With the PSN network down, I've been going back to A-spec to gold events that I never got around to. Then I remembered why. The gameplay is horribly laid out and there are massive flaws in the progression. PD spent plenty of time testing and perfecting the racing physics, but the events appear to be thrown together with no regard for what the typical driver can accomplish using the DS3 or DFGT (the official wheel of GT5) or what challenges were more difficult than others.
Top Gear Test Track Intermediate (Lotus).
It takes maybe 20 minutes of practice to complete TGC 1 and 3 and receive a gold trophy, but why is 2 so difficult? First off, the brake balance is so bad on the Lotus that you spend the first hour trying to figure out the first turn. Even after that you'll still botch it up. The A.I. drivers have no trouble braking and turning but if you try to follow them into the turn your car spins uncontrollably. I feel bad for the DS3 players because I imagine even getting bronze in this is too much of a challenge.
Flight Academy Mercedes-Benz AMG Intermediate (full lap)
After completing each sector, which can be a challenge for someone unfamiliar with the track, you now have to run a 7:04 around the ring WITH traffic. Unlike the wet events, you don't get much slack in the time for mistakes. If you encounter another car at a key point on the track you might as well start over. The description says you should run at 80% to avoid mistakes, yeah right. The challenge is possible to gold, but it is the hardest of the series and should really be left to the end. The rain events are much easier because the times give some leeway for minor driver errors.
Grand Tour Stage 1 (Eiger Norwand).
I have seen that after days of practice it is possible to get 1:15 around this track while the gold time is under 1:17. However, this is the first stage of the special event. A typical game would make each stage progressively more difficult. I spent 2 evenings getting gold on this. Stages 2, 4, and 5 were golded on the first try.
Grand Tour Stage 3 (Toscana at Night)
This is another 2-3 hour grind. To make things worse, the track changed after a patch and the course appears to be a little more difficult now. If it were daylight, the times for gold may have been appropriate, but at night when it is difficult to pick up turn apexes you have to drive slower. You need a flawless daylight lap to gold this event. I only achieved it by boosting the contrast of my TV so I could see beyond my headlights.
Formula GT Championship
A vehicle specific event in the series is a great idea, but not when the vehicle isn't in the new car lot. The UCD should be reserved for finding deals on cars and picking up rare vehicles that would be fun to drive. Every event in the game should be winnable with a car from the new dealer. I could understand if the price of the car was high, but I do not understand why players are forced to cycle the UCD until a car turns up for an event. Someone mentioned the car is available in the online dealer...well if you don't have internet access or PSN is offline that doesn't help you much does it.
Endurance Races
No way to exit and come back? This should have been the #1 priority for the first patch of this game. Expecting players to run a 24 hour race in one sitting is the dumbest thing I've ever heard of. Did anyone at PD even attempt it before releasing the game? Did anyone at PD even play the game start to finish before releasing it?
Classic Muscle Car Championship
Perhaps this is just a pet peiv of mine but I don't think there is a single muscle car that can compete in this event without first installing a custom transmission. Some people enjoy tuning cars but at the beginner and amateur levels of A-spec, I would expect a car straight from the dealer should be competitive. You get to Monza and the transmission tops out. Whoops. Are you telling me that a muscle car can't go faster than 110 mph?
Rally Gran Turismo Beginner
Wait 1 minute for map to load. Wait 1 minute for cars in front of you to drive off. Drive for 45 seconds. Repeat. Who's idea of fun was this? If you make a mistake, you'll have to start from the beginning again since there is no way to repeat a sector...and it will be different next time anyway. Correct me if I'm wrong but don't rally drivers at least get a recon lap on the sector?
Rally Gran Turismo (Alaska events)
So you've picked a rally car that just barely wins the dirt event. Now you jump into the snow events. The same car is now passing the A.I. drivers, not just a few, but all of them. The A.I. needs some improvements to make the snow events a little more challenging.
License Tests
These become hot and cold. Some you get gold on the 2nd try, others you spend hours trying to figure out. I don't mind having to work for gold, but the order should be considered so that more difficult challenges appear in later license tests. Here are the highlights...
A-8 (Schumaker S)
Such a simple turn, yet to get gold you will run it endlessly trying to squeeze 100ths of a second out of it. For me this was the most difficult single car test. Drop the gold time by 1/10th and it probably would have been fine.
IC-2 (Trial Mountain banked left turn)
I know the track very well and can usually nail this turn in any car. However the gold time was extremely difficult to achieve. This test should have been saved for later or the times raised.
IC-10 (Rome with 512BB)
Lots of people had trouble with this one. It is arguably more difficult than some of the S license tests. After learning this track, I came back to it though. It's not that hard if you are familiar with the track but you have to be very aggressive on the first few turns, and the the 512BB doesn't respond well to heavy braking.
S-8 (Suzuka)
This really should have been the S-10 test. It was the most difficult for me even though I was familiar with the track. Some of the other S license tests were relatively easy. I spent more time on the Schumaker S than most S tests.
Overall, I compiled this list not because I expect something to be done about it. I compiled it for open discussion and hopes that PD might notice it and do a little better job working out the game play details in the next GT game. It really comes down to game testing. The average user should be able to bronze any event after 1 or 2 tries. They should silver event after 3-5 clean tries. Gold should be within reach by expert drivers given the circumstances. If you put cars on the track, you aren't going to run a clean lap. If you make it night time, you aren't going to hit all the apexes.
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