Am I a shallow, blind-sided fanboy?
Hate to say it Famine, but by my criteria (someone who can only see good, and will rationalize out any and all bad by virtue of searching out a situation in which it wouldn't apply, then saying that's why it's not important regardless of the fact it's only not important to those in THAT situation)... yeah... I would say you are a blind sided fanboy...
First off, you totally excuse bad AI becuase you run lan parties and have little use for the AI and rightly see that AI just isn't up to par with human racers. In all fairness, a guy who runs LAN parties all the time has that luxury.
But for the VAST majority of people, that is not a luxury we have and the AI is a large part of the experience. I mean that's who most of us will be spending hours racing against as we progress through the game to unlock and earn all our cars right?
Sure we have online, but I find online to be MORE annoying than AI many times because I don't get to run LAN parties where everyone is decent. Almost all my online experiences involve at least half a course of nooblets. Sure a good friends list can help avoid that, but it still stands, single player is where a lot of people will spend a lot of time so any issues with it are legit issues, not just excuseable as "who needs that" situations.
I mean PD programmed an extensive career mode around SP... it's obviously not the the red headed step child of game modes.
I am also surprised to see your list of wants from a next gen game... you want more and prettier and that's it? So by those rational if I dressed up Pole Position enough and gave it an ass load of really awesome looking cars and tracks and it still played like the original Pole Position, that would be ok right? Because it's got more and it's prettier and let's admit it, Pole Positions was hot **** when it came out. If it was hot **** then and we dressed it up and made it bigger every generation, it must still be hot **** now right?
Bigger and more but still the same problems plaguing, that's not what got people riled up at Madden right?
It sounds like you value the sandbox abilities more than the simulation abilities. I mean, why not play Midnight club? There are litterally limitless courses you can take and with traffic no two races will be the same! Why limit yourself to GT?
Sorry but when I see the word simulator in the tag line, I expect them to be focusing on simulating whatever it is they are showing us.
If that's truly all it takes to make you happy, then I am glad your expectations are so low becuase I think you will find yourself pleased often.
But yeah, sorry Famine, I have to say, honestly you are excusing and rationlizing out flaws and unfulfilled promises becuase you don't happen to care about them. It sounds to me like unless GT5 actually got WORSE than GT4 you would be all smiles and rainbows... I will venture to say that just doesn't cut it for the vast majority and that yes, in all honesty, that does make you a fanboy.