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15-02-2008, 05:32 PM
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Posts: n/a |  Gran Turismo 5: Prologue (PS3) - My mini review Gran Turismo 5: Prologue – My mini review A lot of people will call me crazy for buying a so called ‘demo’ for £35, but what I have invested in is probably one of my own most loved franchises ever in video games. It is none other than the Gran Turismo 5 prologue. Over the years, I have bought all the prologues for all forthcoming GT titles. All of them have given me a glimpse of the game to follow and not once was I disappointed with them. Granted, they are not the finished product but as a GT series fanboy I can never resist a first look into what will eventually be. This one was no different. Unfortunately, the GT5 prologue is not yet available anywhere other than Japan. But FORTUNETLY, the PS3 has no region coding protection. All I had to do was get hold of a Japanese import copy. Playasia will not deliver PS3 gear to Europe (unless the product is already available here) so I scoured the web. I found a load on eBay and managed to grab one for £35. There was no other games out I wanted at the time so I thought, why not? I received the game last month and to be honest, have found it very difficult to put down. First impressions were not good, I popped the game in the PS3 and I was greeted with what can only be described as a mind ****. In truth, it was just a barrage of Japanese text. Using my head, I eventually successfully navigated the menus and the game started up. As usual with the GT series, we are greeted by a very highly polished opening sequence when the game starts up, which can be seen in its entirety here: After that is all over, we are presented with the home screen. It entails an arcade mode option, event mode (simulation), garage (to see what cars you own), dealer (to buy new cars) and various other options such as Gran Turismo live and the JAPANESE option menu. It came as a surprise to me that about 50% of this game is actually in the English language. The home screen for instance only has a tiny bit of Japanese text in the top corner. Most of the time navigation of the menus is self explanatory, and when the Japanese pops up we all have Google to thank  .Polophony are really generous by giving you 3,000,000cr to start with (not alot in YEN style credits), so I was forced into buying the hateful Golf 2.0 GTi. The only other choices I had was a Suzuki Swift (no, no, NO) or a car that a hobbit would struggle to drive (Suzuki Cappuccino). In all fairness you would be better off with a push bike than the Cappuccino. My first race then. I came last naturally. Not because of my bad driving skills and not because the car was about as fast as Gaz Berotten passing a fast food outlet, nor the fact that the car handled like it had tyres made out of a mixture of ice and lube, but the fact that graphically the game is STUNNING to behold. There are some slight issues very rarely with tracks such as the London track – you get a small amount of tearing. It doesn’t tarnish the experience for me anyway. I play on a 40+ inch 1080p LCD and I can tell you that NOTHING looks better at the moment in any game in my opinion. I have taken a few photos of my TV screens for you to look at if you wish, just as a general idea of what the game looks like in the flesh. Even for a small taster of the full game, the detail on the cars is nothing short of exceptional. For example, you can actually see the engine in the back of the Audi R8 along with its interior and its active spoiler that extends and retracts depending on what the car is doing. Perfect. The physics in GT5:P are very very good, although probably not up to the standards of some racing sims available on PC – but very close to it. I’ve been told to invest in a Logitech G25 racing wheel (by a certain member of the PX360 community, AKA Scotracer AKA make sure Sir Charles spends as much money as possible on things he doesn’t need) to get the full effect of the game. That’s something I’m looking into as soon as I’ve kicked the girlfriend out of the house. On an ordinary SIXAXIS you can really manipulate the car your driving, with a slight mistake (AKA fat finger moment) resulting in a spectacular balls up with you languishing in last place. It gets more and more fun the more races you win, enabling you to buy the more expensive faster motors. My current personal favourite is the glorious Audi R8. Four wheel drive and with loads of power, you can really throw it around any one of the 5 included tracks. The tracks included are the Fuji Speedway circuit, Suzuka Circuit, Daytona speedway, Eiger Nordwand Course and last but not least, the London city course. All of them are available to race in reverse, with the Suzuka and Daytona also having alternate routes available. Most of them are challenging and all of them impressive on the eye. You can really feel each car behaving differently on each track. It’s a very FUN drive, while being realistic at the same time. The soundtrack is also very good. The music is very fitting to the Gran Turismo legacy, and thankfully there is not a dance or R&B song in sight. I am however somewhat bemused again about the fact that all the songs included on the soundtrack are sung in English. My copy is the Japanese RETAIL version. Hey, I’m not complaining but it’s kind of a bum deal for our Japanese counterparts. Can you imagine playing Forza 2 with music sung in Japanese? The engine notes and road noises vary from car to car and is very satisfying to say the least. Especially the first time you pilot the TVR Tuscan Speed 6. WOW. Full car list: Acura o NSX '91 Alfa Romeo o 147 TI 2.0 TWIN SPARK '06 o Brera Sky Window 3.2 JTS Q4 '06 Audi o TT Coupe 3.2 Quattro '07 o R8 4.2 FSI R tronic '07 BMW o Z4 '03 o 135i Coupe '07 o M3 Coupe Chevrolet o Corvette Z06 (C6) Daihatsu o Copen Active Top '02 o OFC-1 '07 Dodge o Viper GTS '02 Ferrari o F430 '06 o 599 ‘06 Ford o Mustang V8 GT Coupe Premium '07 Honda o Integra Type R (DC5) Lancia o Delta HF Integrale Evoluzione '91 Lexus o IS F '07 Lotus o Elise '96 o Elise 111R ‘04 Mazda o ATENZA Sport '07 Mercedes-Benz o SL 55 AMG (R230) '02 Mitsubishi o Lancer Evolution IX GSR '05 o Lancer Evolution X GSR Premium Package '07 Nissan o GT-R Proto '05 o GT-R R35 o Fairlady Z Version S o Skyline Coupe 370GT Type SP (V36) ‘07 o Skyline Coupe Concept o Skyline GTR Vspec II Nur (R34) o Skyline Sedan 350GT Type SP (V36) ‘07 Renault o Clio Renault V6 24V '00 Subaru o Impreza WRX STI 2007 Suzuki o SWIFT Sport '07 o Cappuccino (EA21R) (about as fast as a cup of cappuccino too) TVR o Tuscan Speed 6 '00 Volkswagen o Golf IV GTI '01 With each manufacturer there is a special event race you can enter. A level playing field always points towards a good, close race. Oh, did I forget to mention the online play? GT5:P supports up to 16 human racers at a time, unfortunately for the moment I’m relegated to playing with our Japanese counterparts seeing as not many British or American own the game yet. I can safely say I haven’t won a race yet. My conclusion If this is a taste of things to come then Gran Turismo fans are in for a treat. Racing fans are in for a treat. The graphics are top drawer, the physics are excellent, the controls are good (I’ve ordered my DualShock 3) and the presentation is second to none. I’m going to continue to play this and probably add to this mini review as I go along, not that many of you will probably be interested on a 360 site! Sir Charles. |
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15-02-2008, 08:40 PM
| #5 (permalink) |
| Stay Red   Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 2,812   | This is no mini review. Well done. How do the physics compare to FM2? Why only 2 Ferraris!? Why does it look so real? Why's the R8 so damn sexy? You should definitely get yourself a G25. For even better results get something like this Bob Earl Racing
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16-02-2008, 04:06 AM
| #6 (permalink) | |
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Posts: n/a | Quote:
 I could have easily tripled the amount I wrote bearing in mind this is not a full game by any means. The physics in FM2 are fab, but for me this game is one step ahead of it. It has the fun factor but still retains the realism. To be honest I found Forza to be too easy. GT5 P is so challenging, one mistake and your stuffed. There is only 2 Ferraris for that very reason. No doubt the full game will have a lot more. You gotta see it in the flesh to fully apprieciate how it looks. I does look real in some parts. The R8 is THE sex. I'm working on the G25. I got to cut some of my outgoings or become single to fully justify buying it, along with a proper Recaro racing seat setup. Last edited by Sir Charles : 16-02-2008 at 04:56 AM. | |
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17-02-2008, 03:02 PM
| #11 (permalink) |
| Proud to be black  Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 3,238 | Good write up Charles. Yeah, I'll give you **** over paying an arm and leg for a demo, but it sounds like you'll get your money's worth out of it. Are all of those cars available in the demo...err, prologue? I will need something to play on PS3, and there's not much else.
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17-02-2008, 06:37 PM
| #16 (permalink) |
| Xbox 360 Newcomer Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 13 | Oh my GOD!!! that is the most beautiful thing I have ever seem in my life lol. j/k but really, GT5 looks freaking amazing!! I cant wait till it comes out here in the states and I hope it looks the same and has the same features. |
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17-02-2008, 06:40 PM
| #17 (permalink) | |
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Posts: n/a | Quote:
Last edited by Sir Charles : 18-02-2008 at 11:42 AM. | |
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