Have you played Forza online? I have, for hours and hours and hours, most of it with damage enabled. All you have to do is avoid the idiots in the first corner and you're good to go. If they're trying to rocketship into the first corner, just let them go and then the entire race, you're home free.

Remember that if they're trying to kamikazee you in damage mode, they get one shot at you. After that, their car is out of commission for the rest of the race. If there is no damage mode, they can either catch up or sit in wait and nail you next lap.

I get the feeling that most people who argue against damage haven't actually played a game online that has a decent way of implementing it.

Besides, what is the harm in offering options for those of us who want it? It's an inane argument that reeks of fanboyism. All I'm asking for is the option to keep players who think playing bumper cars is fun out of my races. It's not an unreasonable request.

The game not having damage is a big mistake.

I hardly think its an issue that Prologue does not have damage, and the chances of the full game having it as a series first (not that bullcrap in GT 2) are huge to say the least. 90% of the global GT community wants damage and Polyphony are very aware of that.
Don't worry, GT 5 will have damage, and it'll have realistic damage at that!
Besides; I think the TOCA series models damage a lot better than Forza 2, as does most rally games available today, so using F 2 as a benchmark for fantastic damage modelling seems redundant and every bit as naive as defending the GT series for not having it.

Mummelmann said: I hardly think its an issue that Prologue does not have damage, and the chances of the full game having it as a series first (not that bullcrap in GT 2) are huge to say the least. 90% of the global GT community wants damage and Polyphony are very aware of that. Don't worry, GT 5 will have damage, and it'll have realistic damage at that! Besides; I think the TOCA series models damage a lot better than Forza 2, as does most rally games available today, so using F 2 as a benchmark for fantastic damage modelling seems redundant and every bit as naive as defending the GT series for not having it.

I realize that other games have better damage than Forza and I used the game in comparison to GT5's damage solely because the two games are in direct competition with each other.

I don't care if GT5p has damage or not because I'm not going to buy it. But if Sony wants me to buy GT5 next year, it damned well better have full damage modeling. 

Well I have F1 Championship Edition for PS3 and that has damage online, yet almost every online race is conducted with collisions off (i.e. all players are ghosts). Why? Because when collisions are on and cars can be damaged the race is all but ruined for almost everyone playing in the first corner. It's not just idiots who want to ruin it for everyone else, it's also the fact that a lot of people will never be that good, and they can't help taking out three other players when they mess up a corner.

It's unfortunate, but the only answer to having proper online races is to have collisions off. Makes it kind of lame, but if you want to test your driving skills against others damage does not provide an answer.

Does F1 Championship have matchmaking? Once you get up to a certain rank in Forza, all the noobs are gone. They will almost never match up with you in the same race.

In a race of equal drivers, all of whom are good, ghosting sucks. It negates one of the best attributes of tuning; horsepower vs. weight & handling. My favorite races are the ones where I have a massively underpowered car compared to someone else and my only chance to win is to run it through the corners and try to hold him off in the straights. Ghosting kills that. 

Yes you're right, ghosting eliminates a lot, perhaps most importantly the skill of executing a clean overtake, which is obviously a significant part of racing irl. Ranking matches sounds a good way of getting around the problem. Here's hoping for something comparable in GT5 proper (although for me the lack of it won't be a game breaker).

 Really? Aw man, I was planning to buy it until you said that. <--sarcasm

Seriously, keep your opinions as opinions.  

By the way, I eat Meta Knight with Falco.  

Anyone who has palyed GT5 P will tell you Online is a problem. It's not that the game is bad. I've reviewed it kinda myself under another topic. It's just as a RACING simulation it suffers. In Time trial it's amazing. Purely because their is no other cars. Anyone who's played Forza online will tell you Damage is an essential part of keeping the races clean. GT5P just comes as banger racing online at the mo. They need to move the AI and damage functions forward for it to compete as a racer Simulation. The car handling and physics of the cars are spot on. It's the lack of punishment for cheat driving online that frustrates the simulation purists fans. And the AI is in need of rehashing.( It's easier to read my thread. I give my full played opinion, of the full Jap version).