Gran Turismo 5

[Rossco]

That is utterly appalling if so. I will try it out next time I turn the game on so thanks!

[Bassman]

Well, another update (246 Mb).

This time you can now put alloy wheels onto your standard cars. As it is Christmas, there are some free special tickets for a Car Wash, Body Rigidity etc (can't remember the last one... you get 10 of each), plus a free car, the 2012 Toyota 86 (the production version of the new FR Toyota - with the Subaru developed normally aspirated boxer 4). As far as I can tell, this comes in 6 colours - Red, Black, Silver Metallic, Grey Metallic, Orange Metallic and White.

For those that bought the last DLC (any) you get a free special version of the 125 Kart and 5 car restoration tickets (which will return a car to as new condition, though retaining all its upgrades).

There is a new DLC out tomorrow which contains the VW Scirocco R, Golf VI R, Mini Cooper S (no mention of year) and 2012 Nissan GT-R. ?3.19 for four cars seens a little expensive, but at least these will be available in the new car showroom.

Also for those that have multiple accounts, there is going to be a Family Pack which will enable all accounts on the PS3 to access the DLC on the main account. No further details of this, though it is also due tomorrow.

[Neon Ignition]

Rather than put on GT4 (saving that for my eventual PS2 catch up) I decided to put this on again with the intent on playing it in small doses till it gets old. I'd lost my old file save so had to start again. It might have always been there but what feels like a new thing is the daily random XP multipler. Yesterday it was 150% and has helped to propel me to Level 8 despite having only done the first 3 cups in beginner mode. It should help to reduce the amount of XP grinding that put me off the game originally. The only other event I've tried is the karting which was still good fun. I rebought the Megane which as with last time has helped me get through the initial events easily. Bar pointlessly spending money on a used Toyota Celica 2000 (I just like them), I'm saving my money to reduce the grind later on again. At times it really can be a stunning game, one night race had the cars looking real. Still plays well though I need to do some remapping on the controls and change the BGM to something more lively.

[Neon Ignition]

Christ, just read a track list for GT4 and it seems to have a lot of tracks that don't appear in this.

[Neon Ignition]

Last night's play proved productive as the XP/Cash bonus for the day was set at 170%

The old road block of needing the right tools for the job came up in A-Spec mode so I ventured out to the karting again but got road blocked there too by overly aggressive time requirements. I tried some other challenges until I hit THE one... the Top Gear Sambabus Challenge. I had my first go and by the 3rd corner was f'ing away at the other buses for how easy disqualifications come up. I tried again, took my time and undertook almost only on sharp corners... the result? First FRICKING place!!

Now sitting on 230,000cr at level 11. Time to see what tonight brings.

[Neon Ignition]

Well... last night the bonus rose again... to 200%.

That changed things ALOT. I played through the online released Seasonal FF Cup and by the end of it (replaying two tracks twice to try and get Gold) I had gone from Level 11 to Level 19 and from 230,000cr to 2,300,000cr. I bought two or three cars from the used dealerships to open some more events and still have 2 mill to spare. Excellent.

[Neon Ignition]

It's so random this game.

Despite still not having the proper cars to finish the Amateur Series, I'm now perfectly poised to complete the Gran Turismo Championship in Professional Series. I reached 3.7m credits but am back down to 900,000 after some spending to widen my car and tuning range. The only bad spend I've made so far was the Veyron, bought off the used market I thought it would be spot on due to it's braking and acceleration and the first race went great. After that though it lost it as it steers like a tug boat rendering it useless. Next purchase was the Zonda which absolutely blows it away. I'm going to refresh my funds and XP (Currently Level 23) after this Championship by taking the Zonda to the Seasonal Events but my next extravagant purchase will be..... a Toyota Yaris.

[Wools]

It’s a very odd experience.

I played a tiny bit of Gran Turismo 2 over the weekend when I was checking out some PlayStation eBay purchases and it’s a brilliant game. However, the Japanese RPG style grinding remains a pain to push through, when there’s so much good content to see in the later stages.

It’s astonishing that Gran Turismo 5 (And to a lesser extent Forza 4) have retained such an antiquated level progression system when there’s so many better ways to do it. Project Gotham Racing 4 had a nice system where you get medals for coming in a specific time or position and you would progress once a certain criteria has been meet.

I’ll rather have that then being constantly locked in a system of racing in till I could buy a car for a race. I will admit that Forza eases it by giving you so many cars and Polyphony have patched out its system by giving the user so much money and bonuses in updates. Did not help day 1 users though.

Either way, the driving mechanics and physics are such a joy, it’s possible to push past such flaws.

[Neon Ignition]

I've reached a point with it where I think the enjoyment is enough that I would get quite excited again by a next gen GT6. What I'd like to see in addition to the current A-Spec mode is a proper Championship mode to work through. That way there's a very clear and straight forward mode to play instead of spending half the time going in and out of menu's and hoping the right car comes up for individual events.

[englishbob]

I think what you want and what you would get from GT6 would be something that re-defines the word "antiquated".

Yamauchi has always been quite open that he wiill not bow to presure of the community, nor take any input or influence from other games in the same genre. I mean GT5 doesn't even include leaderboards ffs!

[Neon Ignition]

That's the most annoying thing with GT as it continues. There's goodness in there but it's getting increasingly masked by Yamauchi's blindness to his car obsession. I wouldn't mourn the day he left Polyphony

[englishbob]

He will never leave. He gets too many track days on "business".

[Neon Ignition]

Last nights play was a little frustrating as the Zonda can be fiddly to keep in line when really applying pressure to it's controls. However, the GT cup was complete and for the very first time in the entire series I actually stuck with a GT game long enough to see the end credits sequence. I returned to the online Seasonal Events with the Zonda which I'm half way through, I'd feel done with the game if I reached the max Level 40, currently at near 25. The Seasonal event is testing the Zonda even more but so far 3 Golds and 2 events to go, the last 5 lap race won on the last corner

[Wools]

Did you find the end credits a bit premature?

Nothing will beat the surprise and emptiness I felt when the credits rolled for no good reason and the reward was… Hollow. That must rate as the most out of place end credits in existence!

[Neon Ignition]

I'd heard it was early but getting it in the 3rd Series out of 5 was a bit of a surprise