Gran Turismo 5 v1.03 Update Brings Mechanical Damage

Fire up Gran Turismo 5 and you’ll be prompted to download another new update, version 1.03, weighing in at 149MB in size. No information has yet been released about exactly what this update contains (though the official PlayStation blog hinted at incoming damage tweaks earlier today, thanks @hankolerd), and GT5’s online servers are currently offline until 11:00PM EST. I’ll update this post as soon as more solid information is made available.

UPDATE: The servers are back online and an in-game news notice has been posted, but it mentions nothing of exactly what changes v1.03 contains. However, as can be seen in the online “My Lounge” options for an online race, a new “Mechanical Damage” setting is available for the event with three settings, as described by the scrolling information bar on the bottom of the screen:

  • “None” – No mechanical damage.
  • “Light” – Mechanical parts can be damaged, but will “automatically be repaired after a short time has passed.”
  • “Heavy” – Mechanical damage will be more severe, and can only be repaired by making a pit stop. Damaged parts will be indicated with on-screen icons.

Photomode image by NISM0_SKYLINE.

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Comments (147)

  1. Gulf_Porsche

    The worst part of every GT version has been the AI — absolutely pathetic. Codemasters has continually developed their racing AI, and Formula 1 2010 is amazingly lifelike. Now I’m supposed to leave the physical condition of my car up to the idiots who can’t seem to brake at the Mulsanne Corner at Le Mans without running into me and slamming me into the gravel . . . so 4 AI cars can fly by. I’m just not interested in “realistic” damage modelling if the AI is to totally ridiculous.

    1. Ferrariman11

      Notice the Lancia Delta rally car is standard some standards are better than others though I’m still impressed with some of the standards they look a lot better than I thought they would sadly still they are not premiums (there is damage on standards to those who don’t think so some standards can get really bad dents that warp the whole car and scracthes that go across the car)

  2. BWX

    I noticed the shadows being rounded off a little more when they are blocky- also the closer they get to the camera the less blocky they are. Rounded off more or not, when blocky and low res., the shadow still look very bad. When a camera is zoomed way in on a car from a far distance the shadows are horrible as ever though.

    Seems PD could make it so that if one car is all the PS3 is rendering (like in a replay when the cam is zoomed in on one car), the shadow could be higher resolution. I don’t think that’s a PS3 limitation, but lazy programming. Hopefully they can make it better still, a game can always be further optimized. On a 52″ TV it’s pretty bad sometimes.

    I don’t think they did much w/ the AI in this patch. If they did the improvement is minimal.

    1. Ferrariman11

      Notice the Lancia Delta rally car is standard some standards are better than others though I’m still impressed with some of the standards they look a lot better than I thought they would sadly still they are not premiums (there is damage on standards to those who don’t think so some standards can get really bad dents that warp the whole car and scracthes that go across the car)

  3. Dustyr

    Just noticed that when tires are near the end of their life they cause the car to pull toward the right or left. For example I just did the Indy 500 again and my right tires where worn down because of all the left turns and my car had a gentle pull to the right

  4. d360

    Do the tires and or fuel ever deplete in Career mode? I would like to have a pitstop that actually means something other than giving the AI some hope of winning…

  5. Sharky

    A subtle change that I noticed (it has absolutely no gameplay effect) – events with no tyre restrictions now say “No Limit” instead of “Unrestricted”

  6. mike12002us

    I dont know about anybody else but after the update my weird shadows that flicker are a lot better and look great now… This could all be in my head but to me it looks like PD has fixed this issue for the most part.

    1. Alex

      i also noticed that a lot of the shadows that hit the track or in the cockpit are more rounded off which looks very nice. if u take a photo now of your car on sarth compared to before the update it looks great.

    2. mike12002us

      Another side note- The AI now will actually atempt to get out of the way if you stop in front of them YAAAAY!! It is truly apparent that PD is paying attention to what us little people say. I hope the admin here lets people know these things so all the haters can finally stop with there complaints. All I can say is that the more I play and the more PD fixes the better the game gets.

    3. woomoo

      Don’t see any improvement in AI or shadows. No change at all really. I suspect wishfull thinking levels where increase in this patch however…..;)

    4. pikalulz007

      I’m one of the weirdos who is able to overlook the shadows but once, I actually paid attention to them for a second, and I thought they looked better too. Noticed no difference in AI though.

  7. FN

    I dont know if this has any costs involved but after some racing with a mate you seem to get totally wrecked and can hardly make it back for repairs after spinning out braking and hitting the wall at a whopping 22km/h.. lol!
    funny thing is it does get worse at 150km/h.. but from then onwards its all the same. Well thats my take. At low speeds the damage is just crazy but it doesnt really get much worse as you impact at higher speeds. I can see this stopping rammers online but the prob is you get desroyed by the guy who rammed you just as much as them. So it ruins your race on occasions where you could of kept going and just left the rammers at the back.

    1. Alex

      i think a simple. Vote. Kick option would fix Most problems. or otherwise maybe time penalties where if u hit /ram /wall ride the CP put just u on the racing line driving really slow and puts a flag or something above your car. then when your five second penalty is up go again. and 3 strikes your out kinda thing.

  8. AGTFan

    So when can you actually see any damage, only in online races with relevant options enabled and only in premium race cars? Please pass on any youtube videos if you know any

  9. Sam__NY

    Jordan- The V1.03 update also changed your GT Life leader board name from you PSN name to your sign in name. For example, mine went from GTP_Sam48 to just Sam.

  10. Shaun (isocuda)

    KazYam is a perfectionist, they released the game with the most solid components while they continue R&D and will be releasing the rest as they get better, we are just finishing are meals waiting on dessert

    1. Madman Apex

      shaun… i think you are right. i never thought of it that way. plus as someone else has already mentioned; we all have now become developers of the game by playing it and then coming here on GTplanet complaining/complimenting on GT5. ofcourse someone from PD is on here reading all this. 1 or 5 or 50 thousand testers working for free giving feedback!?!

      btw its our not are but your point is still very legit

  11. Dme

    I ant wait til the enable mechanical damage in Career mode. As for the visual damage, Im not soo big on that. Its an alright addition, It seems PD aimed for more of an effect that would show more bumping, rubbing and jostling during a race than the fantastic damage that it seems what alot of people expect.

    Sure its unrealistic to get only a minor dent after driving head on into a guardrail at 170km/h but thats not what GT is about. Its about car control and maneuvering.

    Honestly I would have been happier had they just left visual damage out all together.

    1. Alex

      Mechanical damage in single player is a MUST. also i think damage even light or medium just just stay put. “”the real driving simulator”

  12. what

    Tom, chill bro. Nothing was promised to you. I’m with you tyL0_r. I love it, think mechanical damage is a great addition to online mode. Alot of my friends only play online! it’s funny they, are new to GT. They love the online racing and haven’t even started a spec/b spec races.

  13. Tom

    The damaga just really really sucks, it would be better if they didnt put damage in at all. its just a big joke, just like the whole game, a big joke and just a big lie, the game is nothing like we were promised, its crap

    1. tyl0r_r

      The damage is great, actually. It’s just too bad you have to be playing online to use it. Everything about your post fails, Tom. If you don’t like it, leave. Plenty of other racing sims in the world.

    2. Greyum

      So, having weak, badly implemented “tacked on” damage is better than none at all? I beg to differ.

      It seems like they spent 90% of their time on how the premium cars look and handle, then a year before launch suddenly realised that they have to make a game.

  14. Praggia

    i raced a GTR in the all japan race series hit the barrier at an angle car got damaged and then as soon as i got back onto the track the damaged disappeared the body actually morphed back into its original undamaged shape right there in front of me. What the F…. is this GT5 Transformers???

    1. Obli

      Possibly the ‘light’ mechanical damage setting (set by the server host).

      ““Light” – Mechanical parts can be damaged, but will “automatically be repaired after a short time has passed.””

    2. Geo_212

      I can actually back him up. It’s happened to me, too. I lightly crashed into a wall and a dent appeared, but it sort of “inflated” back to normal…

    3. MikePL

      Happened to me too. We had a crash – my GTR and a Veyron, and my car was damaged – it pulled to one side strongly and got much slower. The Veyron must have been damaged too, because it couldn’t keep up with my heavily damaged car. Suddenly, after like 10-15 seconds, my car went back to normal, and the red marks on the little car in the bottom left corner disappeared. The Veyron was like new too.

      Kinda strange. Can’t they just explain what they are doing in these updates? Come on, what’s wrong with them?

    4. Yaycandy69

      happened to me too a couple times. wreck and the cars is like just smashed to nothing then it fixes itself and puts scratches on it. mostly done with nascar cars. well it actually proves that the insane damage is there but its not showing. was offline too. didnt happen online

    5. Nato_777

      Was the damage set to “light”? It says that the damage automatically repairs itself after “a short time” on this setting. It shouldn’t disappear until you pit with the setting on “heavy”.

    6. Yaycandy69

      it wasnt ever mechanical damage. it just happened like in a normal race. happened again to me earlier with a 2010 camaro. the front side was all destroyed and fixed itself to normal. damage is there man its just not showing

    7. Tweetman_277

      Yeah my MP4-12C did that on High speed ring!!! The whole front crumpled soo bad!!! I actually had a look online for its crash test stuff, and looking at them, it looked right. I decided to snap a pic in photomode, but after FIVE seconds, it was pristine again!!! so i went through the replay, got to my big smash, and the damage DID NOT SHOW UP AT ALL!!! and i was going nearly frame by frame through photomode before the crash even happened! All this was before the update btw.

  15. Praggia

    any idea if these updates are available to download via PC like the firmware updates for us mere mortals who do not or cannot play online???

    1. No46_TheDoctor

      Well, since the update only adds damage to ONLINE races, you wouldn’t see any difference in the game now would you?

    1. Obli

      I bet PD put mechanical damage in to single player (or heck, it might even be in there already) and then people will complain about dumb AI inflicting mechanical damage on their cars.

      I’m getting sick of the whining. The game is what it is – try to enjoy what you got; I think there’s a lot to enjoy with GT5 as it is.

      I’m pleasantly surprised so far with the speed that PD are addressing issues… I hope they keep it up. Even the smallest of changes need to be tested to death and it takes time… trust me, I’m in software and even the relatively simple stuff I do (in comparison to a game like GT5) takes time to ensure it is right.

  16. Tom

    Is there no sense at all at PD. Why just mechanical damage for online. I dont race online because theres always an idiot ruining for everyone. Nothing that PD does or say about GT5 makes sense, it just frustrates me this game, hate it

    1. Skiddy

      @ kekke2000
      Yeah it’s epic alright, like epic Fail!!

      Just kidding guys, game is great, but i wouldn’t play with the word epic like that..

  17. MintBerryCrunch

    Was planning on playing B-Spec while I was on my computer since my TV and computer are so close.
    But after the update started I just knew this was it.
    This is a big update though, cant wait to try it.

    1. Ron

      Oh man, are you one of those superstitious, who believe in a complete damage model at lvl 40? Hahaha…get real, dude.

    2. Luke

      @Tha_GT5_Drifta
      If you don`t believe that rumor prove me otherwise. Show me a damaged car with a missing door. We all know it`s possible, we just don`t know when it`s possible.

    3. TakeshiSkunk

      Oh my god seriously the whole damage with level thing has been disproven.

      Premium race cars, rally especially, show more extensive damage. It’s only possible to knock doors off of the premium rally cars.

    4. Yaycandy69

      when i first got the game and i didnt start the gt life mode yet. i raced the wrc focus and i hit a wall after 10mins of playing and the door ripped off and then it said i got a trophy for it. My name on gtplanet is my psn. look for yourself. i also just made it to level 40 last night and the damage is still the same. level 23 on bspec btw

    5. Kingchesh

      @yay candy
      Wow you must not have a job or something how are you that far through the game already I play most night for atleast an hour or two level 17 and 14 on b spec. Level 40 and 23 is crazy. You got the x1 yet

  18. BWX

    No damage in single player races? After update I went back to Aspec mode and raced a few hours, didn’t notice anything different.

    1. Gulyo

      Idiot PD playing with us again … didn’t apply for the single player part of the game !!! I didn’t believe it !!!!!!!

    1. Greyum

      I won it, crashed it, nothing happened apart from the front of the car developed a bit of a small dent where I hit the wall at over 200mph. Damage in this game is truly pathetic, as is the consistency of it in general. A real shame after waiting all this time for it.

      Like last night I did the “Grand Tour”, I struggled getting gold in three of the races, yet on two of them I breezed gold by a country mile… This game has had no actual gameplay testing whatsoever, only technical, and even that was clearly lacking.

    2. Flavio Briatore

      “Greyum
      Watch out because the “I hate whiners” brigade will soon be on your case. They will claim that they never complain about anything in their lives and that you shouldn’t play the gave if you have any issue with it. Also know as Kaz Yama Fanboiz / love children.

    3. Kingchesh

      @greyum
      I also agree grid has better damage modelling and that’s quit an old game.
      There are a lot of great things about gt5. And I played this game since gt1. But gt5 was supposed to be ground breaking. It’s just a little disappointing that the damage like you said greyum is inconsitant. As well I brought the sign edition of the game for130 quid and now have found out the comp is in the b spec mode.
      Great game in so many ways but I think it is an unfinished project.

    1. Yui-San

      Actually, you can press the start button to pause (or to go into photomode) They need to add fast forward though.

    1. Madman Apex

      oh yeah!!! there is HEAVY damage alright… have to hold the steering wheel about 45deg to the left to go straight in the MP4 online.

    1. Yui-San

      Seems like you put that backwards. It should be “I enjoy Gt5 more than iRacing. Iracing feels like a kids game compared to it [The real driving simulator]”

      ;)

    2. ML

      Yui-San, youre kidding…right? While I enjoy both, I feel GT5 is more enjoyable for its eye candy, while iRacing is more enjoyable for its behind the wheel action.

  19. Obscure Serenity

    @xIamRAWR

    You have to tick the 1080p box in the video settings on your PS3… might be under HDMI settings? Not where my PS3 is at the moment… but it was not ticket by default on my machine.

    Loving the frequency of these updates. :)

  20. boblikepie

    The mechanical damage ain’t that great after repeat beating up of my SX4 WRC 08 all I could notice was a little loss in power and the car would pull to the left. I was expecting to be more wowed then this.

    1. Bryan

      Really? Are u using wheel? When I hit the wall I couldnt go straight anymore. My wheel kept bouncing back and forth.

    2. boblikepie

      I did use a wheel but my setup is at my girlfriends place and I wasn’t there when this update happened so yeah. The online mechanical damage is pretty good though I crashed into a wall all it was impossible to make a right hand turn again so it is good online when set to heavy but offline isn’t too great in my opinion

    1. tyv2448

      Haha, yeah I got the rollover trophy yesterday when I two-wheeled my Cobra off the hump at Trial Mountain and couldn’t hold it. You don’t need to total the car.

    2. Bernd

      I don’t think you can total your car. Would you really like it, let’s say after 23hrs at Le Mans? Guess, your car will always be able to crawl back to the pits, like in GT4, when you were out of fuel

    1. xIamRAWR

      agreed =] wish i could run 1080p unless my eyes deceive me. i can only run gt5 on 720p cuz something might be wrong with my ps3. (1st gen, 60gb only, 4 usb ports, backwards compatibility,… and $600… geez =_=) but i don’t wanna send it to Sony D=

      can’t wait to download this by the way =D

    1. dantheflyinman95

      @Christian- Wow we really need less of stupid kids in the world… School is good for you and what gives you a future…

    2. Christian

      I understand your concerns and agree with them, the fact is my grades are fine, and frankly missing one day isn’t that bad. School is good for me and I enjoy it tremendously. But 1 day this trimester won’t hurt me a bit. Plus, i am a little sick (no seriously)(why dosn’t anyone believe me??)).
      Oh and the way i look at is like this.
      The better education i have, the better job, the more money, the more cars!!

    3. dantheflyinman95

      What grade are you in, cause if your in middle school, then it doesn’t matter. But… once you get to High School (or up) missing even one day can screw you over…

    4. Christian

      I have weight the pros and cons. I think ill go to school tomorrow, thanks for saving my future/life dantheflyinman95.
      im a freshman

    5. dantheflyinman95

      @Christian You were actually going to go to school in the first place, and also you need to work on your sarcasm…

    6. Christian

      Actually no, i was really considering it. Then i read the forum posts on the update and decided that i could wait. you’re soooooooo right i do need to work on my sarcasm.

    7. NoNeed

      @dan
      Yeah, but it’s perfectly fine if people miss work and such to play video games. I think you might want to get on that case before you hop on to someone in freshman year, fool.

      I skipped nearly a quarter of the year in Grade 12, yet I still had the highest grade in my classes. Sure, showing up is “75%” of it, but working hard while you’re there is much more important in my books (and proven to be true by my grades).

      As long as his grades are good, and he’s passing classes, one day is PERFECTLY fine. Beats the hell out of the kids who skipped all the time for drug/drinking reasons and barely pass their classes.

    1. VEYRON STANDARD? WTF

      I hope so too. To me, a major point for damage besides realism is to make drivers want to avoid damaging their car. Although people have complained about the damage so far, the damage still completely satisfies that purpose. I absolutely hate getting even a scratch on my favorite cars, and the maintainance bills are enormous. Now that mechanical damage is in, the realism should be present. I’m just hoping it’s to a realistic degree to further encourage people to drive cleanly. Eitherway, if Kazunori is such a perfectionist, we may have the perfect game in a few months. Not that it isn’t already the best racer ever, it is but it’s not perfect

    2. Madman Apex

      @VEYRON STANDARD? WTF
      had a brain fart at rome in the LP640-SV on its first time in the track… cost of hitting the wall at about 75mph… 130K to fix the chassis!! but it is all my fault so i have to pony up the pennies.

    3. Shokz

      @Kaaosherra
      I certainly hope so.
      >Imagines Madman paying half the cost of each of his cars to “fix” them every single time he takes them out on the track.

    4. grog

      Wait you guys are paying to “refresh the chassis rigidity” which is totally different from damage. Forget about this bill and you’ll be much richer.

    5. UPDATE WARNING!!

      This might be a one off, but i did the update, got a message saying data corrupt and try again, re-booted, did it again, installed it, all ok. went to play GT5, got the message about installing like when i first put the disc in, thought it was something to do with the update so continued, when it came up with the 2omins notice i though, hang on, thats not right. so i ancelled and went into game. now some cars are missing, others are there but theres no icon of the car in my garage. the car is the there cos i used it, but icons still missing. thinks it messed up my GT5. way to go PD. cheers. now its also slow at loading cos it thinks i havnt installed it. if i do that that ill probably lose all my cars. cheers, thanks alot. fantastic….

    6. Madman Apex

      actually im not a troll. i also meant ““refresh the chassis rigidity” costs that much. and im giving gt a compliment on how real that whole scenario is. think about front end all mashed, frame bent, aluminum, titanium, carbon fiber all very expensive. if you constantly over rev a lambo or a ferrari the price to rebuild the engine is very expensive, it is an expensive car/engine with expensive components. over-rev a 2CV or the Midget-II more and it barely costs anything.

      on a side-note.
      one thing i always thought would be a great feature in GT that isnt in any other game (as far as i know) is once you buy a tire i keeps wearing down and wearing down as you rack up the KMs on that specific pair. not having brand new fresh-fresh rubber every race. thought would kinda put people off of going for over-kill with racing-softs right away if you had to be replacing and paying for a new set once the performance wasnt as great. that would be an awsome feature. but i still love GT5.

    7. TimS

      @ Madman Apex

      Didn’t Sega GT have tyres like that. So you had to keep relpacing them over time (same with the dampers)

  21. Enzo309

    nice I hope they make the Formula GT in future updates a premium car soon because its the F1 car they made and F1 cars cant have an exquisite custom steering wheel they just cannot not have their own F1 steering wheel :D

    1. JasonMann

      Has anyone noticed that the steering ratio is increased significantly on the snow? it takes a full 450 degree turn to fully turn the wheels on tarmac, but on snow it only requires 270 to max out the wheels angles, if you turn beyond that it does nothing what so ever. try it

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