I pretty much just skimmed the whole thread, but I think everyone has missed the most important point; it is all completely moot because of how PD implements these "driving aids" in a blanket fashion across the entire game.
I won't dwell on skid recovery, driving line, or active steering. Except for the latter in rare cases, these are obviously beginner level aids.
However, ABS, TCS, and ASM are actual physical systems found on
some cars. Not only that, but these systems vary widely from car to car. If there were to be any accuracy in the game at all concerning them, they would be found in the tuning shop along with ECM chips and the like, but only on cars that have them IRL.
As it is now, they are nothing more than global "difficulty sliders", and unfortunately it's up to the player or room host to decide (in a strange way) how difficult they want the game to be. To do it in a way that vaguely resembles real life, you need a very deep knowledge of cars. I personally try to set up each car as close to real life as possible, because I enjoy the thrill of driving real cars, complete with their flaws. It's what separates them from each other and makes them each unique.
Here's an example: I have a '69 Camaro in the game that has been modded slightly. I don't have a chip in it because electronic control didn't exist on these cars in 1969. And neither did TCS, ASM, or ABS. The brakes on it IRL were 4-wheel drums, and I've actually driven some of these cars that couldn't lock the brakes up if you stood on the pedal both feet and hands. Yet in the game, I do use ABS = 1, because the braking and weight distribution in GT5 is so out of whack. So I use this "aid" as a correction for flawed physics in this case.
Would I use TCS on a ZR1? Sure, occasionally. It's a physical system installed on the real car, and it's a major contributor to how that car handles. That car also comes equipped with an automatic electromagnetic suspension system which isn't to be found anywhere in GT5...but would using the generic ASM "aid" simulate that accurately? I doubt it.
So it really comes down to the fact that these settings aren't anything more than different ways of setting the game's difficulty, and it's up to you to decide which ones to use for any given car at any given time. Personally, I would much rather prefer that they were done properly as actual systems, and that we just had a simple slider to change the game's AI difficulty...but then again there is a lot I would have done differently.
The irony is that to get the most realistic and challenging behavior out of GT5, you have to really know cars and like the challenge; and most of those people probably spend more time on much better PC-based sims in the first place. Yet the majority of casual console gamers that aren't car experts are stuck with this baffling implementation of driver aids to try and figure out.
Ahhh... gotta love some of the stuff PD chose to do.
