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Long post coming up, so be warned.
:::
It's been a very long time since my first day as a gamer. At the age of 5 (sometime in 2001) I recieved a beat-up, old PS1 from a family member. With that PS1 came a simple controller, a cheap racing wheel that didn't work... and two games.
Those games were the first Gran Turismo and NASCAR Rumble. Admittedly, looking back I wish that the Rumble series had continued beyond a 2001 PS2 incarnation, but this isn't the forum or place to go into details on that. The other game, though... that's really what started it all for me as a car fanatic.
Being 6 and with a lack of general knowledge about cars, I played that game until the disc was so worn out it was unusable. I wanted to know more about automobiles, and learn everything I could - and I mean EVERYTHING. For a kid who really didn't quite understand the concept of 'tuning' a car - up until the age of 12 I still thought all you had to do was slap on as much power as possible (and this for any racing game, I might add!) and just go.
That's probably the reason I didn't do so well when I got the PS2 incarnations of the Gran Turismo series - with GT3, I struggled to learn the new concepts of car setups, how different drivetrains work in different situations, why rally driving seemed so easy (wallriding... I was a cheap little boy.) GT4 is where I started to get a sense of what I needed to do in the series - it isn't all about power, it's about balance.
When I got GT5 in the summer of 2012, I had matured as a gamer - I still lacked good lines, and the ability to tune a car specifically for a track, but I had mastered basic knowledge of setups and of proper racing lines. Still, I always felt some... challenging... aspect of the series was lacking. Granted, I have gone back and played through the first two GTs recently, to get a feel for how far I'd come. The challenge then was how a 6-year-old viewed the game and how I adapted. The challenge when I went back is seeing what I had lost when I matured - the youthful innocence was gone, replaced by a cold sense of purpose in an attempt to complete the game at 100%. (I'm still trying to do this in GT2, although I know I'll never get there.)
But, enough of the past. Now, I'm at the newest incarnation of the Gran Turismo series - Gran Turismo 6. Now... the challenge is to do what I've never done; play the game without a focus on the goal. And, by this... I mean not be intensive as if my life depends on it. Not be playing all hours of the day, grinding for the last classic rally car I need to complete my collection. Rather, this time around I'm focusing on something different - enjoying the game as it was meant to be enjoyed. And, with that, comes my in-depth extensive first impressions.
:::
Again, I will not admit to being a 'seriously good' driver, but I feel that I am a competent driver, if nothing else. The only real goal I set for myself this time was to enjoy the game, and so far I am doing just that. Despite the apparent inability to change theugly Clio's transmission to manual in the introduction thing (where you drive around the track to get a feel for things), I was immediately struck by the graphics. Compared to GT5's, at least in my opinion if nothing else... everything seems more crisp and clear. The lighting effects seem to be a clear touch, and there seems to be a delicate blend of color.
Being forced to buy the Fit RS '10 was a bit shocking, but at leastI got a decent paint color out of the deal it's not a bad first car. As I've nearly always started with the best available option (but in this case I wanted to start with the '78 Pontiac Firebird) it felt like a good choice.
The new tracks are always welcome, and the stealth-reworks of existing ones are excellent. Of special mention are Matterhorn, the redone (graphically, anyway) Apricot Hill, and Mount Panorama - I'm a fan of hills and twisty sections, and Matterhorn does this completely over-the-top. Mt. Panorama, while not as absurd as Matterhorn, is a difficult course, especially without good brakes and/or a heavy car.
While on the subject of tracks... the 'feel' of how they are designed, or rather the way the physics engine seems to be done, is marvelous. Compared to GT5, I actually feel as if I'm driving a car on a track, with less 'on-rails' feeling. There seems to be more 'blend' - corners flow into one another easier, and I welcome that change (if these IS one...?)
I've never really used the 'in-car' (cockpit) view in the GT series, but for me this one's cockpit feels... natural. I feel more as if I'm behind the wheel of a car than ever, and I really don't know why. Only reasonable explanation is new physics + new graphics.
New AI is... nasty. Not as nasty as Tokyo Xtreme Racer Drift's AI (which would bump you out of the way and slam you into the wall in order to win the race) but this AI doesn't give you an inch at times. Worst spot for this for me is on Mt. Panorama - the very sharp turn going up the mountain. Diving to the inside will often result in you being stuck between a rock (the AI) and a hard place (the inside wall.) I actually love the new AI, though. It's a challenge to deal with them at times, and compared to the AI of GT5 I find myself often in a pseudo-panic mode when they're hunting me down and I know they have the power to beat me based on power alone.
I do have my gripes (albeit mostly minor), it's not like I don't have them for this game. First... the apparent lack of standing starts outside of the Kart races. This is my single biggest issue with the game, and why it doesn't always have that 'natural feel' of being in a race. It really is frustrating, especially with the way I'm playing through this game so far (being a miser, essentially) when I have to chase down the fastest AI car in something with far less performance. Holding them off once taking the lead isn't frustrating, but an actual challenge - taking on a Ferrari FXX with a stock Anniv GT40 isn't as easy as it would have been in GT5.
Second... admittedly, getting gold in the license tests and other challenges like so are... easy. Again, I'm nowhere near a good driver, but getting gold licenses in GT5 (and all other GT games) was a tough challenge. This one, the only time I have had to restart to gold a license/timed run was the Goodwood 5-2 Challenge (the Audi R18 one), and I only missed gold by .004 milliseconds. I can understand the logic behind (possibly?) making it easier for newer players to win the events (while the Goodwood 5-3 is another story) but it's... too easy for a series veteran like myself.
Thirdly... overusage of specific tracks in Career Mode, at least so far. I'm up to International-B, and I felt while playing through that there seemed to be certain tracks that were used too many times. While ones like Brands Hatch and Willow Springs are new to the series, and they have variations in them... instead of using nearly ONE variation constantly, why not be more diverse? I'm finding Willow Springs' "Big Willow" to be the biggest offender - I've lost count of how many times I've raced it now. The "Indy" circuit of Brands Hatch comes close to this.
The inverse of this is that there's a lack of tracks so far - I had completely forgotten Ascari was in the game until I was finishing National A last night. Seriously. I also have not seen Special Stage Route 5 once (wut?) even in the "Night" event. I do know that it was added with 1.01. I have not downloaded that patch yet, so please don't make a point on this. I will revise this as I go along.
Despite the noted issues I have with the game... I admit, I'm enjoying the challenge it brings. I feel that the game as a whole is harder than in GT5. Dueling with the AI is actually possible now, and being a miser does have its rewards in some aspects... I get to pick and choose what I use, especially if it has definite flaws that I don't have the obligation to either increase or ignore (such as the Firebird's suspension... if it was in GT5 I doubt I would have had a challenge trying to go through races with it in its stock form.) I'm finding it to be a fun, if difficult experience.
Hope you enjoyed reading, and that it wasn't too long of a 'First Impressions' kind of deal.
:::
It's been a very long time since my first day as a gamer. At the age of 5 (sometime in 2001) I recieved a beat-up, old PS1 from a family member. With that PS1 came a simple controller, a cheap racing wheel that didn't work... and two games.
Those games were the first Gran Turismo and NASCAR Rumble. Admittedly, looking back I wish that the Rumble series had continued beyond a 2001 PS2 incarnation, but this isn't the forum or place to go into details on that. The other game, though... that's really what started it all for me as a car fanatic.
Being 6 and with a lack of general knowledge about cars, I played that game until the disc was so worn out it was unusable. I wanted to know more about automobiles, and learn everything I could - and I mean EVERYTHING. For a kid who really didn't quite understand the concept of 'tuning' a car - up until the age of 12 I still thought all you had to do was slap on as much power as possible (and this for any racing game, I might add!) and just go.
That's probably the reason I didn't do so well when I got the PS2 incarnations of the Gran Turismo series - with GT3, I struggled to learn the new concepts of car setups, how different drivetrains work in different situations, why rally driving seemed so easy (wallriding... I was a cheap little boy.) GT4 is where I started to get a sense of what I needed to do in the series - it isn't all about power, it's about balance.
When I got GT5 in the summer of 2012, I had matured as a gamer - I still lacked good lines, and the ability to tune a car specifically for a track, but I had mastered basic knowledge of setups and of proper racing lines. Still, I always felt some... challenging... aspect of the series was lacking. Granted, I have gone back and played through the first two GTs recently, to get a feel for how far I'd come. The challenge then was how a 6-year-old viewed the game and how I adapted. The challenge when I went back is seeing what I had lost when I matured - the youthful innocence was gone, replaced by a cold sense of purpose in an attempt to complete the game at 100%. (I'm still trying to do this in GT2, although I know I'll never get there.)
But, enough of the past. Now, I'm at the newest incarnation of the Gran Turismo series - Gran Turismo 6. Now... the challenge is to do what I've never done; play the game without a focus on the goal. And, by this... I mean not be intensive as if my life depends on it. Not be playing all hours of the day, grinding for the last classic rally car I need to complete my collection. Rather, this time around I'm focusing on something different - enjoying the game as it was meant to be enjoyed. And, with that, comes my in-depth extensive first impressions.
:::
Again, I will not admit to being a 'seriously good' driver, but I feel that I am a competent driver, if nothing else. The only real goal I set for myself this time was to enjoy the game, and so far I am doing just that. Despite the apparent inability to change the
Being forced to buy the Fit RS '10 was a bit shocking, but at least
The new tracks are always welcome, and the stealth-reworks of existing ones are excellent. Of special mention are Matterhorn, the redone (graphically, anyway) Apricot Hill, and Mount Panorama - I'm a fan of hills and twisty sections, and Matterhorn does this completely over-the-top. Mt. Panorama, while not as absurd as Matterhorn, is a difficult course, especially without good brakes and/or a heavy car.
While on the subject of tracks... the 'feel' of how they are designed, or rather the way the physics engine seems to be done, is marvelous. Compared to GT5, I actually feel as if I'm driving a car on a track, with less 'on-rails' feeling. There seems to be more 'blend' - corners flow into one another easier, and I welcome that change (if these IS one...?)
I've never really used the 'in-car' (cockpit) view in the GT series, but for me this one's cockpit feels... natural. I feel more as if I'm behind the wheel of a car than ever, and I really don't know why. Only reasonable explanation is new physics + new graphics.
New AI is... nasty. Not as nasty as Tokyo Xtreme Racer Drift's AI (which would bump you out of the way and slam you into the wall in order to win the race) but this AI doesn't give you an inch at times. Worst spot for this for me is on Mt. Panorama - the very sharp turn going up the mountain. Diving to the inside will often result in you being stuck between a rock (the AI) and a hard place (the inside wall.) I actually love the new AI, though. It's a challenge to deal with them at times, and compared to the AI of GT5 I find myself often in a pseudo-panic mode when they're hunting me down and I know they have the power to beat me based on power alone.
I do have my gripes (albeit mostly minor), it's not like I don't have them for this game. First... the apparent lack of standing starts outside of the Kart races. This is my single biggest issue with the game, and why it doesn't always have that 'natural feel' of being in a race. It really is frustrating, especially with the way I'm playing through this game so far (being a miser, essentially) when I have to chase down the fastest AI car in something with far less performance. Holding them off once taking the lead isn't frustrating, but an actual challenge - taking on a Ferrari FXX with a stock Anniv GT40 isn't as easy as it would have been in GT5.
Second... admittedly, getting gold in the license tests and other challenges like so are... easy. Again, I'm nowhere near a good driver, but getting gold licenses in GT5 (and all other GT games) was a tough challenge. This one, the only time I have had to restart to gold a license/timed run was the Goodwood 5-2 Challenge (the Audi R18 one), and I only missed gold by .004 milliseconds. I can understand the logic behind (possibly?) making it easier for newer players to win the events (while the Goodwood 5-3 is another story) but it's... too easy for a series veteran like myself.
Thirdly... overusage of specific tracks in Career Mode, at least so far. I'm up to International-B, and I felt while playing through that there seemed to be certain tracks that were used too many times. While ones like Brands Hatch and Willow Springs are new to the series, and they have variations in them... instead of using nearly ONE variation constantly, why not be more diverse? I'm finding Willow Springs' "Big Willow" to be the biggest offender - I've lost count of how many times I've raced it now. The "Indy" circuit of Brands Hatch comes close to this.
The inverse of this is that there's a lack of tracks so far - I had completely forgotten Ascari was in the game until I was finishing National A last night. Seriously. I also have not seen Special Stage Route 5 once (wut?) even in the "Night" event. I do know that it was added with 1.01. I have not downloaded that patch yet, so please don't make a point on this. I will revise this as I go along.
Despite the noted issues I have with the game... I admit, I'm enjoying the challenge it brings. I feel that the game as a whole is harder than in GT5. Dueling with the AI is actually possible now, and being a miser does have its rewards in some aspects... I get to pick and choose what I use, especially if it has definite flaws that I don't have the obligation to either increase or ignore (such as the Firebird's suspension... if it was in GT5 I doubt I would have had a challenge trying to go through races with it in its stock form.) I'm finding it to be a fun, if difficult experience.
Hope you enjoyed reading, and that it wasn't too long of a 'First Impressions' kind of deal.
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