I gotta be honest - I was always the biggest Gran Turismo fan but I’ve been playing Dirt a lot lately and while its not the perfect game its made me realize what Gran Turismos have lacked, hopefully some will be addressed in GT5.
-ability to go off the track/hit things/damage. Sure if you’re good you wont be doing it much, but it really raises your involvement when you know that if you drift off the road into the woods, your race is over, rather than just bumping off an invisible barrier and continuing along. You also cant just manhandle your way through a pack of cars, you need to really drive.
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sounds. GT4 and GT HD have a small library of sounds. Tires slipping and collisions always sounds the same, albeit with different pitches. I want to hear different sounds depending on what surface I’m on, going over painted stripes, tire choices, etc. Sounds echoing off walls, etc.
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tire marks, cars getting dirty
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races or stages that arent a loop.
These things were always overlooked because of GT’s superior physics - its all about the physics, you dont need that other stuff, blah blah. With earlier video game systems this was a valid argument, but while physics remains the most important part of a driving sim, with the computing power and storage capacity of a PS3 and Blu Ray disc, these other things that add to the realism of the entire experience should be included. Hopefully they will be.