I'm the biggest GT fan in the world, but I'm also honest about its shortcomings. With GT6 coming this weekend, I'm rather anxious to see what changes have been implemented. I'm pretty sure though that very little has been changed and the system will still work in the exact same way. That's fine, and it's probably the reason why the series has been followed by millions of people for so long. However, the next generation offers a lot of new tools and if Polyphony doesn't adapt, it will get left behind by the competition. The brand name alone will continue to sell, but quality-wise, it won't be king any longer.
Graphics has always been the staple of the GT franchise and they probably will always have the best looking cars for GT7 and onwards. However, other teams are becoming better at modeling and it's hard to see the difference now. This means that racing games are about to hit a graphics plateau and very few upgrades can really be made from here on. Forza 5 and Drive Club are proving to be monstrous graphical powerhouses so GT can't simply rely on its visuals anymore.
Gameplay and realism, of course, will still be there as well, but competitors are also getting close to that level wherein you can't tell the difference anymore. GT5 and Forza 4 were still a ways apart, but I'm certain that future iterations won't be so distant anymore in terms of driving mechanics and AI. One of the things that GT can really separate itself with is racing AI, which has been one of the worst components of the franchise ever since the first game. If they can create more intelligent and adaptive AI racers that actually evolve depending on a person's driving style, then they'll have something unique that the others can't replicate easily.
Campaign play in GT is probably the most important detail that they could improve. Currently, the system is just built around purchasing and collecting cars, which doesn't really have room to grow beyond that. It's not bad, but it has definitely gotten old. The same old cups and challenges feel empty when there are other racing games that are introducing RPG elements in their systems. Why can't GT make the game more 'human'? They could easily make the progression more about the driver and less about the cars. They could make winning races actually mean more than just collecting money and meaningless trophies. They could give players the chance to actually notice their improvement through a story wherein they get to race against rivals and make the race events meaningful and interesting.
At the moment, all you can do is collect cars. This needs to change so that GT can compete with the next generation of racers.
Anyway... I just typed this out due to the excitement and frustration I'm experiencing. All my support to Polyphony :) just sayin...
