Official GT5 discussion thread

[milk]

Guess the work-load is too high to actually get recordings on cars being driven under load

Can't that be done by suspending the car?

 

[Nesh]

but the 2.0 update is region free, and is not 'worthless'! It has physics and game improvements like better tuning options, better shadows and better framerates!

Only the DLC is a problem, but it is a small one - you can easily buy PSN cards online overseas and they will mail you the codes immediately typically, and then you can still buy from the US store!

The US DLC are not compatible with PAL versions of games and vise versa. If he has the EU version of GT5 he cant access the US DLC with his US account unless he buys the EU DLC and starts GT5 from scratch from his EU account.

I have the sane issue. I have credits in my US PSN but its piintless to purchase the DLC from the US account since it wont work.

But yeah there should be no prob updating the game though

 

[poopypoo]

After a few more days, I still like it, but I'm less and less convinced of any "sim" cachet it might hold over F3. Tuning every car is like a random crapshoot. What stock models are R-capable? Apparently... none..? I have only 50 cars, but still, most of the classic modern tuners are MIA, seemingly replaced by R-models that you can buy in the shop, which is just... pointless. My final straw for this evening (i'll be back tomorrow! ) is finding out that my tuned Lambo Gallardo (742 hp/1169 kg, 612 PP) is much, much faster than my fully tuned GT-R '07 (854 hp/1411 kg, 641 PP), which, I believe, is the car that just crushed Super GT series back then. Of course, neither of the ones I bought are R-capable. Which brings me to my last whine -- wtf do we have to enter the (inexplicably slow) GT AUTO (then several more button presses then back out) as well as the tuning screen (at least three dozen button presses and all of it fairly slow)... just to find out what a car is capable of..?* It used to be fun... back when a lot of cars had real possibilities. Why can't I trick out a Silvia? ...a Silvia!?!?!? And really? You can lower a Lambo exactly as much as a 1967 Alfa Romeo? Really.

Anyway, still having fun, just getting bored of it easily. Been playing a lot of Grand Valley and it's shamefully narrow and bumpngo. It is a really cool track, though. GT has a lot of fun in it. Some of those turns are amazing. Just kinda gets me when I'm driving race-tight supensions over 4-inch curbs while sliding along a wall, passing three cars at a time. It's fun. But... compelling?

*I'm kinda tired of this in F3 too, but at least cars have sooo much more potential, not every tuning screen is identical, and they (the UI elements) are all comparably fast.

 

[Arwin]

That GT-R is way too heavy to compete with the Lambo at those specs I'm sure?

Menus in GT are, I agree, more entertaining than useful. Tuning is definitely more limited than Forza, where the decal and paint options are just insane. Don't even bother much with race mods in GT - there are so few that can be racing modded, you should simply look them up online, so you know which 15 or so cars can be tuned ... On the other hand GT has this crazy track generator ...

How far are you in the Special Events?

 

[poopypoo]

Yeah, the problem with tuning isn't the cosmetic stuff, although bringing the bling and the candy paint and some wacky japanese ground fx can be fun. What's weird is how so many tuning options are wrong, and imbalanced to boot. Lol, getting back to paint for one sec, would it really have killed them to let you preview the paint color one the car instead of on that little swatch?

And I agree, the Lambo is properly light and that is why it handles so much better than the GT-R. It's also the track. Grand Valley is pretty brutal to GT-cars. I just wonder why I can't tune a GT-R to proper race specs? And why is the PP system skewed, giving noobs the wrong impression about power to weight ratios? In Forza they give PP bonuses for tires and stuff, of course, which, while informative, can be slightly annoying, as one tire upgrade can have huge effects on your class, and the auto-upgrade option in F3 always seemed to me to be completely useless. But I figure if you're going to allow handling options to not affect it, PP should still be an indicator of real straight line speed, right, not just some arbitrary ratio of points for hp minus some arbitrary number of points for weight. Anyway that is sorta splitting hairs.

As far as Special Events, I went straight for the top gear challenges last week and was too annoyed to go back. I'm not really into the hokey time trial stuff. It was fun to handle that vw van for awhile, and I was doing pretty well, well on my way to a win several times, but I just couldn't manage to keep from bumping one of the other buses too hard. It takes sooooo long to get through the race I just gave up. I really don't want to have to look at Jeff Gordon. Is there anything else that's a must-see in there? I kinda just wanna tune cars and race. I keep meaning to get back to b-spec because I love management sims, but I can't convince myself to sink the time into it yet. I'm level 22 A and only lvl 2 B. Finished a couple Seasonal Events.

Thanks for explaining the R-mods to me. I am really surprised, this GT has strayed so far from its roots. I am beginning to fall in love with the car selection, but some of the core gameplay seems to have decayed imo. The driving has never been better in GT so that's a big plus.

Actually, I forgot all about the track generator. Is it fun like, Trackmania fun?

Just in case anybody reads all this the wrong way, I don't mean to pick apart anyone's favorite game. It's just how I am with video games these days, and I don't know anybody at all in RL who can understand a word of what I'm talking about when it comes to driving games. Probably safer to avoid comparisons completely. I'd probably be playing right now, but for the third time since I bought it, it has crashed my PS3.

On a final note, control is a whole lot better since I switched to trigger throttle. The vibrations even seem to rattle more communicatively in my hands in that grip, though that sounds a little like crazytalk. The classic GT dual analog method seemed so natural at first but it's really just bad in comparison.

 

[Arwin]

Yeah, the problem with tuning isn't the cosmetic stuff, although bringing the bling and the candy paint and some wacky japanese ground fx can be fun. What's weird is how so many tuning options are wrong, and imbalanced to boot. Lol, getting back to paint for one sec, would it really have killed them to let you preview the paint color one the car instead of on that little swatch?

Yeah, they sometimes take things too far. They probably told themselves it was more realistic that way, because you can't preview like that in real-life either ... though more likely they just ran out of time. I think someone like Kaz who has grown through so many games to have an ever expanding team isn't suitable for managing large teams. You see it almost everywhere - very few people can make the transition from managing small teams to managing large teams successfully.

And I agree, the Lambo is properly light and that is why it handles so much better than the GT-R. It's also the track. Grand Valley is pretty brutal to GT-cars. I just wonder why I can't tune a GT-R to proper race specs?

Good question. I've never tried, as there are plenty of GT-R race cars to be had in the game anyway.

And why is the PP system skewed, giving noobs the wrong impression about power to weight ratios? In Forza they give PP bonuses for tires and stuff, of course, which, while informative, can be slightly annoying, as one tire upgrade can have huge effects on your class, and the auto-upgrade option in F3 always seemed to me to be completely useless. But I figure if you're going to allow handling options to not affect it, PP should still be an indicator of real straight line speed, right, not just some arbitrary ratio of points for hp minus some arbitrary number of points for weight. Anyway that is sorta splitting hairs.

Both games generally get it reasonably right I think, but at times ... in terms of percentages of course everything above 600 points becomes more a factor of how well it handles on that track and who drives it (style, preference) than anything else.

As far as Special Events, I went straight for the top gear challenges last week and was too annoyed to go back. I'm not really into the hokey time trial stuff. It was fun to handle that vw van for awhile, and I was doing pretty well, well on my way to a win several times, but I just couldn't manage to keep from bumping one of the other buses too hard. It takes sooooo long to get through the race I just gave up. I really don't want to have to look at Jeff Gordon. Is there anything else that's a must-see in there?

The first Top Gear challenges are rough. Personally I loved the VW Bus challenge a tonne, but I drive using a wheel, and that alone makes a world of difference for races in slow cars (or busses ) as smooth turning makes a lot of difference.

After that comes a pretty darn tough challenge in a Lotus on Top Gear, almost no assists available if I remember correctly, and positively hard to keep the car from spinning out, let alone be fast. From there though, it's all good as far as I can remember (though yes, the Jeff Gordon thing on the one hand shows that Indy style racing has improved immensely and is quite exhilerating now in GT, but on the other is again very hard for people without a wheel - oh and if you don't set the ASM/TCS things right. You've opened up a lot of them already though, and I don't think you have to do them in order - they unlock by experience, so you can just pick and choose.

Did you try any of the driving licences yet? They're not as essential but all these challenges and licences have the advantage of being quite varied and give you a taste of some of the expensive and rare cars quite quickly.

I kinda just wanna tune cars and race. I keep meaning to get back to b-spec because I love management sims, but I can't convince myself to sink the time into it yet. I'm level 22 A and only lvl 2 B. Finished a couple Seasonal Events.

Fair enough, and you're making swift progress it seems. Spec B is fun insofar as you can also do it offline, through the gran turismo website. I think some guys at Neogaf even made a Firefox plugin that allows you to auto-enroll your B-spec driver in new races or something. Eventually that can become quite a 'gold farm' if you manage to hook up with some other people who do the same.

Thanks for explaining the R-mods to me. I am really surprised, this GT has strayed so far from its roots. I am beginning to fall in love with the car selection, but some of the core gameplay seems to have decayed imo. The driving has never been better in GT so that's a big plus.

They were completely gone in GT4, and this is the first time they're back at all. They probably just put them in because they tried to please everyone too much.

Actually, I forgot all about the track generator. Is it fun like, Trackmania fun?

You don't have that much control, but it can still provide fun. You basically set how many sections you want, how wide the track should be for each section, and how bendy that section should be. The results can be extreme enough to get some cars flying and although you don't get tired of the game's tracks very fast (there are many good tracks in this game), it's still cool to be able to do this - especially since you can also share them and use them in online races.

Just in case anybody reads all this the wrong way, I don't mean to pick apart anyone's favorite game. It's just how I am with video games these days, and I don't know anybody at all in RL who can understand a word of what I'm talking about when it comes to driving games. Probably safer to avoid comparisons completely. I'd probably be playing right now, but for the third time since I bought it, it has crashed my PS3.

Hey no problem - all GT fans were the same when the game just came out, but in the end the game still delivers its long term draw for most. Hmm. I can't remember any crashes actually. Did you install to hdd or are you running from BD?

On a final note, control is a whole lot better since I switched to trigger throttle. The vibrations even seem to rattle more communicatively in my hands in that grip, though that sounds a little like crazytalk. The classic GT dual analog method seemed so natural at first but it's really just bad in comparison.

I prefer that setup on 360 as well, but on PS3 I somehow got used to the analog sticks setup. The x and all those other buttons are also analog on PS3 though, so some people even just work with those, with the advantage that with your thumb, with some practice, you can press and control both at once, even shifting smoothly from brake to throttle and vice versa. I can't do it very well, but I've known many top drivers that can.

Everyone I know has more fun with a wheel though, and the difference between controller and wheel is bigger for Gran Turismo than for most games.

 

[poopypoo]

Lol, today's my day off! After looking at all the boring-sounding special events, I decided I wanted to win at B-spec. So I let my level 2 driver have a go at Sunday cup in my Gallardo. Hilarious! XD The funniest part is how he was gonna blow it on the very first turn until I reminded him to slow down >_<

I'll read your post once he finishes winning..

 

[poopypoo]

I think someone like Kaz who has grown through so many games to have an ever expanding team isn't suitable for managing large teams. You see it almost everywhere - very few people can make the transition from managing small teams to managing large teams successfully.

Totally agree. It's hard not to level a little criticism at Kaz given that he took just ages to get this out the door. I highly suspect there was a lot of frustrating BS coming from Sony each year. Make it 3d, make it look better than the competition, make it have more cars, do crossovers w TG, etc... I'm sure he loved doing the special events but overall I think there's a distinct lack of focus on the traditional career mode here. It's got the window dressing but looking at the Extreme series it's hard to believe the game's almost over. Of course I'm not you're average player, either.

I've never tried, as there are plenty of GT-R race cars to be had in the game anyway.

Yeah that's sorta my biggest beef. I'm looking to play as McLaren, not buy one. But I suspect I just picked the wrong GT-R. There's like a half dozen of them at least.

Both games generally get it reasonably right I think, but at times ... in terms of percentages of course everything above 600 points becomes more a factor of how well it handles on that track and who drives it (style, preference) than anything else.

Of course and in many ways this feels realistic in both games. But this Gallardo and a number of the 4WD cars are classically GT-ridonculous (remember the pink del Sol racer from GT1?) -- feel like slot cars compared to the actual race cars. The aforementioned Gallardo doesn't even have race tires. It's using stock tires. Almost all of my other cars (well the first-stringers anyway) have racing softs. But this thing is just going full out on every corner and never losing grip. I haven't even dared to try an Audi R8 for fear of breaking the game.

The first Top Gear challenges are rough. Personally I loved the VW Bus challenge a tonne, but I drive using a wheel, and that alone makes a world of difference for races in slow cars (or busses ) as smooth turning makes a lot of difference.

Did you try any of the driving licences yet? They're not as essential but all these challenges and licences have the advantage of being quite varied and give you a taste of some of the expensive and rare cars quite quickly.

Nah, I walked my wife through them and then realized they're no longer necessary to unlock stuff. So I just skipped em. I've played GT "driving school" enough, I think.

[[Racing upgrades]] were completely gone in GT4, and this is the first time they're back at all. They probably just put them in because they tried to please everyone too much.

Ah yeah I kinda wish if it wasn't really much of an option, that they had just left the option out. Or like, given the cars that are R-capable a little icon.

And trackmania mode sounds great. I'm not expecting actual trackmania, just a good balance of flexibility and speed in the controls. Especially since you have to use a controller.

Hey no problem - all GT fans were the same when the game just came out, but in the end the game still delivers its long term draw for most. Hmm. I can't remember any crashes actually. Did you install to hdd or are you running from BD?

I feel so lucky that I didn't buy GT5 before version 2. I would have been spitting fire. I'm running from HDD, full install. I suspect it's overheating chips. It usually happens after a couple of hours, and the moving text starts hitching right before whichever section stops loading. The PS3 looks clean and has never given me troubles before (including my wife staying up for like two days straight playing Uncharted 2) but we do have THREE cats.

I prefer that setup on 360 as well, but on PS3 I somehow got used to the analog sticks setup. The x and all those other buttons are also analog on PS3 though, so some people even just work with those, with the advantage that with your thumb, with some practice, you can press and control both at once, even shifting smoothly from brake to throttle and vice versa. I can't do it very well, but I've known many top drivers that can.

the face buttons are analog!? really? I never knew that. Still, now that I've made the switch I'm sticking with it. The triggers have such a long travel and once you get used to them it's very instinctual and of course, very easy to brake and gas simultaneously. A wheel would be super cool but I doubt it would help me win the VW bus challenge. I just can't wait that long for a driving game. XD

I can't believe the buttons are analog. You realize this means I have to unplug a controller and start using it as a MIDI controller now. I was using a TM dual analog but...

 

[Arwin]

It's even more crazy - EVERY button except start, select and the Playstation button has an analog mode. Developers can decide whether to put the controller into full digital mode, or support analog. Even the frickin d-pad!

This was the same already for PS2 era dualshock, though there a few more buttons weren't. We have to thank the 360's controller for making people forget about analog buttons on the controller in the modern day era, because a lot of developers now just put the controller into '360 compatibility mode' ...

There are this little clip-on things for the triggers by the way that really improve them incidentally.

Personally I loved the Special Events more than A-spec, way more. And as I said, they are quite liberal with credits and XP.

As an alternative to A-spec, there are also online 'A-spec' challenges. These usually also have quite good rewards and these days some of them can even win you cars.

I know what you mean by the way - we also have three cats. One of them has a nasty habit of lying on the PS3 blocking the airflow ...

 

[poopypoo]

Yeah, that's all I really play now, is online A-spec. Sometimes I mix it up a bit since playing the same three PP ratings gets old, but everything else isn't really my style. Actually I spend a ridiculous amount of time combing the used market and buying classics, too. So the money helps!

That's awesome news about the controller. Hopefully I can find a better app than the one we used last year to play a flash game with controller remapping.

I just played through the lowest license test. Doing each once, I got about 1 tenth off from silver on every single one. I'd be tempted to shoot for gold but it was super boring. Was a bit of GT nostalgia though. Remember how hard they seemed when you first tried GT? Thank Jah that Kaz came along and made NFS obsolete.

 

[Arwin]

Yeah, I know! Braking tests still suck. I usually like Licence tests most once those are gone.

 

[poopypoo]

ahahaha, i kind of like those! They're not as fun this time because of the load times. But I have to revise my earlier opinion, I tried class a license and the mini slalom is awesome! I think I will shoot for gold on that one, and see if there are any other interesting-looking tests on future licenses.

 

[kots]

The GT5 version of the trial mountain track has no longer the light shafts ? I remember them from GT3 ..

 

[Arwin]

The GT5 version of the trial mountain track has no longer the light shafts ? I remember them from GT3 ..

No, it's a pity. As a compensation they should have put day-night change in there too, that would have helped a lot (Nurburgring with day-night change is very cool).

 

[kots]

No, it's a pity. As a compensation they should have put day-night change in there too, that would have helped a lot (Nurburgring with day-night change is very cool).

Thanks for the reply .... i remeber the track from the PS2 and it is gorgeous .

 

[fearsomepirate]

Finally got this same. I am neither a car guy nor a racing game fan, but racing games are the only kind my wife will play with me, and this is one of the only racing games with split-screen (didn't realize that everyone who makes racing games believes that their customers lost all their friends and family between 2005 and 2007).

I'm not qualified to comment on the quality of the simulation, but boy howdy is this game ugly compared to Forza 4. Seems they made a lot of sacrifices to get this running in not-quite-true-1080p, and those sacrifices weren't worth it. In a lot of places, it has that "PS2 in HD" look we've seen so much of from Japanese developers--you know, no modern shaders or effects, just PS2-style techniques applied to higher quality assets. Some of the car textures look really crappy...did they try to get away with reusing GT4 assets at all?

 

[DJ12]

Premium cars are GT5 spec if you like, standard cars, which you are probably using, are from previous GT games so do look a lot worse.

 

[Arwin]

Premium cars are GT5 spec if you like, standard cars, which you are probably using, are from previous GT games so do look a lot worse.

Yep. I stayed away from them as much as I could, to be honest. Just stuck with Premium cars almost 100%.

GT5 can look pretty bad at times, but at other times, it can also look rather amazingly good.

 

[fearsomepirate]

I'm just playing this game and wondering...what the heck did they do for six years?!?! Did they spend their whole budget on actual cars? I'm sure this has been discussed at great length in the thread, but I didn't really follow it, since I'm not a GT maniac or anything. So don't feel like you have to answer...it's just inexcusable to me since Turn 10 has made twice as many Forza games in almost the same amount of time, and I don't remember seeing Forza 1 models reused in Forza 4.

I mean, for $15, it's fun, and I'm having a good time, but some of the environmental textures are just inexcusably bad. Given that they reused (looked it up) around 800 car models from GT4, I wouldn't be surprised at all if a lot of the textures are the source images used to make the 4-bit textures in that game. There are lots of places with just a flat, pre-lit texture pasted on an enormous polygon, and the trees are mostly PS2-style "+" shapes. Dust effects are unbelievably bad. It's as though no one on the team bothered to learn about any new tech at all. I get the distinct impression they believed GT4 was so advanced that they really didn't need to do much other than "The same thing, but HD this time" to stay on top.

Worth it for $15. If I'd paid $60 for this, I'd be furious. This would have been acceptable as a launch title...barely. And it's disappointing to know the PS3 won't be getting anything the quality of what the Xbox has.

 

[Arwin]

Hahaha, it's always the same. Same initial reaction, and then in a few months time (if you're still playing of course) you'll probably change your mind. Just a few episodes of the Weekend Confirmed podcast There is so much in this game ... But these days people are more easily impressed by having little in a game but at hi qaulity all round, so there is little to find fault with. I haven't played either Skyrim or The Witcher, but you could say it's more Skyrim than The Witcher 2' so to speak.

I was impressed by Forza 4 initially as well, but that very soon waned when more and more cars just didn't feel right, the lighting far less dynamic all round, way fewer tracks that are more boring, no dynamic racing conditions, bland interiors, no rally, etc. (and you complain about the smoke effects in GT5, but apart from aliasing effects when behnd a car, there are quite a bit more and longer lasting effects, and smoke being lit up by brake lights and blown away in the wind, where F4 barely has effects at all). I was done with that game after four weeks, even though the disc has remained in my 360 since. I still regularly play GT, and that game still regularly manages to surprise me in a good way.

Don't get me wrong: I have a long list of dislikes of stuff in GT5, but the list of likes is equally long ... The lists of both are much shorter in Forza 4. Fyi for what its worth, and not that it is very relevant, but Forza 3 reused a lot of F2 assets, but I think for Forza 4 everything was redone (they farmed out a lot of work - there are also more mistakes in the car models incidentally, but not many care about that).

They are both great games, and I suspect GT5 could have been (and I actually think quite a lot) better with better management, just as Forza 4 could have been more interesting with more time, but GT5 is made to hold your attention for far longer.

Of course, that may well not apply to you. If you don't make your way through the special events, or enjoy racing The Ring, or Le Mans (or Spa as DLC) etc in cockpit view with day-night cycles and variable weather, or the rather amazing full version of the Swiss Alps rally track that's in here, or not drive any cars in real life that are also in this game and just feel 'right' then you'll not share much of my love for the game, for instance.