Ah so you're resorting to good 'ol ad hominem attacks to try and chip away at me? Not cool. You stated that,
"It sounds to me like you've let GT5 & GT6's ego stroking, everyone's a winner AI give you the impression you're a great racer. Winning every time does that for you.
I prefer games that offer a challenge myself."
Not that anyone cares but I own a demanding business and am lead consultant on a side project that might as well be another full time job. I have pets, kids, bills, etc and I still find time to play and enjoy this hobby I love. I have played with many, many good and busy adults on GT5 and have made some really good connections and friends over the years. GT5 brought me tons of hours of enjoyment and partnerships that I would have never dreamed of making in a simple "video game". I even met fellow gamer-drivers right down the road from me, that now I can go have beers with and talk cars; racing. If you're the old school GT driver that you claim to be I don't see how you can look and drive GT6 (not on all the novice, entry level challenges) and say that it's not enjoyable. Really? What the heck are you playing instead? I played GT 1, 2, 3, and 4 and don't remember some overwhelming, indomitable AI that couldn't be beaten. The real joy in those titles came from playing my friends and neighbors in head to head battle obviously, because there was no such thing as GT online.
"I think it is because many of us have been playing GT since GT1, have many fond memories of how enjoyable it was and are now so disillusioned by the last two installments. Nobody wants to see a franchise they love go down the pan & when that starts to happen people like to air their opinions in the hope that it will get better."
...You even say that I was disillusioned by GT5? How? GT5 was great! Oh well I guess it's back to the PS1 and PS2 for you. At least you won't need to buy an expensive HDTV.
I wasn't attacking you at all - just pointing out that leaping in to threads to defend the game against criticisms that aren't actually being levied against it isn't very constructive. The people who don't like the game or PDs current direction have a right to discuss their issues. You seem to be taking it rather personally and I fail to see how anyone else's opinion of the game affects your pleasure. There are many threads on this forum where you can post about how brilliant this game is and yet you insist on leaping into any thread criticising the game to tell people how wrong they are.
Now back to GT...
Yes the AI has always, always been bad. For GT1 & GT2 so was the only controller option, the digital d-pad. This limitation made the poor AI at least somewhat challenging. There was of course also the novelty of the games on the console. They were undoubtedly the best at what they did on the PS1. It is true that the best fun to be had was having your friends around & playing split screen for hours & hours on end. Still we used to endless discuss how much better that game could be in the future as the technology improved. We were all a bit disappointed with GT2 because...
They didn't improve AI
Car handling felt dumbed down
Interface was better - but much buggier
removed qualifying
GT3 on PS2 - looked great, car handling improved over GT2 & now with analogue sticks. Sadly AI not improved and the single player was becoming a bit boring, but worth doing so you had a garage you could copy so you & your friends could race the same cars. We wanted damage by now - no deal
GT4 looked great, AI still bad, despite PD promising it would be improved again. Still no damage despite virtually every other racing game on any platform having it.
GT5 - we waited so long, were promised so much - Totally new AI, Amazing Damage model, more realistic than ever! What we got was the dullest, least realistic racing game I have ever played on any platform - and that includes amgia 500's and 486s
GT6 - more of the same.
The trouble is a 15 year old AI, and a philosophy of not wanting to challenge the player don't work very well with the words racing or simulator.
[edit]
Sadly I gave away my PS2 & GT4 to a little boy up the street.
oh and good work on your little HDTV jibe, do you feel proud?
