Which other titles on a console give you a better racing simulation?
Gran Turismo has never really been a "racing simulator," and they even admit as much in their tagline: "The Real
Driving Simulator." If it were a "true" racing simulator, it would never have featured the very thing that set it apart from other racing games (and that competitors have since copied) --
unmodified and largely "civilian" roadcars. Instead, we would have nothing but racecars to drive, conventional racing series, little to no "fantasy" tracks, narrow gaps in performance between cars on the grid, and (I would hope) more aggressive and dynamic AI, to name a few things.
Look at the TOCA Race Driver series, for example. I've never been a fan of the physics in those games, but they
definitely represent what a console "racing simulator" should look like. GT is more like a driving game that
happens to spend most of its time pitting you against other cars in a "race" around a track.
A strange paradox is that for all of GT's shortcomings in terms of simulating a proper racing experience, it models certain things that a lot of racing games miss (eg. pit stops, tire temp/wear, fuel usage).
One thing I don't understand is that many people come to this forum now to complain about this game but they still play it. If you guys hate it so much can't you just return it?
Even with copycats, Gran Turismo is still one of a kind. Forza is very similar but appeals to a different sort of car enthusiast (leaning more towards sportscars/exotics and heavily-tuned, customized cars). Enthusia was also very similar but appealed to yet another kind of car enthusiast (emphasis on driving skill over tuning, accurate physics, and even more of a "driving" bent than GT, with more fantasy street courses than racetracks).
Premium vs. Standard aside, GT5 has dozens of cars no other game has even touched; many of them potentially have thousands of fans who have no other option to drive the car they like in a videogame. Like your Honda buddy.
Also, with GT5, you've got a unmistakably flawed game with one of the best physics models on a console (not perfect, and not really comparable to PC sims, but I need more time with it to form a final opinion). We're all here because we like driving, and that's one of the things GT5 definitely does well.
GT has always been about a huge expansive lineup of events and content, to appeal to many people, and last you for a long time.
I agree completely. GT has always been about quantity -- quantity of cars, quantity of tracks, and the quantity of time you'll spend with the game. I think Kazunori Yamauchi's end goal is to make the ultimate videogame equivalent of a sunday drive. Something you can turn to for a general driving "fix," whether you want to save money on fuel, the weather's bad outside, or you're just feeling lazy.
Beyond the fact that there was an episode where Clarkson reviewed GT4, GT5's tie-in with Top Gear makes perfect sense, because the game is designed to appeal to the widest possible spectrum of car enthusiasts. Even those that don't like to drive (B-spec) or who just like to look at cars (Photo Mode).
GT5 should've been GT4 updated. Instead it sort of lost some soul and identity, and it really seems like polyphony just forgot how they created their last games.
I agree, but for me GT4 was plagued by Polyphony forgetting how to put together a decent yet accessible physics engine (like GT3). So before, they taunted me with a bunch of neat stuff in a game I couldn't stand to play. Now they're taunting me with a fun physics model in a game that can't stand to let me have fun.
...on the topic of GT6 I sure hope they wait for the PS4 because it is obvious that running on the GT5 engine the PS3 is at it's limits and I would hate it to be compromised because of the hardware.
The PS3 has a reputation of being difficult to develop for, and Polyphony has a history of needlessly overworking the hardware (the biggest example being Tourist Trophy; only
two road bikes at a time,
four racing bikes max was pretty ridiculous, and it's not the PS2's fault).
Based on my play experience with GT5, I think the reason we waited so long, why there are missing features and so few events, why the game feels "rushed," and why there are obvious graphical glitches is because PD
struggled for months on end to get their graphics engine to work right. I don't know if they just have inefficient programmers or what, but ever since GT4 they've always seemed to try too hard for too little gain.