Bordering on vaporware for the majority of 2010, I finally got my hands on a copy of Gran Turismo 5 on November 24th. Unfortunately for me I could not afford the Logitech G27 race wheel I so desired, so a gamepad had to suffice for my review. Polophony Digital delivered their promised features, and this is the best Gran Turismo to date, but how much one will enjoy the game depends primarily on patience.
The first thing that struck me upon starting up Gran Turismo 5 and sitting through the long opening cutscene was the strange interface. It's clear Polophony Digital is in it for the long haul with Gran Turismo 5, and they want to bring players along. The first task upon start up is configuring the player profile, choosing a driver outfit, inputting personal information and preferences, and just getting setup within the Gran Turismo community in general. From the start, players can participate in the traditional A-spec racing mode, as well as the B-spec driving coach mode.
The interface is reminiscent of a web page, and is strikingly similar to the PS3 web browser's home page. It's a strange setup that works for the most part, but the entire interface is bogged down with constant loading screens. Want to enter the car tuning section? That's a 30 second load screen. Want to visit the dealership? 30 second load screen. Ready to view the available races? Several 30 second load screens. Players will spend more time waiting for menus to load than they will spend actively navigating the interface.
Thankfully a snappy soundtrack accompanies the UI, and I love almost every song here. This is some of the best menu music I've ever heard, but a ragtime song in the GT auto menu feels out of place and corny. Another thing I missed from previous GT entries are the licensed songs. Offerings from The Cardigans, Garbage, and The Crystal Method included in Gran Turismo 2 were absolutely amazing and accented the fast paced racing beautifully, but you'll find no licensed music in Gran Turismo 5. In fact, the audio in general is pretty bad. Jeff Gordon coaches the player in the NASCAR racing events, but he sounds absolutely horrid, and the filter they add to simulate radio static compounds the issue. Cars do not sound accurate either, with 60's and 70's muscle cars sounding as if they have the guts of a Japanese import. These are gross inaccuracies, and will be off putting for muscle car GT fans.
Most players will probably dive into A-spec mode first, and Gran Turismo 5 provides players with their initial 20,000 credits to make their first used car purchase. I personally started with a 1996 Nissan Silva Q's Aero. One of my favorite aspects of the Gran Turismo series has been the ability to purchase an inconspicuous used car and turn it into a modded out monster. Used cars were omitted in some of the previous GT entries, so I was glad to see the feature return, however I'm not too enthused with the standard car models that they populate. The first thing I noticed about my Nissan was the horridly pixelated textures surrounding the headlights. It's clear this is an old model that had been up-scaled. You can see blunders like this on a few of the standard car models, but as I progressed through the A-spec events I noticed that they were few and far between. Many of the standard car models look just fine, but perfection would have been nice.
The premium cars on the other hand are a site to behold and feature both better damage modeling and a cockpit view. I love the cockpit view, however Need for Speed: Shift still reigns supreme in this avenue. Players can choose between three different zoom levels in the cockpit view, but this view doesn't feel as realistic as what we've seen in Shift. The cockpit view's default "wide" setting leaves players with too small a viewing area, and I played it myself on an eight foot wide projector, so screen size was not to blame. I really wish Polophony Digital would have added a generic standard model cockpit. I understand this would detract from realism somewhat, but I believe a cockpit view of any kind would have been better than the cold omission we were left with.
As the player levels up, they will be invited to participate in Gran Turismo special events. The first of which is kart racing, but this is definitely not Mario Kart. These racing karts sport only one gear but still get up to 80 miles per hour, so it takes a bit of practice to get the physics down(protip: accelerate very carefully while turning). While kart racing is a fun diversion, NASCAR is absolutely ridiculous on a gamepad. I imagine it would be much more enjoyable on a wheel that features force feedback. The NASCAR events require a level of precision that does nothing but set players up for frustration. Rally racing is fun, but once again players will need to practice and take the time to learn the physics involved if they hope to do well in the rally events. I loved the Grand Tour event, as it takes the player around the world to experience many different tracks, vehicles, and racing modes, with the variety here keeping everything fresh. The special events provide the greatest financial rewards as well, so players struggling for credits will want to visit this mode often.
As far as the actual racing goes, GT5 offers absolute perfection. No racing game I've experienced so far has left me with the same sense of immersion I get from Gran Turismo 5. Turn off all assists, turn off the driving line, hell, turn off that pussy ass mini-map. Gran Turismo 5 will make you a better driver, and I was throwing myself around the couch braking into turns and burning out of apexes. Courses like Trial Mountain and Laguna Seca are indescribably fun to experience in a supercar, and there are so many courses included in Gran Turismo 5 I don't even think I've hit them all. On top of that, GT5 includes a course generator that allows players to mix it up with their own course parameters. This isn't a fully featured suite like you would find in Modnation Racers, but it's a great feature that compliments GT5's extensive list of available courses.
B-spec events require that players create a driver, choosing between several broad archetypes that differ in driving skills and mood, and direct the driver around each course. As the driver completes races, their skills will develop, and the player can put together a driving team featuring members with varying strengths and weaknesses, much like the A-Team only way more boring. I tried to spend time with B-spec events, but after just a few races I realized this is just a glorified interactive replay, and I prefer to be more hands on. I'm sure some will enjoy this mode but I would have preferred more available A-spec events.
Multiplayer is criminally fun. I mean wow, with everyone rocking headsets and the ability to support up to 16 players, the multiplayer racing is one of the most fun online experiences I've had all year. When the driver in front of me spun out in an unexpected turn on Nürburgring and comically raged into his mic, everyone in the race was laughing their asses off. Before and in between races, players can freely roam courses with each other, and this is a blast. The lobby is a great place to chat and hang out while showing off your own cars, and players have plenty of options for customizing the race type, vehicle restrictions, and lobby name. As soon as I saw BEER! 14/16 players, I scrambled to join the room. There are many different race modes included; drag, standard race, best lap time, etc.
The tuning system feels fully fleshed out, with a ton of options for body/chasis, intake, exhaust, drivetrain, transmission, tires, engine, etc, but surprisingly no option to upgrade brakes. Apparently every car in GT5 inherently has the best brakes available. For real gear heads, it's possible to fine tune gear ratios once the proper transmission is purchased, and the same can be said for suspension and many others. It's a blast to experiment with the different options available, and although it's tempting to go all out on horsepower upgrades, the drive-train and transmission upgrades will give better returns when it comes to accelerating out of an apex.
Another unique offering in Gran Turismo 5 is the Gran Turismo TV mode, showcasing a boatload of documentaries, carshows, featurettes, and races. Many of these are free, but there is a charge to view some races, usually .99, which is not bad at all for racing fans. I'm interested to see how this aspect of GT5 expands and am very glad it was included.
Gran Turismo 5 is fun, but it's not the type of arcade experience you would find in the Need for Speed or Burnout franchises. Players familiar with Gran Turismo should not be surprised with what Gran Turismo 5 has to offer, but newcomers or more casual gamers may be left confused, and the quirky interface will not help matters. I'm very interested to see how Polophony Digital will develop Gran Turismo 5's online community and what features will be added in the upcoming months. Race fans should definitely pick this up, but it's unfortunate that the interface and long load screens leave so much downtime between so much fun.
