If you are a fan of motor racing games, then it is a guarantee that you were waiting patiently for the Gran Turismo 5. And the wait would have certainly gotten a bit annoying quite a few times. Multiple delays, everyone starting to lose patience with the game developers and even BBC deciding to offer the Top Gear Stig Garage pack to Xbox rival title Forza Motorsport. Somewhere deep down, we all felt that this game may never actually see the light of the day.
However, the GT5 is finally here. And this is probably the most realistic racing game of all time. With over 1,000 cars to choose from, this is like becoming a freelance racing driver! And it is evident that a lot of hardwork has gone into making all the cars ultra realistic. Not only the looks, but the driving characteristics of all the cars on offer are quite real as well.
For example, dress up an American muscle car in your favourite colour and try racing it around a traditional European racing circuit. On most corners after a long straight, you will struggle to get it stopped in time for a clean turn in. The cars range from the humble VW Golf GTI to the Pagani Zonda to the Lamborghini and even NASCAR ones.
Till now, if you go off the track in racing games, the console controller vibrated to indicate that something was wrong and it was time to wake up! However, the GT5 also has the additional effect of the screen display vibrating simultaneously. The attempt to offer a realistic vision works well. Be careful, the blurred vision makes it difficult to judge the braking point for the next corner.
All those who depend on the automatic braking feature of racing games will find this to be a steep learning curve. Manual braking is what needs to be done here, and the realistic driving characteristics of these very powerful machines makes this difficult. On every single corner, you will feel that the car is fighting against your attempts to slow it down. This is where you need to be careful with what car you select for what circuit. However, a really good thing about the GT5?s racing is that it is literally impossible to tap another car off the track. This makes for really tough racing, which is a good thing. I particularly felt this because I had just moved over from playing F1 2010, and in that game, spinning someone else off the track and getting spun off yourself is very very simple.
The range of tracks on which you can race is extensive, to match the wide variety of cars?including some amazingly detailed street circuits as well. Race in the day, race in the night, race in the rain ?there is nothing stopping you! You have the same ?progress and unlock? method. However, if you just want to get down to racing from the word go, then you have the individual race, time trial and online race methods. The career mode lets you start from the scratch with a basic car and you have to climb you way up the pecking order to unlock more powerful machines.
What I did not like about the GT5 is the interface. It looks like an uneasy mixture between the old fonts and the new layout, and looks a bit clunky to say the least. Maybe an update would work well for the otherwise brilliant game. The GT5 is completely 3D ready, if someone has the 3D equipment in place. This is why the PS3 needs to be upgraded to the latest firmware before you can start playing the game. The new firmware, if not already installed, activates the 3D BluRay playback capabilities in the console.
The otherwise brilliant game makes you a bit annoyed in the beginning. The first time data installation takes about half an hour on the PS3. This is extremely annoying, particularly when someone is ready to race and is forced wait!
Overall, this is the most realistic racing game I have ever played. It is more difficult to play than NFS or F1 2010 even, but is a lot more fun. The innumerable delays before this game was finally released seem to have paid off. Don?t miss it.
? CyberMedia www.LD2.in
Mail:talkLD@cybermedia.co.in