Lost my Virgin GT5 Save Game - Thank You! Kaz! Fully Updated Now.

[photonrider]

I have been playing GT5 Version 1.0 for the last two years, on and off, whenever I could, finally getting to Levels 35+ on Both A-Spec and B-Spec, having also kept records of the various progressions.
As you might realise, I had to grind, I had to remember which car I had already bought (no tick marks) I couldn't swap wheels on my standards . . . seasonals? What was that?
There was no easy money for me.
But when I started to play the game, I was under the assumption that Kaz would continue to improve the game in bits and pieces, probably finishing off with some form of compleat game (though I also presumed that as long as there was Online capability, the game would continue to feed on bits and pieces.)
This all came to pass, but I was reluctant to feed on the bits and pieces - I gnawed away at the bone he had thrown me, and amassed over 1300 cars - many of them considered 'rarities' (if such concept still exists in the game. )

Then my son gave me the XL Edition for Father's day.
This I glared at for several months as it lay on my desk, on my hall-table, on my console, in my bedroom (I was still looking at it - shrink-wrap in place. )

Well . . . GT6 is almost around the corner . . . and I felt it was no point waiting for any more 'latest' developments from Kaz .
I slid it in.
The whole process took less than an hour, including hooking up to get the upgrades after XL, too..
Suddenly I had a whole different Save Game! Everything intact! And . . . . Holy smoking 🤬 , Kaz, pardon the language, Honorable-San, this is the GT5 I expected after GT4. Thank you, Thank, Thank you for giving me such pleasure.

Now what kind of Quantum Jump am I going to have to imagine up before GT6 surely comes my way, a few months from now?

Meanwhile,I can occupy myself with playing GT5 - the real . . um . . thing.

This is where I was a month ago when I last played: (Version 1.0, no Online, no DLC via Disc, original game.)





Now I'm all grown-up: (The latest Version at this time before launch of GT6







Tick marks? What?! Two years of no tick marks? How foolish of me.. . .

I have loads of before and after photos - and videos, too; I'm sure some of you may have some questions about this while we wait impatiently for GT6.

 

[Yauma9]

Has there been any improvement on graphics?
And why you didn't download the updates? It seems weird seeing how much better the game got.

 

[photonrider]

Alright, I'm back - sorry for gapping out, had to run some errands. Have to leave again in an hour but till then hopefully I can dip in and out and answer some questions.

Has there been any improvement on graphics?

Right away I noticed an improvement in graphics. Not knowing the technical details, and just being subjective, I would say that the graphics became 'cleaner', the colors more vivid, and the whole look more realistic than Version 1.0's 'glinty' ultra-high-def look. Best way I can put it. No doubt an improvement in terms of being easier on the eye.

And why you didn't download the updates? It seems weird seeing how much better the game got.

I wanted to feel the full force of the difference between the Original release, and whatever Kaz could accede as a fairly 'finished' game.
It's like I just started playing GT5 for the first time - what I was playing before was a shabby comparison - a working copy.
Good thing is I'm starting with much of the game complete, and a whole whack of cars.
Seasonals? I'm looking forward to being a millionaire soon.

 

[Gravitron]

Surely you caught snippets in the forums about what you were missing?

And I would highly suggest trying out racing online with people you know of similar speed, it's WAAAYY better than the single player experience. If you didn't update then you almost certainly haven't tried this, correct?

Props for resisting the urge for 3 years, I couldn't have done that.

EDIT: Go straight to Spa, do not pass GO.

 

[photonrider]

Surely you caught snippets in the forums about what you were missing?

But, of course I did - I read a lot here - much more time spent doing that than actually saying anything, as you can see from my dismally low post count. The information only served to make me imagine the differences - though I wanted to feel the full impact as a complete package.
What other members were saying only goaded me to explore the Original as comprehensively as time permitted before I gave myself the pleasure of what everybody was raving (or ranting) about.
I didn't miss the bugs or the bug fixes, though.
Also I've already had one game freeze-up at the initial loading screen - that never happened before - it dislikes me playing offline, and tends to force me with several prompts to go Online.

And I would highly suggest trying out racing online with people you know of similar speed, it's WAAAYY better than the single player experience. If you didn't update then you almost certainly haven't tried this, correct?

Right. Resisting the urge to go Online was killing - I've had many invites from leagues and players here - and have had to refuse because of the experiment I was conducting. I may have played for a few hours offline, since I restructured the game now - still exploring many of the new wrinkles - and there is no doubt that Kaz (judging from the vocal mayhem at these Forums, itself,) took a lot of Feedback to heart, and tweaked, corrected, tuned, and embellished many aspects of the game in a positive way.
I will be going Online ASAP (my pressing engagements aside and the formally shadowy photonrider will be no more than just another old guy trundling along at the rear of the pack.

Props for resisting the urge for 3 years, I couldn't have done that.

Thank you for understanding - there are some who might be scratching their heads and going : "Duh? WTF is the matter with this guy?".
Wait, what? Three years? Where did the time go?

[

EDIT: Go straight to Spa, do not pass GO.

You can't imagine how much I missed not having Spa after all the yelling about it over here, Gravitron

 

[Johnnypenso]

I congratulate you on your world class patience Not something I could have done. Yes indeed, GT5 2.14 is a much different animal than 1.0 but I can't imagine seeing it all in one big shot. Must be quite an experience.

 

[GTP_CargoRatt]

Congrats on doing what you did. Like Johnny, I could never of pulled that off. Great job and thanks for the walk down memory road as to what the game started off as. Quite interesting as I had forgotten about a lot of the stuff....like the check marks by each car (indicating you have that car) not being there in the beginning. Good stuff.

BTW, how are you able to have your avatar as your profile picture in the Home screen. I thought you were only able to have pictures taken in the game as an option for your picture there. I would love to be able to have my avatar here as my profile picture there in the Home screen but just thought it couldn't be done.

 

[Mini Stiggy]

Sheesh, I wouldn't be able to go a day without the newest update. How, did you do it
Congrats on your accomplishment:tup:👍

 

[photonrider]

I congratulate you on your world class patience Not something I could have done.

Congrats on doing what you did. Like Johnny, I could never of pulled that off.

Congrats on your accomplishment:tup:👍

Thanks, guys, your attention is a fine complement to your compliments.

Yes indeed, GT5 2.14 is a much different animal than 1.0 but I can't imagine seeing it all in one big shot. Must be quite an experience.

It is. In fact I'm finding it quite seamless at the moment; I went Online an hour or so ago, checked the various new areas open to me, checked on the Seasonal Events, jumped into the Monza TT (#72) with the only car available that matched up - a California with 519 PP - did a few laps, learned about the fact that if you so much as sniff what's off-track - there goes your lap -and finally managed a clean lap of 2.09 - not enough to even clinch Bronze.
Never mind the top of the Board has a guy doing it in less than a minute.

The experience itself is different. The online physics are different - a little less 'tighter' is the best way I can put it - in comparison to the updated Offline physics.
The Offline physics basically took a quantum jump for me - for instance one of my favourite races was taking any DTM car to the DTM C'Ships, and doing the Ring - sometimes one car after another. The CLK-GTR is a car I found incredibly responsive and stable (Ver. 1.) but the 'new' CLK - GTR (Ver. 2.14) is an absolute beast - it envelops me like a suit, is ferociously fast, and grips like a gob of phlegm on a hot sidewalk.
My enjoyment of the cars - after slogging around with the 'old' machines for years - has immensely being boosted.

However - I would not feel this way if I had never played the game - and just gone out last month, got XL, thrown it into a console, updated to 2.14, and started playing.
The fact that I have years of playing the Original behind my belt is what's giving me a whole new subjective experience of the game. Truly - it's a different game; same building blocks, but finished a lot more finer, fitting together a lot better, and making a castle that looks the same (almost) but functions in a hugely more streamlined, intuitive, wider, and user-friendly manner.

BTW: My first car - purchased on the day I started the game, of course, Valentine's Day 2011. To make the story more interesting - I received the game in the week it was released, as an advance 'Christmas Present', but didn't open it till I got heck on Valentine's Day the next year. But that's another story.
I was still deeply into GT4 at the time, for crying out aloud, why would anyone tear me away from that?

First car:

. Great job and thanks for the walk down memory road as to what the game started off as. Quite interesting as I had forgotten about a lot of the stuff....like the check marks by each car (indicating you have that car) not being there in the beginning. Good stuff.

The check marks freaked me out - well, I had read about them, but to see them actually come up, after having to trust my memory to beat the game, was something else.
I was peeved and pleased and the same time - peeved that I had struggled to take on the initial challenge that Kaz had thrown me, having to depend on memory skills to pick up the various cars . . . and pleased when I look in the UCD to see lots of check marks that told me I had all the cars! Confirmed!



I go the OCD . . Ah! Yeah! Maybe there are some cars in there I don't have?



Nope. Nothing:



This isn't good. I need moar cars.
DLC, DLC, DLC . . . . see how quickly I picked up the mantra?

As for the walks down Memory Lane - I have over 400 movies made in the Original, as well as hundreds of photos - not sure what has changed but I will be investigating every nook and cranny.

This story is exclusive to GTPlanet.
While I am a member of other Forums (and I run 3 ISPs, with no alternate or duplicate accounts) I want to keep this whole close-off of GT5 strictly within the confines of the best Gran Turismo site in the world.
Kaz has to come in here to receive any thanks.

And, BTW - I got both the pussy and the PP now!
Yes, Jenkins is finally mine; I never had that cat, and had to borrow someone else's shot to make the Jenkins memes I made for the Meme Thread. You will find shots of mine, in the Jenkins Thread, of the Temples without the cats. Those are the 'before' shots.

BTW, how are you able to have your avatar as your profile picture in the Home screen.

You mean the other way around? Who is that guy?

I thought you were only able to have pictures taken in the game as an option for your picture there. I would love to be able to have my avatar here as my profile picture there in the Home screen but just thought it couldn't be done.

Might be possible if you threw your Avatar into the XMB?

Sheesh, I wouldn't be able to go a day without the newest update. How, did you do it

What do you think is my mentality now? The same as yours!

As for the 'new' AI. Damn. Well, that's another story, too.



They're all happy, happy, happy with the new deal. Except the two who have never been let out on the track.

Four of them, fully experienced, and level 35 - and two noobs, who never raced - but also . . . fully experienced.

Any good missions you guys want me to give them?

 

[grashopper]

You're terrible at opening gifts
Let's hope they don't ask if you enjoyed them too fast.

No idea how you stayed away from updating so long.
Don't forget to download the free Corvettes and the Scion FRS if you haven't already.

 

[Mini Stiggy]

Pretty sure they aren't free anymore.^
As for the the 1 minute lap times you were talking about. Those are people that hack the game and put X1 chassis and thousands of BHP underneath cars that are usually slow.👎

 

[Jaywalker]

Fixed this for you:

As for the the 1 minute lap times you were talking about. Those are people with small penises & large inferiority complexes that hack the game and put X1 chassis and thousands of BHP underneath cars that are usually slow.👎

@Photonrider: Awesome, man! 👍 How you resisted is beyond me... Enjoy!

 

[photonrider]

You're terrible at opening gifts
Let's hope they don't ask if you enjoyed them too fast.

Heh, heh . . . strange how someone, even hundreds, or thousands of miles away, and through the internet, can identify a facet of personality; you're right, I'm terrible at opening gifts or receiving compliments IRL.
Easier over the internet, though - I'll take the next DLC right away.

No idea how you stayed away from updating so long.
Don't forget to download the free Corvettes and the Scion FRS if you haven't already.

I got the FRS, and also a free Merc 190 E. ?
No Corvette to be seen yet. Admittedly, I'm a little slow at this - haven't explored everything yet.

Pretty sure they aren't free anymore.^
As for the the 1 minute lap times you were talking about. Those are people that hack the game and put X1 chassis and thousands of BHP underneath cars that are usually slow.👎

Damn - so that explains it. I know about the hullabaloo over hybrids - it's all over this Forum - but I didn't realise that Official Times would be tampered with. In fact I spent hours puzzling over that time (53 secs) wondering how on earth that was possible. I ran the track over and over in my mind, running a car in my imagination as fast as I could , counting the seconds in my head - and I couldn't for the life of me figure out the lines. I wondered vaguely if it was a hybrid issue, or whether the times were reflective of only a lap, and yet couldn't figure out the truth. Thanks for confirming that. It gves me new hope at acing that TT. As I said, it was a half-hearted attempt with a stock California, so I shall have a better weapon next time - Kaz has given me plenty of good cars to play with.
There is also a purpose behind the TT - we get to explore the limits of that range of Italian cars.

Fixed this for you:

I can understand that frustration - and there are probably a dozen threads discussing some aspect of it, eh?

@Photonrider: Awesome, man! 👍 How you resisted is beyond me... Enjoy!

Thanks. All in the line of duty! haha.

BBS.

 

[Gravitron]

Instead of imagining the top laps in your head, you can download the replays (look at the little "camera" icon next to each of the top 10), and save them for watching in Replay Theater or use them as a ghost to race against.

 

[fbccars924]

Wow, I thought I was behind when I got stuck on 2.10. lol

 

[photonrider]

Instead of imagining the top laps in your head, you can download the replays (look at the little "camera" icon next to each of the top 10), and save them for watching in Replay Theater or use them as a ghost to race against.

Thanks for the reminder, Lucas; that night after I had shut off (I did six laps in the California) and went to bed I was totally stupefied that someone could get that timing. Impossibru! I just kept going over and over in my mind about how it had been done. The next day I found out here that it was suspected (can this be proved?) that these were hybrids. So I was quite happy about that - because I thought that I had become even more of a slower racer than I am!
I also went back into the Log and checked the whole thing for the inevitable pattern that would show up - and found where the sudden 'drop off' was - and could see quite clearly who was the bona-fide player who actually had the top score.
I'd say the score to beat is actually around 1:50.00.

I also did watch the video - no way is that a 'real-life' car - it looked like something spawned out of TDU2 and Wipeout Pure mixed.
It doesn't matter to me - there seems to be a hybrid group, basically the first 26 in there, last I looked, and then the rest of the regular players- almost all of whom (pages and pages of it) were using the same car, with settings that were more akin to RL driving. The group I compete with will of course be the guys with the cars that were recommended for the TT itself.

Actually the game has been so boosted for me that I can't wait to get home from work to play!
I also became a millionaire double quick.

But I wanted to prove that the game could be played in its original form, and beaten - and yes, it can be done, with no online help(trading, bonuses, easy credits, etc).

Wow, I thought I was behind when I got stuck on 2.10. lol

I'm constantly watching now - we didn't get 2.15 yet, did we?