Eurogamer Expo 2010: Gran Turismo 5 Hands-On Impressions
It’s safe to say that GT5 is high atop many peoples “most wanted games” list and for most of the public, Eurogamer Expo 2010 is the first chance to get some hands on with the game. The build is rumoured to be an older one, circa E3 2010 and the demo itself is a pretty short one, but we here at GodisaGeek.com managed to get hands on with both the 3D version and the demo pods hooked up with a rather expensive wheel!
Let’s get the best bit out of the way first. This game looks phenomenal. Absolutely stunning. Videos of the game are all over the net, but in person, well, every detail is painstakingly modelled and on show for all to see. It sounds amazing too, even on a noisy show floor the game sounds as realistic as you could hope for.
Sadly, although we got to see a night race, we didn’t get to see any dynamic weather on show but that could have been just luck of the draw. Controlling the game with a wheel is a dream, with all manner of settings on hand to cater the experience just for you. You have to hand it to them really, the demo pods are wonderful, even including a cutout for the PS3 to slot into, as though it were the engine of the setup…which I guess it is!
Back in the real world though, without the expensive chair and top-end wheel to play with, we also had a go on the bog standard Dualshock 3 controlled version. The game is very responsive as you’d expect, but although it seems obvious to say, the wheel possibly just edges it. That is in no way a knock on the game itself, just a statement of fact. GT5 is a realistic driving simulator, so it stands to reason that it plays better in a drivers seat with a steering wheel.
One of the biggest talking points in gaming at the moment is 3D and GT5 is yet another PS3 title to support it. Having experienced some wonderful 3D gaming recently (Virtua Tennis 4, Killzone 3, Motorstorm 3 for example) and knowing already how good GT5 looks I was expecting greatness. Sadly, what I got was mediocrity. It’s not that 3D makes the game look bad per se, just that it seemingly has no improvement whatsoever on the game…it’s barely noticable. Unlike people around us playing, we made sure to try all driving angles to make sure we weren’t missing a trick, but no, it just doesn’t seem to be very effective at all.
Of course the game isn’t out yet, and the demo build is apparently quite old now and in truth the demo time per session was very short on the 3D version, but I wouldn’t suggest people rush out to buy a 3DTV for GT5 based on my time with the game.
That said, GT5 looks incredible and I know that all of the GodisaGeek team can’t wait to get hold of it when it comes out exclusively for PS3 on the 5th of November 2010. That isn’t a typo by the way, it is coming out this year!
