The Cars.
If you’re gonna give me a thousand cars to choose from, do not give me 200 premium selections. All one thousand cars had better look amazing and not taken from a Playstation 2 game. This is one huge flaw with the game, 800 of the 1000 cars are normal cars given a little aesthetic boost from Gran Turismo 4. The other flaw that left me extremely disappointed, the normal cars are rotated around in the used car lot. So let’s say you wanna get your daily driver, lets say, a 2002 Ford Focus. You have to wait three whole game days for the used car lot to change, then you have to hope that it’s there! Not to mention if it is there, you have to change the oil immediately, probably rebuild the engine, and if it has a ton of miles on it, re-straighten the chassis. So your 12,000 credit car, is going to end up being 20,000+ after spending the money to make it worth a damn.
I’m not saying you have to do all that, but for a series with a motto of, “The Real Driving Simulator”, you’re not going to be that competitive with a car that has no power. So I ask Polyphony Digital, why have you spent 5 years between games to give me a game with only 200 premium cars? If you were gonna give me a game with premium and normal cars, why not set up two new car lots and the usual used car lot? Or keep it like Gran Turismo 4, have a little P or S in the corner and keep all the new cars in the same lot? I hate how I have to go through and check every game day or so to see if there is a specific Audi R8 LMP. I hate how monumentally wrong you guys have got it.
The standard cars. Okay, so you say there are 800 standard cars. Do you think you could’ve spent a little more time on them? So you couldn’t give me an interior, fine, okay. But do you think you could’ve done a bit more on the front and rear lights, and the textures themselves? Or is that just a bit too much to ask for? I don’t think so. I look at the standard cars and I think someone in your accounting department is stealing money. This does not feel like a game that took 80 million to develop.

The AI.
Still stupid, still don’t know where you are. I know I like to late brake into a corner if I’m side by side with someone. When racing against a human they’ll know you are there and wont be a complete clot and give you some room and take it wide. However, the AI will notice that you are there and still treat you as if you are behind it. It’s mildly disappointing, but I can live with it. There are bigger things that annoy me and I let the AI competitors go.

B-Spec… Be prepared to be endlessly frustrated, I know I am. Your driver will be stupid, your driver can not drive. You could take the same car, let’s say a front engine, front wheel drive Mini Cooper S with 277hp and with no problem win. Once you give it to your B-Spec driver, he will find the slowest driver on the track and stay behind it. I know Polyphony Digital says you can coach your driver to victory, but with 4 options of, “Pace Down”, “Maintain Pace”, “Pace Up”, “Overtake”, that’s not really coaching since he will find a wall and hit it, repeatedly.
Your driver has a personality, where it’ll be cool and calm, or a hot-head, his strength and mental strength will deplete over a race. So since you’ll start more often in mid-pack, your driver is gonna develop a hot head after the first few corners which is gonna deplete their mental strength faster. Which also means he’s gonna make more mistakes. Which means he’s gonna find the wall faster, or the sand pit faster, or anything else that’ll ruin your race day. You can tell him to pace down, but if he has a hot head he seems to ignore your instructions.
This is where I miss the B-Spec aspect of Gran Turismo 4, the AI was equally stupid so all you had to do was give it a slightly faster car and it would win. Oh, and you could fast forward it so you didn’t have to spend any longer watching the failing, than you had too. But at least it would still win.
What would’ve been nice is if Polyphony made it so you could train your driver to learn your moves and more advanced tactics, instead of being a mindless artard that can drive its way out of a paperbag. If I can win a same-make race without having to upgrade a car to fully race spec, then any driver I hire should be able to do the same. Basic concepts of drafting, late braking shouldn’t be that hard and you should be able to teach it to your driver.

The graphics.
90% of the game is visually amazing, and it’s the 10% you’ll notice. I don’t know about you, but if something doesn’t look right or seem right, it will pop out at me the entire time. One thing you’ll notice off the bat are the blocky shadows, maybe to remind it’s a video game and not real life? It’s a little annoying at first, but I was able to block them (haha PUN) out pretty quick. Another part are the standard cars, but I’m not gonna hit that again. But, the Premium cars. Yeah, I’ll hit those again. The interiors are beautifully done, every detail you could imagine is right there, it’s just a shame you can’t view them. In Forza 3, you can use the right thumb stick as you’re driving to look around the interior and check your mirrors, why couldn’t that be the default here? Why Polyphony, why? You give us these beautiful cars to oogle and drool over, but there is no real option to explore them.
The photo mode does an awesome job of being able to show off the exteriors of these cars. You can zoom in on any little detail of a car you want, or show off the whole car. You can tell they agonized over every little detail possible, but then all it just feels a little let down when you put it up against everything else. It makes you wonder why the entire game couldn’t be this good. It’s a graphical tease.
They do a good job on the tracks, the tracks brought over from Gran Turismo 4 are upgraded beautifully, and the new original tracks bring a delightful, visually pleasing challenge. Except for Laguna Seca, which is surprisingly bare. Usually at a racetrack you’ll find RVs, stands, control tower, something. Here you get the occasional hill, a smattering of trees, but little else.

The Sound.
The in game music is going to drive you mad. You’ll get the occasional rock tune, or electronic garbage that will over power the sound of your car. However, with most of the cars in game, you’ll want to mute your tv or surround sound system. A throaty muscle car v8 sounds nothing like a throaty muscle car v8, with most of the cars you’ll notice they are synthesized together, and while the car may look beautiful, it’ll sound like garbled ass.

The Physics.
I hated Gran Turismo HD for the physics alone, no matter what I did it felt like I was driving on ice.
Gran Turismo 5: Prologue was better, and I enjoyed it more, the physics were mildly annoying but they weren’t as bad as they were as in HD. They weren’t as I liked it in 4, but I could deal with it.
Gran Turismo 5, one of the reason I still play the game is because of the physics. Going from Forza to this wasn’t that bad of a change, a little bit of a learning curve since you have to brake a little bit earlier than in Forza. But overall the physics are actually quite good and keep up with what sets Gran Turismo apart from the other racing games. This is why I continue to play this game. Not the cars, not the AI, the sound, not the graphics, but the physics.

I’d like to write more, or even go over and edit this a bit, but actually talking about it gets me riled up. The game may treat you better than it has to me, and more power to you. However, get Forza 3. All the cars have interiors, it’s visually appealing all the way around, and they don’t spend 5 years and 80 million dollars wasting your time.

1. Paying attention — Okay, so. I know I’m not the best, I have txt’ed while driving. But I have been amazed from what I’ve seen while driving and heard/seen about. Between putting make-up, eating breakfast, talking on the phone and generally just not paying attention, sometimes I feel a little afraid to drive. I’ve actually started forcing myself to pull over if I wanna mess with my iPod or txt or take a call.

2. Parking — This is actually the biggest beef I have, bigger than paying attention. How hard is it to actually park? People drive these big vehicles, and they come up to a parking space and they can’t get it between the lines. Now that I think about it… I think pay attention leads into parking. If you have a hard time parking, just practice. Please, I ask you, practice safe parking. I don’t like dings or dents in my car.

It’s a rare time now when a car can capture my imagination, and it’s even more rare that two cars do. Living in Europe I see cars that we do not normally see in North America, and being there for four years I grew numb of the exotic factor. So now I have this urge to find more imaginative, creative, exotic cars. I’m bored of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, and Ascari. But, there are two manufacturers that have captured my imagination, one new and one that has been around for a very long time.
Tesla Motors and Honda Automotive.
“Honda?! Are you serious? They make cars for old people.”
Yeah, Honda. Honda had left me bored, they left Formula One, their car lineup leaves much desired and Acura’s redesign is best to be said as questionable. But, a few years ago Honda had a concept car that actually got me interested. The FCX, a hydrogen fuel cell based vehicle.
Now, I’m not one much for environmentalism, but I like to do my part here and there (when I can remember). The FCX got my attention. I’m not one for gasoline, I love the smell, but with the constant rising (well, now falling/stable) cost of gas, I wanted an alternative. Hydrogen? Right, hydrogen, so after it’s done going through the motor powering the electric motor, nothing but water and oxygen.
So as you drive all there is, well, good things.
In the FCX the hydrogen motor powers an electric motor that actually powers the car. So in all actuality, the FCX is a hybrid vehicle like the Prius. You’ll get about 77/67 miles per gallon with a range of 280 miles.
Hydrogen powered cars will ultimately be the future unless big energy comes up with a way to burn cleaner fuels to power the electric grid. Which brings us to…
Tesla Motors. The new kid to the block with their pure electric vehicles. Their first vehicle really didn’t grab my attention. The Roadster was a Lotus Elise with redone body work and an electric motor. But their technology of the car was revolutionary enough for me, with further development affordable cars could be had by all.
Now the only issue with a pure electric vehicle is the power. The car will be hooked to your house, which is hooked to a power gird, which is hooked to a power plant. So while the car itself is zero emissions, it still has to be charged from the grid. Not the best thing in the world, but there is always advances in technology.
But, there’s a new model on the horizon the Model S. A bit more affordable (50,000 USD compared to the Roadster’s 100,000 USD price tag), more space (seating for 7), pretty much the same range as the FCX (at most 300 miles compared to 280), but for me the deal breaker is the design of it.
This car itself is a step forward in the right direction, a leap forward in automotive technology that demonstrates that a car can be built with good use that can last several hours on a charge. It’s not like these little urban runabouts like the G-WIZ over in Englandland. This car has got me really excited and if I had the money to plop down on a deposit, I would in an instant. I only hope the real car is as good as the concept and what they say about it.

Telsa Motors – Model S
(source: www.teslamotors.com/display_data/Spec_ModelS_US.pdf)

0-60 in 5.6sec – all electric w/ 120mph top speed
Available all-wheel-drive
All electric – Lithium-Ion Batteries
Range of 150 to 300 miles, 45min QuickCharge from 120V, 240V, 480V
5 min battery swap – up to 10 year battery life
~49,900 USD after tax break – US, Europe (limited service centers)
17in Touchscreen w/ 3g connectivity
Seating for 7
60/40 flat-folding rear seat

Honda FCX Clarity
(souce: automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity)

Drive-by-wire
134hp/189ft-lbs of torque from Electric motor w/ 100kw output
Front wheel drive
Range – (city/highway/combined) 77/67/72 w/ 280mi driving range
Hydrogen Gas w/ Lithium-Ion Batteries
Seating for 4
600 USD a month lease for 3 years – Limited release in Southern California
SatNav, Rear view camera, XM Radio w/ MP3/auxiliary plug