(Editor’s Note: I originally started this draft about a year after Gran Turismo 5 came out. Most of it still applies; some of the gripes were corrected in Gran Turismo’s most excellent next release, Gran Turismo 6.)
What can I say about Gran Turismo 5, a game that was in development for five years; a game that charged $39.99 for its demo download three years ago?
Seriously.
Is it cool? Yes, it’s cool. But then again, I grew up playing Gran Turismo — I probably racked up 100’s and 100’s of hours on Gran Turismo and Gran Turismo II alone (Gran Turismo III and IV, I never played much, and I regret that — III was apparently one of the best games ever released on the PS2 during the 2000’s). GT5 could be nothing more than a port of Gran Turismo IV for the PS3, and I’d still love it. I’m probably not the best person to judge whether or not GT5 is cool.
Does it look good? Yes, it looks great.
Does it have lots of badass cars? Check.
By this point, with all the hype that’s been built-up about this game over the years; all the stories of just how maniacal the creator, Kazunori Yamauchi, was in making sure that GT5 was going to absolutely perfect; all the stories of how imaging each car for GT5 was taking 10 times as long as it took to image a car for GT4 (which itself took 10 times as long to image for as it did GT2)…
With all this hype, how could GT5 possibly make anyone happy?
The Bad
The loading times are horrendous. (Try about a minute of waiting, every time you start a race.)
The selection of cars is limited, and the “full resolution” cars, new for GT5, is maybe 10-15% of the total cars. The rest are all ports of the GT4 cars, and the much poorer graphic quality of the cars can show.
The Good
All right, but it’s not all bad. Most of the graphics look amazing on the PS3. And finally, finally, FINALLY, there’s a multiplayer network option!
Yes, the dreams you had when you were younger of playing Gran Turismo verses races from all around the world is true, and it’s great.
Not only that, but you can play with your close friends and family on the Playstation Network, and can gift cars to them (great for giving your fiends a leg-up when they first start playing).
Final Word
Is it worth it?
If you want to play Gran Turismo on the PS3, it’s the only way to do it (unless you’re going to pop in an old copy of Gran Turismo 1 from the PS days).
Was it worth the wait, though?
No — no game should take five years to come out, past the point of the first demo. No game should ever charge for a demo (and nearly a full price charge, too).
Ugh. Just ugh.