Ever since I waited for Gran Turismo 5, I felt that its the game of Salvation/Glory (or what ever dramatic positive word you know used for describing) for automotive enthusiast gamers especially with its 5 years of development, it really sounds there is something big going on in the game....but when the wait is over, I was already all wrong as I share to you all what literally players will get in this game
Polyphony Digital knows how to make realistic physics, and realistic graphics which is the great formula for a dramatic DRIVING simulator experience not can't be matched by any other game. It even has its own track editor and also weather effects, it has the DRIVING experience so great that it's like I'm a hero just recently saved the world and then having a vacation of my life...but take note, its all DRIVING.
But when you play the game, its more than just DRIVING...its also about RACING. Polyphony Digital doesn't know how to make a quality RACING simulator.
In the past installments, the racing gameplay has been pure plain, go to the track...3,2,1 then start....then overtake all of your opponents and finish the race, there you go...the formula of Polyphony Digital in racing gameplay. But there is a problem...in that formula, the "however you do it is fine" is included in there, you can cut corners, use overpowered race cars or use your opponents as a barrier for you to not to understeer at the entrance or exit of a corner. Its very helpful in winning a race but those are really shameful ways to win a race...but the worse part is, its still in Gran Turismo 5.
In the 2009 E3 trailer of Gran Turismo 5, we all saw that NASCAR and World Rally Championship has been introduced to the game, and we all feel that nascar, the "NASCAR", and the world rally championship, the "World Rally Championship" is in the game on which we felt that GT5 will be the most complete package racing game that you don't need to buy another game for every motorsports (Codegamer's Dirt 2, and F1 2010 for example) and you really feel happy like your soul is up in heaven.
But in reality, when you play that certain motorsport in the game, the game itself will drag your soul down to hell. All you'll have are Nascar CARS, rally CARS, Formula 1 CARS, Japan Super GT CARS, German Touring CARS, LM CARS. There are no specific implementations of rules in each motorsports that are SO-CALLED in the game. Polyphony Digital only allowed you to drive the cars in their old-plain racing mechanism/gameplay.
Another thing in the game's aspect is it being a game. In GT Life's beginning you only have 20,000 of credits but the problem is, that amount of credits is far lacking to buy a QUALITY premium car, instead your only direction then is to go to the used car shop and buy a STANDARD car that can do quality in race like a Mazda RX-7 FC for example. The thing that I hate here is that Polyphony Digital wants to put a low quality rendered car in your face in the beginning of your GT Life...(seriously Polyphony digital? why don't you want to showcase the premium cars to the player in the start to set the atmosphere to be more engaging).
As you start deeper in the GT Life, in the a-spec and b-spec specifically, you'll notice that they are cheap. All of the race have ai cars that are set to default(for race cars) or stock(for production cars), they never change or upgrade there cars, its always on default or stock settings, so the sure way to win is to tune your car up to 600hp, or even use LM Race Cars while your opponents remain at their 300hp-ish cars...that easily indicates that races in the GT Life are cheap and, unacceptably, are undeveloped from the last installment of the game.
Let's go back to the ai cars. The ai cars has been improved, they can identify where you are and evade you, but the problem is that is only occasionally. In the Nascar series race in the extreme category in a-spec, in the Daytona speedway track with only 10 laps, I am surprised how difficult it is...and I'm talking about is finishing the race with the group of cars in the race, or finish in the middle place to be simple. In that race, the ai has no respect on which line you are taking, if you switch lane to the inner lane of the long corner of the track, the ai car in that lane coming fast to you will not slow down and inevitably hit your back on which causes you to fishtail and that happening in that high speed corner, disaster happens...with you conter steering your way to the right because of the fishtail caused by the ai hitting you from behind, you will then thrown away on where you counter steer, also because of the nascar "car" not able to handle the such situation, leading you to the right or upper part of the long corner which leads you in an unhelpful situation on where you are now facing the perpendicular to where you are on that road, but the worst part is that now the other cars are coming to you, they inevitably hit you, but that is just a part of it, the other part is that all of them will not slow down but rather they will still put there foot on the pedal and hit you or should I simply say, all of them will bulldoze you...
I was like "Hey guys! I'm in the middle of the track (in the long corner) and I'm on a wreck here! Can you at least slow down and pass me safely?", but moments later I was "OH MY GOD!...JESUS! OH JESUS MARY AND JOSEPH!! MY CAR!!"...they all hit me mercilessly like I was not there, and bulldozed me leading me thrown away on the large grass part of the race track. The interesting part in this scene is that ALL of the cars bumped me are still in straight position like nothing happened, not even one of them joined me thrown to the grass.
It took me 2 hours retrying just to finish that 10 laps race.
B-spec ai also has flaws, they drive slower than real life humans. They break earlier and limits their foot on the gas pedal in straight.
Very questionable races in the GT Life are the Gran Turismo World Championship and Polyphony Digital Cup found in the professional and expert category respectively. When you hear both of those races, the first thing that will come to your mind is that both races are big because of the names, especially beating the Gran Turismo World Championship will show the credits, but in reality the races within those are very cheap, in the Gran Turismo World Chanpionship you get random race cars from different motorsports but all of them are barely above 500, and in Polyphony Digital Cup (which is in the higher category than Gran Turismo World Championship) you get to race against production cars that are below 500 hp, not LM Race Cars or even lower class race cars. A fully tuned Corvette Z06 production version can easily beat both of those races.
Some contents of the Special Events are very questionable which are the nascar, and Top Gear test track.
The nascar content says you'll learn the way of nascar from Jeff Gordon, but in reality he will really do no help, all I can hear he says that helps is smoothen your steering. You'll expect in this content that you'll learn something unique for nascar motorsports, but no, you'll only be tested in maintaining taking inner or outer lane of the long corner and using slipstream on which I believe anyone can learn such skill outside nascar. Another very questionable content is where you will race other nascar cars with only you coming off from the pit stop, I found this very silly. Another one is where the challenge is about reaching first place within 2 laps but the problem is, in the title of the challenge says "Last 2 Laps" included which emphasizes that when you enter the race, you are in the situation on where there is 2 laps remaining and you need to rush to reach first place , and another problem in this is that when you enter the race, you'll start by rolling and all of you are at limited speed and wait the 3,2,1 signal, but that is not the end of it, in the beginning of the race you have perfect condition tires and full gas tank...so now where is the feeling that it is the LAST 2 laps. In general all that Jeff Gordon thought you in this content can be absolutely learned outside nascar.
Top Gear test track content is also questionable. It seems the only purpose of this track being in the special events is to promote that the track is in the game. When you enter the challenges in the test track you will be given 2 silly cars, first is the Volkswagen van on which you'll find it very funny because it is slow and is not a race material. Another challenge is they'll let you drive another old model of Volkswagen that is the same, slow (barely gets past 80km/h) and no racing potential but in this race, there is even funnier happening...there are 2 batch of race going on the track the same time, 8 cars and another 8 cars...when the race starts. Top Gear is known to do so many silly things, but that doesn't mean Polyphony Digital should.
Gran Turismo economy system stil exist in the game. You'll win credits when you win races, complete challenges. But there is a problem, the system itself. Grinding credits will be your hobby to collect your dream cars, not to mention credits for fully tuning them, which is already frustrating. Especially for me, when will I be able to buy the cars that costs 20 million each even though I'm now deep in the game like 70% completion that I can barely buy a car at 3 million.
But that's not the end of the economy system in the game. when you finish series of race in a category, you'll recieve prize cars and the problem is, the feel the prize cars being a reward is already gone when you get standard cars...and this happens mostly. Some prize cars are even worse, some are a very old model ones that you can't even use it for race.
GT Auto has been improved from the previous intallations, you can now do body paint and wheel paint, but the sad thing for the body paint is that you can only paint "basic" paints, you cant do combiniations. Adding body kits has been improved, you can now put front, front extension, and rear body kits, but sadly only applicable to premium cars.
Damage can be understood that it is implemented in a higher level because the repair costs that much. But the damage in GT Life is only cosmetic and will not affect your cars performance, so why repair it?
Dealerships in the game sells only premium cars and standard cars can be bought only at the used car dealership. The problem here is that there are too many japanese cars in the used car slot and too many variations of one model (Honda Civic Ek has more than one model year for example), lacking of european and american cars.
The game also has problems for those who want to achieve platinum trophy, one is the trophy that requires you to fill your garage with 1000 cars. Does this imply that Polyphony Digital wants you to fill your garage with low quality standard cars? this is very silly.
Online gameplay is also unrefined, first is the lag issues and second is the lack for car filtering in races, the only filter you can set is HP and types of tires but not the type of car. So if the game host wants to set the cars only for production cars...he can't.
So now I'm trying to find myself where I'm comfortable in game.
If I go to the GT Life, I'll get bad ai, bad events, makes me feel cheated that it says it have NASCAR, Formula 1, World Rally Championship that the truth is the game only have the cars of those motorspots...bad and unchanged economy system (credits grinding), horrible prize cars, cosmetic damage, and many others.
If I go online, I'll get laggy races and community that bulldozes anyone in front of them when in last lap.
But then finally I found myself, in practice modes, drifting my sports and super cars alone in the track and collecting all my dream cars...but in this place where I found myself...is this worth the 5 years of wait?
Gran Turismo 5: The Real DRIVING Simulator.....
From Digital Foundry: "Welcome to the third part in the biggest DF Retro episode we've ever produced - a year-by-year look at how 1080p gaming fared on the PlayStation 3. Launched in 2007 touting its then-exclusive HDMI digital interface, Sony layered full HD gaming on top of its Cell processor and RSX 'Reality Synthesizer' as key selling points for its third generation console. Of course, we all know how that turned out - both Sony and Microsoft machines routinely ran the most advanced titles at sub-720p resolutions, often with questionable performance, so what happened to the 1080p dream?
In the first two parts of John Linneman's investigation, we've covered off the first four years of the Triple's lifecycle and moving into 2010, the overall fortunes of the PlayStation 3 continued to improve. The platform holder released - what was then - the most advanced motion controller in the console space, backed up by experiments with stereoscopic 3D, which turned out to be a short-lived but still formidable pairing. Combined with a strong E3 showing, PS3 was looking good.
However, it's fair to say that it was a fallow year for 1080p gaming on the system, with only Scott Pilgrim Saves The World's razor-sharp pixel art upscaling, Castle Crashers and Soldner X2's 3D/FMV stylings accommodating full HD output - alongside a wonderful Monkey Island remaster."
Just remember ladies and gentlemen, Sony never said all games would be 1080p. Only that the system would support games up to 1080p in a survey before the system was released.
https://spong.com/article/9...
And as we saw, some games did support it, some games tried their best to support it and some games didn't or never reached it.
Is a higher resolution great to have if you can do it? Sure. Is it necessary for a fun game? No
But what I find interesting is Eurogamer. Are they really talking about HD and PS3 in their article or are they really pushing their 4.50 Euros 4K video download subscription? Seems one is being used to sell the other. Just look at the bottom of the article.
thats what every company tries to do, push for people to buy their products. Are you really gonna blame them for that?
Not all articles are about selling. They're about informing or entertaining.
Maybe I'm supposed to watch the video instead of reading. But I shouldn't have to click. But the article lazily tells us some games did hit 1080p and some didn't. I didn't learn anything new as I own the console. Then, they push a Patreon subscription.
Are you saying every opinion, preview, review and rant article requires a push to buy something now? Tell me which sites are prone to do so so that I can avoid them in the future.
not everyone played during the ps3 era. I started during snes era but loved seeing articles/videos about how gaming evolved before that.
i dont think this article is trying to push you to get that patreon sub, it doesnt for me at least. I dont think theres anything wrong putting an ad at the bottom of the article. all the regular DF videos are free already.
Wipeout HD on PS3, a remake of the PS1 game was 1080p 60fps. And that released in 2007-08
This really feels like a filler article. I don't feel like I learned anything notable or substantial from this. I feel they could have reduced the unnecessary intro and over-explanation of things and put the whole series in one article for a more substantial and possibly informative piece rather than piece-mealing it out as they have.
It's more about the video. DF Retro videos are for Patreon members first, and I think the whole thing was one big video. For the youtube channel, it gets chopped up and released weekly.
Chris is actually right on this one. Something known already was just kind of washed over in the article. Unless you're supposed to get more in the video. If more is in the video, then more could have been said in the article.
Only thing I learned new was that they are selling a subscription. My point though is that you gain more viewers by having better articles and content.
When thinking about simulation racing games in this console generation, it’s not unreasonable for your first thought to be “Forza”. Microsoft’s first-party sim-racer series has been wildly successful, and for many of us, it’s been the go-to franchise for quite some time. But simulation racing games weren’t always synonymous with Forza; there was a time when Polyphony Digital’s hardcore series, Gran Turismo, reigned supreme. While the long-time franchise continues to sell exceptionally well, there’s no doubt that it isn’t the young, spry series it used to be.
It doesnt suck but I would love to see a return to form with GT7. Sport is such a departure that it can turn some people off. It has gotten better over time but it's still no match for a proper GT7.
Sport is awesome for what it is...
However, polygon built a whole new engine and the tech is still being worked on...
I understand it is easy to praise a cookie cutter because it release the same game over and over with rotations of maps and cars...
But this engine polygon has designed does more for things other than gaming.
Repetitive old engines with new makeup does not make anyone king.
Gt7 will be most likely in two years with 120fps and ray tracing because their new engines are ready now.
It decided to focus on racing rather than cars and in the gaming world, racing = gameplay.
Good I guess selling millions of copies and have OFFICIAL FIA license races and Esports means it sucks
We just don't get it every year which is why ms also delayed next forza. You can't keep making yearly sequels. Quality and innovation takes time
GT sports at launch to now it's a different game and support has been free
GT games have always sold millions of copies and what's so innovative about GT sport? It's a racing game FFS.
The online championships and tournaments alone offer more innovation than any racer this gen🤷♂️ then you also get the live ones in New York etc with proper race like commentary, something else no other sim has done before. It sells millions because it's the best, simple really.
IRetrouk
I'm not even sure why think that having proper like race commentary or championships and tournements is innovative but I'll play along... GT Sport was released in 2017 so how do explain that this video https://www.youtube.com/wat... from 2016 exists?
It became the best online racing community for console players and its an amazing achievment.
@solidgamerX That's really not very impressive. Somebody with an interest in cars plays racing games and becomes a race car driver. That's like saying "look at this guy, he played COD and now he's in the military"
SolidGamerX
You must think that we're all stupid enough to believe that a game will turn anyone into a professional racing driver.
FORZA!!! AAHAHHAHA !! Haven't i schooled you on this already before! You're still spewing nonsense on this threaddd looool
Forza has always been better online than. GT and still is. Great to see PD try something different with GTS but let's face it this gen sonys racing games have been poor this then compaired to what Microsoft has had to offer. Forza 7 is one of the best racing games on xbox and pc but for me Horizon 3 and 4 have set the bar this gen. Of all the things microsoft got wrong this gen 2 of its racing games got a lot right and others are now playing catchup.
It's debatable which is the better game. To me, Forza has the upper hand.
But in terms of online community and events? Ha. Don't lie to yourself just because you don't like Playstation.
SolidGamerX
You didn't need to confirm what I already knew: if you didn't think that we're all stupid you wouldn't make such stupid comments that only those that are dead from the neck up will agree with.
Did he say gt could turn anyone into a racer? No he didnt, he asked what game has done it like gt has, which is true, gt academy done it throughout gt5 for a start. You need to do some research fella, cause your wrong.. again.
And lmao at element and the downplay, not even similar you crazy man, not even similar🤣 you realise gt has turned gamers into drivers from gt5? Go look at gt academy and tell me how that would be anything like someone playing cod and then joining the army, the downplay in gt articles is funny.
So you think he learned the required skills playing video games? I remember when people claimed children were learning how to operate guns because of video games, do you think that's also true?
Two completely different things and you know it, it is a fact that gt has helped real gamers become real race drivers, the proof is easily available online and I'm not going round searching for links that has been posted many, many times before on this subject, Go and look at gt academy like I mentioned and you can see for yourself, they start out on gt and go from there, so yes the game gran turismo teaches you some driving techniques, now if you can find me a link where someone has been playing cod and went on to become a war hero, please let me know because I couldnt find anything, also do you have a link to where cod has a program to train soldiers? Like cod academy or something?, I couldnt find one of those either, maybe when you do then your comparison will actually make sense.
IRetrouk
You mean the GT academy that provides training and licenses for a person to become a professional racing driver? The GT academy is how you go from being an average driving joe to become a professional racing driver not GT the game.
GT owns the console sim racing scene in my area and around the world. Just ask a real race car drivers
https://youtu.be/2pC3-eCAdv...
You forget that there are two Forzas, Forza Motorsport and Forza Horizon, which aims at different audiences.
The usual response from someone insecure that feels their favorite racing game is nowhere near as good as it once was. I really liked Gran and played them all. Loved the Vector from part 2. But the franchise is not the same.
Yea Forza took over and is now the best sim racer with motorsport and the best arcade racer with horizon. GT was the best but it has been falling short for a long time and I'm not saying gt games are bad but no where near king like it used to be. I'd say forza motorsport 3 was the forza that really upped the franchise and forza 4 was when forza became #1.
I remember the glory days of gt but those days are long gone but it's still a good game just not the best. Of course ps fans will never admit it because they will die before giving MS credit.
I do think they need some new creative heads in to give them some new perspectives, they seem stuck in a rut. It's a very high quality rut but they're still stuck in it.
The USA leg of the Gran Turismo World Tour is going on in New York right now. Go watch it guys, there's some damn good racing and crazy updates to come.
I've seen some of it before and to be fair it's not much different to watching real motorsport so credit to them for that.
DSOGaming writes: "It appears that the best Playstation 3 emulator that is currently under development, RPCS3, received a new update recently. kd-11 has implemented new Surface Cache fixes to RPCS3 that reportedly improve the appearance of car reflections in Gran Turismo 6, and fix various graphics glitches in other games."
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If someone out there in internet land could make a decent PS3 emulator imagine what Sony could actually do if they put the time and effort in to make this happen for their next console?
It's definitely not impossible as we can see here. It should definitely be done since BC seems to be very important to Sony this next gen. Imagine PS+ free game offerings from Sony that could include the whole catalog from the PS console family..fantastic.
Why waste time and money on it? Some people want to move forward, not go back.
It's not a deal breaker but having the feature would be amazing. I would rather have it than not have it.
Not everyone feels that way and if Sony is making an issue of supporting PS4 games for PS5 why not support their other past games for people who still have them or a means to buy them and play them.
You literally just said some people. So I'd imagine you can comprehend that there's a larger subset of people not in that same "some" group. PlayStation used to be known for backward compatibility. Xbox made a big deal about support for their entire catalog. What's the issue with PlayStation, who has an even more substantial history in gaming, tapping into that market? We don't have this problem on PC. It's only a good thing for consumers to be able to bring their games with them through generations on console.
@kwietstorm
Yes, I said some people. What I said was MY opinion. I'm one of those people that couldn't care less about bc, but im not saying ALL people don't care about it. I think they should spend that time and energy for future features and games, but like I said, that's only my opinion.
Not every body trows their games way every time the new gen cames along, and everybody that likes games like to be able to play their favorite games in the best possible way.
PS: Retrocompatability is the most requested feature in Sony Foruns, even Sony said so.
The question is would the return on investment be worthwhile? Are the number of additional consoles PS3 BC would push be enough to justify the cost of developing the emulation (and it would have to be bullet proof)? I like the idea of having it, but for my part not having it won't effect my purchase decision.
You are asking the right question but the wrong way. For me, the addition of PS3 BC would add value as a customer and make it even more likely for me to buy a PS5. If it is valuable to the customer it is valuable to them.
Also, the way they are doing it would be way cheaper than a program like Microsoft had. The are emulating the hardware. Not the software.
"The question is would the return on investment be worthwhile?"
Sony could definitely make some extra profit selling PS3 games through their marketplace (the same way they have their other classics available). It's not about whether or not it will effect anyone's purchase decision, it definitely didn't do so for the PS4. But as others have expressed, it would be a nice addition to have for PS5 if Sony could open up their whole library digitally and physically to users.
Racing games should be some of the easiest to emulate and they're still not hitting 60fps with it, to say nothing of image flickering and occasional sound issues.
Still gonna be a bit yet before they have it fully up and running, it seems, and even then it may only work for part of the library. :/
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Is it possible to have PS3 emulation on PS5?yes depending on what kind of power it really has.
An i7 9700k is no slouch and the PS4 already has a God of War 3 running much better with less
power required because they converted CBE to X86 which is not something you want to be doing in the long run.
What power would be required to play these games emulated at said PS4 version?.
It's not an easy situation Sony themselves created and ultimately I believe they are happy this way because they
want you to use PSNow,that service is why you will not even get it. (let's not forget that it was a huge investment)
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Good & Honest Review
i call bullshit, you give it a 5.0 in the gameplay area when that's the best part about the game? you're not going to find a more realistic sim on consoles.
the 'game aspect's flaws' has nothing to do with the gameplay, try again.
if anything that should have counted toward the graphics, not gameplay.
I agree with parts of your review like the B-spec racers can be some of the dumbest i've ever seen and i find my self going "really, you could over taken him easily but yet you slowed down".
I think the reason they make you start off with used cars is so when you get some money and buy a premium car you actually feel like you EARN it, don't get me wrong I know some people prolly hate that but others love it like myself.
I also agree that sometimes it feels like you can just tune your car for a race to the point that you have 200-500HP on ur competition and i think they should have done something about that because you don't really have to drive that great if your car can get a 10 second lead before you are even 1/4 done with the first lap. Same thing with cutting corners and riding your opponents they should have done something about that especially online, I liked how in GT5P if you hit a wall or opponent you couldn't accelerate for a few seconds online anyways.
The AI though does get more aggressive and more skilled as you level up even if you go back and re-do races you have already done they seem to race better and have higher top speeds. For example I went back and did a race last night that I would usually have a lead of 10-20 seconds by the end of the race but this time they actually kept up with me for a majority of the time.
As far as the fun factor goes I don't think this is a game for everyone...mainly because it's a Simulator and most people would rather play a racing game like Need for Speed or other such games but for people like me who prefer the most realistic thing I can get my hands on this is the only racing game for them.
Graphically it's kind of inconsistent but everyone already knew it would be because of the standard vs premium stuff. To me it seems like the best looking racer 90% of the time but I have noticed if your in rain or smoke everything looks really jagged.
All in all it's pretty damn good for their first actual game on the Ps3 which is something i think most people forget about, yea it had a long dev time but they also had a lot to do and they didn't outsource and they are not that big of a studio.
I want to address more things in your review but i don't have the time, but i do feel you gave an honest opinion of it and even though i don't agree with the final score or everything you said (I'd give it a 8-9/10) I do share some of the same feelings toward it as you do but at the same time I am enjoying it very much.
You must be new to the GT series......What were you expecting? Cars with machine guns on the hood?
Yeah, right. I'm sorry but with the most accurate console racing sim physics, the most features of any driving game on any platform and the best graphics of any driving game on any platform this deserved much more than a measly 6.5/10. I take it you are a casual, arcade racing game player. Because if you were anything more you'd truly appreciate GT5 for the huge list of things it does right and not the short list of insignificant things it does wrong.
There are a few problems with this review, however.
"But the damage in GT Life is only cosmetic and will not affect your cars performance, so why repair it? "
Guess you haven't used practice mode then
"lacking of european and american cars. "
go take a look at this list http://www.gtplanet.net/gra...
There are more than 550 american + european cars. Seriously, count them.
"Online gameplay is also unrefined, first is the lag issues"
That's your connection, not the games fault lol. Never had any lag issue.
"makes me feel cheated that it says it have NASCAR, Formula 1, World Rally Championship that the truth is the game only have the cars of those motorspots"
And the official tracks and the real life racing drivers modelled into the game. Have you even played it?
"If I go to the GT Life, I'll get bad ai, bad events"
Well that confirms you haven't surpassed level 10. Bad AI? I'm on level 27 right now and I've found the AI to be much more realistic than other console sims at this level. If I drive agggresively, for example, then so too will the AI and the will try to block me and cut me up at any opportunity. However if I drive conservatively I find they drive much more calmly, pulling to one side to allow me to overtake, braking hard if I'm dangerously close to them in corners etc.
"B-spec ai also has flaws, they drive slower than real life humans. They break earlier and limits their foot on the gas pedal in straight. "
Again confirms you've got nowhere in the game. Level up your B-spec driver and see how "slow" they drive then. They get a LOT better.
To be fair there are some good points brought up, like not having specific racing type rules (Nascar, WRC etc.) and having to grind your way to level up but that's about it. Everything else is pretty nonsensical. I really could have guessed that's how the review would've turned out though. Especially with this absurd opening statement (which, btw, is completely false and ridiculous)
"But when you play the game, its more about DRIVING...its also about RACING. Polyphony Digital doesn't know how to make a quality RACING simulator"
Yeah. Racing has nothing to do with physics or graphics, of which PD has set the best in the genre of console racing sims, realistic weather and day/night cycles and actual racers (Vettel, sebastien loeb, joey logano, the stig)
I could go on but there's really no point. If you have legitimately played the game then I feel sorry for you that you dislike what is easily the best console racing simulator available and the most addicting caRPG.