#15 Gran Turismo 5 played on PS3, released 2010
It's not the most polished, most consistent or most user friendly, but it is certainly the most ambitious racing title this gen offering incredible variety in tracks, race types and cars.
This is my most played game this gen and by far the game I have played most online. The room system works great and it's always easy to join your friends. You can make about any race you want all the way from a gruelling endurance race with heavy damage, dynamic weather and pit stops to fun arcade style team racing games with fast catch up to keep the field close together. Shuffle mode and the random generated tracks keep the game fresh. It's fun to see what devious tracks the current host has come up with.
I love the special stages in single player as well. A welcome break to the normal grind. They are over far too quickly but do a good job in show casing the variety on offer with go-karts, nascar, rally challenges and special car challenges. I also like the weekly added challenges for single player, there is always something new to do when you come back to the game.
The tracks offer great variety as well. The HD remakes of the classic tracks may not be as stunning as the real life and city tracks but they look exactly as how they originally did with a dose of heavy nostalgia.
My all time favorite track is Nurburgring Nordschleife and GT5 has by far the best rendition of it. I've probably spend as much time on that track as on all other tracks combined. You can wake me up any time to do a couple of laps. The track looks beautiful in 1080p in any light or weather condition. Racing on it feels raw, every bump is translated to the car. It's just as much fun keeping a go-kart steady at top speed steady as it is challenging to drive a perfect lap in an F1 car. It's such a exhilarating experience to drive with a couple of experienced racers, bumper to bumper without touching down the whole track. Passing is a risky affair, 1 wheel on the grass easily ends in disaster. This is racing at it's finest for me.
I've been addicted twice now to GT5. First time the psn outage managed to break my addiction. 2nd time the onslaught of excellent games this fall season. I'm sure I'll be hooked again next time I fire it up. 80% of my friend list is still playing it daily. Hopefully GT5 will continue to get the great support is has had so far. More tracks please.
