Gran Turismo 5 Review

Well it's finally upon us. After many delays, and 6 long years, we are finally graced with Kaz Yamauchi's masterpiece, Gran Turismo 5. Did it live up to the hype that has been surrounding the game for years? Check out my review to hear my thoughts, and opinions on the matter after the jump...

Gran Turismo 5
Platform(s): Playstation 3
Developer: Polyphony
Publisher: Sony
Released: November 24, 2010

The game starts out with a very lengthy (yet optional) install that can take upwards of 50 minutes. The install itself appears to of frozen on me many times, but it does actually continue, you just have to be patient. Once the install was done I dove right into the game play (GT Mode) to attempt to see how the physics were, and I wasn't disappointed.

The game emulates most cars exactly how they would run in real life. How they handle, turn, max speed, and the all around feel is exactly like the real life counterparts (at least in the cars I have actually driven). The sounds of some cars leave a little to be desired, but it does not take away from the sheer magnitude of what Kaz and his team have accomplished with the physics.

The graphics on the other hand can vary wildly from absolute photo realism, to almost PS2 era graphics. This in itself doesn't take away from the fun of the game, but it is an eye sore. The premium cars, for example, look absolutely gorgeous, and you will mistake them for real at times, but turn a corner and some of the ugliest shadows you have ever seen will come out to show their ugly faces.

Another bad graphical issue that seems to plague the game is dust or snow. When you kick some up by accidentally going off the track it will envelop your car in a sheet of pure ugly. Again though, this does not take away from the fun factor of the game itself. Even at its worst, GT still looks comparable to most of its competition. At its best though, nothing even comes close.

For the first few minutes I also found myself a little lost in the menus. After getting used to it though, I really started to appreciate its slick style, and how it was actually a breeze to navigate.
The game ships with 800+ Standard cars, and 200+ Premium. It also boasts 71 tracks in over 20 locations. The game is jam packed with hundreds of hours worth of game play. If you're a racing game fan, you will not be bored with GT5.

The premium cars are all beautifully rendered masterpieces. With full "cockpit" views that (from what I can tell from experience with certain cars) emulate their real life counterparts. The standard cars however are upscaled, HD versions of GT4 cars, and do not have the interior "cockpit" view. They also do not look as polished as they are just HD upscaled versions of PS2 era cars (think God of War collection, only better), but run the same none the less.

As you level up and finish your licence tests, harder and higher level races will unlock. These are playable in both A-spec (a series of races that you race) and B-Spec (a series of races done by AI teammates which I will explain in a moment). As you get higher and higher, endurance races also unlock. If you were a fan of these races in the past, they are in the game at level 25.

B-Spec is not a completely new idea. It adds on to what was already started in GT4, and builds on it. This time around you take an AI driver, and enter him into races. While racing you're able to radio him commands such as "pace down", "maintain pace", "pace up", "overtake" and later "pit stop". Although I do find sometimes these commands do help, it really just seems to come down to if your driver has the fastest car.
There have been many times (like now while I write this review) that I have left my AI driver on his own in my Ford GT Spec ll Test Car (fully tuned of course), and he will win 95% of the time without me having to do a thing. Which for me is a good thing. It allows me to do things around the house, or run errands, and still be accomplishing something in the game. It may not be for everyone though.

Also new to the Gran Turismo series is online play. Although it's nothing special at the moment (No leader boards, and not many options) it allows you to create a lobby and invite friends to race in various tracks, and conditions. Also with the 1.03 patch that was just released, online play also has mechanical damage now. You can set it to various "difficulties" which will allow for either no mechanical damage, mechanical damage that will slowly fix itself over time, or mechanical damage that requires you to pit in order for it to be fixed. Quite a neat idea, and I'm glad to see Poly is working so hard to continue to make this game even better over time.

Getting down to it, Gran Turismo 5 is a great game, but not without its flaws. It does have strange graphical glitches, and is not without its issues. If you're a racing game fan though you will love the game, and like myself probably won't be able to put it down. The amazing racing physics and depth of the game far outweigh the issues with graphics that do not effect game play in the slightest.

8/10

At the time I wrote this review I was level 22 in A-Spec, and 26 in B-Spec, I have raced over 10,000km, and have a stable of 113 cars.