Well, just don't be like "Polyphony is a premier developer, so anything less than premier is unacceptable." People will laugh at the notion of PD being perfectionists. The thing I always want to imagine is that such things are being worked on if not available right away. PD's taking a lot of time puttting GT5 (eventual) together. This is a problem if you are the impatient type. This is no big thing if you are the patient type. People will ALWAYS find something to nit-pick on in regards to GT5 nearing completion and when the final game is released. Always! It could be regular people like you and me, the most hardened video game critics who represent major firms like Gamespot and IGNore (ign.com), YouTube people (who can be just as bad as AOL chat room people), and the like. All I'm concerned about is what PD will be doing to make sure they deliver as much of the PS3's capabilities and power as possible. They can make this a completely unreal experience. But are there going to be people who'll say that GT5 will end up being GT4.5 or GT3.66?
The issue of time and weather cycles could ultimately come down to how much effort will be put into making the effects as realistic as possible. Maybe PD was considering time cycles, but couldn't do it in GT4... or that this was set to be a "24-hour sprint race." I credit rFactor for having a great system of time. Those who don't have a lot of time could set up a 24-hour race in only 24 minutes. Maybe PD could set up races for time to go rather fast for some sprint races. I'm probably looking for time to play a real factor in how races progress. You know in races how any race that carries into nighttime (especially in American oval racing) that the setting sun can provide problems seeing in real racing? If you want the 24 Hours of Le Mans to be authentic, the race has to have more daylight than night considering the time of year it's run in. I would probably anticipate accurate time cycles judging on times of year and the location. So if GT5 has a makeshift street course race on the streets of Anchorage, Alaska, then get ready for the good old Midnight Sun deal. Or if it's the Winter Solstice, only five hours of daylight there! Time is VERY likely to be pulled off. Even picture racing a track at certain times of day.
I consider temperature and wind as weather factors. Warmer ambient air temperatures can mean drivers will need to do more to stay cool in warmer weather. It may also affect tire wear and things like that. Colder ambient air temperatures can result in things like problems heating tires, turbo engines being able to cool off, and things like that. Wind can have a big effect on aerodynamics. If PD wanted to be really advanced, they would further their "The New Standard" motto by having certain parts of the track wet. Take the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2001. Parts of the 8.5 mile track were drenched in rain while other parts were relatively dry. Maybe rain passes and quickly dries up. If you can't have rainy days, then never count out wet tracks for all race courses. I don't think standing water could be possible, but it could happen. Weather has a larger effect in rally racing. Miserably soggy days could mean lots of mud in off-road sections. Then there's snow. Picture falling snow as well as the possibilty of blizzards. This is just a video, but imagine if you were racing in a light snow event like this promotional video: <
http://www.gran-turismo.com/en/movie/d1570.html >. It would be good to have all-weather tires for races. Another race condition I probably wouldn't be aware of would be dust storms and sand storms. Then again, there aren't too many GT courses and environments that would ellicit dust storms or sand storms. PD just needs to put together a solid environmental package to make racing in all sorts of conditions possible.
My primary consideration before PD pulls off any weather effects- make Wet Racing Tires available to purchase. I'm talking about your Intermediate tires, Light Rain tires, and Heavy Rain tires. Using dry weather tires on wet surfaces doesn't work very well. Time and weather changes are very possible in a GT game. Question is, how will PD pull it off? Unless you work for PD and Gran Turismo, we'll have no earthly idea how PD pulls this off successfully.