The things about Polyphony Digital’s driving simulation series that have kept me at bay over the years–the self-serious tone, the unapologetic driving model–seem to have been softened up a little bit with Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, at least enough to allow me to appreciate the painstaking detail that goes into making what is essentially a car commercial in motion. As a taste of what the full version of Gran Turismo 5 will offer, GT5 Prologue is successful–I’m now more excited about the release of Gran Turismo 5 than I’ve been for any other Gran Turismo release. The thing is, Sony’s charging $39.99 for what is essentially an elaborate demo. As pretty as everything in GT5 Prologue is, there’s just not a whole lot to it.
The game includes six race tracks, featuring well-known real-world locations such as Suzuka and Daytona, and around 70 cars provided by a host of different manufacturers. From Daihatsu to Ferrari, there’s a pretty good cross-section of car-makers represented here, but don’t expect to find much depth to any individual manufacturer’s lineup, as most feature only one or two cars. The cars look absolutely stunning, easily some of the most detailed and realistic-looking cars I’ve seen in any game. The tracks all look great when you’re in motion, though if you come to a complete stop you might notice some blurry textures or cheap-looking onlookers. The rough edges only stands out, though, because the majority of the visuals here are so neat and tidy, so impossibly idyllic. With such an apparent obsession with creating clean-looking visuals, I now kind of understand why Polyphony Digital has shied away from including car damage in a Gran Turismo game.
There’s still no damage model in GT5 Prologue, though the gameplay seems to have been made much more accessible since the last time I checked out a Gran Turismo game. The driving line is now always on by default, and it can change color on the fly to let you know when you need to slow down in order to maintain an ideal line, but perhaps more importantly, the handling just seems more forgiving. It still requires a certain type of smart, technical driving, so you’re not going to be drifting your way through every corner, but first-timers are less likely to end up in a spin at the first bend in the road. As welcome as these adjustments are, the Gran Turismo driver AI is still pretty dull, and when combined with the lack of car damage, it’s very easy to use the other cars as cushions and just bang your way around corners, effectively stripping away the game’s realistic veneer.
The single-player progression helps to ease you into things with class-based challenges that start you off with slower, more manageable cars. Each of the three classes consists of ten different challenges, most of which simply require you to finish a quick race with bronze or better, though there are also a few challenges that task you with going from worst to first in a single lap, or achieve a specific lap time against a rolling field of drivers. You’ll regularly find restrictions on the cars you can use, whether it be based on performance, region of manufacture, or on a specific model of car, often forcing you to spend some of the money you’ve earned competing in races on the right car. This can lead to situations where you have to repeatedly replay past events in order to raise the money you need in order to buy the car you need in order to advance to the next challenge.
Even with alternate versions of the six tracks included in the game, track repetition is a big problem in GT5 Prologue, and the fact that these are mostly tracks that you’ve probably already played in numerous other racing games doesn’t help. The thing that probably has Gran Turismo fans most excited about GT5 Prologue is the inclusion of online multiplayer, a first for the series. It’s functional, but unless you’re specifically excited about being able to play Gran Turismo over the Internet, there’s not much particularly unique or exciting about it.
Generally speaking, though, I like what Gran Turismo 5 Prologue offers, I just don’t care for the decision to monetize it. Gran Turismo 4 featured more than 50 tracks and more than 700 cars, so if $39.99 buys you just six tracks and 70 cars in 2008, I don’t even want to imagine how much Gran Turismo 5 will cost.
35 Comments
Yay fpr crappy demo’s that cost 40 bucks….
They should have made a custom Iron Man model! That would have totally justified the price! Ok, maybe not…
-Evan
Interesting review. I guess I’m curious about the 3 star score, given that Davis clearly doesn’t think this should be purchased at retail price (except by Gran Turismo fanatics who already own it and sleep with the box cuddled to their cheek murmuring “My precious, my precious”) I was under the impression that 3 stars was “average” or “Buy it if it really appeals to you, though it’s not great.” Maybe stars don’t take price into account, or maybe 3 stars CAN mean “Worth picking up from the bargain bin” or…I’m not sure.
Of course I don’t want to obsess over ratings, since they’re not that important and the review was very clear (Very good stuff, not enough of it,) but since they’re there, I’d like to understand them.
Can I be The Stig in this game…?
Do you check the info@ email address???
Jeff, please post a review for GTA IV. I’m really looking forward to hearing all of your pros/cons for this game. I want to buy the game, but I’m holding off on buying it until I read your expert review!
Thanks.
Gran Turismo still puts me to sleep.
it’s like driving miss dazy at night after taking a sleeping pill I fall sleep since it’s so slow and there is 0 action.
can’t wait for a Gran Turismo rumble chair the simulates the bumps on the side of the road that wake you up when you fall asleep at the wheel that would be great.
This isn’t Grand Theft Auto…?
i think this review is tainted since you already have a bad view of the game to begin with. bad taste is something you never forget.
A little late with this one but good all the same.
umm 70 cars, 10 tracks is almost as much as some full racing titles.
Seems fair. $40 bucks for a pimped out demo doesnt seem good me. I am waiting until the full game comes out. $20 bucks more for a hell of a lot more.
The Gran Turismo is in need of some serious new content. Fact is that after GT2 nopthing has been done to the series to add anything new that anyone cares about. I mean GT3 was just updated graphics with less cars than 2 and GT4 just added them back and added that lousey B-spec mose or whatever it was called.
Polyphony really needs to spend a little less time on the graphics and more on developing the game a little more. How about getting rid of the license tests and making a much more in depth race mode with real pitting and racing for points in league of some sort with sponserships and all that.
Gotta say the series has much potential but I think I learned to not have to much faith in its devs any more after the PS2’s offerings.
I think that rating is about right, I’ve played for a while now and while it is amazing looking at times the mechanics are often lacking and the difficulty gets crazy after you “beat” the game. The online is also Implemented poorly as it includes a strange penalty system in which you get anywhere from 3-6 second penalties that can add up that make you unable to speed up for doing things like cutting across the grass to execute a turn, impacting other drivers, ramming, and impacting the side of the course and while that may sound reasonable, the way it ends up is that there are a great number of incidents where you feel very unfairly penalized. Like when a guy cuts in front of you and you get the penalty, or when a guy pushes you off the road and makes you take a shortcut. I’ve also seen some crazy glitching of the controls online that hopefully will be adressed, no way to know if that will prove to break the multi-player.
Unless you can hijack cars while in the middle of a race, or blow up opponents with Damage-Inflicting looking Rocket Launchers, or pop tires with Threatening Desert Eagles, (Actually i mean, having an eagle to go pop tires with their claws… really?…well… no, sorry to disappoint you.) this game can’t stand to whatever is going to come out later this year, MGS 4, Star Wars The Force Unleashed, Saints Row 2 (GTA IV Kicks SR 2 ass’ but, it’s still a good game, even if it doesn’t reach GTA’s ankles), Destroy All Humans: The Path of The Furon, Prototype ( You know, the one of the weird guy with the weird transformations, and weird attacks, and weird history, and weird-looking monsters that attack weird people?… Well…THAT’S WEIRD), etc.
You forgot several things!! You didn’t talk about the S-Class which is the forth class or the penalties for ramming and other things like that. This review seems a little hasty to me sir.
$40 for a demo? And Sony fans think Microsoft fans are retarded…DRRRRRRRR
AnTi PRO! At the end of the day how much do you think a gold live account will run you? How much will it cost to get your new 120gb harddrive? How long will you wait to get back your broken 360? Reliability and honesty are not a part of large scale american buissness, thankfully though japan still seems to get it (how’s ford stacking up with toyota right about now).
One thing that every review I have read has missed, is that you can’t buy parts for your cars and tune them, which is the only thing that makes a GT game a GT game. This is what makes it a demo, not the limited number of tracks and cars. If it had tuning I would give it 5 stars, without only 2. The autotuning once you finish the main game doesn’t count.
I’m a bit of a GT fanboy. I kind of agree with the review. Honestly, I don’t mind paying the $40 for essentially a demo because it is an astounding looking game and it plays very well.
you say it doesnt justify the $39.99 price tag ryan… i say it DEFINATELY doesnt justify the $59.95 price tag we aussies have to pay i would have it if it wasnt for that price its stupid paying the price of a full game for a half a game
How can you call this a demo when it has full online racing and more cars than $60 games like Need for Speed?
If warhawk’s price was justified then definetly the GT5:Prologue price is justified..
If you compare it to GT4, then yes, it’s got less content.. But GRiD (which I am sure you will love, coz you’ll be able to take a corner *atleast* in that game), has only 50-ish cars. Yes it has damage, but so will GT5:Prologue with a DLC (FREE DLC) by fall.. As far as just about 10 variants for tracks are concerned, you need to know 1 thing. In order to play a SIM Driving Game properly you need to learn the track precisely (that includes, knowing the speed traps, braking points, turn-ins, apex, exit speeds of EVERY-CORNER in the game)..
Besides, if you consider 4 main events (with 10 completely different types of challenging races per event) = 40 races and then there are Manufacturer events (roughly around 20 or so races) means about 60 Challenging races, considering all this, and online (yep, SUCKS BIGTIME, due to no private lobbies and bad drivers combo although even private lobblies are being planned right around the time when PS3 is updated with an inGame XMB)..
So basically then only place I would give this game completely -VE remark is in the online department and that is no fault of Polyphony Digital. The online in this game sucks because of the console it is on. PS3 has a flawed online structure and that’s why this game’s online isnt as good as the competition. But give it a bit of time and that’ll change (free of cost). Yes I know it should’ve all been included in the game, but because people like me who are just nuts about GT series cant wait and will buy anything even if it’s incomplete, coming from Polyphony Digital and because this game sold more than million copies in pre-order before it’s release in the UK (and India, where I am from), I know there are nut-heads like me all over the world..
Ryan and Jeff (and Alex ofcourse), your review’s are enough for me to buy a game. But if you arent good at SIM Driving games, please don’t review them. I will agree this game is no rFactor or GTR or something, but it’s the best you can get on any consoles as far as the Driving Physics are concerned. Forza 2 is a brilliant game, with HUGE content and features to offer, but it still has pretty arcadey phyiscs (I still love that game, but it’s forgiving physics, flatters a lot of n00bs and that annoys me at times).. The best way to put it is -
Gran Turismo is an interactive showcase of the Automotive Industry. Forza and PGR are mere Games.
i would buy it. For 15$. Ok, 20$.
It would be nice if they could just provide the full game’s additional content through DLC. Why make us pay $40, then another $60 in the sorta-near future? I’ll probably pay it anyway, and without too many gripes–I’m a huge GT nut.
The price of gaas… keeps on riising…
$40 for an “elaborate” demo? Seriously? Does Polyphony not have enough funding for the game or something?
To me, it’s extremely ridiculous that something like this even exists. It’s great that the developers wanted us to get a taste of the new Gran Turismo because it’s been so long in the making, but for $40? Come on now, that’s just criminal.
I rented it, pretty good game. My first time play Gran Turismo.
Why so harsh on this game jeff? Polyphony said they will update the game for free with car damage and other stuff. Plus, 40 bucks is not full price for a game! This should of got a 4/5.
Oh, my bad, ryan did this review. Shame on you! lol
No offense Ryan, but this review seems a bit too hasty in a “Let’s get this out of the way before we post the GTAIV big bonanza review” type of way. I’m just saying…
Pretty accurate review, but I’d probably go as low as 2 stars because of the price. As for some of you who’ve commented above saying the online makes it worth the price, well you’re mistaken. Online play is a given nowadays, even if it is GT’s first foray; simply having it does not increase the game’s value. The game just doesn’t stack up in terms of content and certainly not in terms of innovation. In the end it’s mostly a graphical showcase that you can control.
Stupid review, this game alone for the graphics is AAA.
16 cars on screen 60 fps, 1080p its revolucionary.
11/10.
I have never play a Gran Turismo game before. Paying $40 for what is essentially a demo of the game you’re going to release later in the year is ridiculous. Of course, GT nutjobs are going to pay it anyways/
^^ It won’t be later in the year, but rather sometime next year.