So i threw this into a post on a recently brought up thread about GT5 and reviews - and it turned from a quick reply into something a lot lengthier - and as such i figured it would probably serve better as a blog post, if for no other reason than to draw any off topic conversation that stems from it into a place where it wont get derailed! 
 
In all honesty from the reviews i've seen Gt5 is exactly as polarizing as i expected it to be, both sides of the reviewing fence have stated the same facts and pretty much the same issues the key differences being in where the reviewers saw merit. 
 
Reviews like the IGN one and a couple of the lower ones are basically complaining it isn't call of duty :the racing game it's not modern enough, it's not got online xp for races.   
Users like Hitman (of course) and raymayne (dude is so passionate about the game he's felt the need to post in every gt5 thread with the same copy pasted comment - beginning to think he may be kaosangels evil twin)  are nice and busy looking at the internet for every available opportunity to come up with something negative.   people spending time laboriously frame by frame picking out bad screenshots for a game (which EVERY game has if you look hard enough - yes even on the mighty pc) in order to make other people feel bad about a game they enjoy.  
 
And of course there's the underlying elephant in the corner that most people are choosing to ignore in the cast of being able to be 'that guy' for 5 minutes. Most reviewers got the game on monday, online activated yesterday - is this really enough time to judge a game like GT5?   

Hell! even reviews that have pushed out reviews today based on playing online since yesterday and complained about it ; "It was really laggy" ; "I spawned in a race and everyone else was already racing" 
 Good job guys, making comments on a multi million selling game that has had an online existence for all of 11 hours.  
 I'm sure judging by some of the comments on HOW the online is implemented that it is a little antiquated, its a hardcore japanese as hell game on a platform not exactly known for its online features (not my belief but whatever i'll throw the naysayers a bone) thats been in development for 6 years - of course some of it's massive feature set may feel a little out of date but i'll ask this ; If people were to have reviewed Black ops based on the public first day internet experience - would its online have been as lauded as it is?  
Probably not. 
 
Now i do have gt5 in my hand, i have not played it yet and look forward to doing so. I have seen users on the site who i DO actually take stock in their comments (wintersnowblind . etc) commenting on feeling a tad disappointed with the game so far and as such i do go in with a little bit of fear - that twinned with the constructive as always resident trolls of GB "Lolz game is shit ; 8.5 thats gonna leave a mark" has left a tiny amount of tension in my expectations as the game installs. 
  
But then i remember that GT5 is not like other games, I remember WHY i spent a whole summer school holiday trying to gold every license on each iteration - as someone who medically can not drive cars GT is probably the closest I'm ever going to get to the chance to even take a fucking Nova past 50 MPH. 
 Sure there are other games out there - go ahead, check my profile on Gb and look at my achievement list, i'll wait.
 
I loved Dirt 2 and Motorstorm games, Burnout was essential this generation in my eyes - and of course forza is there. for all of the 3? achievements i got out of that before deciding to stick it on my shelf here and not play it again.  
I can't describe it it just didn't feel right - and i then went straight back to trying to own every car in GT4 (a task i am now abandoning due to gt5, but that was still ongoing) 
 
I get this probably comes off as a huge wank fest to Polyphony and GT5 in general , especially for someone who hasn't even pushed start yet - but the way i see it  if people like Raymayne and hitman and the other users can make negative and borderline offensive comments themselves, without having touched it! and reviewers are being payed to write up opinions about a quarter of a game they played for not even a day - then i guess I'm just as qualified to share an opinion as anyone else. 
  
So for every negative comment here, for every review that states insane design choices are the ruination of the game! let me throw a couple of things out here for you, after all remember my opinion can never be right because some people operate on facts and dont feel emotion and therefore i must be wrong because thats their opinion and opinions cant be wrong but mine must be (sic) 
  
First of all a couple of things ABOUT reviewing the game this is something i read a couple of days ago and i can wager that when this persons opinion of the game come sout, it will be a damned sight more reliable than any of the others and i bet a lot more positive. 
 
http://www.gamesradar.com/ps3/gran-turismo-5/news/gran-turismo-5-this-is-not-the-review/a-20101123152933288098/g-20070711154452396099  
 
Second is a link towards another games site posing the same question i have posed here about the validity of these 'early door but no earlier access than the public reviews' ;  http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=120094 
 
And finally, a review - a review that is not the highest scoring one, nor the lowest scoring and takes into account all the warts and bad things about the game. 
But also takes into account what MAKES gt5  a gran turismo, the feelings you get playing it that no other driving game gives you - and basically the opposite polar of the negative glass is empty views 
 
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-11-24-gran-turismo-5-review  
 
Anyway Tl:dr for most of you, but for anyone else that managed to read the whole damn thing i hope that it makes at least a tiny bit of sense.