Gran Turismo 5 Review: Expert Hands-On

Amar212, infamous GT insider and founder of Croatian fan-site GT Surgeons, finally has his hands on a copy of Gran Turismo 5! Instead of sharing pictures or videos, though, he’s focused on providing hard-core fans with all the details in a comprehensive and thorough review of the game. This review isn’t about comparing it to other racers or whether or not the title is worth your money – it’s a detailed study of how each new feature in GT5 actually works and how the gameplay unfolds.

Better yet, Amar’s review is going on right now, and you can watch his journey through the game as he shares several updates throughout the day. If you’re concerned about “spoilers”, don’t worry – “sensitive” information such as prize cars are carefully marked, and he has taken care to ensure the game’s remaining surprises stay under wraps.

He already posted three updates on Wednesday – click here to watch his review unfold throughout the week. Thank you, once again, Amar, for your awesome service to the community of GT fans around the world!

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Comments (70)

  1. GT'ireland

    @jasonmann thats a very good idea,a racing team would be exciting,it be good in order to be part of your team we have to do a track of your choice in a certain time to pass your criteria,that way you will know you got a worthy team mate.like a test if you will,what do you think? Does anyone else agree? I think its a fantastic idea

  2. JasonMann

    add my gamertag guys, my psn is the same as my name here. im my friends list is full, msg me. i need ppl to race with online… and im thinking about making a clan/racing team

  3. Benny44

    I’m anxiously awaiting word on the tuning options and if there is a 1/4 mile track, not just using SS7. Do most people actually listen to music while they are racing? Personally I find it very distracting. I like to hear the sound of the engine and tires.

    1. Jack Jarbas

      I listen to music while racing. Do not distract me anything, but I also like to hear the car engine! So I never put the music too loud.

    2. Luke

      I also turn off the music in races. But maybe i will use my own music :) Hopefully the music volume can be adjusted. I like to hear the engine.

      I think the first thing i`m gonna do when starting GT is take the R8 for a drive :) I can best compare the sound improvement with the R8.

    3. occasionalracer

      First setting I’ll adjust as always is music off. If I really want some music I can play it off my PC which is hooked up to separate speakers. If you think about it, when your playing 2 different sound sources on the same speakers your going to have frequencies mixing and distorting the pure sound. I love racing and I love music, but it’s either one or the other and it’s distracting for sure.

  4. dearlybeloved

    I just can’t wait to listen to my own playlist!! for many a year I waited for this feature and to play prince/red hot chili peppers/ the roots/ alien vs the car/ and so on while doing any form of driving is just going to blow my head off!!

    Peace out.

  5. McSmith

    Great thread! can’t resist to keep reading it but also don’t want to spoil all the surprises. rather find out that stuff by myself…

  6. Jack

    Awesome information. I’m very happy to hear that the force feedback is so detailed and gives you a great idea of the level of traction you’ve got at all times. That’s a gigantically important feature. Also cool to see that they’ve got classical music in the soundtrack. I’m really looking forward to playing my own music during replays.

    1. Benny44

      I agree. But, and I know a lot of people would probably disagree here, if they couldn’t race together I would rather have them all standard. I use the bumper cam anyway. No mention for 100% if that is a view option in Amar’s review, but from everything I’ve watched it is.

  7. Magic Ayrton

    Proper Handling and feel, that and the standard car standard (lol) I’m going to be sooooooo Happy… where do we start??? :D

    1. occasionalracer

      I doesn’t look like it. First off the SE is orange with GT decals and comes in a small showcase box. And this seems a tad too large as well, I think it’s 1:18 and SE is 1:24.

  8. Zuel

    Read over his finding last night. He’s been hard at work, it looks like he’ll unlock A-Spec Mode sometime today.

  9. Tripotiou

    Gt5 Will in my ps3 this sarterday i just call my shop micromania for the French people who knows and they are going to sell the game :) soooo goooodddd!!!!!!

    1. shigllgetcha

      was going to the gts website never saw the thread link for here, was on the thread here last night but couldnt find it today.

      ill try harder to open my eyes in future lol

    1. Jakemania

      I’ve actually pretty much got my playlist all set up. I had it at 800+ songs but I’ve been knocking it down to 500 since that’s the max for a PS3 playlist (I’m not sure how the game will accept the music)… I’ll list some bands/artists that have at least 5 or so songs from them on it.
      3 Doors Down, Alter Bridge, AFI,
      Aerosmith, ACDC, Bon Jovi, Boston,
      Breaking Benjamin, Creed, Daughtry,
      Eve 6, Fuel, Greenday, Linkin Park,
      Priestess, Queen, Rise Against,
      Shinedown, Van Halen,

    2. Steve_0

      @Jakemania,
      Pretty damn good selection you’ve got there. I’m pretty similar, just going to list the main appearances in my Driving playlist, that has been evolving steadily over the years:

      AC/DC, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Blink 182, Beck, Boston, Creed, Coldplay, Cream, Deep Purple, The Doors, Dropkick Murphys, The Eagles, Feeder, Finch, Flogging Molly, Foo Fighters, Franz Ferdinand, Funkadelic, Gorillaz (the classic ones), Gov’t Mule, Guns ‘N Roses, Heart, The Hives, Iron Maiden, Jane’s Addiction, JET, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Jimmy Eat World, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Kansas, Kasabian, Kenny Loggins, Kings Of Leon, Led Zeppelin, Lenny Kravitz, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marilyn Manson, Massive Attack, Matchbox Twenty, Metallica, Michael Jackson, Mötley Crüe, NERD, Nickelback, Nirvana, NoFX, Oasis, The Offspring, Oldies, Ozzy Osbourne, POD, Papa Roach, Pink Floyd, Poison, Primus, Puddle Of Mudd, Queen, Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, Ramones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Rolling Stones, Santana, Seal, Spiderbait, Stone Temple Pilots, Sum 41, The Sword, Teddybears, Tenacious D, Third Eye Blind, Tweak, Twisted Sister, U2, Van Halen, Velvet Revolver, Weezer, Wheatus, The White Stripes, The Who, Wolfmother, Zakk Wylde, 3 Doors Down, 30 Seconds to Mars…

    3. Jakemania

      @Steve_0,
      Likewise! I have pretty much all of those bands in there too =P. At least 80% of them I’d say. Pretty good stuff.

      I wonder if 500 will be the max or if it will just read all of the songs from the hard drive?

    4. Bernd

      I’m from Germany, so I’d add the SCORPIONS and ACCEPT, plus another epic band from Finland, which is of course NIGHTWISH (pre2005 only)!!!

    5. Brandon

      Oh Bernd, you said it right, Nightwish pre 2005 will certainly be on my playlist. nice of amar to give us all this info also. I’d rather be playing then typing!

    6. Rollo

      As good as classic rock may be, I’m gonna go with something more adrenaline creating. I’ve already composed some Prodigy/Chemical Brothers playlists.

    7. Bernd

      @jakemania – Nightwish is a legendary symphonic-rock band, which became famous from about 1996-2005. Main reason was their singer Tarja Turunen. She is a soprano with an angelic voice, capable of singing virtually everything from classics like J.S. Bach to very fast and hard rocksongs.
      It’s all on YouTube, best thing to begin should be their famous last concert with Tarja, called “End of an Era”.

  10. j-kirb

    In order for this to be the best driving game ever…it better have 1/4 mile online drag racing and drifting multiplayer. The drag racing would be sick!

    1. dalejrfanfreak

      Drag Racing could be fun….I hope the course creator will allow us to make a straight line to race on. Now if we could just get PD to add John Force’s Funny Car I’d be happy…

    2. Benny44

      Not a fan of drifting but I have always wanted a 1/4 mile track from GT1 on. Not sure why there hasn’t been. And I mean one where there can be more than 1 car. I always had to time the car and then time another one to see which was quickest off the line.

    3. MAidioPT

      just take the SSR7 Track ;) and if the Online Connections are good, then you will not have problems by horn 3 times and , gooooooooooooo !

    4. - SZRT Ice -

      Tokyo Route 7:

      3 cars on track, one drives up & turns around, flashes their headlights twice, & on the third flash…
      GO!!!

      Simple…

  11. Jakemania

    Thanks for the update! And thanks to Amar for going into such detail in his review. That 40 minute install is gonna be the longest 40 minutes ever! Just like this week is going to be the longest week ever!

    1. Razor

      350GT > where did you come up with that ‘preview-type’ copy? All those guys that got GT5, had final retail version.It is obvious. And you will get the same one.

    2. MAidioPT

      @Razor , it seems like those guys on youtube, that uploaded those GT5 videos have not the Gold Edition. but yea, we dont know… i guess we have to wait. ~5-6 Days left ;P

    3. Robulus

      @razor this still is far from obvious. Amars confirmed retail version apparently has some options that rdk and tekken didn’t have.

    4. HugoStiglitz_420

      he’s doing a good job getting details that a non GT crack addict like us wouldn’t think of. check it out

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