- 845
- bkviper
I've run across the situation a few times in the last week when talking with either a member of the forum, or a friend in real life, where I begin talking about an aspect of GT5 that I assume is common knowledge and it turns out they were completely unaware of it. Even in cases where they have played the game daily since the release.
I even had a poll posted here about preferred viewing mode for the garage, and I threw in an option for not having been aware of it, and half the responses fell in that category.
So don't think of this as a FAQ, because that refers to questions that are repeatedly asked. Rather I was thinking of putting together a list of answers for the questions people didn't even know to ask.
I will share the few here that prompted this idea, and then I invite you to add your thoughts on what aspects of GT5 do you find helpful, useful, or enjoyable that perhaps the average user is not aware of it's presence in the game.
Additional Realism for Steering Wheel Users
Everyone is aware of the assists screen that allows you to configure how the car behaves, the type of input expected, and the type of feedback delivered. This is shown before every race.
What I have found many people didn't know was about the "Realism Settings" for those using wheels.
In order to access this, you need to go to the "Options" menu from the main screen of GT5. Important: Not the options menu from in GT Life, that is not the same set of options. This is the main screen where you choose between GT Mode, Arcade, Course Maker, etc. It is the small gear icon next to last on the right side.
Once in there, scroll down two levels to "Steering Controllers", then choose "Steering Settings".
Here you will find 3 options for adjusting the realism of how your wheel reacts.
When I changed mine to "Simulation", "Power Assist - Off", and "Force Feedback = 10", it was like an entire new game for me. It felt so much more like driving a car than playing a game.
Note: Steering wheels respond differently to the force feedback signals the game delivers. Some wheels need to be set to 9-10 to get the best feel. Others feel like they are flying apart at that level and need set to 5-6 for the best realism. You will need to experiment to find which you like best. For me, the change to "Simulation" and "Power Assist = Off" were the big improvements.
Multiple Views for Garage
This was the poll subject that I mentioned above.
Once you are in "GT Mode", go to your garage by clicking the car icon under the word "Community" on the left side of the screen.
When the garage opens, scroll to the right so the cursor moves over a car.
Once there, you can hit the [] (square) button and the garage view is changed to a different layout. There are 4 layouts to cycle through.
Unfortunately, once you close the garage, it resets to the original layout, just like the "Filter Results" options do. Why PD fixed the "Sort By" in the last update, but not these other settings is beyond me.
Note: While the icon is over a car, you can also hit the ^ (triangle) button to bring up a very handy menu loaded with useful options. This includes changing to the car without going through the startup animation, jumping directly to Tuning, Selling & Gifting, and several other options.
Traction Control Ruins Off Road Racing
Regardless of what a few people say, utilizing the driving assists is not a crime against humanity. There are situations with certain cars on certain tracks, that increasing traction control or ABS is required to make the best lap. I do agree that the more you have on, and the higher value they each have, the more it feels like playing a game than driving a car. But don't forget, many of these cars come with these assists in real life, so don't feel bad for using them.
Now the assist screen is another case of PD fixing 90% of a problem and strangely leaving part of the problem. When you change these values, most of them will remain the same the next time you see the screen. Traction Control however is not saved. Every time the options are initiated, it is reset to 5.
Now some folks might be fine with leaving it there for road racing, or even raise or lower it to a different number. As I said above, there are tracks I find a setting of 1 or 2 useful.
However, the use of ANY LEVEL of traction control in an off road setting will completely kill the experience. This goes for Drifting as well.
When you are in an environment where controlled wheel spin is necessary to be effective, any system that limits that ability will be detrimental. When I first started playing with Off Road courses, I thought PD had completely blown it and had totally missed the physics of driving on dirt or snow. But as I played around with all the assists, trying to find a decent setup, I happily discovered that turning traction control off instantly made all feel right with the world for off road racing in GT5.
So, even if you find it useful on road courses, turn it off for rally events and you will have a much better experience.
And if you find at first that you are spinning out a lot, try turning on the "Active Stability Management" setting. It doesn't seem to have the detrimental effect of stopping you from spinning the tires, it just prevents the car from going past the point of lost control and spinning of the entire car. Ultimately though, once you get comfortable with the range and control of sliding a car, you'll want to turn that back off as well.
Summary
I hope some of these bits of information will help some folks out there to bring further enjoyment to their GT5 experience.
And please, if you have helpful little hints and tricks like these, that might not be that well known to everyone, share your wisdom with us here.
I even had a poll posted here about preferred viewing mode for the garage, and I threw in an option for not having been aware of it, and half the responses fell in that category.
So don't think of this as a FAQ, because that refers to questions that are repeatedly asked. Rather I was thinking of putting together a list of answers for the questions people didn't even know to ask.
I will share the few here that prompted this idea, and then I invite you to add your thoughts on what aspects of GT5 do you find helpful, useful, or enjoyable that perhaps the average user is not aware of it's presence in the game.
Additional Realism for Steering Wheel Users
Everyone is aware of the assists screen that allows you to configure how the car behaves, the type of input expected, and the type of feedback delivered. This is shown before every race.
What I have found many people didn't know was about the "Realism Settings" for those using wheels.
In order to access this, you need to go to the "Options" menu from the main screen of GT5. Important: Not the options menu from in GT Life, that is not the same set of options. This is the main screen where you choose between GT Mode, Arcade, Course Maker, etc. It is the small gear icon next to last on the right side.
Once in there, scroll down two levels to "Steering Controllers", then choose "Steering Settings".
Here you will find 3 options for adjusting the realism of how your wheel reacts.
When I changed mine to "Simulation", "Power Assist - Off", and "Force Feedback = 10", it was like an entire new game for me. It felt so much more like driving a car than playing a game.
Note: Steering wheels respond differently to the force feedback signals the game delivers. Some wheels need to be set to 9-10 to get the best feel. Others feel like they are flying apart at that level and need set to 5-6 for the best realism. You will need to experiment to find which you like best. For me, the change to "Simulation" and "Power Assist = Off" were the big improvements.
Multiple Views for Garage
This was the poll subject that I mentioned above.
Once you are in "GT Mode", go to your garage by clicking the car icon under the word "Community" on the left side of the screen.
When the garage opens, scroll to the right so the cursor moves over a car.
Once there, you can hit the [] (square) button and the garage view is changed to a different layout. There are 4 layouts to cycle through.
Unfortunately, once you close the garage, it resets to the original layout, just like the "Filter Results" options do. Why PD fixed the "Sort By" in the last update, but not these other settings is beyond me.
Note: While the icon is over a car, you can also hit the ^ (triangle) button to bring up a very handy menu loaded with useful options. This includes changing to the car without going through the startup animation, jumping directly to Tuning, Selling & Gifting, and several other options.
Traction Control Ruins Off Road Racing
Regardless of what a few people say, utilizing the driving assists is not a crime against humanity. There are situations with certain cars on certain tracks, that increasing traction control or ABS is required to make the best lap. I do agree that the more you have on, and the higher value they each have, the more it feels like playing a game than driving a car. But don't forget, many of these cars come with these assists in real life, so don't feel bad for using them.
Now the assist screen is another case of PD fixing 90% of a problem and strangely leaving part of the problem. When you change these values, most of them will remain the same the next time you see the screen. Traction Control however is not saved. Every time the options are initiated, it is reset to 5.
Now some folks might be fine with leaving it there for road racing, or even raise or lower it to a different number. As I said above, there are tracks I find a setting of 1 or 2 useful.
However, the use of ANY LEVEL of traction control in an off road setting will completely kill the experience. This goes for Drifting as well.
When you are in an environment where controlled wheel spin is necessary to be effective, any system that limits that ability will be detrimental. When I first started playing with Off Road courses, I thought PD had completely blown it and had totally missed the physics of driving on dirt or snow. But as I played around with all the assists, trying to find a decent setup, I happily discovered that turning traction control off instantly made all feel right with the world for off road racing in GT5.
So, even if you find it useful on road courses, turn it off for rally events and you will have a much better experience.
And if you find at first that you are spinning out a lot, try turning on the "Active Stability Management" setting. It doesn't seem to have the detrimental effect of stopping you from spinning the tires, it just prevents the car from going past the point of lost control and spinning of the entire car. Ultimately though, once you get comfortable with the range and control of sliding a car, you'll want to turn that back off as well.
Summary
I hope some of these bits of information will help some folks out there to bring further enjoyment to their GT5 experience.
And please, if you have helpful little hints and tricks like these, that might not be that well known to everyone, share your wisdom with us here.
I have DFGT and it makes a difference... Well done OP for a really informative thread!
