An overpriced demo with lack of content or a great taste of what is to come?
First of, the graphics are marvellous, and the presentation is great. The in-car view behind the steering wheel offers a driving experience unlike any other. It seems Polyphony has taken some of the criticism to heart and changed the driving physics just enough to make it more exciting without sacrificing any realism. When playing with the in-car view the sense of speed is extremely exhilarating, but once again GT has fallen short on the feeling of high speeds when playing from the out of car point of view. Although it is no excuse, who would want to play like this when the other view is so close to perfection?
The selection of cars is actually not all that bad with something around 60 cars to collect, and the models vary all the way from the tiny Suzuki Cappuccino to the Ferrari F1. The 60 cars that are offered is enough in a prologue like this, but the weak number of tracks (six) is soon noticed. Although you can play them in the opposite direction, a few more would have been very good.
One great improvement that puts this years Gran Turismo above all others is the major change in the AI. The opposing cars are no longer stupid drones driving mindlessly in their preset track, hellbent on not moving out of it. This time around they challenge you, they make mistakes and they make it so much harder for you to take advantage of them.
Although I love this game, there is a small thing I would like changed that bothers me quite a bit. This is the insanely annoying menus. It takes forever to browse through the cars at the dealers, and far too much time to go through your car collection, showing it off to your friends. A garage you can walk around in with your cars parked (preferably in places you choose) would be great. I have seen similar features in older games which leads me to believe that it is very feasible and quite elegant.
I haven't played it online enough to give it a fair review., so I won't. The one thing I will say though is that even with 16 players at once on highly detailed tracks, I am yet to see frame rate drops and screen tears. Kudos on that!
To sum up, GT5P is a great teaser and a must have if you simply can't bear waiting another year for the real thing. The game is beautiful, plays well and the content is enough to make it worth the money. I have seen great differences in price range so look around before you pick it up (It is actually cheaper at stores than in the Playstation Store). If I give it a score based on the graphics, the gameplay, and the content provided instead of comparing it to the full title, this easily scores a nine