A grind-heavy career mode and inconsistent visuals keep this otherwise fantastic driving simulation from finishing first.
Gran Turismo 5 is unconcerned with the progress made in the racing genre and video games at large in the six years since Gran Turismo 4 arrived on the PlayStation 2. Polyphony Digital’s newest racer has a scattered, grind-heavy career mode and inconsistent visuals, but the core driving experience is the closest you’ll get to driving nirvana on a console. The driving is so good that many of the annoyances with the way GT5 is built start to evaporate once you get your hands behind the wheel and start driving. Unfortunately, your patience might very well evaporate too whenever you have to deal with the game's cluttered interface.
I feel it's important to mention that I played GT5 primarily with a racing wheel. While the game is certainly playable with a controller, you'll begin to hit a wall on more technical courses once the cars get faster. The force feedback and information you're given through the wheel is excellent, and feels unique with each car. When you drive through a tight turn you’ll immediately know whether you’re in a front or rear engine car by the amount of over-steer that sets in as your wheel goes slack. Pavement, gravel, and grass all feel different and help indicate just what you can expect out of your next turn. This natural wheel grip sensation, combined with some zoom and shake effects in the modeled cockpit view as you brake and accelerate, really put Gran Turismo's driving on a pedestal when compared with just about any other racing game on the market.
The premium cockpits are gorgeous, but the weather effects are generally poor. That visceral realism isn't always consistent in the cars themselves. Although the back of GT5’s box mentions there are over 1000 vehicles available in the game, only 200 of those carry the "premium" tag, which means they include a modeled cockpit and extra detail to their exteriors. If you're not someone that likes to race inside the car, that may not be such a big deal--but even among the 800 standard cars, the exterior quality is uneven. The worst-looking of these feel like touched-up ports of cars from the PlayStation 2 era. For me, though, the premium cars were more than enough, and the only real grievance I have with the standard cars is that they make up the majority of your racing rivals in each race.
Damage modeling is poor, bordering on unnoticeable, and even at higher levels with premium cars, the largest of crashes will only cause minor dings and deformities. At the most, bumpers or hoods will dislodge and hang a bit loose, but for the most part the crashes in Gran Turismo 5 are mundane affairs that feel and sound more like cardboard boxes bouncing into each other. What is noticeable, though, is the cost you’ll have to pay for structural damage that isn't visually persistent on your car between races. Chasis repair on many of the high-powered cars will run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Considering that you can buy a new car for that amount, it often leaves you wondering just what the hell Polyphony Digital was thinking when they decided to add damage into the game at all. While racing purists might not mind, the lack of consistent damage effects in GT5 takes you out of the realism that the cockpit and wheel combo so breathlessly creates.
This graphical inconsistency doesn't only exist with the cars but also with the tracks and the environment as well. The shadow and weather effects specifically seem extremely garish on top of otherwise clean and well laid-out courses. Shadows both in the car and outside have jaggy, aliased edges, and when combined with pixelated rain or snow effects, it'll make you want to jump out of that in-car view to something less in-your-face. Generally, though, the game looks sharp, and GT5 has some gorgeous night-time country driving that makes you consider your chosen car not for its speed, but for its headlight coverage. It looks especially nice when the game speeds up time so that dusk turns to night over the course of a race, and timed fireworks also add some fun to the nighttime sky. For the most part, the tracks in Gran Turismo 5 are fairly static, though incredibly detailed affairs. Almost all of the courses include unbreakable walls or extremely sturdy pencil fencing that feel like compromises in otherwise realistic locations.
The kart racing is more fun then you'd think. What Gran Turismo lacks in flourish it tries to compensate for with variety. You’ve got go-karts, American muscle, Japanese tuners, World Rally cars, NASCAR and everything in between. Only a Formula One license seems noticeably missing from the roster, but open-wheel cars are still there and become available once you get past level 20. A lot of the licensed racing is grouped into "special events," a section of your dashboard devoted towards training or goal-based racing. Some of these carry intro movies that explain a famous track or location you’re about to race in. For the most part they work well, but there are a couple stinkers. A dead-eyed and poorly animated Jeff Gordon, who introduces you to NASCAR, is a prime example. All that variety sometimes makes the game feel like it's been stretched too thin.
You’ll spend most of your time in A-Spec races, which are split up into various leagues from beginner to expert. You can also earn licenses by completing simple tasks such as bringing your car to a complete stop on time, or more difficult tasks, like completing a race without bumping into rival cars. Luckily most of them are not as necessary as in previous games. You’ll earn trophies in the license events, races, and special events, with gifted rewards available as you complete each full set of challenges. Experience points are also awarded and contribute to your level, which is used as a barrier for new events and cars. Around level 15, though, the leveling component becomes a serious grind. Each level takes a couple hours, and you’ll soon wish you could at least see what events come up later so you could plan your garage accordingly. Dropping half-a-million dollars on your favorite car sounds great, until you realize too late that it won’t be useful for your next dozen events.
As you move your way into more challenging races, you’ll soon learn that it’s not so much your driving skill that’s being tested as your ability to tune your car properly. You simply won’t be able to win certain cups without fiddling under the hood first. There’s not a whole lot of explanation to the tuning mechanics, and there’s no Forza-style auto-upgrade option to make things easy on yourself. Like most things in GT5, though, you’ll eventually figure it out and learn that under a clunky mess of menus is a flexible system for setting your car up however you want. Most of the upgrades are easy to comprehend--you pay your money and suddenly have a boost in your horsepower--but a lot of them can only be fully utilized if you manually move some dials. Eventually you learn these tuning systems too well, and since the majority of races don't include any sort of horsepower limit, it's very easy to enter races with overpowered cars and make the game a one-man race within the first 30 seconds. I spent most of the game playing this way, as the lackluster, wooden AI always seems to follow a set line without taking much thought for where your car is on the track. Though GT5 can get more challenging later on, most races are a test of personal endurance, not competition.
Soft racing wheels really help you grip the road. If manual tuning as a necessity to progression scares you, take heart in this: I personally know very little about what goes on under the hood of cars. If anything can be said about the lack of arcade functionality in GT’s career mode, it’s that you’ll eventually become a more informed and better driver because of it. Other sticking points for people coming from an arcade background are the lack of a rewind function and fairly poor driving lines. The absence of a rewind function, which has become a common mechanic in driving games over the last few years, is going to hurt novices most. While the early races are fairly short affairs, you won’t see many single events under eight minutes after level 16 or so. Eight minutes is a long time to keep your concentration up at over 100 MPH. Given that it takes hours to move a single level in the late game, and that you usually only earn XP for placing at the end of the race, things can get frustrating quickly.
It’s especially unfortunate then that you can’t gain XP in the online races to spice things up a bit. Although I never had any problems finding races through the game’s lobby system, it was almost impossible to figure out what the requirements were for each race I joined. If the host didn’t take the time to create a proper title, it meant I had to join the lobby first, then view a separate menu to get the requirements. From there I usually had a short time to tune one of my cars to qualify or select from one of the suggested arcade cars. Although you can use a limited amount of favorite cars from your garage, you can’t favorite separate load-outs. To be honest, the menu system all throughout GT5 is bad. Exiting out of anything almost always requires a confirmation or extra key-press, and unusually long load times for simple menus can sometimes dampen the fun.
The GT dashboard is cluttered and requires a lot of unnecessary prompts. Included as part of the dashboard is some social networking functionality that allows you to share rides, photos, and Twitter-style short messages with your friends. I don’t know why you’d want a walled message board for yourself just for GT5, but it’s there if you want to shout at people you know who are also playing the game. A gifting feature comes in handy when you need to send cars to another person, since some races require specific cars to complete and often people need to trade between accounts. The photo mode in the game lets you take still shots of any of your cars lined up in various locations that you unlock as you progress. It’s extremely well done and gives you a virtual DSLR to take pictures with where you can adjust ISO and focus manually.
There’s also an AI-driven B-Spec mode where you give commands to a driver that levels separately from yourself. Essentially you watch a race in movie mode and have the ability to tell the driver when to pace up and down, and when to try to pass another driver. If it sounds boring, that’s because it is. The only positive to the feature is that it’s a great way to earn early credits. Once you have a decent garage you can put your driver in an overpowered car and go have some lunch or something. Even without commands he’ll likely win the race, and you might receive a special car or two for placing in first.
Gran Turismo 5’s core problem is that the broad scope of all these game modes diminishes the polish of the general product. There's no denying the feel of the actual driving, but everything else that makes up the game feels tedious and half-baked. I certainly wouldn’t recommend it for everyone, but for people who value an authentic driving experience, enjoy a bit of difficulty in their games, and are willing to look past a multitude of minor flaws, GT5 could very well satisfy your driving needs for years.
5/5 driving in a 3/5 game, bring on the patches Kazunori >:( "
Bring on the PC version without limited visuals. The driving sim part really is good and the game is fun...but the Wolfenstein 3D sprites don't help with the immersion..
@Bloviator: Haha, I know that's the price for having an out of 5 rating scale, but that makes the review seem maybe even harsher than it really should be. At worst out of 100 I would say it's like a 70 or 75 tops, but by no means does the game deserve a 4 star rating from Giant Bomb.
Driving sims aren't for me. I don't want to buy a racing wheel etc., so it seems like a fair enough review for the average consumer that may be on the fence about the game. But on the other hand, I'm surprised at the number of people actively invested in hating the game and wanting to see it fail. Do arcade driver casuals feel compelled to hate the sim? Is it a 360 fanboy thing? Xenophobia against Japanese games? It's about as childish as hating on the Wii at this point, even if the markets are the opposite. It seems like a game you already know whether you want to buy or not. So good luck to Gran Turismo, hope it sells fifteen billion copies (if it hasn't already) and fixes most of its problems with patches.
The visuals are depressingly bad in this game (it even has wolf 3d sprites!) -- compared to anything modern on the PC. But it has a split-screen mode and I'm having fun with it. =]
Some of the bad visuals aren't the fault of the game though -- maybe it still deserves a better score. The aging console gpu/cpus should be blamed for some of the crappy visuals (crappy scenery, crappy shadows (dirt 2 shadows are crap on the ps3) and wolfentstein 3d crowds).
" Driving sims aren't for me. I don't want to buy a racing wheel etc., so it seems like a fair enough review for the average consumer that may be on the fence about the game. But on the other hand, I'm surprised at the number of people actively invested in hating the game and wanting to see it fail. Do arcade driver casuals feel compelled to hate the sim? Is it a 360 fanboy thing? Xenophobia against Japanese games? It's about as childish as hating on the Wii at this point, even if the markets are the opposite. It seems like a game you already know whether you want to buy or not. So good luck to Gran Turismo, hope it sells fifteen billion copies (if it hasn't already) and fixes most of its problems with patches. "
" Driving sims aren't for me. I don't want to buy a racing wheel etc., so it seems like a fair enough review for the average consumer that may be on the fence about the game. But on the other hand, I'm surprised at the number of people actively invested in hating the game and wanting to see it fail. Do arcade driver casuals feel compelled to hate the sim? Is it a 360 fanboy thing? Xenophobia against Japanese games? It's about as childish as hating on the Wii at this point, even if the markets are the opposite. It seems like a game you already know whether you want to buy or not. So good luck to Gran Turismo, hope it sells fifteen billion copies (if it hasn't already) and fixes most of its problems with patches. "
People hate popular things. Just like Halo. "
Not always. But people sure love TO HATE on popular games...if that makes sense. The Gran Turismo quick look got an enormous amount of comments just to say "game sux!" or "the music is so horrible lol..pass for me!" Of course no one understands that you have full control over the racing music as well as the menu music...just FYI. Yet you know a lot of these people never had any intention of playing the game.
As for Halo. I buy into every time. And I dislike it every time. Only myself to blame for wasting 60 bucks. Of course I get some of it back for trading it in. I did the same thing with Black Ops...sigh...tho that's still sitting on my shelf. On the flip side, Red Dead Redemption is extremely popular...no? My GOTY without a doubt.
Oh I thought Jeff would review this, anyway I was expecting this and was expecting who would review it to be harder on it. Thanks for the info Dave, I was really interested to find out how it really was after you install the game on the hard drive.
what this review says to me is that if you own a PS3 and are into driving games you should buy this game. I'm glad they at least tried to get weather effects in there. Hopefully it pushes weather effects into all future driving games. Also points for F1. Anything F1 is just fine by me.
I honestly respect Dave's opinion, and overall review, but I am not put off by the presentation of the game at all. EXACTLY what I expect from a GT game, cheesey music and archaic menus.
A racing wheel (even my old ass logitech driving force pro) + this game is absolutely amazing and I see myself playing it for years to come. Then again, I like cars and don't mind the grind, so my perspective may be a bit biased. Maybe Farming Simulator 2011 is right up my alley?
" Driving sims aren't for me. I don't want to buy a racing wheel etc., so it seems like a fair enough review for the average consumer that may be on the fence about the game. But on the other hand, I'm surprised at the number of people actively invested in hating the game and wanting to see it fail. Do arcade driver casuals feel compelled to hate the sim? Is it a 360 fanboy thing? Xenophobia against Japanese games? It's about as childish as hating on the Wii at this point, even if the markets are the opposite. It seems like a game you already know whether you want to buy or not. So good luck to Gran Turismo, hope it sells fifteen billion copies (if it hasn't already) and fixes most of its problems with patches. "
Why shouldn't 360 fanboys be a little bitter? For so many years, every time a Forza came out they'd be told how it's nothing compared to Gran Turismo. How it's a ripoff, how GT 5 was going to crush it, so on and so on. It's not like people are bitter for no reason.
I don't agree with all these people saying the interface is cluttered. At first when I saw it I was like dude what is up. After ten minutes everything made sense, and getting from point A to B was simple as can be. So I reallty don't understand the complaints in that regard.
@zoner: Fanboys are bad persons. Anyway, by any reasonable standard, Gran Turismo is a commercial and critical success, despite making virtually no concessions to the casual player. The only ammunition X360 Gamespot types have is the few negative reviews whilst ignoring the massive amount of evidence to the contrary: even Giant Bomb has stated in its coverage that, in terms of being a sim game, this is probably the best on the market. If you liked Forza then you should probably own Gran Turismo.
I could never quite get into GT games, they just aren't for me. That being said I find Dave's review to be very good, of course people are going to focus on the stars but w/e, his points are valid and makes it a great review of a series I just could never wrap my head around.
It seems that the major complaint (beyond graphics) is difficulty in advancing levels. That sounds like GT games I have played. I never played one on PS2. But I do remember the fun being in just inching out some licenses to keep the game going. Graphics are understandably low, from what I hear, based on the fact such detail was put into cars and content. I can't wait to play this and see what the next generation brings.
@grant742: That's not how reviews work. The stars are a representation of an opinion by the reviewer and not a scale that places all games of a given star amount at equal level. Also, Tron is a completely different type of game and, aside from some technical and visual categories, has completely different sets of criteria with which a reviewer may form an opinion.
I don't play simulation racing games but I enjoyed reading the review. Keep up the good work Dave.
As a fan of random ass racing sims on the PC, this game is basically like that (weird menus and inconsistencies) but it's packed full of content. I come for the racing, the cars, and the tracks, so this game is the ultimate racer to me. I can see why it gets 3 stars though, it's just not as polished or shiny as Forza, so it can't really appeal to anyone but real racing fans.
Great review Dave. I don't the feel small negatives you mention are worth knocking it down two points for myself but I can see why some people don't like what Gran Turismo does. Loving the game myself, and the depth and breadth of content is mind blowing.
This game is most definitely not for everyone, but if you liked previous GTs or Forzas I highly suggest you go out and play this now if you aren't already.
Sorry Dave, but I really don't think this game should be put at the same level as TRON. I've played it and it at least deserves a 4.
"
That's right. He said it's as good as Tron. That's what he said, all right. He believes it to be at the exact same quality level as Tron Evolution, even though he never played that game.
I honestly feel like all of this gt hate is because people reviewing it and playing it in the press expect it to be some godsend and expect it to be something that GT has never been. GT is always about the driving, always about making you the person playing the game know and teach you about cars, how to drive, and so on. As Dave said:
If anything can be said about the lack of arcade functionality in GT’s career mode, it’s that you’ll eventually become a more informed and better driver because of it.
Arcade mode is essentially 2p mode, "Gran Turismo" mode is the actual game. Certain things said, like "if you don't have a wheel there will be a point where you can no longer play" sort of says to me that Dave thinks you need a controller with some bizarre rumble motors in order to "feel" the road. Back on GT4 I was able to feel the incline of the slope of the road by the vibration feedback on the controller, why would this be any different?
I have no doubt that to Dave and for people who play racing games with a wheel, it is better experience for it, but quite honestly I cannot stand using a wheel because they typically do not respond well enough and quick enough when I want them to. I have muscle memory or whatever the hell it is into playing these racing games with a d-pad and buttons, I can't use an analog nor a wheel, but I can woop ass and be insanely precise with a d-pad.
I am not sure what exactly I want to end on, but in all honestly, to Dave and whomever things this game deserves a 3/5 you are mistaken. This game isn't forza, it isn't dirt, and it surely isn't f1, it is a driving game, not a racing game, and it was the king and for a lot of people always will be, even if the "damage model" isn't realistic, the driving is just that damn good and that is what matters.
P.s. That isn't saying GT5 doesn't have faults, I never said 5/5, but I really think expecting one thing and comparing another is a bad way to look at it.
Ouch. I think most of the criticism of the game has been about its technical misteps (load times are a bitch!) and not about the gameplay, which is what we are all here for. I'm still having a shitloads of fun playing the game though.
My only question from the review is, since when has Gran Turismo ever NOT been a grind?
"
Ditto, That was the SOLE reason B-Spec mode came about.
I've been enjoying GT5 a lot, but maybe that's because I'm still at level 14. Maybe when it gets to be annoying I'll go and pick up Forza 3. I only gave that game a rental and enjoyed it, but I kinda want to play it again now.
oh and dissing a game for not including features that other games has is lame. the rewind feature sucks and only serves to hold your hand. just like the stupid line thing. nobody wants to barrel down and actually learn how to be good. they just wanna blow through it and see a sign that says YOURE WINNER at the end. and the sell it back to gamestop.
As someone who doesn't play simulation style racers, isn't the rewind feature kinda counter intuitive? I mean the games are meant to be realistic so I don't quite understand why people would consider it a necessary feature.
" oh and dissing a game for not including features that other games has is lame. the rewind feature sucks and only serves to hold your hand. just like the stupid line thing. nobody wants to barrel down and actually learn how to be good. they just wanna blow through it and see a sign that says YOURE WINNER at the end. and the sell it back to gamestop. "
I dunno, fucking up on a turn in a 3 hour race SURE SUCKS. Rewind feature is godlike, wahhhh we don't want more features.
" As someone who doesn't play simulation style racers, isn't the rewind feature kinda counter intuitive? I mean the games are meant to be realistic so I don't quite understand why people would consider it a necessary feature. "
This x1000. This review is filled with inaccuracy.
" oh and dissing a game for not including features that other games has is lame. the rewind feature sucks and only serves to hold your hand. just like the stupid line thing. nobody wants to barrel down and actually learn how to be good. they just wanna blow through it and see a sign that says YOURE WINNER at the end. and the sell it back to gamestop. "
Is it really necessary for people to attack the rewind feature? I personally don't use it often at all, but has anyone noticed that the games that have it actually have a realistic damage model?
One crash in the first turn is the end of the race in any game besides GT5, even brushing up against one rock wall, or taking a turn the wrong way means theres no way you are going to take first place. If you want to diss the rewind feature, then except the fact that the lack of a proper damage model is a huge let down.
None of the games that feature the rewind function ever force you to use it anyways, it's optional just like the driving line. Now where's my optional fully realistic damage model?
Also, theres nothing wrong with a making a game more accessible as long as you give options to play the way you want. This is how you make a successful game that actually sells more units to a broader audience. GT5 is sadly missing some of these options, why is the HUD non-adjustable?
I agree with Dave on this and it is totally fair to compare a game to other games, especially when PD was seen taking notes on other said games.
" and somewhat disappointed, at the lack of outrage at the 3 stars. I was expecting some entertaining fanboy rage. Giantbomb, you dissappoint me, but in a good way. "
Be patient. I reckon it's gonna be an hour or so until the review hits the GT boards around the web. And legions of fanboys probably already began creating accounts on GB... it takes a few minutes. "
330 Comments