Update : 23 novembre 2010 : First review is up with résumé !
The first review of GT5 is finally up !
http://www.jeuxvideo.com/articles/0001/00013884-gran-turismo-5-test.htm
The French gamers were the first to receive the games (french retailers didn’t respect the release date of the game) so it comes as no surprise that the first review is a French review too ! from a very famous (IMO the most famous) popular and old gaming website in france :
www.jeuxvideos.com (generally I like the reviews of this website, they are generally fair and rarely extremist, I like especially the very useful users review scores and comments)
But unfortunately their review of GT5 is unprofessional to say the least (I suppose the reviewer Ravaol is not into simulation racing games, but that’s just a hypothesis with no proof lol), I wrote this résumé of his review so you could judge by yourself :
Graphics : 15/20
The game is fluid and overall good looking, but a lot of glitches, aliasing (on shapes, on shadows…
and graphical problems (pop ups, pixelisation of some texture…
, the outside of tracks aren’t detailed, and weather is not as impressive as in trailers, visual damage is limited and disappointing…
Gameplay : 14/20
The most disappointing aspect of the game, outdated gameplay designed to gtfans only with no innovation and similar to other gt games. Can we still take turns backing on other cars or track fences ? yes we can. Can we still cheat and cut turns and drive out of asphalt without any punishment ? yes we can (except in online races). The AI is still following the exact same line no matter what you do bumping on you or ou bump on it ? yes its still like the old days…damage is very limited and only on premium cars… the outside camera view has very limited sense of speed (unlike the good sense of speed of cockpit), you cant see too much when racing at night which makes the night races frustrating and unplayable…and cars feel rigid like old gt days, and applying gt gameplay to karts is a bad idea…and rally as always not very good… the good thing with gameplay is that each car feels distinguishable...
Durée de vie (Lasting Appeal or content or durability of the game) : 17/20
A lot of content but little substance (why 1000 cars when we will only drive a hundred of them and a lot are variables of the same car with inconsistent quality premium 200 with very limited disappointing damage that needsto play suicide mission to get some effects and the other 800 are standard with no damage and no cockpit view), also not a lot of tracks, and weather/day night not on all tracks…the online is disappointing, very simplistic, not well designed (when you finish a race you return to the main menu…
and with a lot of connexion problems…
Sound : 15/20
Variable quality like the whole game, disappointing sound effects, inconsistent engine sounds (some are great and some horrible).
Overall score : 14/20
After 5 years of development time and waiting, GT is no more the real driving simulator, it is outdated compared to other racing games especially its gameplay, it is designed to gtfans only with very little innovation, but that’s not to say it’s a bad game, it’s still a simulation game that conserves a personality and captures the essence and variety of cars.
Now to my humble personal comment about this first review of GT5 :
I think the review is unprofessional, the reviewer has no idea of what he is talking about whe he insists that gameplay in GT5 is outdated...he clearly has a restricted vision of what is gameplay in a racing simulation, he underestimates the importance of gameplay physics in a simulation racing game, he says the gameplay is outdated because you can cheat without consequences, thats only a small part of the gameplay experience, the most important part is the driving expericene (he has also repeated the now cliché and not so accurate description about GT games being driving games and not racing games), the gameplay physics of GT5 are among the best in the world and he is wrong when he says gameplay is outdated and cars feel rigid... contradicting himself when he says that each car feels distinguishable..how the driving of cars is satisfying, cars feel distinguishable (thats the gameplay physics) but the cars feel rigid and gamplay is outdated ?! thats a huge contradiction that suffice to make this review unprofessional and biased...
