Gran Turismo 5

Gran Turismo 5 is an amazing racing game. Let's get that out of the way right now. Among mainstream console titles, you cannot find a better simulation of what it's like to really race cars, and the selection of cars and tracks is remarkable. The graphics and sound are unparalleled in the genre, and the GT Life mode has a really satisfying sense of progression to it that will keep you playing over and over again. Now that all that is said, this can still be a really frustrating game sometimes, so let's talk about its flaws.

For instance, one of the major selling points for Gran Turismo 5 was the belated introduction of car damage to the series. Many players don't enjoy the "bumper cars" aspect of damage-less racing, as your car can unrealistically fly into walls without taking a scratch and harm opposing drivers with well-timed collisions. Well, the game has car damage... But you won't really notice any damage until you've played for about thirty hours already. This is because car damage in GT5 is progressive, as in it gets worse as your driver level goes up in the game, reaching full effect at Level 40, which is about as far as a regular player can ever be expected to get. Also, only premium cars have damage effects, a small percentage of the number of cars you can drive. So anyone sold to the new game on car damage will likely be disappointed as they spend dozens of hours before ever experiencing the new feature.

 

Otherwise, the primary selling points are pretty well-executed. Go-kart racing and NASCAR both feature pretty prominently in the new title, simulated realistically (go-karts will feel totally different from the rest of the game's vehicles). Jeff Gordon lends his voice to the game for NASCAR racing lessons, and fans of the British show Top Gear will be glad to find The Stig even has a cameo appearance in the game. The Top Gear Test Track is a pretty fantastic course to race on, and makes a great licensed addition.

Because there is so much in GT5, the load times are terrible. There is a huge optional hard drive install to lessen load times, and yet the loading still takes far too long. Especially when you're doing license tests that won't take more than a minute for each segment, you'll find yourself watching a loading screen longer than you're actually driving. Server overload makes the load times worse because of the amount of online data being pulled down all the time as well, so logging off of PlayStation Network can make your load times better. But the fact remains that loading is too long when online communities are discussing the best hard drive to use to get around long loads.

While watching those load screens, there's one more irritating aspect: The repetitive music. There is a ton of music in this game, and on the regular menu screens, you can go weeks without hearing a repeat tune. However, inexplicably, the game uses only very specific songs for specific parts of the menus, so you'll end up hearing certain songs an annoying amount of the time. One tuning area plays "The Entertainer" every time, which is kind of an odd choice. The load screens cycle through about three synthy tunes, which will all get old fast. The rest of the music is very well-done, it's just difficult to understand why the game wouldn't cycle through more of its soundtrack for the prevalent load screens.

Despite all this, Gran Turismo 5 is a terrific game. Feeling the different physics for each new car you buy can really be a neat experience, and there's a nice balance of challenge in the game that will keep you practicing for certain races. Some features weren't implemented particularly well, but that doesn't stop GT5 from being an absolute must-buy. The game's dedication and obsession for cars is infectious, and that's a really beautiful thing.