It's taken me some time to write this, please take the time to read this in it's entirety and think before posting. Thank you.
Let's be honest, as usual KY's & PD's GT5 is a work of genius, but is that, flawed genius? This can sometimes happen when someone is held in such regard that not many question him, his decisions and his actions, and the majority think whatever he does is the right thing.
The 200 premium cars, the night and day transitions, new physics, full damage, car roll over, high and low beams, new particle effects, new textures and inclusion of WRC and NASCAR licences, the new tracks, 3D pit crews, marshals and spectators and backfire effects. Genius!
The 800 standard cars, lack of weather, lack of real time skidmarks, 2D trees and spectators, reverse lights, all tracks too detailed resulting in loss of quality, nearly 6 years to arrive. Flawed?
What's happend is that KY had a vision that was too big for the PS3 and GT5 and too time consuming for the GT fans. In the end, GT5 is not the product all the GT fans have been waiting for 6 long years.
Let's look at the tracks:
The tracks are extraordinary in size and scope, but not impressive at all in terms of the low resolution flat textures very low quality object textures, 2D spectators and trees. If screensots and videos are looked at in detail, these problems are always easy to notice. There is no point in super expansive details a mile from the track if these look poor in replays and photomode. By not going so far he could have ensured that all that is on track looks as good as the objects a foot from the track. Same goes for so many trees and spectators, sometimes less is more and it would have been better to have less of them on track but ensure these are all in 3D. This may have also allowed for more textures on track to give it a more used and rough and realistic appearance. How about real time skidmarks, GT fans have asked for this for a decade? This disparity between the quality of some parts of tracks and others makes them look unfinished, and just plain odd.
Let's discuss the cars
If the point is to wait 6 years to get 1000 premium cars then it would make sense. But the 800 standard cars will take the shine form the 200 premium cars and make the 6 years wait a bit of a cruel joke. How exactly is a GT fan going to feel about driving his favorite car being a standard car while others he's not interested in, will be premium? He, or she, can either only play with the premium cars or drive his favorite car, or the car he owns in real life, being standard and be resenful. What made GT was not the super cars, it was the used cars, the fact that a GT fan has a car he drives to work every day and turn it into a fully fledged racing machine in a GT game. GT5 has missed that point and the 800 standard cars will alienate lot of those GT5 fans, fans like myself. I don't want to drive the Subaru Legacy B4 Blitzen standard, I want the Subaru Legacy B4 Blitzen premium. I want the full premium damage not the poor excuse that is standard damage! There are rear seats and leather stitching in premium cars but no reverse lights on any cars, or interiors for standard cars...
Now let's look at another direction the GT franchise could have taken:
All the fans would have coped quite well if in 2008 the GT5 was released with just the 800 standard cars, new physics, few 3D trees and spectators, slightly sparse tracks, real time skidmarks, reverse lights and the standard damage, rollover, 3D pit crews, marshals, new particle effects and backfire effects and up to 10 cars on track online and 20 offline.
Then perhaps a brand new GT6 with 250 premium cars with day and night transitions and standard weather would arrive in 2011 with some new tracks, keeping the quantity vs quality bias towards quality, premium damage, Super GT 500, and WRC licences and up to 8 cars online and 16 offline. The PS3 could manage 16 car grids for Super GT 500 in offline mode.
GT7 could arrive in 2014 on PS4 with perhaps 1000 premium cars, dynamic weather and the full expansive tracks that KY dreams of. All in high quality with high resolution bumpmapped textures, 3D spectators and trees, adding Super GT 300 and F1 licences and up to 28 cars online and offline. PS4 should easily manage the 28 car grids in Super GT 300.
GT8 arriving in 2017, still on PS4 with 1500 cars, adding NASCAR and Le Mans and over 50 cars online and offline. Full car grid races of Le Mans with night transitions and dynamic weather would be the GT Holy Grail!
Now, to me, nothing but a GT fan, this kind of GT franchise schedule makes much more sense on an acceptable development timespan, avoiding alienating GT fanbase, increasing sales and profits. Why did KY and PD make such a big mess of it along 6 years, conflicting information, empty promises on features that never materialized and finally a product that appears unfinished and too ambitious? Even KY himself admitted recently he might have aimed too high...
Let's be honest, as usual KY's & PD's GT5 is a work of genius, but is that, flawed genius? This can sometimes happen when someone is held in such regard that not many question him, his decisions and his actions, and the majority think whatever he does is the right thing.
The 200 premium cars, the night and day transitions, new physics, full damage, car roll over, high and low beams, new particle effects, new textures and inclusion of WRC and NASCAR licences, the new tracks, 3D pit crews, marshals and spectators and backfire effects. Genius!
The 800 standard cars, lack of weather, lack of real time skidmarks, 2D trees and spectators, reverse lights, all tracks too detailed resulting in loss of quality, nearly 6 years to arrive. Flawed?
What's happend is that KY had a vision that was too big for the PS3 and GT5 and too time consuming for the GT fans. In the end, GT5 is not the product all the GT fans have been waiting for 6 long years.
Let's look at the tracks:
The tracks are extraordinary in size and scope, but not impressive at all in terms of the low resolution flat textures very low quality object textures, 2D spectators and trees. If screensots and videos are looked at in detail, these problems are always easy to notice. There is no point in super expansive details a mile from the track if these look poor in replays and photomode. By not going so far he could have ensured that all that is on track looks as good as the objects a foot from the track. Same goes for so many trees and spectators, sometimes less is more and it would have been better to have less of them on track but ensure these are all in 3D. This may have also allowed for more textures on track to give it a more used and rough and realistic appearance. How about real time skidmarks, GT fans have asked for this for a decade? This disparity between the quality of some parts of tracks and others makes them look unfinished, and just plain odd.
Let's discuss the cars
If the point is to wait 6 years to get 1000 premium cars then it would make sense. But the 800 standard cars will take the shine form the 200 premium cars and make the 6 years wait a bit of a cruel joke. How exactly is a GT fan going to feel about driving his favorite car being a standard car while others he's not interested in, will be premium? He, or she, can either only play with the premium cars or drive his favorite car, or the car he owns in real life, being standard and be resenful. What made GT was not the super cars, it was the used cars, the fact that a GT fan has a car he drives to work every day and turn it into a fully fledged racing machine in a GT game. GT5 has missed that point and the 800 standard cars will alienate lot of those GT5 fans, fans like myself. I don't want to drive the Subaru Legacy B4 Blitzen standard, I want the Subaru Legacy B4 Blitzen premium. I want the full premium damage not the poor excuse that is standard damage! There are rear seats and leather stitching in premium cars but no reverse lights on any cars, or interiors for standard cars...
Now let's look at another direction the GT franchise could have taken:
All the fans would have coped quite well if in 2008 the GT5 was released with just the 800 standard cars, new physics, few 3D trees and spectators, slightly sparse tracks, real time skidmarks, reverse lights and the standard damage, rollover, 3D pit crews, marshals, new particle effects and backfire effects and up to 10 cars on track online and 20 offline.
Then perhaps a brand new GT6 with 250 premium cars with day and night transitions and standard weather would arrive in 2011 with some new tracks, keeping the quantity vs quality bias towards quality, premium damage, Super GT 500, and WRC licences and up to 8 cars online and 16 offline. The PS3 could manage 16 car grids for Super GT 500 in offline mode.
GT7 could arrive in 2014 on PS4 with perhaps 1000 premium cars, dynamic weather and the full expansive tracks that KY dreams of. All in high quality with high resolution bumpmapped textures, 3D spectators and trees, adding Super GT 300 and F1 licences and up to 28 cars online and offline. PS4 should easily manage the 28 car grids in Super GT 300.
GT8 arriving in 2017, still on PS4 with 1500 cars, adding NASCAR and Le Mans and over 50 cars online and offline. Full car grid races of Le Mans with night transitions and dynamic weather would be the GT Holy Grail!
Now, to me, nothing but a GT fan, this kind of GT franchise schedule makes much more sense on an acceptable development timespan, avoiding alienating GT fanbase, increasing sales and profits. Why did KY and PD make such a big mess of it along 6 years, conflicting information, empty promises on features that never materialized and finally a product that appears unfinished and too ambitious? Even KY himself admitted recently he might have aimed too high...
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That's not cool.👎 
As the release date aproaches in 6 months time? Maybe GT5 fever will win me over, but if a few other driving games, currently in development can give me my racing fix, I may just forget the GT5 alltogether and see if KY's dream can finally be achieved on GT6 or a GT on PS4...
and the PlayStation Store downloadable "GTHD Classic" (GTHDクラシック
