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It's perfect... kind of.

A word of warning: this review may not tell you what you want to hear about GT5, but you probably need to hear it. If you're a sensitive GT aficionado, PS3 fanboy that thinks FFXIII going multiplatform was a travesty, or a 360 fanboy hoping to see one of Sony's flagship titles get a less than perfect review, then just look at the grade I gave Gran Turismo 5 and read no further. I make a point of focusing on GT5's weaknesses in this review not because it's a weak game, but because to do otherwise would only sugar coat a game that already has a reputation of being among the best. In other words, you're doing yourself a disservice if you have unachievable expectations for GT5. However, if you take certain oversights into consideration when you first boot up the game, you'll probably be more than pleased. GT5 is not perfect, but it gets fairly close.

Why the skepticism? Well, it's actually my fault. You see, the pre-release hype I had for GT5 was, in retrospect, ill-conceived and I'd rather not see other gamers fall victim to the same insatiability.

Needless to say, because of this my initial impressions of GT5 were less than ideal. I found it kind of ironic that I had no problems waiting the 4 years since the PS3 launch to get a "full" version of GT5 in my hands, but in the last 40-60 minutes leading up to me actually playing the game (the time I was waiting for it to do its optional installation), my patience ran out faster than a Bugatti Veyron goes through a tank of gas... Speaking of which the Veyron is only playable as a standard vehicle and even then only if you've unlocked it on the PSP version and imported it to your PS3 profile (meaning it's only drivable in arcade mode).

That leads me to my next sacrifice; vehicles are broken into two distinct and completely different types - standard and premium. The difference between the two, besides a few thousand polygons, is that the premium cars were designed for GT5 from the ground up, whereas the others seemed to have been pulled from GT4 and given the once-over-HD-friendly treatment (think GTHD). Obviously the premium cars are superior in pretty much every respect (graphically and functionally), but the biggest improvement-turned-necessity in the premiums is the inclusion of a dashboard view done with the precision we've come to expect from the franchise.

And the sacrifices don't stop there. Take, for example, the track editor, which as far as I can tell was a waste of development time. It's not what the name implies; A more aptly name would be "track randomizer" or "track generator." Instead of being able to make tracks, you're only allowed to set basic restrictions or guidelines and then it's the game that actually puts the track together randomly based on your guidelines. And the customizable guidelines are fairly generic; things like "complexity" just add more turns within a given section. It's like making a tomato sauce without the herbs and spices (weaksauce).

It's this kind of game-quality hypocrisy that makes me wonder where exactly the 6 years of development went? Everything that's polished is, in essence, perfect. But then other crap feels tacked on and rushed out the door. It's the comparison with the game's perfections that makes the weaknesses so obvious. Someone from Sony should get over to PD and put that house in-line.

...And yet, despite all that, (pay attention because this is where I forgive and forget) this is the only game I want to play right now. I mean, it's f***ing rad. The details, the speed, the tweaking, the learning curve, the frustration of seemingly constant defeat and then the satisfaction of pulling off the perfect lap or obtaining the perfect car... The GT-DNA is all here. I mean, these are the things that somehow force you to love the series, and GT5 has it all.

Take the graphics for example; sure the vast majority of cars (standards) don't have dashboard view or as insanely high polycounts, but on the flip-side, under the right conditions the premium cars teeter on photo-realistic. The track editor might be abysmal, but the game includes the Top Gear Test track! That track alone makes the game worth buying. And as far as load screens are concerned, once you're actually racing, you forget about them before the countdown reaches 1.

As with past GT games, the A-spec mode offers races that challenge your ability to drive not just vehicles designed for racing, but also a myriad of different types of consumer and/or vintage rides. By GT standards it's fairly expected. But when you start dipping into the invitational special events which introduce you to, and give you tips on, all of the game's various types of driving, the hours can quickly add up. These modes typically aren't available until the harder circuits so having an understanding of them prior to racing them not only increases your chances of winning the first time out, but also puts a few credits in your pockets whilst lessening the monotony of the grind.

In previous installments, players tended to just grind through races until they got burnt out (I know I did), but GT5 really shines when you take the various aspects of the game in doses to it break up. Rather than trying to marathon run through A-spec, take a break and learn how to race karts... or WRC... or NASCAR... or Drifting... or take things online for a bit... Hell, why not take a break from driving altogether and try B-spec or see if anything new is available on GTtv? Or maybe update your GT profile, or check out the museum, or take some sweet photos, or upgrade/tune some of your cars. My point is, there's a lot of stuff to experience in Gran Turismo 5 that builds the game's longevity, so you may as well indulge.

I can't think of the game without wanting to go play, and I can't play the game without doing so for a few hours. The need to shave another few 10ths off my times is as frustrating as it is rewarding (it always has been with GT). And it's this push-pull - the aggravation of defeat that quickly turns into the satisfaction of winning - that ultimately allows me to forget about the game's weaker points while I'm playing. That said, If I had gone into the game not expecting perfection (the perfection implied by Polyphony Digital and Sony), I probably would have appreciated GT5 that much more.