My long ass opinion
I am now a long way into the game and think it is about the right time I can judge it. This is just my opinion.
I don't care about the whole 6 years thing or anything like that so it doesn't influence my score.
The key words here are "Driving Sim". By that definition it means it is realistic and a true portrayal of not only driving, but racing. Anyone who is a car nut and has played pretty much every racing game there is will be in a better position to say if that is true or not.
GT5 is a massive game, a hugely detailed game. So much has been covered from cars histories, nice bits of trivia, various different variants of racing, the sheer amount of cars, the licenses, B-Spec, the great soundtrack etc all the way down to neat little touches like choosing the colour and look of your overalls. These things are very cosmetic and make the game feel different from what is out there. Different in a good way.
But these things a side mean little if the main thing is not so good. I am talking about racing. Anyone who actually has done this for real will tell you GT5 get's this aspect wrong in a lot of places. I have read some people say "GT5 is too life like". How they come to that decision is beyond me. The main flaw I have with this is the AI. It is truly pitiful. When you have played hundreds and hundreds of races you get to a point where you just know what the car in front is going to do. You know it will follow the invisible path it has in front of it and won't move from it for anything. If you happen to be in the way both your cars suck into each other and seem to grind to a halt. The physics of the two entities is just bad and is not realistic at all. You smack into a dude and try and tail spin him and most times it won't work. Real life if you’re going at 100mph and you get hit from behind at the side you are going to spin, it is the law of physics. The AI takes away from the experience, if you know what is going to happen then it isn't racing as racing is un-predictable. The game is too forgiving. You have the braking places but if you miss those you can still manage to slow yourself down while going round a bend, in some cases you don't even need to break! Cars do not stick to the road like that, especially the earlier ones! And the worst part of all about the physics is the same old story of using each other as bumper cars is still in there. If you are about to get to a corner and you have run out of track to break and a car is in front of you then you just plough into the car as it won't move when you hit it, it is stuck to its line like a tank, your car won't be affected at all and you can then go on your way! Real life you do that and your pretty much going to the hospital.
It is those things which in my opinion make the racing aspect of the game seem dissapointing. For a game claiming to be "The real driving simulator" what does it do that is actually "real"? You are a car on a track, you go forwards, you brake, you turn, thus must be real? To me real means you must get aspects of the car and racing close to reality. Things such as sound. The car sounds and sounds in general when driving are quite bad in some places, from the tacky thud noise when you hit someone or a barrier, the engine sounds which are nothing like the real things and so on. When you go past a stand you don't hear much if any ambience, this takes away from the atmosphere. Where are the crowds cheering? Etc
The one area where I think GT5 excels above any other racing game is the graphics and effects. These add to the realism. Simple things which you might not notice such as flashing lights, camera flashes, birds flying around, people waving flags, water flowing in fountains. And more importantly the cars. The cars are the real show of this game. The premium cars are a joy to behold for car nuts. To see the detail in cars that you’re never going to own is just breathe taking. These cars blow anything else out there into dust. The tracks and the scenery are outstanding. The background in various places looks real. Like London with Piccadilly Circus. Those who have been there will recognise some of the landmarks used. It is not just the urban things which look great but the countryside ranging from the grass all the way to sand in some rally events.
While it may seem I am being harsh on GT5 the only reason for that is because in comparison to other games they do things better in the individual areas then GT5 does. Take damage and car failure for example. Games like Burnout do better damage, Forza 3 does a better way of making your car feel screwed after you have crashed it. The sound is better in Forza 3, most of the cars had the correct sounds, the tyre screeching sounds as you brake and turn sound better. The weather effects in my opinion in F1 2010 are better then that in GT5. In GT5 it seems to just be a cloud and then the same rain effects in the window looping. More of an annoyance then anything. Here is a video of F1 2010 vs real life in rain http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYXKYl8SifA far more realistic.
So I break it down like this
Presentation: 7/10. - The menus are just cluttered and with loading times to go back from each sub menu means doing something simple takes a long-time. It doesn't seem to flow.
Graphics: 10/10. - The benchmark of how racing games should look.
Sound: 8/10 - A lot of cars have the same engine sound, with 1000 cars was to be expected I guess.
Game play: 9/10 - Regardless of being a driving simulator the game is a lot of fun. On contrary to reviews anyone can play this. The game is forgiving in racing. If you don't care about realism then your have years of fun with this too. A good re-creation of motorsport.
Re-Playability: 10/10 - There is so much to do that you can say goodbye to your life. There is a right mixture of things to do from the A-Spec and B-Spec too the special events. Your have enough to do here until GT6 comes out!
Online: 5/10 - Setting up games is a mission in itself. When your actually finally in a game there are obvious issues. The game from my experience drops in frame rates and has lag issues. That is if you can get to play online of course! A patch is being worked on Sony say to fix these things. If it does then this score will increase.
Overall 8.5/10 - In England there is an expression of “A Jack of all trades but a master of none". I think this saying fits GT5 perfectly. It tries really hard to get certain things right but at the expense of other things. The one thing it seems to have concentrated maybe most of its time on is graphics. They are simply outstanding. But great graphics don't make a great game. To be a great game you have to get nearly every aspect right. The sound, the physics, the game play, the AI, and so on. GT5 for me doesn't get those things spot on, they are good, not great, and because of that it is not the pinnacle of the genre. The game is however a lot of fun, it will keep you busy for a long long time. People who say it deserves 10s I think have not played it, the same goes for those saying it deserves 7s. It is a very good game. The best racing game on the PS3. The 2nd best racing game this gen. If PD can take on board the criticism of the game just like Turn 10 did after Forza 2 and listen to the community they will build on it and make the next instalment even better. You should buy the game even if you don’t have any interest in real racing, your find so much to enjoy here.
