Gran Turismo 5

[Kubrick]

There's a NASCAR championship in the Extreme series. Entry requirement is Lv21.

[ItsThere]

Spent 2 hours trying to win the Top Gear Lotus Elise Event. It's taught me one thing: I never, ever want to drive a real Lotus Elise. Best I can get it 5th :-(

Managed to gold the second lot of Nascar challenges. I'm actually really enjoying the Nascar. What else can I do with the Nascar stuff? I mean, is there like a Nascar season or anything like that available? If there's nothing much more available on Nascar I'd be tempted to buy the actual nascar game in fact.

I got gold in that. I thought it was much easier than the Camper Van one...

Wide overtaking ftw.

[Brad]

Weird, maybe I'm just a crap driver! I can grab 8th or 9th by the exit of the second corner but then on some of the other corners my car comes almost to a standstill whilst the other cars seem to manage to pull away out eh bend much faster than me.

[ItsThere]

Weird, maybe I'm just a crap driver! I can grab 8th or 9th by the exit of the second corner but then on some of the other corners my car comes almost to a standstill whilst the other cars seem to manage to pull away out eh bend much faster than me.

Probably not crapness on your part. I find that the more I play GT5 the more I ignore the suggested braking zones. Particularly in this challenge late braking really helps to squeeze past opponents on the inside. Outside overtaking same thing if you use the line differently.

I remember the last corner being on me and I was in 2nd. I think I barged him out of the way and prayed I wouldn't be disqualified!

Really enjoyed that one, the off camber breaking on the first turn gives you a wonderful sense of lack of control.

[Darwock]

You're not alone in hating the Elise challenge. At least with the VWs it was a matter of perseverance.. with the Elise it's a nightmare just trying to keep the thing on the track ><

I spotted my first bit of damage tonight. This was at A-spec level 12. Got a bit too aggressive trying to get my MX5 into first in the beginner FR series. During the replay after one heavy shunt the front bumper/bodywork got dislodged and was hanging off. Once back at the menu it was restored to it's original state though.

[Brad]

Oh I switched off the racing line the first time I booted the game up. I did find it helped to crank the ABS up to 10, otherwise hard braking in anything other than a eprfectly straight line on a perfectly flat bit of track = spin out. I'll try it some more over the weekend. I'll try some outside overtaking too but I can't help but feel it's the tight corners that are holding me back. If I could take those corners like the AI cars I'd be fine I reckon.

There seems to be no hard and fast rules regarding what level of bumping will get you disqualified? I *think* it bases it on the outcome of your bumping i.e. if you barely touch them but cause them to spin or hit red cones then disqualify but even a hard shunt that doesn't cause the AI too much of a problem is ok. Anyone else agree with that?

EDIT: Yeah, I got minor damage prioer to level 10 even. Just a small dent in the bonnet. I'm at 15 now and I've see boots quite dented. Strange way to go about things IMO.

[Darwock]

On the IC-10 license test I was often disqualified at one particular turn where I was ahead of an opponent (through late braking) and they turned in on me and made contact with the side of my car. If I was further through the turn, and they hit more towards the rear of my car instead, I was let off with it.

In both cases it was not me that was at fault, but hey ho. It's pretty odd.

[Brad]

Hmmmm, strange! I also noticed that AI cars go fopr the racing line nomatter what. The result is that you'll be driving along with them forcing their way into you from the side. If you hold your line then they may start to fall back. When suitably far back enough the pressure of their car becomes focused just on the very rear corner of your car and you start to spin off, they drive past and it's all over. Nice.

Polyphony should publish the source for the driver AI so someone can fix it. Seriously, Sony already have "The Tester" - they could turn this into a contest: Win the chance to have your AI routines in Gran Turismo!

[Uli]

why is there no option to set video output resolution? and, great, there's a flash and a horn... but why can't i switch on/off the car's headlights to illuminate cockpit instruments anytime?

i can't find the N&#252;rburgring Nordschleife in arcade mode... do i first have to unlock it in GT mode?

Eurogamer has put up a very comprehensive and eye-opening Gran Turismo 5 Tech Analysis.

[wod]

On the IC-10 license test I was often disqualified at one particular turn where I was ahead of an opponent (through late braking) and they turned in on me and made contact with the side of my car. If I was further through the turn, and they hit more towards the rear of my car instead, I was let off with it.

In both cases it was not me that was at fault, but hey ho. It's pretty odd.

yes i was going to mention this as getting up to the second corner on the track from the start and late break to get past, they would turn into me and got me disqualified.

took me quite a lot of tries to win that, i could have got gold on it but settled for bronze getting 6th place or something.

it is strange the ai, in the a licence the late breaking test i knocked the 1st car pretty much out of the way but still won and no disqualification.

[Darwock]

Just been playing with the face tracking - awesome use of technology, but it's a bit distracting - I was so busy checking out the far side of the dashboard and the wing mirror constantly that I forgot about the racing line (and the walls)

The custom soundtrack option was a bit confusing as it seems to only let you select a single track and not a playlist/album, but despite that it played other tracks from the playlist anyway. Weird.

[Uli]

regarding sound... disappointing throughout! it's even worse than in GT4. windscreen sound is strangely absent and, at least so far, no sign of real life engine sounds as it was supposed to feature... years ago...

here's a glimpse of what it should sound like..

http://www.psuni.com/this-is-how-gran-turismo-5-should-sound-3619/

[Brad]

@Wod - yes, the AI cars WILL follow their scalextric path nomatter where you are on the track so if you're cutting on their inside you need to know when they will pull in and make sure you're clear before they do so otherwise they'll just barge into you.

@ Darwock - snap on both counts! It seems you choose a track and it plays the entire contents of the folder that track lives in. head tracking only works in arcade mode too due to memory restrictions. I'm sure we could all have told Sony that 256MB wasn't really enough for this generation.

[Bassman]

There is a NASCAR event in the fourth series of events (can never remember the names of the later ones). Not the easiest to do to say the least. You get five races.

[Kubrick]

regarding sound... disappointing throughout!

Yeah, it is a bit hit-and-miss. I play with the bumper cam viewpoint and the engine note of your own car is pretty subdued and barely audible in some cars. Yet, on the other hand, some of the opponents around you can sound awesome.

I was in a race last night where I was closely following a Ford GT and the sound this thing was making was absolutely magnificent. The Jaguar XJ220 is another car that sounds great when you're behind it.

And yes, you'll have to make some progress in GT mode to unlock the Nordschleife for Arcade mode.