i only knew GT4, but there's other stuff mentioned here that i never knew and now i'm pining for. you could really go back and forth from A to B spec? something i always wanted without knowing it had already existed! how could polyphony not realize how great that would be?
the only car missing from GT4 is the Auto Union streamliner, but add the Shelby Daytona, Renault Espace F1, Lotus Elise GT1 others have mentioned here, and you see quite a few good cars have been given up for the 300 "new" ones, almost all of them completely uselesscopy/pastes. only the 4 new vintage cars are of any interest imo.
we've gained paint, but lost changing wheels on standard cars. and since there were 3 used car dealerships that renewed more quickly, and you could rewin prize cars, you could generally end up with the color you wanted anyway. you know what's ironic? they won't let me paint my chevelle! so now i've got a turd beige SS with lame stock wheels, when in GT4 i had a hot red one with cool mags.
it was also good to be able to at least SEE all the cars in the dealerships, even the ones that weren't for sale.
for circuits, you have to give up some old to get some new. seoul, new york, motegi, who cares? but i do miss el capitan, seattle and apricot hill. most regrettable of all, the GT4 'ring was much cooler than the new one.
someone mentioned manufacturer's events: most were less interesting than the seasonal events we have now but SOME of them were very cool. like the subaru 360 race, which presented two interesting challenges: a) win with just an oil change then b) soup up your pretty blue prize 360 whole hog (with blue wheels!) and try to lap the field in 3 laps. i still have that replay!
and that reminds me of the NOS: without it you can no longer turn fiat 500's and such imps into the same giant killers. on big displacement engines the nitrous never lasted long but in those tiny engines you could turn it to 100% and it would still last all race.
and remember that the NOS was the one tune that didn't cost you a-spec points, which leads to my last comparison between 4 and 5: now the licences are meaningless, you get access to levels with A-spec points. and those A-spec points you can grind out almost as meaninglessly. the GT4 A-spec points were a much better indication of skill... paradoxically THEY didn't get you anything! the only motivation for them was that 2000 point hoax... for the paint shop!
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