Is that sort of insane detail 'nice' and 'cool' when you're taking close up photos like that? Maybe. Is it necessary for the overall enjoyment of the game, bearing in mind you will never see that sort of detail in game? Not in the slightest.
They spent far too long detailing cars to extreme levels that nobody would see in the main part of the game and so wasted a lot of their time.
If you have the time and huge resources to model cars to such extreme detail and still crank out a large number of them by all means go for it but PD clearly did not, and the game suffered for it.
Even though they did spend a seemingly preposterous and costly amount of effort and money into modeling the cars with
such insane detail, the game does noticeably suffer from lack of features. Sure, it has its A-Spec and seasonals, and I'm not saying the game can't be enjoyed. I had an absolute blast playing through the seasonals with an underpowered car, trying to catch the leader.
However, the game is still stunted by a noticeable lack of content, especially when compared
to something like GT4. This may have been, if not avoided, then partially alleviated by giving people the option to actually
see the glorious modelling and design present in this game. Why go through such hard work and attention to detail if you're not going to let people see it? Has anyone,
anyone seen the backseat belt buckles in a single premium car? Hands up? I sure as heck haven't, but apparently they've been modelled. I'm sure at least a few of you remember the months before the game was released, waiting for the announcements, and there was a promotional picture comparing an actual photograph of a Challenger's backseat and the same shot in-game. The dualtone seat covers and belt buckles were all lovingly modelled. Why not give people the option to actually see this, and shoot it with the game's powerful camera tool, instead of forcing clever individuals to discover a mild glitch that forces the camera inside the car? This absolutely ludicrous level of detail and finish, while not unwelcome, does
not need to be improved upon, and does not need to be such a focus when the lack of working resources within Polyphony Digital restrict its ability to produce more content.
Second, I think the audio is fine. I hear people complaining about the car sounds constantly, and half the time I struggle to figure out why. Now, I know
some, usually standard cars have much of a "standard" sounding exhaust note, and often it's very disappointing. However, on many of the premium vehicles, I found the sound to be absolutely wonderful! Do any of you own a set of headphones? With my cheap-o, 60 dollar Turtle Beach's, I can hear all the wonderful roar of the Lamborghini's, the sceam of the Ferrari's; even the Murcielago has that high-rpm waver, where the engine sounds like it ripples a bit on upshift, that I heard on the Top Gear review of the LP640. The sound design is, in a lot of cases excellent, so I am often confused when confronted with numerous complaints about it.
As for PS3 or PS4 being the console of choice, I have to side with PS3. Sure, the next generation is all but guaranteed to be vastly more powerful than its predecessor, but like I said before, what this game does
not need are improved graphics, what it needs is
content. Perhaps a slight physics rework, is in order, as it can always improve, but to have it be kept within the confines of the PS3's capabilities I think would be ideal. The huge success of GT5 brought many new people to the playstation field, a good number buying the system solely for the game, myself included. Subsequently, I purchased roughly 10 more games for it, and made purchases on the PSN store for things entirely unrelated to GT5, bringing more revenue to Sony. I think it would be a proverbial slap in the face of many of these new fans to up and announce its release on the PS4, just 2-3 years after they had just bought the PS3.
On a more personal note, I recently bought a $1400 gaming laptop from Asus (far, far more powerful than my PS3, by the way), and I can hardly justify buying yet another console when I still have 3 or 4 games on the PS3 that I haven't even
played yet. I think a PS3 release would be more in Polyphony's interest, and perhaps further in the future (5-6 years), a real, highly advanced GT7 to be released on the up and coming PS4.
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: 1080 days (2 years, 11 months)
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