World's Worst Review - Gran Turismo 5

This is a new section and idea for the blog that will (hopefully) be a regular thing. It's called World's Worst Review, because frankly, it's going to be bad. The idea is simple, me and Herby will regularly review games, the twist is that they will be any game from the past 1000 years (probably not that far back, but still). So basically we're going to be reviewing games that have been out for a long time and that you've played a lot and either like or hate. A twist that M. Night Shyamalan would be proud of.

Gran Turismo 5

For anyone who doesn't know, Gran Turismo 5 is a PS3 exclusive driving game from Polyphony Digital. The previous 4 games in the series were good, both graphically and drivingly (that's now a word). The 5th instalment was awaited with much anticipation as it was the first Gran Turismo game to arrive on PS3, and due to the release date being put further and further back. I picked up the game on release day after a pre-order, and well... I was underwhelmed to put it kindly. Using a controller the game felt lifeless to me. The AI were more on rails than an episode of Thomas the Tank Engine, which is why I referred to it as a "driving game" and not a "racing game". After a couple of weeks of pointless "races" against the awful AI, the game was returned to the shop and traded in for something else. I had moved on and had no intention of returning to the series.

This changed a few weeks ago when my friend, Skuh, sent me his old Logitech steering wheel and a copy of GT5. I plugged it in, set it up and hit up a time trial on one of the tracks in a Ferrari 458. Wow. It was a completely different game using the wheel. The car felt alive, the game felt alive, I actually had fun playing Gran Turismo. I was actually interested in doing lap after lap after lap in various cars at different tracks, this was the ultimate driving experience.

So now I've played the game and actually gotten the real driving experience from it, I can safely say that Gran Turismo is a good game. The graphics are great, the car handling is great (when using a wheel), and there is a long lasting appeal to it the game now. Setting a time on a lap and knowing you can improve it on the next, you get the driving bug and don't want to stop, even after 30 sweaty minutes around Nordschleife. Although the AI is still poor, the online challenges are still fun and competitive. The staggered start means that there's some challenge in catching up the leader in five laps, plus the prize money award for winning a stage is worth it and means I can buy another Nissan.

Obviously there are a few negative points to the game. Firstly, I'm not sure if I've mentioned this, but the AI removes any fun had racing offline. Online is good from what I've experienced, but I still wish they would have spent some of the development time improving the AI rather than adding another type of Nissan. The choice of cars is strange, to say the least. Sure, the game may have 1000 cars but there needs to be more variety and more "premium" cars. The biggest negative point for me though is that the game only becomes fun when you splash out another £80+ on a steering wheel (plus any extra money need for a stand or solid set-up). Not everyone has that kind of money, or awesome friends who send you things for free; and although there is some fun in playing the game with a controller, it really becomes a different beast when you use a wheel.

If you're after a good driving simulation game on PlayStation 3 that will compliment your new wheel set-up, then you have to look no further than this brilliant offering from Sony's own Polyphony Digital. If, however, you don't have such a set-up, you may want to look elsewhere for that "ultimate driving experience".