GT5 - So what do we think?

Ok, so most of us have had it now for 2 weeks and by the look of the main thread are progressing at a rate of knots. So now the initial excitement, and what's been years of hype have died down what do we really think?

I'm at level 16 on Spec A and haven't tried Spec B yet; the idea doesn't float my boat. Also home internet woes mean I haven't been online yet.

For me:

Good Points

Driving physics are much better than the old games.
Ferrari and Lamborghini's are better than the old 'which skyline will I use today' car choices.
No more NOS.
Racing is 'fairer' in the old games; it's not so easy to farm points on easy races to build a mighty car to win harder ones without the skill.
Karting is great fun.
Topgear test track!

Bad points

The whole premium / standard cars thing is nonsense, "over 1000 cars!" is the headline, but there's 'only' 200 premium ones and loads of doubles, trebles and in some cases over 20 versions of the same thing.

Standard cars seem at odds with the surroundings - for example anyone else whilst doing the Lupo cup notice if you're sitting on the **** of another car the jagged edge of the rear window looks more PS1 than PS3 and the pin sharp graphics of the track make it look even worse.

Chassis repair and engine overhaul, Ok I like the idea, but there's no way of seeing in facts and figures the state of your car, plus the cost!! I'm told the damage level goes up as you progress, there's a guy on Pistonheads who's smashed a Toyota GT1 and needs 900k to fix it!! Bend a Ferrari F1 car and it's going to cost you 5m to fix.

Cosemetic damage, so much hype over this, on standard cars it’s not really apparent and on premium cars it doesn’t amount to much more than a few ripples, let my 5-year-old loose on practice with a 750bhp Lamborghini, he was smashing it left right and centre, having a blast, looked the same but dirty at the end.

In short, I really love the game, enjoy playing it and can’t wait to take it online, but I can’t see where the huge amount of time and money developing have gone, I can’t see any huge new ideas from GT4, I’d go so far as to say it’s more like GT4 for PS3 than a full GT5, same races, same tracks (mostly) same ideas just shinier looking.

 

From the limited amount of time i've actaully spent playing it, I think it's really good! I find myself wanting to play it all the time.

The graphical inconsistencies are pretty absurd, ranging from picture perfect to shambolic. The effect at the edge of the cars when there is rain and spray is terrible, and some of the standard cars would have been better left out rather than half-baked attempts.

The menu system isn't great, and don't get me started on the "Car Delivery" system!

I'm holding my breath on the damage, with the update today i'm expecting more and more damage to become apparent.

I think i've said it before though that the game engine is there and ready, and I think thats what took the time to get right as it was built from the ground up. Whether they'll address the current issues with DLC or just quickly release a GT6 based on this engine, who knows!

 

Are the driving physics really that good? I think they have over done it and made the cars too difficult to control and unrealistic. In one of the licenses where you drive the old ferrari one little tap of the brakes and it was sideways. I haven't driven a ferrari in real life so maybe I am wrong but I dont think it would be regarded as road worthy if the real thing acted like that unless possibly in the wet or on ice.

thats just one example but that is the general feal I get of the game. I just dont think difficult = realistic. It should be difficult with a purpose not just for the sake of it.

 

I know what you mean on that old fezza, it's a proper pig, as was the Lotus on the TG track on one of the licenses and when I first bought a Lamborghini LP640 I was gutted, all those credits and it was undriveable! Slightest movement off the perfect line and it would go into a little slide try to correct and whoosh 360 spin, leave it to sort itself out, whoosh bigger spin but they're **** easy to drive when you switch the ESP and TC back on.

This is my most recent gripe, and one that's really doing my head in. I've concluded that once you start getting to the 'big' stuff like the Ferrari's, Lambo's and Veyrons you need to turn the TC and stability back on, I'd run with ABS set at 1 and everything else off for most stuff, but just like real life you really need computer assistance to make the crazy stuff work. But it's one setting for everything so when I'm using my mega power 458 I want the ESP on, but when I'm using the Mini or Subaru it makes them boring and slower, but I have to remember to change it before the race or it's a restart and you get to remember how bloody long it takes to change screens


On the plus side, how ****ing good is the night / road race on the Italian Tour race?

 

In terms of the Elise on the TG track challenge, it was a handful but then it was on the bog standard tyres. I'm not sure how a tuned Elise would handle on ditchfinders when you're giving it full beans into a corner? I'm presuming not very well though

Totally agree on the 'one setting for all' gripe though. Previously you could set it per car but now it's global. Its changes like that that I hope are addressed by updates and DLC!

 

maybe for the next game they should remember your settings for each car, I can see how that would be annoying. Are there any cheats for the thing yet? might liven it up a bit. I cant wait for the new F1 game providing it will be bug free and be full of stats as I still play 2010 over GT5.

 

The GT series has never really been one for cheats. Might be a few loopholes though, tactics for grinding credits easily.

 

iv always loved GT games the racing rallying, i never played GT4 i was playing forza, in MHO i think this a a good game but it dose not stand up to forza motorsport 3 yes there are 1000+ cars but over half of them look gash the premium cars are good but for me the lack of mods ect really let it down

to compare with forza they have had 3 game in the space between gt4 and gt5!

Forza has a vinyl editor customizing cars to make them your own the online to forza you can buy sell cars in the auction house ,sell your car designs make vinyls to sell, buy custom car set-ups.
The graphics are no as good as gt but every car has an interior and a cockpit view and they all look awesome even the froza 2 car were completely re designed for froza3 there not just slapped in with some HD gloss

there are a lot of good points about gt5 and a lot of bad ones. im lucky to have both forza3 and GT5 so i get the best of both worlds if you put them together they would make the best racing game ever

 

Yeah don't think there's ever been any cheats for GT games, people have worked out that they send you a car on your birthday so are setting up multiple accounts with birthdates the next day etc and gifting the cars to their main accounts but they're going to close the loophole by banning birthday cars from gifting like the stealth cars.

 

I totally hammered it for the first week but Iv hardly played it since and Im now looking at gaming PC's so I can try a proper driving sim. Although Im on level 22 and you keep unlocking stuff all the way to level 30 I feel like Iv finished the game as most of the stuff from now on is just driving stupid cars round boring tracks.

Also I am the only one who doesnt mod the cars much? I like them as standard as possible, its much more fun with the wheel that way. I did have a really enjoyable race in the extream mode where I took a bog standard E46 M3 with sport medium tyres and tried to win some races, it felt much more like proper racing with the computer taking lunges down the inside of me on the corners, battling all the way to the line, much better than modding a car and just passing them all on the first corner.

 

I don't like to throw cash at cars straight away, as i posted on GTPlanet here are my tuning preferences:

I like to tune it bit by bit until I'm at a competitive level for the race/series, only allowing myself to spend as much as I'm earning from the races.

i.e. I bought a used Polo GTI and was racing it in the A-spec Amateur Euro races. In standard form i was coming in 9th place and winning about 3k per race. With that 3k i could then buy a few small parts (sports filter, engine management, lightened flywheel etc.), then race again coming in 6th and getting 4k etc. etc. until I had modded enough to be scrapping and battling for 1st place. I find this much better than throwing all my cash at the car at the start and totally outclassing the opposition.

 

Kind of depends on if I like the car, if I'm buying a car (like an MX5) for just one series or race I don't think I'll use again I'll try to get away with the bare min. Sports ECU, Race filter, basic race suspention, and cheapest close ratio box - I can't stand, standard gearing, I was trying to use a standard box in the british lightweights cat with a MK1 elise and I didn't need 4th or 5th, stupidly long.

But somthing I want to keep like a Lambo or Ferrari I can't bring myself to buy 'cheap' stuff for it, it's madness but I feels wrong to buy cheap stuff for nice cars, even though the top exhaust looks so chav with it's blue tips ha ha.

 

that's how i do it, but i hardly play and haven't got the big money yet!

 

Good commitment to the realism, I may be tempted to start a new game so I can do something similar, I really enjoy the first few races and battling in a pack of cars is so much more fun even if you loose.

 

It's embarrasing but I do allow myself a small 'overdraft' too just incase i'm a few hundred away from a much better mod

 

I sold Forza my Xbox and wheel thinking this would be it the muts....

All of the above points made about the bad bits and the comparison to forza are pretty accurate IMO.

The premium cars make it feel like an unfinished game and Forza wipes the floor with the cockpits and stickers on ever car - the graphics are slightly better but it does not add little if any more pleasure to the game for me, infact the poor cars in GT5 really do bug me...

I hate the menu system it takes far to long to do anything, there are no hot links to your home and I hate having to go to garage, wait for car to load up........then get in, wait for it to start up...... all far to clunky and takes far to long.

The modifications are pretty crappy. You cannot change the brakes at all - WTF is going on there, that really got my back up, then you cannot alter individual gear ratios or final drives! why o why? its just top speed you alter...

I wanted just a little bit more top speed from one car so i modded engine to stage 2 to lift the rev limit abit higher = slightly greater top speed and in gears speeds. GT5=no change as top speed was set when i choose the close ratio box - so i rev car harder but end up going the same speed.................

Why can i not change every bit of the car like forza? i want to port and polish the head, add some hotter cams to alter the rev range, bump up the comp - GT5 = engine stage 1,2 or 3 [:^(] there is no way to create engine charactor like Forza.

Why do I want to add two strute braces to my car for 20K?...............[:^(]

There is so much wrong with this game it is untrue. I always find myself playing racing games with fairly standard cars, i find a competitive on a fun track and usually race it for quite some time, or i lap the same track over and over on my own tweeking and changing the cars setup, the big HP cars and fast fast driving never interest me. I find there are not many of these smaller races i like and im not that impressed with the setup controls....

The driving is good and the dynamics feel great. Only positive i have for it.

And there is no MK2......why did I sell Forza?????????

The

 

This thread has made my mind up as I was thinking of buying a PS3 for this game. Seeing that people say that Forza3 is a better all round game will save me what 250 buying this as I have Forza3 any way, if the graphics is the main difference then im happy with Forza3.

Cheers all for saving me the cash

 

I'm a huge fan of GT5, there are let downs with the graphical finish in game, although I've yet to play a game over the last 15 years from PC's to console and back again that didn't and it does take up your time going in and out of screens and loading, but then GT always did as far as I remember. I've never driven Forza, but if this drives better, dynamically and realistically then its GT5 all the way for me.

I'll expect to see updates for the game, I'd recommend anyone with ideas on improving it to get them out there on forums are wherever, hoping expectantly that now the core game engine and dynamics are dialled in the GT5 team will get updates out and add the tuning and changeability that have been longed for above.

I'm happy to live with all that because it feels just right to drive and for me thats what it was always about, and thats just with the pads, sooo excited to get behind a steering wheel and pedals in the New Year.

 

only thing that still ****es me off and detracts from the realism is the costs.
when did a 2nd hand tigra cost 9k? or competition exhausts cost 10k?

dealer cars are correctly priced, i think, so why not used cars and modifications?

 

Do the cars feel fast? that was my issue with the later GT series, you'd get a great car, tune it to the max and it would just feel dog slow.