Gran Turismo 5

[Malc]

Me and my brother went down to Brooklands at the Mercedes Benz World yesterday, I had my first ever driving lesson, and my brother drove a Mercedes AMG and the SLS at racing speeds for 1 hour.

Anyway, whilst we were looking around the Mercedes centre we remembered that Sony had held a competition there for setting the fastest lap time around the Nurburgring a few weeks back, and sure enough they still had all 4 pods there:



So I had a go:



I don't normally play with a wheel setup at home, but after playing this version of the game the physics felt a lot better than Prologue (maybe very similar to to the Time trial demo they released around christmas time) as the back end was more prone to stepping out, and the course was extremely bumpy, which made braking from high speed almost impossible at some points of the Nordschleife.

[JP]

Going back to the demo pods that have been seen in some Best Buy shops, one of the has a more advanced damage model than has been shown to the public before.

There's a couple of people on GT Planet who have taken pictures of the level of damage you get which I've shown in these thumbnails.


Although the aesthetic damage was set to on the physical damage was also on but not fully on so doing things like bending the axels and frames affected the handling but they couldn't right the car off completely.

This aesthetic damage still isn't the complete version as others also show things like paint scratching off, dirt being picked up by the car and stickers on the race models peeling as you'd expect and there could be other things which we've just not been shown yet.

The complete damage model only seems to have been shown to a select few press but I suppose if you imagine the above pictures combined with this sort paint scratching off...


And the race livery stickers peeling off gives some sort of an idea as to how it will look...


Also, here's a few more videos from recent demos.

[randombs]

^^ In the fourth pic, is that a Mercedes sign I see slipping off?

[JP]

Yeah, the last pic shows the indentation where the badge used to be.

[randombs]

All this damage talk is making me sad: I came home yesterday to find some numpty had whacked into my wing mirror and took the glass bit clean off. Someone (either them or someone else) decided to place the glass on my windshield. I managed to put it back together but it's still a bit broken

Still, only a few months to go!

[JP]

A few more from somebody else on GT Planet showing light fittings coming loose and radiator grills being torn.



I think they all look a bit strange at the moment with the windows being seemingly untouched by the damage, hopefully that will change by release and there has been rumours of broken glass causing punctures if it's driven over.

[englishbob]

there has been rumours of broken glass causing punctures if it's driven over.

I find the damage requirement of a racer one of the less important features of a game of this type, yet the one everyone seems to demand over everything else.

I, for one, hope that (a) windscreens don't shatter and (b) you don't get punctures from other collisions. Can you imagine the amount of in-game quitters during an online race? **

** unless damage in purely optional, of course

[saturn-gamer]

I'd rather have no damage at all. I don't see the fuss with it. You get rammed by a wacky AI and your car is damaged so that you can't go full speed anymore. If not it means its purely cosmetic damage which I call useless. In Rally damage is part of the game but in a GT I can live without.

GT5P's penalty system drove me mad by the way. Its the most nonsensical system I've seen. I would get penalized for... someone else ramming me or braking suddenly or something.

[Uli]

damage is the least interesting feature for me as this will be mostly cosmetic anyway.

any footage of a night-race or changing weather conditions?

[Brad]

The damage model is not just cosmetic, it affects the car's handling in an accurate way.

[Darwock]

I hope the obsession with accuracy isn't going to stand in the way of the gameplay - englishbloke has a point about people quitting. I also don't see the point in them pursuing the level of accuracy where running over broken glass can puncture your tyres, if the racing experience isn't accurate anyway because of the non-reactive AI of the other cars.

It would be great to be involved in a hard fought battle for position only to have something happen to you (or your opponent) that required a pit stop. Not so great if it happens when you are just going through the motions against a dumb AI.

[dvdx2]

RE: damage model


the lack of damage model was the biggest crititism (next to the AI), in the GT games

at least now we are getting closer to 'the real driving simulator' that was touted those many years ago - surely you dont want to see a game in the year 2010 where you can crash into a wall at 160mph and then bounce off it and still able to win the race?

damage adds a whole extra layer of depth to the game, and i want to see the cars get really trashed (although i dont think this will happen)

[Profit]

The game could become next to impossible with realistic damaging (not just the visual aspect). Damage at 15mph side-on to the wheel is enough to finish a sports car.

[dvdx2]

The game could become next to impossible with realistic damaging (not just the visual aspect). Damage at 15mph side-on to the wheel is enough to finish a sports car.

true - but that sort of damage in a video game in unlikely to hinder you much

[Uli]

The damage model is not just cosmetic, it affects the car's handling in an accurate way.

the build i played at gamescom didn't reflect this realistic behavior at all. but this may of course just be a matter of correct settings or depending on the game mode.

however, i am not interested in accurate damage simulation anyway as it doesn't add anything to my driving pleasure. and i've yet to see proof of much talked features like weather and night races - 9 years after "Les Mans 24h" on Dreamcast...