In that time we had GT HD, which was released near the launch of the PS3. That title simply took GT4′s engine and made it HD. It looked pretty at the time, but it wasn’t until Prologue came some time later that we got a real taste of what’s to come. But prologue, usually released a year before the ‘big brother’ GT game, felt too much like GT HD to really wow the audience. Again, it had polished graphics and a lovely physics engine, but it wasn’t a huge departure.

GT5′s release comes amidst promises of fleshed out online modes, more cars becoming ‘premium’ with patches (just yesterday Polyphony released a 600mb update) and basically, more! The games engine is fantastic, but the team clearly bit off more then they can chew when it comes to cramming more then 1100 cars and around 30 tracks (not including the same track reversed or split up into smaller sections) into a game that promised dynamic shading for night time racing, interior views and damage models on cars.

One of the issues is that the game, like all GT games, launches into mediocrity almost from the get-go. My first car was a Toyota Prius, and I had to go through the usual routine of doing license tests in order to have enough driving points to enter particular competitions with my terrible car – which was not a premium one. So, after 6 years of working on this game I finally pop it into my PS3 and all I get to do is slowly crawl around in a car whose noise strongly resembles a hairdryer.

Once you get into the meaty bits, though, it becomes a different beast. Even upgrading to a manual gearbox Citroen C4 or Volvo C30 brings a rush of excitement I never got from Forza. Moving up gears feels solid, exactly as it should. Doing special events in cars ranging from go-karts to rally cars whets your appetite for when you’ll have those exact cars in your garage. This is where GT5 fans get their kicks. Relentlessly upgrading a Ford Focus to get the maximum amount of BHP out of it until it’s actually beating Ferrari’s down the straights at Daytona. Driving ludicrously cool old school Mercedes SL’s around the daunting and wonderfully blisslike petrol-heaven that is Nurnburgring.

The AI is improved, like most things in the game. Some reviews have slated the AI, calling it dumb or predictable – but I disagree. The AI in the Prius will always come last in a race with a Focus or Dodge Viper because the Prius is slow and useless – not because the AI is predictable. The AI also won’t react well to you smashing around the track like a nut job. This is because GT5 is meant to provide refined racing experiences, not mario kart. When you drive with some decorum and finesse, the game will reward you, not only with lush graphics and magic physics, the AI around you will feel more like a real driving experience. Bashing into someone on a track isn’t going to get you that refined, upper-class experience Polyphony are going for. Driving a car to it’s outer limits with intelligence and experience, however, will reward you with one of the finest racing experiences you’re ever going to get on any computer.

To add variety, NASCAR, Kart and Rally modes are added to the game, with the cars to boot. NASCAR is something I’ve never really enjoyed, and GT5 enforces my lack of enjoyment in the sport. It really does do nothing to excite. Going in a circle for hours on end is as boring as it sounds. Often the NASCAR vehicles feel light and under-powered compared to using the same track with an American muscle car. The cars ‘snap’ into line like a truck, and sound horrid. With GT5′s lack of real damage modeling (though there is some damage models with fairly impressive particle physics) there isn’t the benefit of watching a huge NASCAR flip-and-roll crash.

Karting is a lot of fun as the cars completely oversteer into each corner, which seems scary at first for a refined experience, but as someone who spent some time karting years ago, this is a lot of fun and quite like the real deal. Once you figure out how these cars work, it’s a lot of fun to dump the cart around the track as if you were playing mario kart (ironic given one of my previous statements).

Rallying has always been a weak spot of Gran Turismo. It never feels as refined as the rest of the experience, and always fell short of ‘official’ WRC games, or even Colin McRea. Here isn’t really much different. It does feel better then previous efforts, but it by no means can ever replace a ‘proper’ rally game, which sadly dilutes some of the experience because driving a Sebastian Loeb’s C4 on a road feels fantastic, but on dirt or gravel it feels misplaced. This, again, falls under the general umbrella in GT5 of inconsistent gameplay.

The experience is refined for the most part, once you treat it with respect. The graphics will keep anyone entertained for hours, but it’s only those die-hards who will love the experience of upgrading their cars, only to sell them for slightly better models and race them for hours on end in endurance races to be gifted a new Ferrari, building a collection to a point where eventually you own a Bugatti Veyron. Feeling like you’re the stig in the top gear test track or feeling like Senna in Monza in an old school Ferrari or Merc is an incredible achievement for Polyphony. It falls down in places, but with the promise of persistent, and consistent patching and updating, GT5 – which is already outstanding compared to the competition – will absolutely dominate the driving world.

It only barely ties into GT5, but it’s entertaining to look through none-the-less.

(press release given as provided without editing)

WHAT’S ON THE WISH LIST

· 38% of Irish drivers want coffee stations at toll booths
· 57% would love to see toilet pit stops on large stretches of motor ways
· 47% would like to see a special ‘refresher’ course introduced for ‘Sunday drivers’
· 54% reveal that high speed ramps should be flattened
· 83% of drivers believe we are just not equipped to deal with big freezes here

Dublin, Thursday 9th December, 2010: Coffee stations at toll booths, toilets on the side of motorways and a compulsory course for Sunday drivers are all on the wish list of Irish drivers, according to a new survey by PlayStation 3 to celebrate the release of Gran Turismo 5. With the 57million-selling franchise offering the closest thing possible to a real life racing experience, PlayStation 3 decided it was time to find what exactly Irish motorists think of driving in Ireland, what’s on their wish list and what are their pet hates.

PET HATES
When it comes to motoring, we Irish have a few things we want to get off our chests. According to the Gran Turismo 5 poll:
· Canada, we ain’t. According to an overwhelming 83% of Irish people, we are just not equipped to deal with big freezes here with almost half (48.5%) of these people admitting defeat in taking to the snow-covered roads in recent weeks. Of particular frustration were lack of grit, traffic congestion and being passed out by pedestrians. Definitely not something they will experience in GT5.
· 36% of people living in Ireland cite pot holes as the biggest annoyance on Irish roads, while 54% think ramps should be flattened, largely for the same reasons.
· 73% of people across the country have a bone to pick with clampers who never, ever show any mercy no matter what the situation.
· ‘Sunday drivers’ get under the skin of 56% of Irish motorists due to their unique interpretation of the rules of the road.
· 61% of Irish people would like to see fewer taxi drivers on the road, more because they think they own the road, rather than anything else;
· Women who put their makeup on (42%) and men who shave while on the way to work (38%) in their cars are also singled out in the poll as a source of annoyance to Ireland’s motoring public.

THE WISH LIST
So, in a perfect world, what do Irish drivers want?
· Bus lanes would be open to all car drivers during rush hours, according to 47% of Irish drivers who admit to feeling envious of bus passengers and their bus corridors.
· In addition, 57% of drivers would love to see more toilet pit stops being introduced on lengthy motor ways, particularly some of the newer ones with 50% admitting to regularly having to drive for miles without a toilet in sight.
· 38% of Irish drivers would love to see coffee booths at toll plazas on the country’s road networks to make some of the more mundane journeys more bearable!
· 47% would like to see a special ‘refresher’ course introduced for ‘Sunday drivers’ to reacquaint them with the rules of the road.
· With petrol and diesel prices on the rise, almost half of Irish drivers (49%) would love the Government to offer free fuel to drivers who make the effort to car pool and do their bit for the environment.
· 55% of Irish drivers would also like to see annual bonus points being introduced for people who do not get any points on their drivers licence.

Featuring over 1,000 cars and 70 track layouts (including The Top Gear Test Track) Gran Turismo 5 is out now exclusively on PlayStation®3, so if Irish roads are too much to handle, take it to the track with GT5!

Version 1.01 will be a 133MB download which unlocks “community features”, which comes down to accessing PSN and online modes. No word on if this unlock will detect your disk to ensure traded game buyers are locked out yet, though.

Sony’s reason this time is that Gran Turismo’s creator, Kazunori Yamauchi, and his team at Polyphony Digital in Japan “want to make certain they are creating the perfect racing experience.” Which is a similar reason to what we’ve heard before.

The video below shows this happening in the famous Nurnburgring, when the iconic car is driven hap-hazardly into barriers and obstacles to create realistic looking damage effects. Later the video shows night time effects (and more damage) on a rally stage.

You may have also noticed the image I used as a header for this post (unless you’re on the mobile site!). That’s the new edition 160GB PS3 to celebrate the game launch. The bundle with GT5 and the special edition console will run in at about €400.

We talked about the sceainvites website over the weekend, and it appears this site has a nugget about GT5, too. Which is a clear pointer to the notion that, perhaps, Polyphony Digital and Sony are ready to unleash their game – or at least, the date – to the world at the up-coming E3 show.

We’ll keep you posted, and be sure to post the date of the release, or the announcement of the date of the release right here.

Daniel Collins, who no doubt also couldn’t play his Playstation yesterday either, has managed to race his way into the final four of the competition. Have a look at the academy diaries below. Good luck Daniel!

It's ok to drink if it's only virtual driving. GT Champagne makes you go faster anyway...

Limerick gamer, Daniel Collins from Rathkeale, drove his way to victory to become Ireland’s GT Academy 2010 Champion this weekend. Thirty one year old Collins beat the top 20 fastest gamers in the country at a live gaming event in Dublin on Saturday 13th February and will now represent Ireland in the grand final in Silverstone, UK, at the end of the month. With a fastest lap time of 1:38.599, Collins held out to win the overall title, beating stiff competition in the process.

GT Academy, a joint collaboration between PlayStation 3 and Nissan, launched last December and set out to unearth a real racing driver from the virtual world of the hugely successful Gran Turismo racing game. Collins was one of over ten thousand Irish gamers who downloaded the GT Academy Time Trial onto their PlayStation 3 console and completed and posted their fastest lap times in an attempt to make it through to the national final. The top 20 finalists came from throughout the country and had to race each other on a selection of GT race tracks to determine the overall winner.

As Ireland’s national champion, Collins will attend an intensive week long training camp in Silverstone at the end of February to compete for one of just two places in the final stage of the competition. If successful, he will remain at Silverstone for a further 8 weeks to attain his International Racing Licence. One lucky driver will then go on to race a full season as part of the Nissan team in the European GT4 Cup in a Nissan 370Z car. GT Academy 2009 changed the life of Spanish student Lucas Ordonez who entered the competition and emerged a fully fledged member of the Nissan race team.

Commenting on the final, Niall O’Hanrahan, Managing Director Sony Computer Entertainment Ireland, said: “We would like to congratulate Daniel on winning the national final and becoming the GT Academy 2010 Irish champion. He beat the fastest gamers in the country to win the competition and we wish him all the very best as he goes on to represent Ireland in Silverstone”.

Good luck to Daniel in the finals. Despite being from Limerick he managed to keep his hands away from the knife and win the competition fairly.