- 931
First up, I have played a lot of GT, every one from the Japanese release in December 1997 in fact (excluding 4 Prolgue).
The intro
These things are entirely subjective, but I'd say this one probably is the equal of the GT5 one in terms of the impression it makes on you on first viewing. I think the perfect intro would probably be a combo of the manufacturing scenes of 5 with the gameplay footage of 6. The music I don't really care for (as per the My Chemical Romance song in 5) but it definitely has its place here in conveying energy and drama.
The first hour
I was a bit at sea in the first hour. After driving Brands Hatch, 'picking' the Honda Fit, experiencing an initial race at Autumn Ring I was a little concerned. I was not entirely convinced by the new menu systems, the initial race at Autumn Ring was in low light, and with the tinted windows in the Fit everything seemed extremely dark. Also, a lot of the opposition seemed to consist of a lot of standard cars. Going into the options and trying to configure the HUD in the same way in GT5 revealed that a lot of the options are now gone - particularly the ability to set the map to zoom in your part of the track so that you can see cars to the right and left. From there on, though, things got a lot better...
Visuals
The step up in resolution and the tricks that PD are playing here mean that overall the new rendering setup is a success. Yes, there are problems. The framerate can drop a bit, but nothing too bad. The shadows are a little strange sometimes. But, there are incredible stand out moments for a game running on 7 year old hardware. The track textures are one example; to me, it looks like there is some kind of bump mapping applied here to get that kind of 3D pop to them. They look superb on most tracks. I think some tyre side walls are using the same effect.
The new lighting model is superb. From dusk at Willow Springs, night time at Apricot Hill (with the artificial lighting in the stadium section) to a cloudy, overcast, Silverstone, it all works very well, adding to realism.
At times the visuals can be absolutely brilliant and tragic at the same time. Bathurst is a case in point. The lighting, track texture etc. are superb and from some shots you could almost think its real. Until you see the trees and flickering shadows. They are at their worst on this track, and that's a shame. Given the hardware available, it's probably to be expected though.
AI
Like the visuals the AI is capable of being superb, and tragically bad at the same time. Up until the mission race with the. Nissan GTR at Silverstone, I was almost convinced nothing had changed; the AI drivers jamming on the brakes at any corner and no signs of any intelligence. But once you drive the GTR mission, you realise that in fact, the AI is actually capable of overtaking and out braking you into a corner, defending a line into a corner, and actually getting generally pretty aggressive with you.
What I'm finding is that the further I get into the career, they are getting a lot better with less brake jamming and more intelligence with less of the artificial.
Career
The changes to the career mode are enerally successful. Progression is similar to before, but the star system seems a little less punishing and more rewarding than the level system. Most of the races (other than karts) are still rolling start, overtake everything, affairs, which is a strange choice and a bit disappointing. Why not just crank the AI level up a bit and have a grid start every now and then?
The bonus bits like the Lunar Rover missions and the Goodwood challenges work very well.
Menus
Everything works faster, loading times are now fine. I think visually things are a little less impressive. There is no cool initial screen with a high res view of your car in a photomode location and some of the amusing animations are now gone from GT Auto. It's all a bit more utilitarian and business like.
New content
All of the new tracks are very successful. Having the internal Stowe circuit at Silverstone is a nice touch for anyone that has done one of their experience days there IRL. It serves as a nice Top Gear test track replacement as well.
I would say that this game contains the best fantasy track (real location obviously) ever created in a driving game sim. The smaller, tighter, Matterhorn track (can't remember the name) is a work of genius. Elevation changes with blind entries, fast sections and some superb visuals with brilliantly realised underpasses, electric rail tracks etc. it is a real delight.
Physics
It is better, simple as that. Understeer is less of a feature and cars are just a lot more alive and fun to drive. Initially I was almost driving it like GT5, but that's a mistake. Cars just seem to come alive the more you throw them around. The Apricot Hill license test in the dark with the racing Mazda 5 really enforces this - sliding the car through the esses here is an joy. It isn't perfect though, wheel spin seems to be strangely hard to come by in some cars that should really be lighting up the rears at will, and FWD cars are probably still not there with a lack of torque steer etc.
Missing Stuff
There is a lot of promise ahead; track creator being one of them. Whilst it's a shame we had to lose some stuff that even 5 had (multi monitor for example) this leaves some real exciting updates in the months to come.
Photomode
My parting shot from the photomode thread here
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/ronda-photomode-what-is-going-on.291810/
Overall
GT6 is a success. A step up from GT5 in almost every department. A lot of the GT niggles remain, but there is just too much that's right here to say that it isn't a major success.
I think the real judgement will be made in 6 months when most of the updates and new features have landed.
The intro
These things are entirely subjective, but I'd say this one probably is the equal of the GT5 one in terms of the impression it makes on you on first viewing. I think the perfect intro would probably be a combo of the manufacturing scenes of 5 with the gameplay footage of 6. The music I don't really care for (as per the My Chemical Romance song in 5) but it definitely has its place here in conveying energy and drama.
The first hour
I was a bit at sea in the first hour. After driving Brands Hatch, 'picking' the Honda Fit, experiencing an initial race at Autumn Ring I was a little concerned. I was not entirely convinced by the new menu systems, the initial race at Autumn Ring was in low light, and with the tinted windows in the Fit everything seemed extremely dark. Also, a lot of the opposition seemed to consist of a lot of standard cars. Going into the options and trying to configure the HUD in the same way in GT5 revealed that a lot of the options are now gone - particularly the ability to set the map to zoom in your part of the track so that you can see cars to the right and left. From there on, though, things got a lot better...
Visuals
The step up in resolution and the tricks that PD are playing here mean that overall the new rendering setup is a success. Yes, there are problems. The framerate can drop a bit, but nothing too bad. The shadows are a little strange sometimes. But, there are incredible stand out moments for a game running on 7 year old hardware. The track textures are one example; to me, it looks like there is some kind of bump mapping applied here to get that kind of 3D pop to them. They look superb on most tracks. I think some tyre side walls are using the same effect.
The new lighting model is superb. From dusk at Willow Springs, night time at Apricot Hill (with the artificial lighting in the stadium section) to a cloudy, overcast, Silverstone, it all works very well, adding to realism.
At times the visuals can be absolutely brilliant and tragic at the same time. Bathurst is a case in point. The lighting, track texture etc. are superb and from some shots you could almost think its real. Until you see the trees and flickering shadows. They are at their worst on this track, and that's a shame. Given the hardware available, it's probably to be expected though.
AI
Like the visuals the AI is capable of being superb, and tragically bad at the same time. Up until the mission race with the. Nissan GTR at Silverstone, I was almost convinced nothing had changed; the AI drivers jamming on the brakes at any corner and no signs of any intelligence. But once you drive the GTR mission, you realise that in fact, the AI is actually capable of overtaking and out braking you into a corner, defending a line into a corner, and actually getting generally pretty aggressive with you.
What I'm finding is that the further I get into the career, they are getting a lot better with less brake jamming and more intelligence with less of the artificial.
Career
The changes to the career mode are enerally successful. Progression is similar to before, but the star system seems a little less punishing and more rewarding than the level system. Most of the races (other than karts) are still rolling start, overtake everything, affairs, which is a strange choice and a bit disappointing. Why not just crank the AI level up a bit and have a grid start every now and then?
The bonus bits like the Lunar Rover missions and the Goodwood challenges work very well.
Menus
Everything works faster, loading times are now fine. I think visually things are a little less impressive. There is no cool initial screen with a high res view of your car in a photomode location and some of the amusing animations are now gone from GT Auto. It's all a bit more utilitarian and business like.
New content
All of the new tracks are very successful. Having the internal Stowe circuit at Silverstone is a nice touch for anyone that has done one of their experience days there IRL. It serves as a nice Top Gear test track replacement as well.
I would say that this game contains the best fantasy track (real location obviously) ever created in a driving game sim. The smaller, tighter, Matterhorn track (can't remember the name) is a work of genius. Elevation changes with blind entries, fast sections and some superb visuals with brilliantly realised underpasses, electric rail tracks etc. it is a real delight.
Physics
It is better, simple as that. Understeer is less of a feature and cars are just a lot more alive and fun to drive. Initially I was almost driving it like GT5, but that's a mistake. Cars just seem to come alive the more you throw them around. The Apricot Hill license test in the dark with the racing Mazda 5 really enforces this - sliding the car through the esses here is an joy. It isn't perfect though, wheel spin seems to be strangely hard to come by in some cars that should really be lighting up the rears at will, and FWD cars are probably still not there with a lack of torque steer etc.
Missing Stuff
There is a lot of promise ahead; track creator being one of them. Whilst it's a shame we had to lose some stuff that even 5 had (multi monitor for example) this leaves some real exciting updates in the months to come.
Photomode
My parting shot from the photomode thread here
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/ronda-photomode-what-is-going-on.291810/
Overall
GT6 is a success. A step up from GT5 in almost every department. A lot of the GT niggles remain, but there is just too much that's right here to say that it isn't a major success.
I think the real judgement will be made in 6 months when most of the updates and new features have landed.
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