Hello,
As a long-time fan of the GT series I was trying hard to love absolutely everything about Gran Turismo 5.
I bought PS3 just for this game alone, pretty much like I did with the GT3/4 and PS2 and GT1/2 and the original Playstation. In the end I loved those games and spent most of my gaming time playing these games over and over again, long after my interest in other games dwindled and disappeared.
No one can deny the greatness of the Gran Turismo series. Yet it pains me to say this, but I find a lot about this game very very frustrating.
And before I begin, let me say that I did try hard, got all licences gold, beat the Vettel challenge (bronze only) with a DS3 and will keep playing the game as well. I also found ways to solve/resolve my frustrations even though they bordered on cheating, which was exactly what I tried to avoid all the time.
Issue No. 1
The economy is broken. If you look only at the top cars, such as Lamborghini P400 Bertone, Ferrari racer, Jaguar XJ13, Ferrari Formula cars, Red Bull cars, and Chapparals, just those 10 or so will cost you over 100 Million credits. I presume that to get All cars and tune them to the fullest will cost you in the neighborhood of one Billion credits.
The best paying race in the game at the moment gives you only 97,600 cr. excluding the endurance races (which you probably would never use as a money making tool).
That gives you several problems right there. First of all, you end up not enjoying and playing the game, but auto-grinding on A-spec, which is dumb, hunting for the cars in the used car lot, which disappear every race day (and yes, also if you just re-enter the loaded race). We have no idea yet on how the used car cycle works and to my knowledge there is no explanation of it yet as well. Not knowing what to expect, yet wanting to collect the cars, one is stuck with the pattern of constant grinding in order to have money enough for, say Chapparal 2J, which costs over 14 million and may not appear again for hundreds, if not thousands in-game days.
I got GT5 only a month ago, but it seems to me that PD changed (lowered) the prize money as well as eliminated the bonus races. I find it sadistic, a pervert attitude that in the end puts off a lot of less-than-absolutely-hardcore players.
Issue No. 2
Why PD decided to eliminate the random prize cars one used to win in a championship? That was a great incentive to do the championship again, and again, which seems is something we now have to do anyway? (and I am not talking about endurance racing, which is a bad idea - who has time to race that same endurance 20 times to get one car)
Issue No. 3
The current trend is still the same - to showcase the Japanese cars in abundance and as the best in the world. Check the performance points and compare them to the best that the rest of the world has to offer. Every car in the very top, from Red Bull down to the Formula Gran Turismo, Minolta, etc etc are Japanese. Is that really accurate?
Issue No. 4
Such a long wait for the game that takes pride in its graphic perfection (in the past) is not justified by the blocky spectators, cardboard track backgrounds and poor quality standard car presentations. It is hard to believe that PD were not able to set and meet a higher quality standard themselves.
Issue No. 5
Perhaps it is just me, but I sense a sort of 'distorted reality' phenomena in this game. Certain issues of it that are almost painstakingly realistic are completely offset by totally unrealistic visual or other issues. The whole problem rests, I believe, in a very arbitrary, self-stuck and highly personal way the Gran Turismo development is supervised.
I have quite a few Japanese colleagues (and yes, it is a personal observation towards Mr. Yamauchi) who have explained to me that the Japanese society works differently from say one in Western Europe or US.
For the larger part, certain individuals achieve an almost "divine", "untouchable" status withing companies or other entities. Therefore their opinion and personal taste is superimposed on everyone present. Up to a point such setup may work very well (as perhaps was the case with the two first GT games). But later, especially if such a person accepts progress only partial and in a particular direction, such attitude becomes detrimental.
I am saying all this because I love the game and I want to see it remaining at the top, successful and loved by many. GT series brings a lot of memories, but memories can sustain you only that long.
While there are so much positive that can be said about this game, a lot of troubling issues are apparent as well. And those issues have been mentioned by many gamers for years now. I find it troubling that PD did not pay closer attention to its customers.
I hope Mr. Yamauchi will condescend to notice the needs and concerns of everyday gamers and fans of the series. Simply because we pay his bill.
As a long-time fan of the GT series I was trying hard to love absolutely everything about Gran Turismo 5.
I bought PS3 just for this game alone, pretty much like I did with the GT3/4 and PS2 and GT1/2 and the original Playstation. In the end I loved those games and spent most of my gaming time playing these games over and over again, long after my interest in other games dwindled and disappeared.
No one can deny the greatness of the Gran Turismo series. Yet it pains me to say this, but I find a lot about this game very very frustrating.
And before I begin, let me say that I did try hard, got all licences gold, beat the Vettel challenge (bronze only) with a DS3 and will keep playing the game as well. I also found ways to solve/resolve my frustrations even though they bordered on cheating, which was exactly what I tried to avoid all the time.
Issue No. 1
The economy is broken. If you look only at the top cars, such as Lamborghini P400 Bertone, Ferrari racer, Jaguar XJ13, Ferrari Formula cars, Red Bull cars, and Chapparals, just those 10 or so will cost you over 100 Million credits. I presume that to get All cars and tune them to the fullest will cost you in the neighborhood of one Billion credits.
The best paying race in the game at the moment gives you only 97,600 cr. excluding the endurance races (which you probably would never use as a money making tool).
That gives you several problems right there. First of all, you end up not enjoying and playing the game, but auto-grinding on A-spec, which is dumb, hunting for the cars in the used car lot, which disappear every race day (and yes, also if you just re-enter the loaded race). We have no idea yet on how the used car cycle works and to my knowledge there is no explanation of it yet as well. Not knowing what to expect, yet wanting to collect the cars, one is stuck with the pattern of constant grinding in order to have money enough for, say Chapparal 2J, which costs over 14 million and may not appear again for hundreds, if not thousands in-game days.
I got GT5 only a month ago, but it seems to me that PD changed (lowered) the prize money as well as eliminated the bonus races. I find it sadistic, a pervert attitude that in the end puts off a lot of less-than-absolutely-hardcore players.
Issue No. 2
Why PD decided to eliminate the random prize cars one used to win in a championship? That was a great incentive to do the championship again, and again, which seems is something we now have to do anyway? (and I am not talking about endurance racing, which is a bad idea - who has time to race that same endurance 20 times to get one car)
Issue No. 3
The current trend is still the same - to showcase the Japanese cars in abundance and as the best in the world. Check the performance points and compare them to the best that the rest of the world has to offer. Every car in the very top, from Red Bull down to the Formula Gran Turismo, Minolta, etc etc are Japanese. Is that really accurate?
Issue No. 4
Such a long wait for the game that takes pride in its graphic perfection (in the past) is not justified by the blocky spectators, cardboard track backgrounds and poor quality standard car presentations. It is hard to believe that PD were not able to set and meet a higher quality standard themselves.
Issue No. 5
Perhaps it is just me, but I sense a sort of 'distorted reality' phenomena in this game. Certain issues of it that are almost painstakingly realistic are completely offset by totally unrealistic visual or other issues. The whole problem rests, I believe, in a very arbitrary, self-stuck and highly personal way the Gran Turismo development is supervised.
I have quite a few Japanese colleagues (and yes, it is a personal observation towards Mr. Yamauchi) who have explained to me that the Japanese society works differently from say one in Western Europe or US.
For the larger part, certain individuals achieve an almost "divine", "untouchable" status withing companies or other entities. Therefore their opinion and personal taste is superimposed on everyone present. Up to a point such setup may work very well (as perhaps was the case with the two first GT games). But later, especially if such a person accepts progress only partial and in a particular direction, such attitude becomes detrimental.
I am saying all this because I love the game and I want to see it remaining at the top, successful and loved by many. GT series brings a lot of memories, but memories can sustain you only that long.
While there are so much positive that can be said about this game, a lot of troubling issues are apparent as well. And those issues have been mentioned by many gamers for years now. I find it troubling that PD did not pay closer attention to its customers.
I hope Mr. Yamauchi will condescend to notice the needs and concerns of everyday gamers and fans of the series. Simply because we pay his bill.