It should be a menu option like driving assists.  Not all players want their hands to be held.  Give the player a choice - if it is too frustrating they can just turn it off.

Apparently either due to player feedback or just not having it implemented in time, the GT5 patch coming adds damage modeling to arcade right away.  So I'm not the only one that thinks that way.

If it wants to be a sim, it needs to have all those options out for the player to adjust.  As it is, you can't even do standard things like adjust the tire pressure.

I was driving a Mustang in arcade mode and it didn't get damaged when I hit a few things, is there an option to turn it on?  Note this was after I patched the game.

Polyphony should go with the times, and they should also start copying Nintendo!

i propose a female driver with all levels, cars and damage available from the start.

..and a Male Coach, who allows her to apply some of them in accordance to the race difficulty!

that should make everyone happy, shouldn't it?

Ok, response time, and I do apologise for what is bound to be rubbish spelling. I cant turn a light on without waking my gf, so get over it if I have some typos. Hey, I didnt even know I could touch type.

Firstly, to those who said something along the lines of "you cant be serious" and then just left it at that, why did you even bother? What was the point? If you want, read my response to everyone who actually made a point, because you sure arent getting a response from me.

As to the points that people did raise, if you dont mind, ill try to summarise them. If I missed something let me know

Point 1 - reviewers need to spend more time

I stand by my ckaun that people are expecting too much - I saw 100 hours thrown out as the amount of time a reviewer should play GT5 before reviewing it. 100 hours to produce a 500 word review? I'm sorry, but commercial sites cannot afford to do that. VGChartz reviews of new games doubtleaa do not sink 100 hours in, nor should they. Maybe when reviewers look at old games they love, but not for games releasing now.

If developers have made a long game, then they should consider sending the reviewers a save file with all content unlocked on it to allow for a more thorough review.

Point 2 - a delayed review is good eventually, a bad review is bad forever. This is a fair point, but it comes down to two things. If a review comes later, it will be read by less people (ignore for a second that a delayed review is better), and thus make less money. Being read by less people means it is less useful as consumer advice. 

In order to counteract tje megatives og a late review, the review must therefore be better AND cheaper, reducing the amount of time the reviewer can play the game.

Point 3 - reviews are art

Well, not exactly, but this covers the opinion that reviews should show integrity, and should be good, ratger than simply useful, that reviewers owe something to their fans. This opinion is only held by us forum dwellers, and not by those that the reviews are mostly aimed at.

Point 4 - benefit of the doubt.

Sorry, but this doesnt really work. You cant really go into reviewing a game assuming that all things that are bad about the game, graphics, music, lack of features, will disappear when you hit a certain level.

I hope that IGN eventually patches their review

@ ssj12 - I know VGChartz is different to other review sites, that;s why I read the reviews here after all. Although I was under the impression that VGChartz reviewers were either unpaid or paid a token fee? (maybe that is no longer true) In which case the argument of being unable to afford to give your reviewers time is much less relevant.

are those standard cars or premium cars?

I understand and agree with the way PD handled the implementation of the car damage in the game.

At first, when you start playing the game, the difficulty lies in getting used to driving properly, cleanly.  You get penalties in special events for bumping into cars or leaving the track.  Those events are made to teach you how to drive the many types of racing styles the game offers. 

As you reach higher levels, car damage adds that repair aspect to the mix, which makes you waste a huge chunk of your hard earned money on what basically is nothing more than your carelessness and lack of finesse.  Basically, if you're at level 40, you shouldn't still be bumping in other cars to help you go through a corner. 

It's an interesting design choice.  Sure, some may be impatient to see how that car damage looks and feels like, and will cry no matter what.  But as a game design, where it's intended to add to the difficulty curve, it's a very smart choice.

Standard 

figures, not surprised then.

GT5 doesn't have Ecto-1

Thats awesome.