Gran Turismo 5

Gran Turismo 5 has been half a decade in the making. In those five years we've had some good news, some bad news and a delay just weeks before release. Every single piece of Gran Turismo 5 related information was scrutinized, right down to the trees that littered the sides of the track. Since its release, a lot has been said about Gran Turismo 5. Some people were rather disappointed with it, citing lack of proper damage or the 800 “standard” cars looking quite poor when compared to the premium cars, among other things. So when the opportunity to review the game came by, I grabbed it with both hands and raced home. What did I think of Gran Turismo 5? Read on to find out.

Before we begin, I must say that if you are expecting an experience similar to Burnout or Need for Speed, then you have bought the wrong game. But if you want to learn about how awesome and authentic Simulation is, then stick around.

As soon as I put the disc in (with GT4’s Moon over the Castle in my head), I was treated to six and half minutes of pure awesomeness as the intro documented how a car is created from scratch. Just Like Gran Turismo 4, the intro starts out slow and then shifts into high gear with “Planetary” from My Chemical Romance blaring out of the speakers. After playing around with the main menu for a while (which by the way has a ton of options), I jumped straight into the Arcade Mode and chose a night time track called Special Stage Route 7 (SSR7) and selected the GT by Citroen. What followed as I finished the race was me trying to pick my jaw of the floor after what I had just witnessed. You race through a track which resembles Tokyo and as you zoom past the barriers and into the tunnels at 200 kmph, fireworks go off in the distance, which adds colour to the entire spectacle.

Impressed, I switched over to a Rally track (Toscana) and watched day turn into night as the last of the sun rays hit the dashboard, giving off this stunning twilight effect. It looks super impressive and is an absolute treat to the eyes. The only issue I had with the visuals was some screen tearing popping up every now then. Also, some tracks are less impressive than others, with flat textures and dull looking areas. This may aggravate some players, but it's not regular enough to be a problem.

As expected, the real stars of the show are the cars, especially the Premiums. The moment you see them in the selection menu, you know that Polyphony Digital have put a lot of effort into creating them. They are some of the best car models I have seen to date, with every line, angle and swoop identical to its real world counterparts.