Updated 23 May, 2012, 6:39 pm IST

Has Gran Turismo 5 Lived Up to the Hype?

25 Nov, 2010, 2:44 pm IST | by Avinash Bali

Does the authentic simulator deliver or does it crash and burn?

So the wait is over and Gran Turismo 5 (GT5) is finally here. But instead of over-whelmingly positive reviews, the internet seems to be divided into two camps. There’s one half that’s practically in bed with the game right now since it’s everything they imagined and then some, bringing a stupendous amount of content to the table. But on the other hand you have a rather large amount of disappointed gamers and reviewers who feel the hype is just not justified.

Now to be fair to the game, it is a driving simulator so anyone expecting even something along the lines of a Need for Speed Shift is bound to be disappointed right off the bat. From what I hear, the game is so extensive it takes a good amount of time for players to actually gain access to all the snazzy fast cars. So obviously if you’re an impatient gamer or someone who expected the game to be of a ‘pick up and play’ variety like Burnout, you my friend have bought the wrong game.

So the game doesn't look this good?

That being said some of the complaints both reviewers and consumers have against this game - from a technical as well as a gameplay front - seem legit and rather worrying. Tons of reviews have attacked the game’s visuals which I personally found ludicrous since Gran Turismo 5 was supposed to be the benchmark for visual fidelity with its lifelike rendition of cars, weather effects and race tracks. I remember seeing GT5 screens compared with real life screens and being blown away because I couldn’t tell the two apart. �

And then I read about how the game suffered from jaggies (no AA?), screen tearing, insanely long load times and uneven frame rates. In addition to this many felt that while certain tracks look gorgeous, others actually look like they’ve stepped out of a PS2 game. A PS2 game?! For a game that’s been in the making for nearly five years now, this is a serious issue. But hey, at least PS3 gamers know how PC gamers feel when 3 out of 5 games turn out to be broken at launch. Now I’m sure the game will receive a slew of patches in the coming weeks but it seems the damage is already done.

People even went ahead and attacked the game’s menu system that was described as clunky and annoying while the instrumental score was dubbed “annoying elevator music”. While I personally do not listen to Jazz be it American, Indian or Japanese even I know that this kind of music has been a staple of this series so raging on the game’s OST seems kind of stupid.

Faster than a speeding bullet

But I guess this sort of an outrage was bound to follow as GT5 like many games before its time was hyped unfortunately to monumental heights. Sony is to blame for a large part of this but at the same time journalists and gamers can’t just expect to walk away scott free from here. For the past few months leading up to this game’s release every Tom, Dick and Harry jumped on the GT5 bandwagon, even if they never played games in their life. And it’s obvious that newcomers wouldn’t be able to handle this game.

So while our resident GT5 ninja toils away on his review do let us know in the comments section below how the game worked out for you. Did it match your expectations or leave you a tad disappointed?