Help getting started with GT5

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cbrown119

cbrown119

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cbrown119
Hi,

Everyone seems to be raving about GT5 and I was wondering what makes it so special?

I just purchased it and have the latest patch, but I think I am missing something. Yes, the graphics are good and there are a lot of extra things, but the actual racing seems to be on the "sterile" side. There aren't much engine noises and when I hit a wall, I kinda just bounce off like a bumper car and there isn't any damage. I don't want to offend anyone because I know this game has a real strong following.

Is there a special setup that I should be using? I use DS3 controller and am using default settings. Again, I don't want to offend anyone, just some help getting started:)


Thanks.
 
What you see is what you get. However...it's more a driving game, there's a difference. What's special are a few things but primarily it's the physics environment the cars drive in. It is incredibly realistic. They try and are successful in modeling cars performance after their real-world specs. So if you drive a Shelby Cobra 427 you're really driving it.

If you're into racing like I am then you're gonna be disappointed with A-spec. The way to make it more enjoyable is to decrease the HP of the cars you drive in a particular event by 50-100 HP. That will make the racing in A-spec more competitive. Racing online is where it is at. Get a few cars in different power bands; tune them up and get online.

The series has a strong following and the majority are disappointed. Yet, the majority still play it because of the realism in the environment and the grahics are exceptional. Take a look at the picture galleries.
 
First off, use cockpit or bonnet cam. It makes the experience more realistic. It starts off slow, as that's what's needed, but the quicker cars make a big difference. And to be honest, you shouldn't be bumping off walls anyway!

Try not to compare it to need for speed and what not, gt5 is It's own thing, which is a good thing.
 
Thanks.

Well, I am not that good yet not to hit the walls:ouch:

I have been messing around with the ABS setting, what setting is recommended? I am trying not to make contact, but using a highter setting ABS stops the car completly during the turns, while setting 1, I'll plow right into things.

Also, it seems like I have to buy particular types of cars to race certain events instead of using my favorite throughout the A spec. And with stock models, I'll get no where near the top at the finish. I have to upgrade, then it seems easier to win because the AI doesn't seem to upgrade or match my upgraded car with a higher level of car... Is this true?

It (GT5) is kinda disappointing in that respect....

But I do feel that the AI is aggressive in that I receive bumps from behind and they don't seem to follow the racing line as I have read from other posts regarding the latest patch....


That is why I am asking what am I missing that everyone else seems to enjoy since its release last year? I never played a GT game before, so this is my first experience with the series.

Thanks again.
 
Do not have the abs higher than 1. That's all you need, same with tcs, 1 should be more than enough.

You are right about the ai not increasing, if you attempt an event with a fiat 500 and get whipped, the ai will be at exactly the same pace when you roll up with your veyron. It's one of them annoying things. If you look at a menu screen before you start the race, it should say 'likely opponents' take a note and get a similar car to what they have.

If you have never played a gran turismo game, it is a totally different concept to other racing games. It's not all about the winning, its about the experience. Which isn't to everyone's taste (online races).
 
dhandes
If you have never played a gran turismo game, it is a totally different concept to other racing games. It's not all about the winning, its about the experience. Which isn't to everyone's taste (online races).
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Agreed
The game can be "sterile" and even "bland", but thats because the excitement of racing comes from the situations you create.
Some games, like NFS or Forza seem to try and simulate excitement by using extreme colors, truckloads of lenseflare, and other childish visual and audio effects.
GT5 can be very exciting, but you have to make it that way, and its much more satisfying to have an exciting race, then simulated excitement (screen warp when hitting a specific speed).
Gt could be slightly more gritty, but in the end its a solid product that gives you what your willing to take from it.
 
Thanks for all of the suggestions...

Last night I changes the ABS and Traction control to 1 as recommended and changed the view to cockpit...

Yes, my driving abilities increased to a point where I was trying for a "clean" race and sometimes I accomplished it, when I had a good 3-4 second lead on the other cars.

Overall, the drive-ability and change of view did improve my overall enjoyment with the game thanks to your suggestions.

I have noticed a pattern, though....

With a stock car, I wont be able to win, but if I were to switch tires, add ECU chip and switch out the intake and exhaust with ANY car, I'll be able to win the race. I wish the AI could adapt to what I am putting into the race...

Thanks for the help!
 
As your skills increase try going back to sports hard or comfort tyres for a skill boost and to make it more of a challenge against the AI.
 
Make sure you put the time into the licenses. Try to at least 'Silver' them as you go. 'Gold' can come later, but you will adapt to the driving style/physics as you go. This also gives you more cars to play around with.
 
GT5s physics are very realistic, apart from the crash physics, and the AI isnt amazing. It is also too easy to win in A spec and B spec by simply tuning the cars up. But those are easily cured faults by just using slow cars to match the AI, or racing online, and for crash physics just try not to crash.

NFS and the likes will never match GT for how well the cars handle
 
The game focusses more on driving simulation, rather than crashing simulation, which is a bit of a shame from a visual perspective.
 
buy Honda Civic and do the seasonals while they are 3x CR... its a good start
 
This is getting kinda addicting....Leveling up will take me a long time, but that's okay, I'm in no hurry.

I guess I never realized how enjoyable it is until I lowered some of the settings. Now, I found some tuning advice here for the Focus ST (my real life car, too), and I will try make some adjustments...

What are Seasonals? Are they online tournaments? I haven't tried online yet, I think I'd be a menace on the highway and crash into everything and upset everyone. One thing that I have noticed after reading various posts, is that people online seem to prefer clean racing. Which I totally agree with, I am just not up to that level.

I just would also like to say that I really appreciate all of the help that I am getting on this forum. I really nice to be able to write something and not get abused. Thanks!
 
The online seasonals hes referring to, arent against other online drivers, more like a-spec races with much higher payout/XP, but you need to be online to race them
 
cbrown119
What are Seasonals? Are they online tournaments? I haven't tried online yet, I think I'd be a menace on the highway and crash into everything and upset everyone. One thing that I have noticed after reading various posts, is that people online seem to prefer clean racing. Which I totally agree with, I am just not up to that level.
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It's on the left side of your screen below the Online Lobby and above Online Car Dealership. There are multiple races that allow you earn credits. The races tend to be more competitive since there are tire and PP restrictions. When compared to the A & B spec races, the credit payout is better. Most events will require a specific vehicle or a class of vehicle, ie Honda Civic, Super Car, French Car, etc. The best credit per time spent is the Lightweight event if you build up a Suzuki Cappuccino (EA21R) '95. This event can earn about 1700 credits per second or about 100k per lap.
 
cbrown119
This is getting kinda addicting....Leveling up will take me a long time, but that's okay, I'm in no hurry.

I guess I never realized how enjoyable it is until I lowered some of the settings. Now, I found some tuning advice here for the Focus ST (my real life car, too), and I will try make some adjustments...

What are Seasonals? Are they online tournaments? I haven't tried online yet, I think I'd be a menace on the highway and crash into everything and upset everyone. One thing that I have noticed after reading various posts, is that people online seem to prefer clean racing. Which I totally agree with, I am just not up to that level.

I just would also like to say that I really appreciate all of the help that I am getting on this forum. I really nice to be able to write something and not get abused. Thanks!
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Good to hear your enjoying it. You will find this site is extremely mature and will endeavour to help.

If you do go online, a simple rule if you do gain a place by hitting someone a bit too fiercely, just give it back. By doing this you won't get kicked and you will find then when you do win or place high, you know in yourself you done it the right way. Be aware not everyone does this, but when you find a good lobby with clean racers, it will be obvious that they are trying to race fairly and you will probably get friend invites.
 
I can easily see how the OP was disappointed by the early parts of the game.

It's something that should have been dropped a few releases ago - might have made sense in the first Grand Turismo back in the day, but not now. You just seem to keep having to buy a bunch of un-interesting cars to enter race series. Then its a race that expects you to get from the back of the pack to the lead in a short amount of laps. So you spend more money again to make the car faster than the rest of the field to make it possible to win. Then to only get a prize car that's weaker and less interesting than the one you drove the series in. You're spending all your time and money on these, frankly quite boring and lame cars and races.

So cbrown119 I'd agree with TeddyBear-420 and others who posted above, start doing the seasonal events.

They weren't around when most of us started (they arrived in a later update) the pay outs are huge and they are a good challenge. Then with that money you can get through the A-spec of the game easier (no grinding)

And here's my main idea 💡 Use the money to buy some good cars and get into some on-line racing. That's where you will find good opponents and the best aspects of the game will show themselves. There's dozens of series that are being run here on GTPlanet, and they use a variety of cars, you don't have to have super race-cars to compete. Some will be race series that use standard road cars, the racings still good. Find one that suits you timezone and personal schedule.

Enjoy the game.
 
Use the driving line so you get a feel for how you're suppose to maneuver each car. Do this until you're confident on most tracks, then turn it off. Fastest view in my opinion would be the hood, or top half car view. It's the one where you see the front half of the outside of your car.

Buy a rear wheel drive car, as that will give you miles better handling than say, a front wheel drive one. It will be harder to drive, but better in the long run. Remember, brake early into corners, and exit fast out of them. It might seem slow, but trust me, it's much much faster than plowing hard into a corner and sliding off into the dirt.

Use the curbs all around tracks, they tell you how to drive a track. You always want to bounce from curb to curb. Usually, your braking point should be close to where a curb would start...

As far as other aids are concerned...Don't bother with anything other than TC. Do not use Skid Recovery Force as that makes the game unrealistic. You really shouldn't go over TC=5 and even then, try and not use it. It will only make you slower in the long run. What TC does is prevent your wheels from spinning. You can do this manually, and faster by controlling the amount of throttle you put down. You'll learn...
 
I know what you feel man.

When I first started playing GT5 I thought, man... I hoped this game would be better.....

So me and a friend played splitscreen in arcade with the faster cars. I used a Castrol Tom's Supra and he used the Nismo GTR, or we would both use Zonda R's. THAT was really fun.

So when I went back into GT mode, I was a bit disappointed. Again.


All I can say, is try to get up to the point where you get faster cars. Just push through and by the time you're in Super GT cars and LMP's you will absolutely love playing. That worked for me.

I also found a cheap steering wheel (the gameshark one... 10° deadzone, no force feedback, and the pedals are flimsy) and even though it's not great, it still made GT5 a ton more fun.


Hope this helps you out.
 
if you want realistic, buy shift 2 and turn damage on
 
Realistic handling/driving physics (to an extent), massive car list, strong track list with the best version of the Nordschleife in any game, best photomode of any game.

This game is about collecting cars and enjoying driving them, if you're looking for a hardcore and realistic racing simulation you will not find it. If you want a realistic driving simulation with a lot of cars and some really high quality real world tracks then this is what GT5 gives.

GT5 is for the car lovers and enthusiasts. Playing with a wheel does make a big difference in enjoyment though.


There is damage in GT5, though it takes a lot more abuse to really damage your cars. But yeah it's not realistic damage wise. If you want to crash cars though, GT5 is the wrong game.
 
I bought GT5 shortly after release, and spent maybe 3 hours with it before I took it out and never touched it again until about a week ago. I felt the SAME exact way. Maybe even more so since I am a Shift2 junky. People raved to me about how great this game to the point of making it seem you will pretty much just DIE if you dont play it lol. I still feel its overatted, and the GT name alone makes diehards and fanboys defend it with blind faith.

I found the B-Spec part to be quite fun. The collection of cars to be decent, but rather upset at the standard vs premium crap (I like cockpit view only!!!). And I can only play it in short bursts or I just feel like I am "grinding". I have only done a few online races with random people so I cant really comment on how the online is...but I hear thats where it shines. But...I still play it.

mrluckypants
if you want realistic, buy shift 2 and turn damage on
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I agree here. S2 gets hated on a lot, but as far as a "racing" sim on console it is tops. I like the tuning, upgrading, and visual customization that it offers, it is very deep in that respect. Also when you make a mistake...you do get tense because you are not going to "bounce" off a wall or car....you are going to pay for the mistake, and you will hear and see the carnage in a big way.

Bigbazz
Realistic handling/driving physics (to an extent), massive car list, strong track list with the best version of the Nordschleife in any game, best photomode of any game.

This game is about collecting cars and enjoying driving them, if you're looking for a hardcore and realistic racing simulation you will not find it. If you want a realistic driving simulation with a lot of cars and some really high quality real world tracks then this is what GT5 gives.

GT5 is for the car lovers and enthusiasts. Playing with a wheel does make a big difference in enjoyment though.


There is damage in GT5, though it takes a lot more abuse to really damage your cars. But yeah it's not realistic damage wise. If you want to crash cars though, GT5 is the wrong game.
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And this is my conclusion as well. Its like the pokemon of car games. You keep coming back because you getta get em all. Also there seems to be so much to do, from karting, the NASCAR, the drifting, and the special challenges, it seems there is plenty of game time you will get with GT5. Its good and bad. I dont like drifting or NASCAR, and after playing Dirt series the rally portion seems tacked on.

It seems to me GT5 is a jack of all trades master of none. Sooooooo much content yet each section seems incomplete. You wonder "what if" they cut all the bells and whistles and focused only on driving, damage modeling, 300 premium cars, and more real world tracks what would the response have been? Would people have missed the VW bus challenge?

My advice is to have GT5, but also pick up a few "racing" games as well. F1 2010 is fun, Shift2 is a must have in my book, and the Dirt series is fun as well.
 
Vaxxtx
I agree here. S2 gets hated on a lot, but as far as a "racing" sim on console it is tops. I like the tuning, upgrading, and visual customization that it offers, it is very deep in that respect. Also when you make a mistake...you do get tense because you are not going to "bounce" off a wall or car....you are going to pay for the mistake, and you will hear and see the carnage in a big way.
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1. Much better than Hot Pursuit. (no tuning, cash, or storyline?!?! It feels like my old Burnout games, not like NFS)
2. It's also more realistic than GT5, if you stop and look around, you will see heat coming off of the engine, trees swaying in the wind, and leaves blowing around. The damage is more realistic as well, if you slide into a wall at 160mph, you will get body panels torn off and maybe lose a wheel! In GT5, you get a slight mechanical penalty and a black mark on your car.
 
I don't know how much you want to invest in this game, but I was new to driving games with GT5 last November, and was using the sixaxis controller until about a month ago when I got a Driving Force GT wheel. They cost about $140 -- I got mine from Amazon -- but it has totally changed the game. It became obvious to me that this game was designed to be played with a wheel.

So in addition to all the most excellent advice which I see above, my vote would be to get a wheel. Or maybe you could find someone in your area who could show you how they work (maybe Best Buy or Microcenter might have one set up?). But seriously, it is a whole, new, intense experience, and makes one appreciate the physics of GT5 much, much, much more.

I enjoyed mine so much I went out and bought one for my cousin for his B-day -- he started the game over using the wheel and hasn't looked back. And the wheel (from what I have heard) can be used with many other racing titles as well, if you race games other than GT5.

It does make the arms tired, though.:)
 
Wow! The seasonal events really pay-out! I'm rich and up to level 27. I purchased a nissan gt-r...fast and handles really well, sometimes too fast:-D!

How can you tell when the tires are worn? Is there a visual indication or is it just the loss of grip?
 
cbrown119
Wow! The seasonal events really pay-out! I'm rich and up to level 27. I purchased a nissan gt-r...fast and handles really well, sometimes too fast:-D!

How can you tell when the tires are worn? Is there a visual indication or is it just the loss of grip?
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Level 27 already!!! :drool:

Most of us never had the seasonals back when we were first starting and had to do it in baby steps.

Your question about tyre wear . . . tyre wear only occurs in on-line racing and the enduros (IIRC).

How you see tyre wear is the icon that shows the cars condition:

GT5trye413.jpg


^^^ That image is showing engine & wheel damage and tyre wear, all the red mess on the car icon. The tyre wear is the solid boxes inside the rectangles.

As you can see some of them are worn down to 4/5ths esp the rears, RWD car I figure. You can use tyres until there's 1/4 left, maybe more or less depending on the track / car. As they wear down you will notice that the grip level drops as well.
 
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