Turismo 5 offers realistic driving experience

The driving simulator genre of video games has seen no better series than Gran Turismo since the first one landed on shelves in 1997 on the first PlayStation console. Since then, numerous sequels and spin-offs have continued its great name and gameplay that we’ve all come to know and love. Gran Turismo 5 (GT5) is no different.
GT5 builds upon what developers Polyphony Digital have been creating and improving on for the past 13 years, which is to be a great driving simulator.
The handling with the cars is just as you would expect from real-life physics. The elements, such as rain, will have an effect on your driving. All the factors added into to how the gameplay works with the driving really do make this a great driving simulator.
The graphics really do look as good as the developers claimed they did in demonstrations of the game. However, the best looking cars are labeled “premium” cars, and you have to purchase these with in-game money.
The cars you win from races and such are non-premium and do not look quite as good as premium ones. However, once you take a spin in one of the premium cars, you will be blown away.
The menu layout has changed since Gran Turismo 5: Prologue a smaller game released earlier that was supposed to be an introduction to what GT5 was to be when finished. In the main menu, you have Arcade Mode, which is for playing a normal single-player race, Two-Player Mode, Drifting Challenges or Time Trial Challenges. There is also access to a course creator where users can create their own custom courses with the tools available. There is also access to the GT News and “My Home.”
“My Home” mode is what has most of the gameplay modes such as A-Spec (racing), dealerships to purchase cars or license tests to learn the basics of the Gran Turismo world. Also accessible from this menu is information about your community image.
You can set a personal avatar, information about yourself and with what kind of people you would like to play online with. The game does a very good job of setting all of this up for you the first time you access the My Home menu.
There is tons of stuff to do in this game. You can do straight racing in the A-Spec mode or you can also do a manager mode called B-Spec in which you create a player and act as their crew chief to direct them on what kind of racing style they should use during the race. Completing sets of races in these modes will win you cars, credits for purchase and experience to level up.
License tests are a good way to train for the big races if you are not very familiar with the world of Gran Turismo. They will teach you how to take turns like a pro and how to drive to win. It is an easy way to get started with credits and experience.
Probably the most intricate mode of the game is the photo mode. The player can take his or her car to anyone of the four designated cities. Anything from shutter speed to exposure to filters can be changed to fit the exact kind of picture you want.
There’s a “special challenge” mode where you can take on challenges from popular icons in the racing field such as doing a NASCAR challenge with Jeff Gordon, or racing around in the Top Gear track. Each one requires you to reach a certain level to take part in the challenge.
The online community is very prevalent in this game as well. Players are allowed to create their own rooms with their own customizations in types of race cars allowed or even to use their own custom tracks.
It is a good idea not to go online until you’ve gotten yourself a decent car. Most of the online races deal with high-level cars.
Polyphony Digital has done a fantastic job with the newest installment of the Gran Turismo franchise. The gameplay is realistic and the graphics are crisp. The amount of cars to choose from is very vast, and the brands are extremely varied.
But above all else, the game is very fun and there is a lot to do. I’d recommend this game to anyone who enjoys realistic driving simulators and to everyone who was ever a fan of the Gran Turismo franchise.