I was a huge fan of GT back on PS and GT4 on PS2... But the news on this latest incarnation disappoints me. I was a huge fan of Forza 1 on the original Xbox, and now have Forza 3 for the 360 and am loving that game. But it seems GT5 just isn't up to par with its heritage, even more so considering the huge development cycle.
The good...
* Graphics engine can pump out some very nice visuals, premium cars look great
* Weather and particle/dust effects look sweet
* Top Gear test track! I bet this inclusion will sell a lot of copies alone.
* Includes some race series that people will like, eg Nascar
* Finally, 16 player online play.
Now, the bad...
* At times, the graphics can look inconsistent and below average, with some glitches. Some of the track graphics aren't up to standard.
* Same old grindy gameplay to unlock cars. Forza 3 gives you all the cars unlocked in free play from the start.
* There are two 'grades' of cars - Standard and Premium. You only get the car interiors, nicer reflections, higher res car models, working lights/wipers and proper damage on the premium cars. Although the game has 1000 cars, only 200 of them are 'premium'. The rest are Standard cars, and are low-res hand-me-downs from earlier games with a PS3 coat of paint.
* Menus look cluttered
* Car customization nowhere near as impressive as Forza 3.
* Damage model looks to be disappointing, especially on the standard cars. With games like Grid and NFS Hot Pursuit doing really amazing crashes, this just isn't really good enough.
* Physics seems to be not much different, with the same 'smooth as glass' understeery feel from GT4. Although you can flip cars now, cars appear to bounce around like they are beach balls.
* Same boring hovercraft AI that all but ignores you and sticks to its line
I really get the impression GT5 was too ambitious, and was forced out the door before it was ready. It's a shame the quality isn't consistent throughout the whole game. Maybe in GT6 they'll build on GT5 and get it right, ie stop trying to top themselves for the number of cars, and make it a better game.
- James