Gran Turismo 5 review: If my velocity starts to make you sweat, then just dont let go.
GT5 Logo
After waiting about 6 years and numerous delays, finally the fifth installment in the GT series hits the shelves in the exclusive PS3 format. I have been playing all the series since the release of the first game on the Palystation1 (CD support). That time we used fat TV screens, CDs and wired joypads, but today I’ve played using 1080p projector, blu-ray discs and wireless joypads and still, you get the very same driving feeling as if you were playing back in 1997 with GT1. And that’s the whole concept about the game: the driving physics reflect a very accurate car’s demeanor on the track and they’re precisely studied to be superior to any other racing simulator. But GT isnt just a racing simulator, is indeed a real driving simulator and that’s where it gives his best; any car you pick, be it a 1993 Mini Cooper followed by a 2004 Mini Cooper or a 1978 Honda Civic followed by a 1992 Honda Civic, you are still going to feel a huge difference in the way the car responds to the pilot. You apply this to 1000 different car models and you find out the first reason why it took them 6 years to complete the game. On top of that, you add that any modification you apply to your car, by installing a sport exhaust system or using medium tyres instead of hard tires or whatever (you can choose among numerous tuning options), you are also going to notice a difference in the way the engine responds or in the way you need to adjust the driving style.
For the hardcore players, it’s not going to make much difference having HD textures when you are actually concentrating on cornering the right way or beating your own lap record or feeling to be right in the cockpit of a Nascar Impala or a storic car which you can understand just by closing your eyes and listen to the engine’s noise. Every time you tune up the car, the sound effect changes… that’s equal to about let’s say 20 different sounds for each car multiplied by 1000 cars, meaning about 20.000 different engine roars. So you found out the second reasons why it took them 6 years.
As if it werent enough, you add the online capabilities with monthly challanges where you can compete with the best players worldwide, at least three times more the tracks you saw in GT4 and get your hands dirty with oil changes, car’s damage, installing aerodynamic exterior kits and much more.
Oh boy, I almost forgot the last but not least reason for being under development for such long time: you hear out the cinematic intro and you start wondering how they could get hold of such a perfect theme song, where every lyric matches the spirit of the game. (My Chemical Romance – Planetary)
There are still people whining around the internet forums and mocking the fans on how stupid they have been by waiting 6 years for a game that turned out to be no more than just a major update to the previous one. We can only respond that it was still worth it.
Unfortunately, GT5 was created to run on a 2006 hardware and came out almost in 2011, when we have dozens of better looking driving games and yet, GT5 has been voted to be the very best driving simulator to date.
