I’m still running down the effects of Thanksgiving, a holiday where you gather with family and friends, cite things your thankful for and then celebrate such by stuffing your face with delicious foods, all while watching your favorite movies or sports programs. Are there even any games shown on Thanksgiving? Outside of Motorsports and Professional Wrestling I’m not really interested in sports, but before you think to yourself “T, I don’t particularly care for you anymore.” you should know I was once infatuated with Baseball.
So, there.
Moving past that, I haven’t really had the opportunity for a one-on-one session with GT5 this past week as I’ve been occupied preparing for the aforementioned holiday that was celebrated yesterday. The last time I fired up GT5 I was taking the HSV-010 for a few laps around Grand Valley Speedway and I’m still relatively pleased with the improved audio samples, especially those mixed for the interior. I do wish the transmission whine wasn’t as seemingly prevalent as it is when switched to the bonnet view, but it’s nothing that distracts me to the point where I can’t use the view at all. Enough of my rambling, let’s get this show on the road!
GTPlanet Picture of the Week
This week’s image is a particularly moody one and caught my eye instantly. It features the Volkswagen Scirocco R and is courtesy of our very own lilmann73.
Have a suggestion for next week’s featured image? Drop me a private message, entitle it “GTPlanet Picture of the Week” and fill it out with your two choices and they’ll be featured in upcoming Rewinds.
ANNIHILATOR90’s Course Maker Tracks
We’re all familiar with GT5’s Course Maker, some of us more than others, but our own ANNIHILATOR90 has recently created a thread showcasing his own work where his objective is to provide players with realistic or semi-realistic venues that are devoid of jumps, steep downhill corners and extreme camber, instead focusing on maximum replay value and normal length circuits that have a unique feeling to them.
My particular favorite of the current allotment, Stone Hill Raceway, fills every one of the criteria and at the same time reminds me of Midfield Raceway – a track I really miss from GT5. If you want to see more of his tracks have a look here.
Gran Turismo 5 XL Edition for $10
If you missed this post this past Monday, today is Black Friday and that means you can go out right now and score a unhealthy amount of swag for some truly ridiculous prices. For example, Gran Tursimo 5 XL is being sold at Amazon and Walmart for $10. Why are you still reading this? If you don’t already have GT5, or perhaps want another copy (I already have two!) you won’t find a better deal than this one.
GTPlanet Vehicle of the Week
This week’s featured vehicle is one of my favorites in recent memory, the Lexus LFA. The LFA is essentially Lexus, and by extension, Toyota exclaiming “We can do it just as greatly as everyone else.” and features a roaring V10 with an F1-inspired note that was acoustically-tuned by Yamaha’s musical instrument division.
Have a suggestion for next week’s featured image? Drop me a private message, entitle it “GTPlanet Vehicle of the Week” and fill it out with your two choices and they’ll be featured in upcoming Rewinds.
GTPlanet Tune of the Week
This week’s tune is a Seasonal Special for, you guessed it, the British Lightweights Seasonal Event that went live just this past Wednesday. The tune, courtesy of our very own praiano63 of Praiano’s Tunes, instantly grabs your attention by basically guaranteeing an easy victory with the nimble Elise 111R. You can use the power limiter to decrease the PP to your liking for a more challenging event, but you’re implored to adapt your speed for each track with the final drive ratio.
Exactly like the Picture and Vehicle of the Week features, if you have any suggestions for the upcoming Rewinds be sure to drop me a private message, entitle it “GTPlanet Tune of the Week” and let me know.
Closing Thoughts
This is just going to be the way I arrange my closing thoughts from heron out as to prevent said thoughts from clashing with whatever the last feature of the Rewind is. Last week you may recall me saying that while I originally intended to speak of Gran Turismo 5: Prologue that I would instead save it for this week’s Rewind, and that’s exactly what I’ve done.
Prologue, for those of you unfamiliar with it, was a full game in it’s own right that was meant to demonstrate what the then upcoming fully-fledged GT5 would include, yet somehow things were either changed or omitted altogether. Take Performance Points for example—and feel free to correct me as I can’t remember every single detail—were in the game from day one and took into account the tire compounds used, something that GT5 still doesn’t, as far as I’m aware. Another example would be the shifting animations – now I’m perfectly aware of the reasons given for the final animations, but I don’t understand the reasoning behind it considering the animations, as they were in Prologue, were fantastic. It’s always struck me as weird (both before and after the explanation) that a driver would slightly remove their hand from the wheel to engage the next gear with a paddle shifter.
Then there are the Manufacturer Events, the better designed online portion, the better designed pre-race animation scenes, and some of the tuned cars. It just boggles my mind that they’d go through all of that effort only to relegate those features to obscurity. I loved Prologue and loved what it suggested GT5 would become and that’s precisely why it bothers me as much as it does. Sound off in the comments and let me know what you think. Until next week keep racing!
GT5 Photomode image by ShaolinMasta and ceiling_fan.
See more articles on GTPlanet Weekly Rewind.
Prologue had a great and interesting way of dealing with the now boring & sucky loading screen. A starting grid would come onscreen acompanied by a hard rock/metal guitar (uhh song?). Now its back to Gran Turismo 4’s top screen starting grid over a black screen & menu music. I never played Gran Turismo 5: Prologue online, but I saw the multiplayer menu once. Much more appealing than the boring server list we currently stare at while we search for that perfect race. I also might’ve realized (correct me if I am wrong here) that Prologue’s online rooms were PD-Run? Not like today’s user-created (and often crappy) rooms. By the way Terronium-12; I do not recall PP ever being in Prologue. (Again, I did not have access to PSN at my house at the time, so it could’ve been just in Online Multiplayer.) With the lack of any available upgrades; PP wouldn’t be nesecarry. Cars were simply restricted (in the A-Spec mode anyways) by model, HP, etc.
Awesome, no more “chasing the rabbit” coz with that setup, i just crushed it. Life is good
I’ve enjoyed ANNIHILATOR90’s tracks very much. Thanks T12 for the write up. They’re great for Arcade Enduros.
Having major issues winning a race in the new Seasonal, I finally put the older Lotus back into the garage to try out the Featured Tune of the Week. I must say the car was greatly improved from the stock settings; however it’s not quite perfect. I was experiencing great speeds and controlled braking for the most part, but had understeer through the middle of cornering and the backend got squirrelly during exit. Just my little review of my personal experience.
wow, this weekly rewind has definately got me back into GT5. I was starting to get bored of it an the seasonal events were just getting to difficult and repetitive. But thanks to that tune, I’ve now won all this week’s seasonals!
Now I’m gonna make my own track like the one in the vid.
Thanks for the Weekly rewind.
It would be even better if you did a giveaway as well.
I disagree.. there are lots of people still playing the game and lots more new people getting into GT5. I think these rewinds are awesome and poke some features/ideas that I haven’t thought about in a while. I used to have a lot of fun with the course generator at one point but now I’m just racing in the online lobby. GT5P was a great game on its own and I had forgot about the online match making and tires adding to the pp.. Its great to look back at the game and Rewinds are more than welcome.
Looks like a nice track, I want to get GT5 out and make one like that now…
Also, is that pic of the LFA edited? Because I don’t think you can remove the Lexus logo on that car.
Overall nice weekly rewind. I enjoy reading them.
I never played prologue so I don’t know.
:( sad face.. ;/ i was really hoping that PD would do sth special on the day of GT5’s 2nd bday! Haven’t played the game for more than a month now but I always log in to GTplanet.net every morning to catch the latest news.. Quench our desires PD, unleash spec III really soon..!
I’ve read all the Weekly Rewinds so I was very surprised to wake up and see my course maker tracks being mentioned here, really cool and entirely unexpected. :)
Can you believe that this is the third weekly review already? And can you also believe that GT5 has been out for two years now?
Time sure is moving quickly.
Not a single mention of Gran Turismo 5’s second anniversary today?
I like the basic concept of these, but to be honest it’s a bit late to start them, now that most of the community got bored of GT5 and wait for news about the next game.
A strange and critique of Terronium’s work, Kiro. GTPlanet’s blog isn’t going to sit dormant because “the community is waiting for news about the next game”.
Like the all the work in this edition of the rewind :)
because that hideous gear shifting animations i hate cockpit view.. It destroys the flow of racing. I feel like a grandpa with Arthritis.
IMO curves on this circuit are WAY too smooth.
Still, a good track. Finally something without these stupid a** jumps…
First post on GTP =D
well this tune has helped me alot! I had no idea the elise had that much potential. But i noticed theres a standard and a premium Elise 111R ’04 one in OCD and NCD. What’s up with that?
There is no 111R ’04 istandard model. Only premium. You have
Lotus Elise 111R ’04 premium
Lotus Elise 111S ’03 standard
The 111S is a very good car, very smoother but the 111R is faster. You can use the same tune on it.
@praiano63 there is a standard 111R in the online car dealer right now.
I’m wondering why these Rewinds aren’t getting the [what I consider] the much needed and due attention it so very much deserves. Ever since the first Rewind, I’ve been looking forward to these every week. I consider it the “cherry-on-top” part of my weekend.
And I do like the Tune of the Week this weekend. An a**saver this time on…
Rewind = Awesomeness. The pics picked, and that track…oh, so sweet too!!
Cheers, and keep it up! I am compelled to toss away my Batman jammies, and get a pair of T-12 ones instead; talk about a hero…
Today’s the 2nd anniversary of GT5! :)
Back on topic. Thank you very much again for this GTP Weekly Rewind article T-12. I adore the photos that get picked for this news. Hope you continue this type of news all this, its really enjoyable. Keep up the excellent work. :D
That track looks amazing :tup:
Wow that 458 Picture it’s so beast!
Wow, I’m really surprised to see my picture here. First time being on the front page; so this is what it feels like. Haha, but in all seriousness, thank you very much!
Weirdly, I don’t quite remember there being any paddle shift animations for GT5:P.
One thing I miss was the early, pre-oneoftheupdates 900 degree steering animations. Even though they weren’t perfect, they would be a neat placeholder for wheel users now.
Also, GT5 initially took tire choice into PP calculations but removed it in one of the earlier updates for some reason or another.
Prologue sure was a decent total package, though it wasn’t for everyone. I liked it a lot!
I don’t understand the purpose of these posts to be honest.
It’s to highlight various members and activities done throughout the community, or have I not made that clear for three consecutive weeks?
Trick Question! :D
Terronium you do realize where you are, right? : )
I’ve read them all so don’t get an attitude with me. I just don’t understand the point. Car of the week? For a video game? C’mon. The only useful thing in these articles is the tuning section.
Yes, a weekly feature that focuses on things done throughout the community; a community that plays the video game this feature just happens to focus on.
Crazy how that worked out, isn’t it?
Lmao at that last comment Terronium. XD
teppischfresser – I fail to understand what you find so confusing about this…
GT5 is full of CARS – driven by CAR fanatics – we like to focus on certain CARS sometimes and give praise them – *see CAR of the Week*.
Would you rather we had “most assonine comment(s) of the week?
You’d fit right in. :tup:
One more great Weekly Rewind! Loved the GT Prologue part… it`s one more of the un-explained things that disturbs our GranTurismed minds…
Forgot to say; the Scirocco picture is also fantastic. : )
Thanks a lot! :)
It’s me who should thank you for the awesome new wallpaper X)
It’s me who should thank you for using my picture as your wallpaper. #icoulddothisallweek
#notreallybutatleastuntilnextweek : )
Ok, I’m done, : )
*he walks away with a sigh of relief*
……..
God these pics on the news pages :OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
#notreallybutatleastuntilnextweek : )
Ok, I’m done, : )
*he walks away with a sigh of relief*
……..
Sorry AGAIN, replied to wrong post.
I’ll do the normal thing and blame my phone ; )
I totally agree with your thoughts around GT5P T-12. There is so many aspects of GT5P that I like better than what actually ended up in GT5. Great article! I really like these weekly rewinds. Keep up the good work!
I’m really liking these every week, I’m not on GT5 to much anymore, but they’re still pretty cool to read.
Hmmm, guess I shouldn’t have given up on sharing my course maker tracks, probably could have made this feature…
The title photos are getting better & better.
That 458 is spectacular(!)
As for the actual topic (Weekly Rewind) – keep up the good work Terronium : ) :tup:
Thanks, but there is a little mistake in the parts list. Need to add “sport exhaust manifold & catalytic converter sport. I’ve corrected it in the post in my garage. >°°°°°°