Gran Turismo 5- Will It Be Worth The (5 years) Wait?

The Gran Turismo series has had quite a run. With four nigh perfect titles in the canon franchise, and a decent PSP spin off, any upcoming game bearing the name of Gran Turismo would be very highly regarded, and quite frankly, a lot would be expected of it. Obviously, a lot is expected of Gran Turismo 5, the upcoming GT title, the first ever to hit the PS3, if you do not count the previously released uninspiring demo, Gran Turismo 5: Prologue. Gran Turismo 5 itself has quite a history.

After having been delayed innumerable times, and having been delayed yet again just recently, it seems as if we might never even get a copy of GT5 in our hands. But of course, that is an absurd thing to say, or write, in this case. Gran Turismo 5 will release, and when it does, we expect it will turn out to be great. Just how great though? Will it be worth the wait? Will it stand up to the name it bears? Will it be able to hold its own in the face of competition like Forza and F1 that has sprung up these days?

Let’s have an in-depth look at Polyphony Digital produced racing sim, Gran Turismo 5, and assess just how grand this title will be.

Recent Form- Not Good

The Gran Turismo series, off late, hasn’t been giving us a lot of quality titles. Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, a taste of what the actual GT5 would be was… well, it tasted ok, and the PSP version of Gran Turismo, that had faced just as many delays as GT5, was merely decent. How, then, can we expect that Polyphony Digital, the developers, will return to their old ways and deliver to us, with GT5, a game like no other?

Well, they will have to, won’t they? GT5 is a game fans (and others) have been waiting for since that past five years (almost), and if it disappoints in even a single area, it’ll SUCK MY- sorry. Well, let’s just it’ll be bad for Sony.

How can they make GT5 a good game, one that lives up to its expectations? How can they ever live up to all the hype? We saw how GT Portable simply failed to live up to all the hype it was getting. How can Polyphony’s megaton, GT5, avoid the same fate? Let’s wait and watch.

New Features

Damage

It has been announced that Gran Turismo 5, like Gran Turismo 2 before it, will feature damage effects, both visual and mechanical. But Gran Turismo 2’s damage system was very basic, and did not change the gameplay in any way. The damage system in GT5, however, looks very authentic, deep and detailed. The damage will be according to the speed of the opponent and its angle of impact. And for the first time in the series, we will be able to upturn our opponents! Weehee! Maybe because of the Kart Racing mode (let’s get to that later).

Vehicles this time around will be divided into two categories: standard and premium. Standard vehicles will have basic damage, only visual, like scratches, dirt marks, dents and more of the like. Premium cars, however, will have full fledged damage systems, like mechanical damage. For example huge collisions and ungainly drifts will damage the engine and the tyres respectively. It seems very detailed, but the demarcation between the vehicles doesn’t seem to make much sense right now. Maybe Polyphony will detail it later, before the release of the game (whenever that might be).

Tracks- New, Old And Custom

Gran Turismo has a total of 21 track locations and over a century of different tracks, as opposed to the 51 of Gran Turismo 4- quite impressive, I must say. Especially considering the fact that tracks can be created this time around and shared with your friends, much like the recently released kart racer, ModNation Racers. Considering tha fact that Gran Turismo 5 will also feature a new GoKarting Mode, track creation will most probably feature some crazy, whacky tools, to make tracks look, feel and play more fun than before. This might prove to be what makes or breaks the game, in the long run. Let’s see how it turns out.

A lot of old tracks seen in the previous Gran Turismo games, like Daytona International Speedway, Nürburgrig Nordschleife, Circuit de la Sarthe, Tsukuba Circuit, Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway and Suzuka Circuit, will be making a return. Other fictitious tracks for previous games in the series like the Trial Mountain will be making a return too.

Real time locations like the Dunsfold Park will mark their entry into the Gran Turismo franchise, and new tracks, like Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Monza Circuit (specially built around the kart racing mode), two new locations in Rome and a historic location from Italy will be making their debut in the franchise.

Here are some of the tracks which will be featured in GT5: