ferrari_chris
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I don't agree with this. I don't claim to be an expert on their philosophies, but if you've watched the DVD that came with Prologue, it has interviews with KY and he says that it's all about creating a driving simulator more than a racing game.
When he started he set out to create a driving simulator over a racing game, and I believe that's what he'll stick to.
To imply that he or PD would 'sell out' to get unit sales, I think is wrong.
Its got nothing to do with 'selling out', but a fact of commercial reality, the only games that PD make are the Gran Turismo series, with some fairly huge time periods between releases.
PD have to get the unit sales required to fund the design, development and production of the series, as well as making a profit to ensure that the shareholders are happy.
The GT series may have recorded some record sales figures for units shifted; but unless that continues with current and future releases then the money simply will not be present to continue.
Its a comercial fact that PD has to produce a product that appeals to as wide an audience as possiable; the driving aids assist in this by allowing the hardcore to remove the levels of assistance, while retaining a level of 'pick up and play' for newcomers to the series (who are the last people on earth we want to put off buying the games).
The driving aids are not meant to be exact replicas of the real world systems, but a 'simulated version' of them that can be used, as the name implies, as driving aids. I agree that a universal toggle to set default levels would be useful, as its a pain to set them for each car if you want all zeros.
As for the arguement that only cars that have the features in real life should have them, and if you can't turn them off in real life then you should not be able to in the game. First remember that they are principally driving aids, to assist anyone who feels that they need it; secondly just because a car has a feature in real life does not mean you would retain it on the track. For example, on most Daimlier Chrysler models you can not turn Traction or Stability control completely off; yet most of us would want a little more control over this.
A number of people are talking like the GT series is the holy grail of driving simulation, and while its damn good (good enough for me to use for automotive training), its not the last word in accuracy. Again these commercial needs creap in again.
Take a look at any of the truely hard core driving or racing sims and the sales volumes they managed, almost all are produced by studios who have other products to help fund these sims, and most record very small sales volumes.
Richard Burns Rally is a classic example of this, arguably the finest rally sim ever produced, winner of four awards from Blackhole Motorsport (the racing sim website), including best physics engine. It also scored some good reviews in the mainstream gaming press. However, as far as sales went, its not even in the same division as the Colin McRae or WRC series, despite hammering them both for realism.
The single biggest problem with sims and realism in driving games is that historically it has not sold as well as arcade racing games (RBR and Gran Prix Legends being good examples). Most gamers want to win without putting in the effort of endless testing and tuning of the cars and honing of driving skills; what we find great fun and very satisfying does not sell games.
The Gran Turismo series broke the mold, it was one of the first 'sim' style driving/racing games to shift huge volumes, and part of this was (and still is) down to its ability to appeal to both mainstream gamers and the die-hard racing/driving fan.
Just my little rant; but it is easy for any of us to say that what we want should be in the game and that anyone who finds this makes it too difficult should go and buy something else. Well that kind of strategy would only result in the end of the GT series.
A good analogy is a comment that crops up every now and again on the Auto news threads, people who say if they ran volume car company 'x' they would only make rear wheel drive cars, because thats what all cars should be. The level of commercial naivety in this kind of statement is insane; the vast majority of car buyers do not care at all what layout the car is, they want space, safety and economy. If say Honda or Toyota started to only make RWD models they would lose market share overnight. Same with GT, if the only option on the game was pure hardcore sim, they would lose buyers in the same way.
Anyway, as for what I use, I can't stand ASM as I prefer to do my own driving, thank you very much, and I never turn TCS above 1, just to keep the tires from burning off on high-powered cars since I don't have fancy foot pedals to use 
