Gran Turismo 6 review

[Bassman]

Not sure if the photos are any better than from GT5. This one from there...

http://hostingbytes.us/images/3/9926583.jpg

Word of warning. Do not use the Flat Floor to "improve" Aerodynamics. I tried it on the C7 Corvette to see how it affected speed. Like the Wind Race 3. Normal (no Custom Add-Ons). Comfortable win by about 20 seconds. With Flat Floor, the Veyron caught and overtook me on the second straight. Hmmm...

I see the old chestnut of variable PP rears its ugly head in GT6. My C7 can't seem to make up its mind whether it is PP630 or PP661 (or so!). I have bought cars and the PP has change when they are in the garage. You would have thought that PD would have got it right by now.

If anyone (UK only) doesn't have access to O2 and does not have the Adrenaline Pack, I have a spare Redeem Code for it. That is the pack with the Cizeta, GT86, SLC GT3, Cobra Daytona Coupe and Focus ST '13.

[VR46]

Have you tried any S class races yet?

First one took me three attempts to win, is the first race with a compulsory pit stop, got the "Skin of your teeth" trophy too.

Spoiler for car used and winning time etc.

->Open Spoiler<-

Vision Merc, upgraded to 745PP, sports medium tyres. Won in 11 minutes 19 seconds in the end with a couple of off road incidents

Good to see there is a 5 second penalty collision in the S Class too. The odd clip here and there is fine.

I see the old chestnut of variable PP rears its ugly head in GT6. My C7 can't seem to make up its mind whether it is PP630 or PP661 (or so!). I have bought cars and the PP has change when they are in the garage. You would have thought that PD would have got it right by now.

I thought there was the 200 mile breaking in thing again where the car increased in HP after 200 miles? sure I read about it somewhere on GTPlanet.

[Bassman]

I think they got rid of that engine breaking in (in my opinion a good thing as it was annoying having to reset the car after each race). My C7 has done well over 200 miles with no change to the HP. Had to redo the body rigidity as it was deteriorating. Seems as if the wear is a bit excessive.

I tried the first S with the GT-R Black '13 (after trying the R33) tuned to PP750 and made too many excursions and lost interest! Not a fan of the track.

Not sure how the game works with overpowered cars, but in the first MR race at Madrid it was using the PP521 '66 GT40 for the PP500 race. I tried the car (down to PP500) and it seemed less competitive than the NSX I tried previously. Last time I tried it the Muira was there but I am not sure of the PP for that.

I did a comparison of the Aniversary GT86 with the Stock one and it has the equivalent of Stage 1 Weight Reduction, Carbon Boost, Computer and Sports Exhaust fitted. Needless to say the stock model is about 20 down on the PP number with the same upgrades due to lower Horsepower and higher weight.

[Profit]

I thought there was the 200 mile breaking in thing again where the car increased in HP after 200 miles? sure I read about it somewhere on GTPlanet.

Yes, most cars PP varies depending on use. Initially going up by a few percentage.

[Bassman]

It doesn't happen in GT6 as I set my cars with the Power Adjuster to the maximum horsepower for the races and I never need to adjust between race of the same PP.

No takers for an Adrenaline Pack code then...

[Profit]

? Really? All of the car's I've driven (about 15) have increased in PP after the 1st use.

[Bassman]

Did you do the normal GT trick of putting oil in when you bought the car? I have not been doing that with GT6 so I'm wondering if that is why the power is not changing for me.

Another interesting question arose. I Golded the fourth Goodwood series and won a Cizeta. Now, I had already bought one. Turns out these two cars have different HP. I haven't used either of them, or put oil in them. I must do some more investigation to see which one was the Prize Car (doesn't help that they are both the same colour!). I'll find another Prize I have not used (the Clio RS is the easiest candidate) and purchase an identical car and compare.

That Red Bull X2010 Goodwood event is seriously frustrating as the car is so sensitive to steering inputs (I have it set to -2). I presume I need to Bronze it to unlock the track (I hope it unlocks at Bronze anyway).

[Wools]

After a Christmas party on Friday night, I basically dedicated this entire weekend to GT6 and have fallen head over heals for the Photo mode.









As for the game, it's basically as close to perfect a Driving simulation that's ever been committed to disc. The handling is sublime and Polyphony have sorted the menus, designed a far more involving single player campaign and polished it to the game GT5 should have been, with hindsight.

The bad part of the game is the credit structure, just like Forza 5 and I fail to understand why both developers think it's a rewarding way for players to experience their automotive collection. The ?20 Million credit bug has of course eased that so I'm having the time of my GT Life, but it's not something we should have to do. Resort to a glitch in order to have an enjoyable time with their game.

Aside with that one major gripe, GT has taken back the racing crown from Forza 4. This will last me some time!

[Hartley Hare]

Have to agree and never thought I would say it but until I have some quality time on forza 5, this has the taken the crown off number 4. One hell of a petrol heads wet dream.

[VR46]

Also agree with the above. The more you play it the more you appreciate it.

I spent almost two hours golding all 25 licence tests. Well 24. Ran out of time. S4 the Aventador at Brands was a real pain in the ass. Just need to perfect a lap in the S5 Veyron test now....

Pretty proud of my S licence times. The ones before Ive just got gold and moved on. Picked up all the fiddly trophies at the weekend too. Happy days and I really cant wait to play again.

Is rumoured the second Vision car will land on the 20th Dec. Could be anyone of about twenty.

[Bassman]

That Cizeta thing is rather strange. I bought another and it was at the higher Horsepower level. So I had one that was still at a lower Horsepower. I went to check the tuning of the more powerful one and it has the Stage 1 N/A upgrade as standard. Back to the garage and all the Cizetas now have the higher Horsepower. Well played PD! I went on to use an untuned one, with 200 Kg of Ballast and a Power decrease to get to PP500 on two of the Nat A races (MR and Italian ones) which romped home easily.

This brings up the same "cheat" that was around in GT5. A heavy car with more horsepower will beat a lighter car with lower horsepower at the same PP number. Needless to say I use Ballast a lot (great for adjusting the weight distribution as a bonus).

As much as I like the game, I am feeling somewhat frustrated by my lack of ability with the fastest cars (X2010 why are you laughing!!!!!!!) on narrower tracks. The Formula GT does seem a little more user friendly this time around, though maybe not as killer as it was when it first appeared in GT4. If only the UK had managed all those F1 variants of GT3 (I had them all on the Japanese and American versions of the game).

My lack of ability does seem to rear its ugly head on the Licence Tests, though I did Gold the first two sets. The slaloms always seem to defeat my attempts at anything better than bronze.

I used the VW Schwimmwagen (tuned) for the "Old Dog New Tricks" Trophy. Nice to see more user friendly handling compared to GT5.

I don't seem to be playing any game for long sessions at the moment. I got Dishonored GOTY (360) for my Birthday the other day and did the first mission (the escape) and went on to something else... the PS3.

[VR46]

The licence tests are really down to practice practice practice, watching a Youtube video doesn't really help.
Don't know if you're betting off perservering and spending up to 45 minutes golding one (as I did on S4 with the Lambo) or leaving and coming back to it another day. Only went to all the efforts to get the licence related trophies.
The slalom ones just require as little directional movement as possible, easier said than done I know, once you have a ghost to beat you can chip away at the tenths bit by bit.

Can look forward to the Veyron and trying a two minute perfect lap tonight.

The Red Bull Concept cars are a real handful and the tracks do seem narrow in GT6 more often than not, especially Goodwood.

[Bassman]

I hate those Kart Races. I eventually got the Nat A ones sorted to complete all those races. Adjusted the Top Speed to the minimum (62 mph) and further adjusted and set the Final Drive to 4.800. To tone down the handling (unless it was my imagination) I put 9Kg of Ballast at the Front to give a 50:50 Weight Distribution. I did no adjustments admittedly for the Autumn Ring Mini Race. Using the above the other races, though not easy were manageable, though there were a lot of restarts before I got there!

I think I may be just off games a bit at the moment. I get that occassionally!

[VR46]

I've not even attempted a Kart race, hate them too, they can wait until last. Thanks for the tuning tips, know they were so twitchy in GT5 when pushing that they weren't fun in the slightest.

I had a spell off games, lasted about two years then came back this time last year when I bought a PS3 then a Wii U a few months later and now are more in to games again more than ever. Will pick up a PS4 next Easter me thinks.

[Bassman]

I will get a PS4 or XB1 next year if my finances are looking more healthy. First priority some time next year is to get another car. I should have around 3K due to some PPI which will help. I got rid of the last one at the end of October due to the parts that were rusting on the previous MOT. At least I walk 2 miles to the next town for groceries three times a week!

I had no issues with the first lot of Kart Races. At least now I have cleared the first three sets of events. Now need to start working on the Super races (fortunately no Karts there).

I went with my heavy powerful cars theory and made good use of the latest RS6 Avant on two series. I added Ballast and the thing had around 780 HP for the races. Needless to say I romped them. On three lap races I was in the lead by the second lap in most cases! Those were in the Nat A races. Maybe that Audi will do for some of the Super Races if I can get a high enough PP. I am not convinced that weight has enough effect in the game (not that I am complaining).

I may just take a few cars to cruise the 'Ring so that I can get more used to it. The Audi wasn't too bad there other than going down the grass at 45 degrees after a fast section. I was able to correct and get back on the track with little time loss. Seemed better than the Peugeot 908 Diesel I'd tried in another race (still need to Gold that one unfortunately, though I won the Championship). I managed a nice clean lap of the 'Ring in the prize Evoque.

Tried the Subaru 360 (not on the 'Ring I hasten to add) as that proved interesting to drive in GT5. No issues in GT6, though I haven't tried tuning it yet.

My off games periods tend to last a few weeks until I get something new. This time, strangely, Dishonored doesn't seem to have done the trick.