Gran Turismo 5 Prologue

[Thunder18]

Ok, i can't be the only one here playing Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, can I?

I picked it up Thursday evening and have been playing it a bit every day. Graphics are jaw-dropping as they have been every subsequent Grand Turismo iteration. The new driver's seat view is great! The few cars that i've bought in the game I have sat in in real life and they dashboard view is extremely accurate.

I have to admit I am getting a bit frustrated though as you have to podium finish every race in classes C, B and A in order to unlock the ability to tune your cars and there are a few races where you are locked into using only one type of car and I can't seem to either beat the race or improve up a third place finish.

Still, aside from that minor annoyance, i'm enjoying it. Some very cool effects like when you come out of a dark tunnel, your vision is temporarily affected when you come out into the bright sunlight and it takes a half second or so before your contrast normalizes again.

I've got about 4 races left to finish in the A class so hopefully I can complete them and see what the tuning is like. I tried some online racing and was monkey-stomped by people whose cars were tuned up. Now I was racing the Daytona oval, a very easy high speed track, in a Corvette Z06 which will do over 200 mph if you get into someone's slipstream, but these folks were flying by me as if I was standing still. Still, just have to suck it up and finish these intial races.

 

[GlocksRock]

saw it being played at my friends house last night, it does indeed look very good. I may pick it up when the full version comes out.

 

[BG3]

I'll be playing if it ever gets here!

I pre-ordered it from Amazon and it still hasn't arrived

Needless to say, I won't do that again...

 

[jamie2112]

Mine has not come yet either.....

 

[j_garcia]

I haven't had a chance to pick it up. Amazon cancelled my preorder for some BS reason and I was in Dallas all last week for a conference. Will pick it up this week and get playing this weekend

 

[MinusTheBear]

Gran Turismo games have lots of depth which I like for racing games. I am still saving my money for April 29th for Grand Theft Auto IV I cant wait till I get of copy of that in my hands .

 

[Thunder18]

I haven't had a chance to pick it up. Amazon cancelled my preorder for some BS reason and I was in Dallas all last week for a conference. Will pick it up this week and get playing this weekend

Dallas! You should have went to any of the 3 Fry's Electronics. They were the only place that had it on the release date.

 

[NickN]

I picked it up and then moved the next day so I have not got a chance to play it that much. I do love the new drivers seat view. And the graphics are just amazing. Like every other new release of the game I am very impressed and now I cant wait for the full version to be released.

 

[BG3]

I'll be playing if it ever gets here!

I pre-ordered it from Amazon and it still hasn't arrived

Needless to say, I won't do that again...

It finally arrived last night. I played 'til 12am and made it through the C & B licenses.

Be sure to look at all the races in the License Class (ie. C, B, A) before you buy a car. There are cars that will knock out most, if not all the races in each class. That will prevent you from wasting your early winnings on useless cars or cars you don't really want.

The graphics, dynamics and 7.1 sound are simply amazing. The GT-R is badass

The online play sucks...badly. Just a bunch of noobs intent on wrecking everyone instead of trying to drive. They need to work on this.

 

[j_garcia]

Picked it up yesterday as well. Only had a few hours, so one more C class to win. Not too bad so far.

 

[BG3]

DAMN! Suzuka in A Class is hard as hell. I can get to 5th with the GT-R or EVO X. I can only get to 7th with the RX-8 or EVO IX

It probably doesn't help that I'm driving right hand drive cars from the cockpit view. I keep dropping the left side off in the sand coming out of the turns. I don't think it's possible to win either of these races if you leave the course for a sand trap.

I think it's BS that you spin nearly everytime you hit the sand. I've never seen this happen in real life. The car usually just gets sucked down and stranded. I can't imagine why you'd spin in sand. I'm talking about over-driving a corner causing a complete departure from the track, not just dropping a wheel off. Now, marbles/rocks are a completely different story.

I also don't like that you now have to buy your cars to earn licenses. But, at least you now earn some coin during the license runs.

Otherwise, the game is amazing. I still can't get over how realistic the driving dynamics are. With the exception of the sand traps, of course.

 

[BG3]

Here's a tip that will help you keep momentum and still force weight transfer:

Learn to trail-brake. Trail-braking is using the brake while on the accelerator. This is much easier to do if you set your controller up where R2 and L2 are the Accelerator & Brakes, respectively.

Also, learn to drive with a Manual tranny. It gives you more options for controlling your car.

It's wierd. I used to use the X for the gas and the [] for the brakes which would completely kill my thumb from mashing so hard. Now that I have more controll of my controller setup, I no longer need to use my right thumb except for the e-brake and Reverse. But, it's still killing me from sub-conciously trying to keep it out of the way. When I realize I'm doing it, it feels like I could mentaly snap it off backwards

 

[j_garcia]

Lower classes you can beat with an Automatic, but the higher classes are pretty much going to require a manual tranny. I am used to L2 and R2 already from Motorstorm, so that is the way I like it too, though the sticks actually do give you finer control over throttle, it is just a bit harder to modulate properly. I found that with X and 0, I could sort of "heel and toe" with the buttons, but you have far too little control over throttle that way.

I don't find the driving physics to be all that good actually. They are not bad, but they are not 100% representative of what would really occur either.

 

[Sheep]

I love tapping the e-rake to bring the tail back around when you under steer. This is GT3 however, in the JGTC Castrol Mugen NSX. Love that car.

SheepStar

 

[BG3]

Lower classes you can beat with an Automatic, but the higher classes are pretty much going to require a manual tranny. I am used to L2 and R2 already from Motorstorm, so that is the way I like it too, though the sticks actually do give you finer control over throttle, it is just a bit harder to modulate properly. I found that with X and 0, I could sort of "heel and toe" with the buttons, but you have far too little control over throttle that way.

I don't find the driving physics to be all that good actually. They are not bad, but they are not 100% representative of what would really occur either.

The only purpose of the "heel & toe" technique is to match engine rpm to flywheel rpms while downshifting under braking. This helps maintain a consistent contact patch with the surface while avoiding any unnecessary or unexpected weight transfer. It has no effect in GT since you don't have a clutch.

You would generally "left foot brake" for trail braking as you should almost never shift in a corner. If you teach yourself this way, it is a great way to avoid doing that.

I've been fortunate to have pushed many different vehicles to their limits on the track (road courses and drag strips) and off, shhhh..... . IMHO, GT has done the best job if simulating reality in racing situations. I completely respect your opinion. Though, it does surprise me to hear that.

 

[davo]

I love tapping the e-rake to bring the tail back around when you under steer. This is GT3 however, in the JGTC Castrol Mugen NSX. Love that car.

SheepStar

Ahh, GT3! My favorite was the Cerbera LM race car. Beautifully balanced car.

 

[j_garcia]

The only purpose of the "heel & toe" technique is to match engine rpm to flywheel rpms while downshifting under braking. This helps maintain a consistent contact patch with the surface while avoiding any unnecessary or unexpected weight transfer. It has no effect in GT since you don't have a clutch.

You know what I mean Of course you can't heel & toe in the game... It IS left foot braking, but I do it by rolling over onto the 0 button in a heel-toe fashion. I've switched to the sticks completely, even though it doesn't allow me to work like this and I was able to complete all but one of the races in the B class last night in about an hour. I also don't like the fact that you have to buy a specific car for certain races as mentioned earlier. It is kind of a waste of money, as I bought the Cappucino just for the one race and then sold it for the C class. Even with the manual tranny on these cars, I find it difficult to time the downshift properly because it is hard to tell what the car is really doing without feeling it.

I don't like the way the tires are either - race tires of the level they are suggesting for the various tracks would not be squealing nor sliding quite as much as they do in the game IMO. ALL of the cars understeer no matter what tires are used, and that is not realistic, especially in AWD cars. I can't use the throttle to power out of corners because the car doesn't quite behave the way a real car would most of the time. I have traction control turned down, but if you turn it completely off, the cars seem even more difficult to control.

 

[BG3]

You know what I mean Of course you can't heel & toe in the game... It IS left foot braking, but I do it by rolling over onto the 0 button in a heel-toe fashion. I've switched to the sticks completely, even though it doesn't allow me to work like this and I was able to complete all but one of the races in the B class last night in about an hour. I also don't like the fact that you have to buy a specific car for certain races as mentioned earlier. It is kind of a waste of money, as I bought the Cappucino just for the one race and then sold it for the C class. Even with the manual tranny on these cars, I find it difficult to time the downshift properly because it is hard to tell what the car is really doing without feeling it.

I don't like the way the tires are either - race tires of the level they are suggesting for the various tracks would not be squealing nor sliding quite as much as they do in the game IMO. ALL of the cars understeer no matter what tires are used, and that is not realistic, especially in AWD cars. I can't use the throttle to power out of corners because the car doesn't quite behave the way a real car would most of the time. I have traction control turned down, but if you turn it completely off, the cars seem even more difficult to control.

Yeah, I knew what you meant. Just thought I'd explain for those that didn't know.

I seem to have a natural ability to time the downshifts. Not sure why. I prefer to use engine braking whenever possible vs. actual brakes. Especially since you don't have to worry about blowing the engine One thing that will help you learn downshifting on the game is to watch the gear indicator. When it displays a lower gear in red, it'll first appear in solid red. As soon as it starts blinking is your signal to downshift. It takes a while to pick this up in your periphery without taking your eyes off the track.

Also, I don't use any of the traction control or stability mgmt. I used to depend heavily on it in the earlier games. However, I've found you can be much faster without it. I'd rather control my own traction with the throttle, transmission and brakes vs. having a computer over compensate and slow me down more than necessary. I can get a lot more drive off the corners when I don't use it. Though, it definitely takes more finesse from the middle fingers. I feel like I've just worked out when I race for a couple hours The CFO just laughs at me moving around and leaning into the turns...

Now, if I can just save up enough money to get my F430 and M3 to complete the A Class license....

 

[j_garcia]

I completed the M3 one, just need to get that 430 and start saving for that F1 car I've gotten bettter at downshifting, but with the higher power cars it can be very tricky with stability management and traction controll turned completely off - if you can master this, you WILL be much quicker because the stability management retards the motor far too much and doesn't react fast enough with the higher HP cars.

I killed the high speed A class races with the Ford GT simply because it has more power than more or less all of what you are up against, but on the the road courses it is trickier to handle.

 

[Bluesmoke]

I have about 450k saved up. Half of the S class races finished. Mainly using the Mine's Skyline, which handles like a dream.

Because of my Godlike-reflexes (hah!) this game isn't very difficult at all.