Spoolpigeon said:

Just bought a PS4, a T300RS, and preordered GT-Sport. I’m prepared for winter hibernation now. 

Good, good, not so much.  Get PCars 2 now and you will probably end up canceling your GT Sport preorder.  It's that much better.

In reply to Argo1 :

I plan on picking that up too. I played PC1 at a friends house and it was pretty good. 

The demo is out now.  I'm going to check it out mostly for a comparison to Project Cars 2. I'll share my thoughts when I have enough time with the demo. 

Impressions are interesting...

"physics unchanged from GT5"

"more arcade than sim"

GT Planet impressions thread

Spool, you're playing it... what do you think?

Downloaded the GT Sport demo.  I forgot what I hated most about the GT series:  Being forced to go through all those annoying tests and steps and races to gradually, slowly, have the game unlock and allow you to race things you want IF you have enough money earned to do it.  It's crap.  The momment you turn PC2 on, you can do anything you want.  You are not forced to follow a set path.  You can if you want, but you don't have to and you don't have to buy anything to drive.

Now that I have vented, GT Sport is visually stunning, much better than PC2 which is in serious need of anti-aliasing and looks washed out in comparison.  How does it drive?  I don't know yet.  I'm still in the damn beginner's driving school doing one lesson at a time....Turn the wheel to the left to make the car go left....

I played some last night and so far so good. It looks great, and finally sounds great. The only complaint right now is that I can’t change the lock to lock rotation on my wheel. The onboard mode selection on the wheel doesn’t change it and there’s not an option to change it in the settings menu. 

I gave the demo a fair go and.... I was fairly disappointed.

Let's start with the good stuff:

• It's gorgeous.  There is no denying it is probably the best looking car game I've seen, and will end up being the best looking game of this console generation.
• The polish.  The look and feel of everything is great.  It's like living inside a car brochure.  
• The UI is simple, clean, effective.  I really like it.
• The load times aren't terrible.  Of course coming from PC2, that's not a hard thing to improve on.
• The livery editor.  It's not perfect, but I was able to put together a decent custom livery in a matter of minutes (actually, I probably spent more time here than anywhere else)
• Replays.  They do a good job of showcasing the visuals and the drama of the race.

The so-so stuff:

• The sound.  It's the best sounding GT game ever.... and that isn't a complement.  It's a step in the right direction, but it isn't anywhere close to the levels of the other games.
• Stablity.  I know it's a demo, but I crashed the game in 3 minutes and managed to crash it 3 more times the rest of the night.  I suspect this will be fixed.
• Grinding.  It seems improved, you can earn more based on how hard of a race you want to run, but you still have to earn to get the things you want.  I used to not care because I had all the time in the world, but with kids my time needs to be maximized.  Just let me do what I want to do.
• Photos / Scapes.  If this is your thing, it's there.

The not so good:

• Physics.  They are terrible.  More on this in my wrap up, but I drove 3 different cars, they all felt the same.  I never felt any drama or angst about over driving the cars.  It's an arcade game.
• Damage.  Hit the wall at 150 mph?  Bounce off, receive a small scrap on the paint, continue driving at 85 mph.
• The AI.  Ready to battle the GT AI train some more?  Yea, they drive the exact same line.
• Rubber banding.  It makes the races more competitive... also know as cheating.

My final thoughts on this game are that it is not a Sim-Racer.  It is in fact a Super Hero game.  It lets you pick your costume and then run off and go be a hero.  The game goes out of its way to make you look good in the process.  It's beautiful, but flawed under the surface.  I'm not going back.  I'll see you guys in Project Cars 2.

Only complaint I've found so far is that steering doesn't seem to always behave the same if I try to correct the rear stepping out. I miss the collection of fairly obscure old cars from the older games. It also crashes every time I go to look at the achievements bubble that's flashing in the corner of the menu.

EDIT: Traction control is always on in reverse, this means I can't do see-saw burnouts. This is a problem.

I have completed everything the GTS demo would allow me to do.  I have about 200k in credits and won 4 gift cars.  Everything Brad said I find true except the game never crashed on me.  It truly is an arcade game.  I've spent time in both GTS and PC2, for those of you scoring at home, here is my assessment:  Visuals - GTS 9, PC2 7.   UI - GTS 8, PC2 6.   Sound- GTS 6, PC2 9.    AI- GTS 6, PC2 9.   Physics- GTS 6 (or whatever you would score GT6- it's the same), PC2 9.  Car selections- GTS 6, PC2 7.  Track selection- GTS 6, PC2 10.  Realism- GTS 5, PC2 9.

If you want to jump in and feel like a pro driver, GTS is your game.  If you want to jump into a GT3 car and find out you are terrible and feel a sense of accomplishment when you work up to "only" 2 seconds back of the AI pace, then PC2 is your game.

I've made my choice.

And I played a bit more, realized It wasn't what I was wanting. I deleted the beta and cancelled my pre-order. I didn't care for Project Cars so I probably won't bother with PC2 either. Honestly I think I'm more in the Forza Horizon target audience but don't currently have an Xbox, so bleh.

In reply to Chadeux :  It's too bad PC2 doesn't have a demo.  It is a significant step up from PC1.  It's a steep learning curve, but you might like it.

aircooled said:

I just watched a YouTube review on the livery editor, and it looks pretty impressive.  They mentioned that they are supposed to allow uploading your own images (e.g. grassroots logo), which will be very cool if true. It looks like there are a lot of possibilities with it.  

Now, if they could make a track editor with the same level of detail...

They also mention the insane amount of detail in the cars, stitching in the seats etc.  They mentioned one designer, six months for a car.  Why this level is important for a driving game I have no idea.  I REALLY wish they would have made the cars a third as detailed and had 3 times as many cars!

Visuals are stunning throughout the game, replays, livery editor, etc.  It is clear that was their priority.  I was also very surprised by the lack of car choices.  Mostly it's just different race trims of one or two car models.  At least GT6 had a gazillion cars.  PC2 has far more unique car models to choose from.

In reply to Argo1 :

Step learning curve doesn't bother me that much. I just didn't like the way PC1 felt at all. Now it's entirely possible I'm a hamfisted child with a controller that still insists on turning off all the assists and that's why I don't find these fun.

In reply to Chadeux :

I play with a wheel, but everyone says it is actually possible to play PC2 with a controller. 

Bottom line is that GT Sport is eye candy and marketing hype - which, at the end of the day, will probably sell them a bunch of games.  Undoubtedly more than Project Cars 2.  The hardcore "grassroots" sim racers who actually want to drive will be over at Project Cars 2.

The one other thing I did like about GTS was the turn indicators.  They use a little Google Maps "you are here" floating icon that shows the turn in, apex and track out points for each corner.  That was a million better than any racing line that I've ever used.  Especially since I had never run that imaginary track before.  With no frame of reference, I was reasonably on line by lap 2.

No reviews yet on the actual game that someone has played with their cold bare hands?

Played for about 30 minutes today after work. Still can’t change the steering degree settings in the game. You can change it on the wheel, but it reverts back to 1080° any time you pause or exit the track. That ruins the game for me right there. I just dropped $800 on a new wheel, ps4, and this game and one setting makes me feel like I wasted my money  

Plus, none of my credits, driver level, or campaign experience transferred over like they said it would. How frustrating. 

Spoolpigeon said:

Played for about 30 minutes today after work. Still can’t change the steering degree settings in the game. You can change it on the wheel, but it reverts back to 1080° any time you pause or exit the track. That ruins the game for me right there. I just dropped $800 on a new wheel, ps4, and this game and one setting makes me feel like I wasted my money  

 

Plus, none of my credits, driver level, or campaign experience transferred over like they said it would. How frustrating. 

I was just logging on to rant about the same thing!  I want my 200K in credits! I'm not doing the damn driver's school again...

Meanwhile back at the ranch, I'm getting a lot better feel (and lap times) in PC2.  It has it's share of bugs as well but nothing dramatic.  Only 80 bucks was wasted.  Go with PC2.

In reply to Argo1 :

Yup. I’ll be picking it up soon. 

Wheel deal alert...

https://slickdeals.net/f/10652672-t150-force-feedback-racing-wheel-50-25-off-usual-price-150

Bought Gts. I’m impressed. Granted, it ain’t yo grandma’s Gran turismo. It’s different. We all know those differences. But, MAN! What a fun game! The physics are on par with realism, and I like that you guys can confirm this, being that all of us here have experienced car handling dynamics. Over on the gtplanet forum most of those geeks are slamming the game and crying like little babies “I’m a millennial and want it like the old days!”  I’m thoroughly impressed however. I love that the focus is now on just driving. I hated in forza when it was unfair game play simply because you didn’t have a $900 fanatec wheel and the latest DLC car for the right track. I love seeing the suspension geometry ACTUALLY at work. You can feel the differences, and someone that knows suspension tubing can have an upper leg in competition (as it should be!) 

for the guys encountering bugs, glitches, and DLC not delivered, be patient. Remember- EVERY NEW GAME HAS THIS ISSUE. It all gets sorted and then we race on with our lives.

so, when’s the gts racing league start? How many of you guys can I add to my account? And what are your names? 

Did you drive GT6?  They made a significant improvement in suspension dynamics mid-way through GT6 and I am curious if you notice any additional difference.

We are in a bit of a transitional period now.  Only a few have GTS, but we will probably be getting into it pretty soon.  We are also going to be doing a comparison with Project Cars 2 (more of a simulation and more race car focused) to see which one makes for better racing.

Once a few people get up and running we will probably start with demo races.  We normally run on Wednesday and Sunday nights (6:00 pm PST, 9:00 EST)

In reply to aircooled :

This is the first GT I’ve played since 4. I never bought a ps3, I had a 360 and played forza 4, I didn’t like that game much. Way to many wreckers, too many glitches, and it catered to the financially elite.