-stop for the few weeks before ordering this title. I own GT 2+3 and they were the best racing games by far IMO and Gran Turismo 5 looked promising to be even better.

But I was disappointed..

When I popped the game in and raced the first race I was a little skeptic about the handling of the cars. When jumping directly from forza back to Gran Turismo it takes some adjusting. I also immediately noticed that there is no Manual Transmission option with a clutch for the regular Ps3 controller. That was one of my favorite features about forza.

The physics engine for the handling is, however, top-notch. It is very realistic. The only problem I had with this "simulation" handling is that it replicates the way a real car should handle SO well that it becomes almost impossible to drive correctly with the little 2cm diameter joystick of the Ps3 controller. A racing wheel is almost needed to play properly. Hardcore GT fans already know this

The game is also a bit slower to get into than older titles, and seems to be a very boring grind until around level 20. The special races are somewhat interesting, especially the kart racing. The Nascar is a nice addition, but seems to be more of an afterthought. Also the special events are the only way to get quick cash to advance quickly in A-Spec racing by taking your mind off the boring grind of racing like you were meant to do. The upside is that high-end racing in the higher levels is quite a blast.

Now on to the annoying flaws. While they may not completely kill the game, they should not exist on a game that has been in development for damn near seven years.

The graphics are to die for, scenery and cars especially. However, this beautiful eye-candy is tainted by the presence of horrid, jagged shadows everywhere. It really takes away from the game and makes the focus on drooling graphics a waste of time.

Also graphics-wise is the blurry/pixilated edges of the car when surrounded by tire smoke, dirt clouds, rain mist, etc. I believe i read somewhere that this is a result of no anti-aliasing around the cars. Once again, seven years and this couldn't be taken care of?

Possibly the biggest let down is the lack of damage.It is a racing "Simulator"! Something about running head-on into a concrete wall at 265mph, doing a U-turn,then going on to win the race doesn't seem to "real" to me. No matter what you do the cars will handle + perform no different.

On to the UI side of things. The main menu is scattered about in typical GT fashion which is barely user friendly. Some menus are hidden and can take some guess-work to find what is needed.

For lack of space im going to quickly list off a few more flaws that come to mind.

Arcade mode only has a limited number of cars you can use if you do not own them.

The new "B-spec" is cool to try but holds your attention for literally 5 races.

In rally racing, traction control is set to level 5 by default making it impossible to power around turns and make the time limit without going into the driving menu and disabling it

Loading times are horrid, even with the content pre-installed.

Car customization is very limited, classic GT, but is becoming a bit dated IMO

Not many racing events compared to past GTs


While I listed a ton a faults there is still much fun to be had and a lot of pros but no room to list. Still a great game.

I bought GT5 with great expectations and was very disappointed. I have to admit that Polyphony Digital did a great job with the graphics in GT5. Overall though they did not listen to their customers again as with GT4.
Pros are great graphics, better realism in car control but it stops there.
Cons: Can't customize standard cars, can't re-run races to get prize cars again, very limited dealership options for premium cars, prize cars are usually standard cars insted of premium cars. Ridiculous prices on the fast cars you need to win races. Many of the cars you want are in the used car lot and they are all standard cars. The game starts with a very low amount of money to get a decent car to start to race. The list goes on and on.
I still enjoy the game and at this point I am racing the same tracks over and over just for the money. I would say don't waste your money on a new one when you can find good used copies on Ebay for much less that the retail price. Hopefully PD & Sony will come up with more download content which would help.

I have been a hardcore GT fan and always play racing simulation games on a proper seat+feedback wheel setting. After playing GRID and DIRT 2 on PS3 I was expecting super-WOW graphics and fun in GT5. But for the first 2 days I was hit with crappy cars with low resolution rendering and sub-par tracks. The exact same tracks look much nicer in GRID. I played them back to back to compare.

The load times were excruciating. I'd say expect to spend about 40mins/hr. in the Menu's and the rest on racing. I am still not happy with the graphics (with 1080p on 60" plasma TV). The shadows flicker during races and replays.

I got little better load times after installing the 6GB game on the HDD. And of course don't forget the 608MB 1.05 update that takes hours to install and cannot be done in the background. You cant even download it on a computer and upload through USB.

The positive points are of course, endless list of cars and customization and different kinds of activities like license tests, B-spec events, online dealership and of course online races. Then there is GT TV, photo mode etc.

The force feedback is great but that was great even in GT3. The tuning options are nice but they are priced the same for all makes/models of cars.

Overall, well, its a must-have for racing fans anyway.

After reading some of the reviews posted, I feel like I need to point out a few things. First off, Gran Turismo is a driving simulation. It is as close as one can get to driving an actual car in real life. The physics engine is excellent in Gran Turismo 5. The tracks are simulated versions of the real courses, complete with all of the imperfections in the surfaces of the real tracks. Gravity behaves very closely in the game as it does in real life, as well as wind resistance, forces as a result of impacts, and lighting and shadows.

For those that say that the cars do not handle like they do in real life, and that the game is not good as a result, do not know what they are talking about. Using the controller to steer a car in a video game disconnects the player from the simulation experience and should not be used for comparison. Play with a driving wheel such as the Logitech G27 and you will understand the point of this game. By using your imagination you can 'feel' the difference between the cars' handling whether you are using the controller or the wheel.

As far as teaching you how to race? The license tests do just that. They show you how accurately you must steer and how perfectly you must modulate the gas and brake to achieve the best lap times. If you do not understand the handling of cars and are not good at the game at first, keep playing and you will learn. You might have to do the same license test 300 times before you get gold. This is not an easy game to become good at and if someone is expecting it to be similar to Need for Speed they may be disappointed. Games like Need for Speed are fun as well, but they provide an arcade driving experience where breaking isn't always necessary and the focus is less on driving technique and more on visual excitement.

Where Gran Turismo falls short is in comparison of one game in particular: Forza 3. Gran Turismo 5's shortcomings include:

- the sensation of high speed when the car is traveling at high speed. Forza 3 does a much better job making the driver feel like they are going 200mph

- selection of cars and tuning options... there are some key core driver's cars unavailable such as the BMW E30 or E36 M3, the E39 M5, the VW GTI MKII, the Ferrari F50, the FXX... hopefully these cars will be created in the years to come along with the countless others that deserve to be in the game. Forza has a much better list of cars and also provides the ability to to engine swaps and offers more flexibility in tuning.

- Variety and extent of races... I'm not sure why there are so few races in the game, and why they have decided not to limit cars based on class. It's no fun if you can enter a race with a car that is lightly tuned and smoke the competition. Make the individual races more challenging and limit the power cars can have.

- Give better gift cars. This game is truly designed with fans of Japanese cars in mind, which is to be expected, but there are just way too many award or gift cars that I do not care about. An Opera Honda S2000 for beating the S-License with Bronze does not make me happy.

In conclusion, Gran Turismo is meant to be tough master, and because of this it is one of the most satisfying games to play when you finally drive a perfect lap or achieve gold in a license test. Though it does have some flaws, and may lose out to Forza 3 in some aspects, it is the closest one can get to a real driving experience. Enjoy it for what it is.

This game is by far the best racing game on the PS3 console. First off, the first time u put in the disc, you have to do an update that takes around 10 minutes. After that, you have to install all the cars and tracks from the disc onto the internal hard drive of the PS3 for faster load times. This was a bit of an inconvience because i wanted to race immidiatly. But after around 45 minutes, i was ready to play. The menu screen on the game is very elligant and is always accompanied by a piano playing light music that sounds perfect for the type of luxery/sport game this is. You can even customize the background to the menu screen. Jumping into A-Spec mode gives you the experience of working your weay up as a pro driver. They give you 20,000 credits to start off with to buy a baseline car. I bought the 97' Civic EK with 171 hp. Lightweight with a strong engine. With some mods, this car can haul ass!! Speaking of mods, the upgrades are SO AMAZING IN THIS GAME. The choices of upgrades consists of actual items that can be purchased from online dealers in real life. headers, cat converter, sway bars, lightweight glass for windows.......its goes on and on.
Now for actual racing. The graphics on this game are very smoothe. I have not seen any flaws in the tracks and no pixelation at all. The car sounds, acts, and looks like the real thing and by far the most intimate driving experice that is not in an actual car.
Some of the weird things is that in the beginner events, you have to have certain car types from certain countries to compete in them. This means having to purchase a car that you would idealy not purchase. But to get the XP and credits, you must compete in the event. So i suggest buying a camaro Z28 and upgrade the intake/exhaust and race that for old school events.
Looking at some of the cars that need a higher level to purchase, i can not wait to drive them. Some look like alien spaceships that have wheels. Very cool stuff to come. I love this game after the first few days and i thinkg i love this game for a good while becuase there is nothing better that this game currently. I highly suggest buying this game if you are having doubts. You will have no regret after the first night of playing it. Enjoy!