How to fix the Gran Turismo series....
I think most of us have found faults with GT5 but I want to address the series as a whole. This isn't intended to be a critique or a wish list, but at the same time I can't deny that it isn't.
1. First, I believe that Gran Turismo is a series with a serious identity crisis. Polyphony Digital doesn't seem to know whether the game should be a serious racing enthusiast simulator or a casual driving game for people who love cars... especially Japanese cars.
The problem is that nobody has successfully accomplished such a thing in the racing genre. When it comes to racing games you are Arcade or Realistic and there isn't too much in between. It is the difference between Need for Speed and the serious PC simulators such as GTR, iRacing, and rFactor.
If you like both types of games, as I do, you find that if you want a more mindless game that you don't need practice in you go the Arcade route, but if you want to hone your skills, become a better driver, tweak your car's setup, and have serious races online with others you go the Realistic/Simulation route.
Gran Turismo is both... which is good and bad. Neither the Arcade or Simulation route in GT gives you the satisfaction you would have from a game devoted to either end of the spectrum.
To make an analogy:
Arcade games are like a Jaguar XJ220 - a high top speed but lacks in handling
Simulation games are like a Lotus Elise - a car with superb handling but lacks the top speed
and Gran Turismo is like its trademark favorite car, a Nissan Skyline GT-R - a car with a decent top speed and decent handling but not particularly great at either.
So the first thing for Gran Turismo to do is to decide which way it wants to go because right now (with GT5) I don't think it is pleasing either side of gamers. I believe it should go the route of Simulation/Realism which would mean a break from some of the things we've seen in the last two Gran Turismo games (which I will go into shortly).
On the console there are very few real competitors in the racing simulator genre. One could argue that Forza is a formidable opponent but Forza is on another console. There are not enough people that have both X-Box 360 and Playstation 3 and very few will buy a console for just one game in particular (although I must confess I bought a PS3 with Gran Turismo 5 in mind.) So realistically Forza isn't really a major competitor since they don't even butt heads on the shelves - very few people have the luxury of choosing which they will play and many of those lucky folk will buy both anyway.
On the other hand there are plenty of competitors on the Arcade racing genre and to be honest they are more fun for a quick race with friends (online or offline) than Gran Turismo is.
2. Gran Turismo needs to break from the things that aren't essential to the game. If Gran Turismo wants to claim themselves as the "Real Driving Simulator" or "The Drive of Your Life," they need to get rid of the disc space eating material and replace it with things actual related to cars and driving.
Photo mode is something that is unique and interesting but unessential to a racing simulator. I understand Polyphony Digital's need to "show off" the detail they put into the game but imagine the amount of cars and tracks that could have been on GT5 if this feature didn't exist. The same goes for the intro videos into some of the Special Events (especially the Grand Tour) and the 15 minute intro video into the game. The producers of the Gran Turismo series need to spend less time making features unrelated to the major scope of the game and more time on the actual racing in the game.
Another such feature is B-Spec mode. The only useful thing about B-Spec mode is to allow the computer to drive a few hours in the 24 Hour races for you (Which can't be done in GT5). If Polyphony Digital feels the need to have a game in which you manage drivers and races it should release it in a seperate game. I have yet to hear from anybody that they really enjoy B-Spec mode in either GT4 or GT5. This feature in GT4 was atleast somewhat optional but much less so in GT5. It is both annoying and tedious.
There are also some other features that, while some being in almost all of the Gran Turismo games, are useless and insignificant. You can find all of these features in the GT Auto shop. Car wash and oil change animations are small but unnecessary features. If Gran Turismo wants to keep you maintaining your vehicles it should first start by considering things like brake and tire wear over time and less on how shiny your car looks.
3. When we think of Gran Turismo we think of cars and tracks in strong diversity. If I'm not mistaken, GT3 had the most diverse selection of cars (lowest Japanese percentage as a whole) and a hefty amount of tracks (though not as many as GT4.) Yet GT3 was the best selling Gran Turismo game and it did not have a huge carlist.
Gran Turismo needs to stop with the deceiving car and track numbers. The number of cars has always been a strong selling point for the Gran Turismo series since the first game (166 Cars!). As of the last 2 games however, that number has been deceiving. Take GT5 for example: 1031 something cars. But anybody that has played the game for a reasonable amount of time can see that the number is more like 700 unique MODELS. To me it is okay to have 30 Nissan Skylines and Mazda MX-5 variants but counting them towards the total is a little unethical. I call it "car count milking" and if I'm not mistaken Polyphony Digital does this on purpose to raise that car count number.
There is also "track count milking" by Polyphony Digital by counting track variants as a completely seperate track. Reverse tracks are not "new tracks" and removing a chicane or two does not give you a whole new track. I think the figure of 70 some tracks that Polyphony Digital claims to be in the game is ludicrous and deceitful. I'm still not sure why we have both the 2005 and 2009 versions of Circuit de la Sarthe in GT5.
Track and Car diversity is a big deal in racing simulations. It is no wonder why PC sims such as GTR and rFactor have huge modding communities that continuesly release new material on a weekly basis. When it comes to Car diversity it is high time that Gran Turismo actually listens and begins modeling more cars outside Japan. If you live in Japan, the odds of you owning a car featured in the game is atleast three times that of those living in Europe or North America. Everyday Japanese street cars such as a Mazda Demio or Suzuki Alto Works are in the game but every day street cars such as the Nissan Maxima, Chevrolet Cobalt, Ford Escort, or Toyota Camry found in North America and Europe cease to exist.
When it comes to track diversity I find it is better to have a good mix of real life and fictional tracks. Fictional tracks are good because they force you to learn new circuits. GT5 did a great job on the new fictional tracks they added to the game (particularly Cape Ring), but a shabby job of the real life tracks. Other than Daytona, Indianapolis, and Monza there are very few NEW venues to the game. When it comes to variants of tracks I think it is more important to have more venues than variations: 7 Nurburgrings and 8 Chamonix variants if you count the weather ones.
When it comes to weather on tracks in the Gran Turismo series I think it is somewhat of an experiment for them. It seems that they duplicate a whole track and add weather effects rather than make them dynamic and less predictable like the weather in the PC sim GTR. I can't say whether the time/weather system is bad or good in the game yet but I do think it can be improved. The only gripe I have is the lack of the time feature in GT5 for Daytona as both NASCAR 400 mile race and the Rolex 24 Hour race are huge events held under the lights at the track.
4. Licensing. Overall Gran Turismo has gotten better and better on obtaining liscenses for Tracks and Cars but some are still obviously missing and others are used poorly. The most glaring omission that nearly everyone has noticed is the absence of Porsche. I have heard many stories and excuses as to why it is missing (EA still has the rights for 5 more years or something...). The point is that I can't imagine that Porsche DOESN'T want to be in the game and wouldn't somehow work out the legal kinks to give Gran Turismo the license. If it is true that this is not possible than I can't see why more RUF cars are not in the game as replacements and why there are other non-EA games out there featuring Porsches. (Could be wrong but aren't there Porsches in Forza?). My advice to Polyphony Digital is to GET IT DONE! It CAN be done with some effort... and the large amount of Porsche enthusiasts out there will ultimately thank you by buying your product.
Many of the licenses they have are not used well or to the full potential given to them (though some could have legal stipulations that we are not aware of). NASCAR, for example, was poorly used and represented in GT5. Though I am not a huge fan of NASCAR, I know well enough about the cars to know they perform nothing like they do in GT5. To get a more accurate representation of the sport you would need a full 43 car field and some tracks other than 2 of the largest venues they race in (such as the half mile Bristol). It would have been nice if they would have had Infineon in GT5 as it is a road course they actually drive at. At Daytona stock cars use restrictor plates that basically cut the horsepower in half and outside of a draft you would be lucky to hit 190 on the straights let alone 220 which is unheard of. Polyphony Digital would probably do better to create a completely seperate game for NASCAR and oval racing than encorporate such a thing in a road racing game.
While Ferrari and Lamborghini are great additions to the game, they lack many historical cars that would have been great to have. The absence of a street Diablo and an F50, 360, 550, or 355 are saddening to anyone a fan of either manufacterer in the last 20 years.
In conclusion, I write this in hopes the someone can translate it into Japanese and send it over to Polyphony Digital. Actually I'm kidding but it would be nice to see an improved game. I sincerely enjoy all of the Gran Turismo games but I believe the trajectory the series is heading in is troubling. There are many points a missed and if someone would like to add they can be my guest.
On a side note, I have been visiting GT Planet since its existance but have never registered and decided to make this my first... and maybe final post.
message by the catfish
I think most of us have found faults with GT5 but I want to address the series as a whole. This isn't intended to be a critique or a wish list, but at the same time I can't deny that it isn't.
1. First, I believe that Gran Turismo is a series with a serious identity crisis. Polyphony Digital doesn't seem to know whether the game should be a serious racing enthusiast simulator or a casual driving game for people who love cars... especially Japanese cars.
The problem is that nobody has successfully accomplished such a thing in the racing genre. When it comes to racing games you are Arcade or Realistic and there isn't too much in between. It is the difference between Need for Speed and the serious PC simulators such as GTR, iRacing, and rFactor.
If you like both types of games, as I do, you find that if you want a more mindless game that you don't need practice in you go the Arcade route, but if you want to hone your skills, become a better driver, tweak your car's setup, and have serious races online with others you go the Realistic/Simulation route.
Gran Turismo is both... which is good and bad. Neither the Arcade or Simulation route in GT gives you the satisfaction you would have from a game devoted to either end of the spectrum.
To make an analogy:
Arcade games are like a Jaguar XJ220 - a high top speed but lacks in handling
Simulation games are like a Lotus Elise - a car with superb handling but lacks the top speed
and Gran Turismo is like its trademark favorite car, a Nissan Skyline GT-R - a car with a decent top speed and decent handling but not particularly great at either.
So the first thing for Gran Turismo to do is to decide which way it wants to go because right now (with GT5) I don't think it is pleasing either side of gamers. I believe it should go the route of Simulation/Realism which would mean a break from some of the things we've seen in the last two Gran Turismo games (which I will go into shortly).
On the console there are very few real competitors in the racing simulator genre. One could argue that Forza is a formidable opponent but Forza is on another console. There are not enough people that have both X-Box 360 and Playstation 3 and very few will buy a console for just one game in particular (although I must confess I bought a PS3 with Gran Turismo 5 in mind.) So realistically Forza isn't really a major competitor since they don't even butt heads on the shelves - very few people have the luxury of choosing which they will play and many of those lucky folk will buy both anyway.
On the other hand there are plenty of competitors on the Arcade racing genre and to be honest they are more fun for a quick race with friends (online or offline) than Gran Turismo is.
2. Gran Turismo needs to break from the things that aren't essential to the game. If Gran Turismo wants to claim themselves as the "Real Driving Simulator" or "The Drive of Your Life," they need to get rid of the disc space eating material and replace it with things actual related to cars and driving.
Photo mode is something that is unique and interesting but unessential to a racing simulator. I understand Polyphony Digital's need to "show off" the detail they put into the game but imagine the amount of cars and tracks that could have been on GT5 if this feature didn't exist. The same goes for the intro videos into some of the Special Events (especially the Grand Tour) and the 15 minute intro video into the game. The producers of the Gran Turismo series need to spend less time making features unrelated to the major scope of the game and more time on the actual racing in the game.
Another such feature is B-Spec mode. The only useful thing about B-Spec mode is to allow the computer to drive a few hours in the 24 Hour races for you (Which can't be done in GT5). If Polyphony Digital feels the need to have a game in which you manage drivers and races it should release it in a seperate game. I have yet to hear from anybody that they really enjoy B-Spec mode in either GT4 or GT5. This feature in GT4 was atleast somewhat optional but much less so in GT5. It is both annoying and tedious.
There are also some other features that, while some being in almost all of the Gran Turismo games, are useless and insignificant. You can find all of these features in the GT Auto shop. Car wash and oil change animations are small but unnecessary features. If Gran Turismo wants to keep you maintaining your vehicles it should first start by considering things like brake and tire wear over time and less on how shiny your car looks.
3. When we think of Gran Turismo we think of cars and tracks in strong diversity. If I'm not mistaken, GT3 had the most diverse selection of cars (lowest Japanese percentage as a whole) and a hefty amount of tracks (though not as many as GT4.) Yet GT3 was the best selling Gran Turismo game and it did not have a huge carlist.
Gran Turismo needs to stop with the deceiving car and track numbers. The number of cars has always been a strong selling point for the Gran Turismo series since the first game (166 Cars!). As of the last 2 games however, that number has been deceiving. Take GT5 for example: 1031 something cars. But anybody that has played the game for a reasonable amount of time can see that the number is more like 700 unique MODELS. To me it is okay to have 30 Nissan Skylines and Mazda MX-5 variants but counting them towards the total is a little unethical. I call it "car count milking" and if I'm not mistaken Polyphony Digital does this on purpose to raise that car count number.
There is also "track count milking" by Polyphony Digital by counting track variants as a completely seperate track. Reverse tracks are not "new tracks" and removing a chicane or two does not give you a whole new track. I think the figure of 70 some tracks that Polyphony Digital claims to be in the game is ludicrous and deceitful. I'm still not sure why we have both the 2005 and 2009 versions of Circuit de la Sarthe in GT5.
Track and Car diversity is a big deal in racing simulations. It is no wonder why PC sims such as GTR and rFactor have huge modding communities that continuesly release new material on a weekly basis. When it comes to Car diversity it is high time that Gran Turismo actually listens and begins modeling more cars outside Japan. If you live in Japan, the odds of you owning a car featured in the game is atleast three times that of those living in Europe or North America. Everyday Japanese street cars such as a Mazda Demio or Suzuki Alto Works are in the game but every day street cars such as the Nissan Maxima, Chevrolet Cobalt, Ford Escort, or Toyota Camry found in North America and Europe cease to exist.
When it comes to track diversity I find it is better to have a good mix of real life and fictional tracks. Fictional tracks are good because they force you to learn new circuits. GT5 did a great job on the new fictional tracks they added to the game (particularly Cape Ring), but a shabby job of the real life tracks. Other than Daytona, Indianapolis, and Monza there are very few NEW venues to the game. When it comes to variants of tracks I think it is more important to have more venues than variations: 7 Nurburgrings and 8 Chamonix variants if you count the weather ones.
When it comes to weather on tracks in the Gran Turismo series I think it is somewhat of an experiment for them. It seems that they duplicate a whole track and add weather effects rather than make them dynamic and less predictable like the weather in the PC sim GTR. I can't say whether the time/weather system is bad or good in the game yet but I do think it can be improved. The only gripe I have is the lack of the time feature in GT5 for Daytona as both NASCAR 400 mile race and the Rolex 24 Hour race are huge events held under the lights at the track.
4. Licensing. Overall Gran Turismo has gotten better and better on obtaining liscenses for Tracks and Cars but some are still obviously missing and others are used poorly. The most glaring omission that nearly everyone has noticed is the absence of Porsche. I have heard many stories and excuses as to why it is missing (EA still has the rights for 5 more years or something...). The point is that I can't imagine that Porsche DOESN'T want to be in the game and wouldn't somehow work out the legal kinks to give Gran Turismo the license. If it is true that this is not possible than I can't see why more RUF cars are not in the game as replacements and why there are other non-EA games out there featuring Porsches. (Could be wrong but aren't there Porsches in Forza?). My advice to Polyphony Digital is to GET IT DONE! It CAN be done with some effort... and the large amount of Porsche enthusiasts out there will ultimately thank you by buying your product.
Many of the licenses they have are not used well or to the full potential given to them (though some could have legal stipulations that we are not aware of). NASCAR, for example, was poorly used and represented in GT5. Though I am not a huge fan of NASCAR, I know well enough about the cars to know they perform nothing like they do in GT5. To get a more accurate representation of the sport you would need a full 43 car field and some tracks other than 2 of the largest venues they race in (such as the half mile Bristol). It would have been nice if they would have had Infineon in GT5 as it is a road course they actually drive at. At Daytona stock cars use restrictor plates that basically cut the horsepower in half and outside of a draft you would be lucky to hit 190 on the straights let alone 220 which is unheard of. Polyphony Digital would probably do better to create a completely seperate game for NASCAR and oval racing than encorporate such a thing in a road racing game.
While Ferrari and Lamborghini are great additions to the game, they lack many historical cars that would have been great to have. The absence of a street Diablo and an F50, 360, 550, or 355 are saddening to anyone a fan of either manufacterer in the last 20 years.
In conclusion, I write this in hopes the someone can translate it into Japanese and send it over to Polyphony Digital. Actually I'm kidding but it would be nice to see an improved game. I sincerely enjoy all of the Gran Turismo games but I believe the trajectory the series is heading in is troubling. There are many points a missed and if someone would like to add they can be my guest.
On a side note, I have been visiting GT Planet since its existance but have never registered and decided to make this my first... and maybe final post.
message by the catfish
but how awesome would it be to drop one of these into the compatible vehicles, dodge, chevvy, ford etc. damn awesome! 
same goes for other upgrades too body etc. but thats for another thread I think. 
