Review: Gran Turismo 5

From a review perspective there is so much here, so much to be experienced and talk about, it becomes one of the more daunting titles to approach from a critical angle.

Undeniably there is passion here, developer Polyphony Digital, and more to the point series creator Kazunori Yamauchi has made the world wait some six years for this release (though yes, in 2008 we did get teased by Gran Turismo 5 Prologue).  But the question remains, has it been worth the wait?

For many the answer is yes, even having a further (up to) hours' wait to install the 8GB game onto the PS3's straining hard drive is a small price to pay to finally have the full Gran Turismo 5 in their grasp.

For the uninitiated Gran Turismo 5 is more than a car racing simulator on a console.  In fact, one could argue it is not that at all, and that instead is more about presenting a virtual gateway to just about everything that is happening or happened in motor racing around the world. 

The eccentricity of the game designers is laid out from the very start; everything from the clunky, inconsistent interface to non-descript way features of the game, such as damage effects and improved AI are mysteriously unlocked speaks volumes of the non-traditional approach to this titles design.

It is indeed, almost a genre unto itself, not so much a 'racing game' as a racing lifestyle simulator.  Certainly there is racing to be had here, and a lot of it, but there is a fair amount of 'grind' required to get to the good stuff.

You see, GT5 is all about levelling up your racing pedigree.  You can do this in one of a couple of modes, Arcade or GT.  Arcade is a great place to start, offering a no-strings way to try out a variety of cars and tracks, twiddle with the unbelievable amount of options and then hit the myriad of real-world tracks.

GT Mode is the focus however; it is a fully fledged motor racing career simulation, minus worrying about organising sponsors, travel and to a certain degree finances.  From the outset you will only have enough money to buy a vehicle at the used car dealerships. My first car was a white '92 Honda Civic, and it rocked!  It got me through the License events (a series of tests designed to teach you such things as braking, cornering and applying power).

Enter this car in some A-Spec events starting at beginner and working up to elite.  Most events have entry requirements, such as a particular era or type of car, for example, if you don't happen to own an American muscle car built prior to 1980, then there is no way you are getting into that event.  Sometimes you will need to wait for a specific car to appear at the used car dealership before getting a chance to compete in some events.  Another way around this is to be gifted an eligible car by a friend on the PlayStation Network.

B-Spec events are a chance to act as a racing team manager, grooming drivers for events, and then on race-day giving them 'commands' during a race.  The idea is to balance out a driver's mental and physical state as displayed on screen, with getting him ahead position wise on the track.  It is a neat diversion from being the driver, but for most, ultimately just a diversion.

GT5 is full of diversions however.  Special events take you from the fun of Karting, to the tension of Rally driving, with a bit of NASCAR and other events in between.  My favourite was a solo trip around the Nürburgring  Nordscleife course in an SLS AMG.

There is so much crammed into GT5 it is pretty much impossible to cover it all here in this review.   If you like tuning there is a comprehensive tinkering process for each car, if you like downloading racing related content, GT-TV gives access to a bunch of online content.  You might like to simply browse 'museum cards' depicting historical information about milestone moments of the automotive industry.

You might actually like tootering around the Top Gear track in one of 12 identical VW Combi Vans.  I didn't, but you might.  You might like collecting the reportedly 1000 cars in the game, or you might actually like to race.

20 per cent of the in-game cars are designated as 'premium', ostensibly this means they have had more love lavished on them during development.  Cockpit views, better damage modelling and generally nicer to look at overall that the other 800 cars in the game, though even in these cars it is evident that Polyphony Digital has spent a great deal of time crafting vehicles for this release.

The actual driving is a mixed bag, generally you will get a good race when playing GT5 and there are many, many options to experiment with to further refine the experience.   But there are negatives.

There is no native support for some of the best force feedback racing wheel controllers on the market, such as Logitech's G27.

There does not seem to be any sense of  drafting in game and  seemingly no independent physics applied consistently to each wheel, for example, putting two wheels in the dirt and braking hard has no visible effect on car handling, despite having the Traction Control option turned off.

Audio is a joke, the effect used during collisions is no-where near satisfying enough, and this is the first racing game in a long time that utilises no reverb effect when a car enters a tunnel. 

All tracks are super smooth; there is no sense of tarmac feel, or much variety in the track surfaces.  Low speed cornering also feels incorrect, unless power is applied just beyond a turn's apex (which, granted is correct technique) the steering can be on full lock and fail to get the car around a tight turn.  Perhaps it is realistic, but from experience it feels wrong.

As we said earlier, improved AI and damage processing is unlocked at a point in the game that will take a significant effort to get to.  This game is for the purists, it is not really about the 'fun' of driving it's about the lifestyle and world of cars, with a bit of driving thrown in.  There are certainly better driving simulators on the market, and likewise more fun driving games out there as well, but for those wishing to lose themselves in innumerable hours of car-porn on a console, this is the game for them.