- 432
- TK42OnE
Like many of you, I had just lived through a weekend of pure racing sim ecstasy, 5 years in the making. It wasn't perfect, and there were things that made me scratch my head, but I woke up at 6:30am on Sunday just to continue the fun. So, to say I was enjoying the game is putting it mildly. I was in love.
Fast forward to Monday night.
It started off great, as I Gold License test A-7. Yay! 3 more to go. (Before every session of play, I try for 30 minutes to gold another license.)
Then, I look for something else to try out. An experience I'm sure we can all relate to. And... the nightmare begins. A three headed perfect storm of validation for every criticism, complaint, nitpick, and argument against the game.
The Storm Begins:
Sport Truck Challenge: What the hell was PD thinking? Really. That is the first thought that crossed my mind the second, (the second!) the race started. Did they intentionally create a race to showcase every single graphical flaw in Gran Turismo 5? Is there a truck that looks good? If there is I didn't see it. And to say I was disappointed in what they did to Laguna Seca is to put it mildly.
I won the race and had to stop myself from selling my F150 Lightning out of pure spite. My B-Spec guy will need it though... great, another tour of this horror show.
The Eye of the Storm:
Top gear Intermediate Challenge:
Okay. I get it. I'm going to get a bunch of, "What, you thought that was hard?" from the normal crew. No big deal. I hate it when people give videogame credentials to support an argument, but in this case I think its relevant.
I'm no great racer. I admit that. But, I'm no novice either. Despite many curses and slammed controllers (and later wheels) I golded many, not all, but many, of the Gran Turismo 5 Prologue licenses. And, we all know there were some pretty brutal tests in the A and S stages. My point is that I'm not unused to the frustration, and eventual redemption, to be found in some of GT's harder challenges.
But, this was just ridiculous. For one, it feels totally ridiculous. Are they making tires out of ice nowadays? Was I not informed of this breakthrough? And, to top it off, the Lotus just looks horrible. It's a premium that looks just plain bad and it is a kick in the groin to top off the brutal, pointless, beatdown that this challenge hands out.
The Storm Subsides:
WRC challenge beginner stage:
Sweaty from frustration and shaking with disappointment, I go in search of something, anything, that will restore my faith in what PD was trying to do with this project. A mouthful of clean fresh driving enjoyment to wash out the bitter pill I was just forced to swallow.
I give the Rally Challenge a shot.
Probably not the best idea. But, in Gran Turismo 5's defense, I did, eventually, manage to tune my Civic to the point that it was at least fun to compete in the race.
I don't know what the point of all this was, it's probably more for my own therapy than anything else, but I was left thinking, pretty much throughout the night, that I had just seen what the critics were talking about. The underside; the jagged, silly, confusing, underbelly, of an otherwise beautiful game.
What I'm looking for now is suggestions. I have to go back and see if I can improve on my Bronze in the rally challenge (I won't be going back to the Top Gear Test track anytime soon. Forgive my language, but F* that!) But does anyone have any races or challenges that they think exemplify the beauty of the game. Anything that stands out and made them say "Wow! Now I know what the fuss is all about!"
I need something to make me fall in love with the game again.
**Update**
Okay. Update.
My faith has been restored. I really do think a large part of why I had such a horrible time the night before last was the one two punch provided by the Sports Truck Challenge, and then the horrid Top Gear Intermediate challenge. Both of those events are, so far, in my experience, the low points of the game. To do them both back to back was just asking for trouble.
This isn't to excuse PD though, as the mere fact that those two challenges are in the game is confusing and bizarre to me.
Last night, however, was different.
First off, I completed the Beginners Rally Challenge. A side effect of which was that it made me tune my '97 Civic to the eyeballs, and that has turned into my pet project, and it a flat out blast to drive. The event itself, after you get the hand of it, is a lot of fun too.
Then, on the advice of some posters in this thread, I decided to give the AMG challenge a shot. Score. This is why I bought GT5. Pure driving enjoyment. Fun, exciting, beautiful, challenging (without being moronic *cough* Top Gear *cough*). I didn't go crazy and kill myself to get golds, I settled for silvers, and that was enough for me at the time.
Then, to top it off, after all the money collected from the events, I had enough to finally race modify my '70 Dodge Challenger. Amazing. Mind blowing. Spectacular. Pick your adjective. I couldn't take the smile off my face with a chisel.
I'm sure there will be more disappointments in the future, but at least now I have something, a couple of things actually, to fall back on and help snap me back to reality when I run across another Sports Truck challenge.
Fast forward to Monday night.
It started off great, as I Gold License test A-7. Yay! 3 more to go. (Before every session of play, I try for 30 minutes to gold another license.)
Then, I look for something else to try out. An experience I'm sure we can all relate to. And... the nightmare begins. A three headed perfect storm of validation for every criticism, complaint, nitpick, and argument against the game.
The Storm Begins:
Sport Truck Challenge: What the hell was PD thinking? Really. That is the first thought that crossed my mind the second, (the second!) the race started. Did they intentionally create a race to showcase every single graphical flaw in Gran Turismo 5? Is there a truck that looks good? If there is I didn't see it. And to say I was disappointed in what they did to Laguna Seca is to put it mildly.
I won the race and had to stop myself from selling my F150 Lightning out of pure spite. My B-Spec guy will need it though... great, another tour of this horror show.
The Eye of the Storm:
Top gear Intermediate Challenge:
Okay. I get it. I'm going to get a bunch of, "What, you thought that was hard?" from the normal crew. No big deal. I hate it when people give videogame credentials to support an argument, but in this case I think its relevant.
I'm no great racer. I admit that. But, I'm no novice either. Despite many curses and slammed controllers (and later wheels) I golded many, not all, but many, of the Gran Turismo 5 Prologue licenses. And, we all know there were some pretty brutal tests in the A and S stages. My point is that I'm not unused to the frustration, and eventual redemption, to be found in some of GT's harder challenges.
But, this was just ridiculous. For one, it feels totally ridiculous. Are they making tires out of ice nowadays? Was I not informed of this breakthrough? And, to top it off, the Lotus just looks horrible. It's a premium that looks just plain bad and it is a kick in the groin to top off the brutal, pointless, beatdown that this challenge hands out.
The Storm Subsides:
WRC challenge beginner stage:
Sweaty from frustration and shaking with disappointment, I go in search of something, anything, that will restore my faith in what PD was trying to do with this project. A mouthful of clean fresh driving enjoyment to wash out the bitter pill I was just forced to swallow.
I give the Rally Challenge a shot.
Probably not the best idea. But, in Gran Turismo 5's defense, I did, eventually, manage to tune my Civic to the point that it was at least fun to compete in the race.
I don't know what the point of all this was, it's probably more for my own therapy than anything else, but I was left thinking, pretty much throughout the night, that I had just seen what the critics were talking about. The underside; the jagged, silly, confusing, underbelly, of an otherwise beautiful game.
What I'm looking for now is suggestions. I have to go back and see if I can improve on my Bronze in the rally challenge (I won't be going back to the Top Gear Test track anytime soon. Forgive my language, but F* that!) But does anyone have any races or challenges that they think exemplify the beauty of the game. Anything that stands out and made them say "Wow! Now I know what the fuss is all about!"
I need something to make me fall in love with the game again.
**Update**
Okay. Update.
My faith has been restored. I really do think a large part of why I had such a horrible time the night before last was the one two punch provided by the Sports Truck Challenge, and then the horrid Top Gear Intermediate challenge. Both of those events are, so far, in my experience, the low points of the game. To do them both back to back was just asking for trouble.
This isn't to excuse PD though, as the mere fact that those two challenges are in the game is confusing and bizarre to me.
Last night, however, was different.
First off, I completed the Beginners Rally Challenge. A side effect of which was that it made me tune my '97 Civic to the eyeballs, and that has turned into my pet project, and it a flat out blast to drive. The event itself, after you get the hand of it, is a lot of fun too.
Then, on the advice of some posters in this thread, I decided to give the AMG challenge a shot. Score. This is why I bought GT5. Pure driving enjoyment. Fun, exciting, beautiful, challenging (without being moronic *cough* Top Gear *cough*). I didn't go crazy and kill myself to get golds, I settled for silvers, and that was enough for me at the time.
Then, to top it off, after all the money collected from the events, I had enough to finally race modify my '70 Dodge Challenger. Amazing. Mind blowing. Spectacular. Pick your adjective. I couldn't take the smile off my face with a chisel.
I'm sure there will be more disappointments in the future, but at least now I have something, a couple of things actually, to fall back on and help snap me back to reality when I run across another Sports Truck challenge.
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