- 692
- Brighton/UK
- GTP_janimal
The only reward I ever want from a racing game is challenging racing. I think PD realised that yet again they weren't able to fulfill that requirement (otherwise maybe they would call it the real racing simulator) and so they added levels and experience points instead of challenging AI and a realistic damage model.
Despite playing the GT series since GT1 and the series being my only reason for ever having owned a console I have finally given up asking for those two things and moved on to other games. I don't care about intricately modelled dashboard stitching unless the game already has acceptable AI and a complete physics model ie damage and reasonable collision modelling. A massive part of racing is about being precise and not making mistakes, because in real life they are at best expensive and at worst fatal. GT has for too long ignored the AI and the damage model.
I'll never blindly buy a GT game again without renting first to see if they have finally bothered to consider the core requirements of a racing game.
It sounds like they are keen on just going down the free roam / test drive path anyway. Which they might as well do considering how exciting the racing is in the (offline portion) of the game.
Obviously this is just my opinion and I am half glad that there are people out there who still enjoy the game for what it is. But another part of me wishes more people would acknowledge what a poorly thought out mish mash of half ideas GT5 is. Then perhaps PD would be forced to focus more on some core functionality.
If they want a driving simulator, then do it. Drop the racing and produce the world's greatest car collecting & testing game (so completely simulate tuning options and realistic parts for all models and have decent tools for test tracks, time trials, photo mode and free roam or whatever)
If they want a racing siumulator, then screw the museum, forget the excrutiatingly detailed interiors and give us a complete (inc. collision & damage) physics model, excellent AI, a decent livery editor, complex tuning options, consistent weather / time options, and decent replay controls so we can see how brilliant we drove (or how abysmally!)
In my opinion GT4 was the closest they got to a world class game, if only they had the AI & damage, the two things requested repeatedly by the fanbase since GT1, over and over again ad nauseum.
I only look in the GT forums now to see if any updates have / or are rumoured to be in the pipeline to make me dust off the box.
I am playing Shift 2 now, I hated it at first - it seemed undriveable but with a little patience and tweaking it has become utterly brilliant - mostly due to the AI being so good. I really don't mind finishing a race mid-field or not finishing at all by totalling the car because the drive to get to that point was so much fun. PD seem to have forgotten that you need to lose a few times to make the winning special.
I really never thought I would say it but Shift 2 > GT5
It gets old. If you don't get that you're being conceited by continually complaining about the unalterable, you just don't like GT anymore. Did you expect it to be the exact same style? Ever heard of growth or development?
Change?I bet you have. So let's just end it with, you hate GT now.
It sounds to me like this is a guy who really wants to see the GT series do well and get better. Your profile suggests you're an American (I apologise if I am wrong). If so you should understand that meekly accepting what is given to you is not how US (cosmopolitan at least) bar food is so good. If you don't complain they don't now what to fix. You might not have noticed, but there's a lot less buzz on these forums these days. Many die hard GT series players have moved on to pastures new. It seems mostly the brand fans are left.
There was a program on UK TV recently about brand loyalty. They took one brand of baked beans and put it in two different pots one labelled with the worlds leading baked bean manufacturer and the other with a supermarket own brand label. They then asked people in the street which tasted better. Only 1 in 11 said they tasted the same. This is the reason such taste tests are normally carried out blind (usually double blind to be sure the observer doesn't influence the results). It's not really something you can try with computer games, but you really need to consider each game on its own merit rather than worry about the producer or how good previous versions were.
*Caveats:
1) I'm not really into online racing - I'm very anti-social
but with some good friends GT5 online can be a lot of fun. I haven't even been able to try S2U online due to PSN store having been down since I got the game2) I've always hated the shift series
3) I've always stood by the GT series hoping for the eventual emergence of decent AI and damage.
4) I recently played forza 3 at a friend's house. As a senior windows app developer for 12 years I have a healthy hatred for all things MS and I tend to (unhealthily) default to hating anything from the MS stable before I have tried it. I was surprised, but it was actually fun to drive and certainly seems a more coherent game than GT5.
PS sorry for going sort of off topic. I just find it hard to discuss GT5 without expressing my disappointment
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but that's why this is here! 
