Gaming Gran Turismo 5

What am I supposed to do when I've completed all the races from the A-Spec? It isn't that close, probably not this week or even this month because I have to save up for 908 HDi or R10, but it'll happen eventually. Am I stuck driving the same races over and over again?

I hate the Touring Car and Formula GT series, well the old car series too. They shouldn't have put them in there for a simple reason that it's very difficult to find cars, they should have at least made an effort and made them available when you need it. There's nothing remotely interesting about having to watch for them all the time in the used markets.

Well, the idea of putting races for standard cars only is poor enough if you ask me because I though at the beginning that I'd only play with the inside view as it makes the experience way more fun for me, but then I figured out that quarter of the races are for cars that don't have it. :mad:

If you spent outmuscling the comp and just made it once and get done with it it'll be pretty fast to do.

But like someone said, try limiting your car to what the comp used (minus the tweak) and really race technically might add some flavor.

Or build a car of your choice (not the "OMGxxxHP" one, just a simple day to day car you like and pump it)

That or the B-Spec, or you could always sell it 2nd hand and get a new game.
 
Gold the Special Events and License Tests? That will take awhile I'm sure.

I'm not going to gold all Special Events though, not going to happen. Top Gear, for instance, I find impossible - I can only get silver in SambaBus, bronze in Kubelwagen and I can't even go past first corner in the Lotus. Time trials on Nurburgring are too difficult for me too. I completed karts, I will probably complete NASCAR and rally cars but that'll be it. I'm not too keen on trying to complete something that I'm so far away from.
 
You really have to get the feel for the Lotus, the tyres are crap so imagine you're racing on rain conditions, brake early and carefully. After you learn the first corner the others are just the same. This guy provides an awesome guide to it, check the braking and overtaking spots carefully, I golded it at the 10th try or so.

 
Don't know what's wrong with my game now but last week or so intermittently it's been playing up, coming from the car dealer / tuning shop back to the hub of A spec B spec etc and it just hangs on the GT logo on black screen and never loads, I have to keep turning the ps3 off and on again.
 
That's what it was doing in the first few days after release if you remember. It's trying to access the GT servers. I expect they are doing maintenance or upgrading them again. Sign out of PSN, is it still happening then?
 
This is an interesting article.

SSD halves GT5 loading times

December 13th, 2010

Installing an SSD flash drive to your PlayStation 3 can radically cut down the loading times in Polyphony Digital's PS3 magnum opus, Gran Turismo 5.

Testing by "Phil" on the Beyond3D forum reveals that in many cases pre-race loading is cut by more than 50 per cent, making the lengthy wait between events that much more tolerable. In all test cases within GT5, there is a considerable improvement.

The experiments were performed on two PS3s - the SSD (a state-of-the-art Corsair F120) was installed into a standard "fat" PlayStation 3, while the hard drive measurements were carried out on a stock PS3 Slim. The improvements in loading performance are somewhat significant, as Phil's results reveal.

Test Corsair F120 SSD PlayStation 3 Slim HDD GT5 Initial Loading 29 seconds 55 seconds
Loading London (Zonda R) 19.26 seconds 39.47 seconds
Loading Cape Ring (Zonda R) 20.03 seconds 40.71 seconds
Loading Nürburgring GP/F (Zonda R) 25.12 seconds 46.45 seconds
Loading Suzuka (Zonda R) 21.73 seconds 43.82 seconds
Loading Chamonix Main (Ford RS WRC) 21.25 seconds 31.09 seconds

Other testing seems to corroborate the results and suggests that an SSD cuts down the 42-minute install to 25 minutes, and hints at smoother performance in the menu system too - which would make sense since so much data is cached to the drive.

We've carried out our own SSD testing in the past (with a first-generation 128GB Samsung SSD) and found that while game install times were undoubtedly improved, the actual impact of the SSD during gameplay was limited: a few seconds saved here and there, but nothing really to write home about, and certainly nothing to warrant the excessive price of an SSD up against a traditional mechanical drive.

The case of Gran Turismo 5 is intriguing, however. The game only installs an initial 6.5GB of data to the hard drive, but this takes a suprisingly long 42 minutes on a launch 60GB PS3. As we mentioned in the GT5 installation analysis feature, the reason behind this is fairly straightforward - the game is de-archiving an inordinately large amount of tiny files and dumping them onto the hard drive (having a debug test unit allows us to peek at the drive contents fairly easily). While installing, each new file will require an update to the drive's table of contents and with each new file, the head on the hard drive will be moved. To give you some idea of the make-up of the HDD install of GT5, in one folder entitled "PDIPFS" we found in excess of 15,800 items, while in a second "PDIPFS_bdmark" folder, we found another, similarly colossal number of items.

SSDs are blazingly fast (to the point where installing an SSD into a laptop is probably the single most impressive tech upgrade you can make to one) but the headline sustained read and write speeds - often in excess of 200MB per second - aren't really relevant to either everyday computing or indeed running GT5. More important is that crucial lack of mechanical heads zooming around the surface of the disk, looking for the next file to load. Moving from file to file is virtually instantaneous. Combine that with the faster-than-HDD reading times and that's most likely the major reason why GT5's loading is so radically improved. As a bonus, the process of additional dynamic installation after the original 6.5GB install should also be considerably faster.

In a world where PS3-compatible 2.5" laptop drives are dropping in price like a stone, the notion of spending around £200 for a 120GB SSD remains pretty ridiculous, but the tests do highlight how important seek times are, and if you're thinking of upgrading your PS3 hard disk, this is well worth factoring into a potential purchasing decision.

The experiments also show that flash memory - also dropping in price all the time - may have an important part to play in the make-up of a potential next-generation console, perhaps working in concert with a traditional mechanical drive.

SSD halves GT5 loading times - Page 1 | DigitalFoundry | Eurogamer.net

They are still expensive in relation to mechanical HDDs, but this is the future.
 
I'm not sure whether we'll ever pay for DLC. Kazanori has always held the statement that when you buy the game, you buy the game.. If that makes sense. They could have charged for the Ferrari California, Lotus Evora and Citroen concept but didn't. I dunno, maybe they'll charge, but I think it seems to be up in the air
 
If you're stuck for what car to use for an event?

myGranTurismo.net - Gran Turismo 5 Events

Click the middle link of each event to get a full list of the cars you can use, white means standard from UCD, yellow ones can be bought in the dealership.

The right hand links are what you get for winning, red for if you did it in A Spec, blue for if you did it in B Spec.
 
I'm also on the look out for the Formula GT, until then I guess the grind is on for me. Just finished the last of the AMG Academy to now have all golds in the available special events, on the grind for the ultimate challenge of the X1 now.
 
Er, so I've not been able to play this game for over a week, since every time I try, it just freezes either on loading screens or as soon as I get a significant way into any race. This despite it supposedly being loaded onto the Hard drive so it isn't even reading from the disk.

So this is what I paid £200+ quid for, eh?
 
I think my favourite thing is that you can use music from your PS3 during races, feck that is awesome.
 
I think my favourite thing is that you can use music from your PS3 during races, feck that is awesome.

Yeah, this is cool. Though I'm not sure how to do it properly...it seems to only let you select one song at a time?

Gotta say, working properly or not, the PS3's a far niftier piece of equipment than the 360. Whenever I turn the xbox on I'm slightly worried it's going to launch out of the room.
 
You have to have the songs you want in one folder on your PS3 to get more than one track I think.
 
The latest update to Gran Turismo 5, version 1.05, was made available just a few hours ago and weighs in at 608MB. Here’s a quick, official summary of all the new changes, but users are discovering a few more new tweaks in our forums as well:

* Seasonal Events: [Seasonal Events] have been added to the [GT Mode] – [GT Life] screen. From here you can participate in official online events from the Polyphony Digital team. In these events, all participants are under the same regulations, and if you complete the event you will win rewards and experience. Compete on the leader boards with players around the world, in Time Trials and Drift Trials!
* Online Collector’s Dealership: An [Online Collector's Dealership] has been added to the left and centre of the [GT Mode]-[GT Life] screen. In here you will find popular and rare cars. You might just come across that one car you’ve always been looking for, that you haven’t been able to find in the [Used Car Dealership].
* Online Race Rewards and Experience: When you complete a race in the [Open Lobby] or [My Lounge], you will now gain rewards and experience points. Even if you are focused more on playing online, you’ll still be able to gain rewards and levels that you need to progress in [GT Life].
* Driving Distance and Number of Wins in Online Races: The driving distance and the number of wins you achieve when you complete a race in [Open Lobby] or [My Lounge] will now affect your stats in [Profile] and the [Garage]. Here the results from your online play will cumulate within [GT Life].
* Improved Rewards: The rewards for winning races in both A-Spec and B-Spec in [GT Mode]-[GT Life] have been increased for a limited time only. (This applies until the end of January 2011.) This is a great chance for those who were previously having difficulties getting ahead in the game, due to a lack of funds for tuning and purchasing required cars.
* Race Information Display: It is now possible to set the [Race Info Display] in [Start]-[Quick Options]. (You can also set this in [Race Display] in [Options]).
* Save Data Backup: You can now copy and restore your save data. For details, please refer to the in-game [Manual].
* User BGM (Menu): From [Options]-[Hardware]-[Audio Settings], it is now possible to set the [User BGM] (Menu)]. (This can also be set from the [Music Library] within [GT Mode]).
* Car Name Change: The official name of “Red Bull X1″ has been changed to the “Red Bull X2010″.
* Integration with the Website: The main features within [GT Mode]-[Community] can now also be accessed through the “gran-turismo.com” official website.
* [Important Note:] We have made improvements to the [Log] within [GT Mode]- [Community] section, in order to make its operation more stable. Please note that the information that was contained here from before the update has been reset.

Big update for Christmas, grabbing it now but the adding of rewards for racing online is one good addition. Plus the boost in rewards temporarily for A and B Spec should make it less of a grind for while.
 
Yeah, this is cool. Though I'm not sure how to do it properly...it seems to only let you select one song at a time?

Gotta say, working properly or not, the PS3's a far niftier piece of equipment than the 360. Whenever I turn the xbox on I'm slightly worried it's going to launch out of the room.

It seems that you select which song will play first during a session, after that it selects from your playlist randomly.
 
why couldnt they have released the back up save thing before :( could have got £144 for my ps3 a couple of weeks ago but didnt wanna trade it in as id lose my data
 
why couldnt they have released the back up save thing before :( could have got £144 for my ps3 a couple of weeks ago but didnt wanna trade it in as id lose my data

Could you not have just put your save data on a memory stick and then copied it to the new machine?
 
Fantastic patch, keep it going Polyphony.

Shamelessly nicked.

Game saves unlocked and can be backed up!

Removable HUD!

Restart replays option!

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Seasonal EVENTS

From GTPlanet post 327 in the thread:

Servers are up, seasonal events are:

Bonus Race no. 1

Fiat 500 Tsukuba 5 laps - total prize fund 200,000 / exp 15,000
Honda CR-Z Tokyo Route 246 5 laps - total prize fund 250,000 / exp 25,000
Mazda RX-7 Deep Forest 5 laps - total prize fund 300,000 / exp 40,000
Dodge Challenger RT Indy Road Course 5 laps - total prize fund 750,000 / exp 75,000
Nissan GT-R (493bhp limit) SSR5 5 laps - total prize fund 1,00,000 / exp 100,000

Time Trial no. 1
197 bhp FWD / Cape Ring Inside - sports medium tyres
246 bhp RWD / Rome City - sports medium tyres

Drift Trial no. 1
Tsukuba - comfort/soft tyres
Eiger Norwand - comfort/soft tyres

Online Dealership links to this, providing 'useful' cars for online, A-spec and B-spec racing.

Miscellaneous Fixes/Additions discovered:

- Missing spectators on some tracks/modes (To improve performance?)
- Remove entire HUD/Remove HUD Instruments option
- Mechanical damage option no longer limited to online mode
- Tire grip reduction option no longer limited to online mode
- Export All Photos to XMB option
- Improved bumping "physics" (cars don't get stuck now) (unconfirmed)
- better shadows (unconfirmed)
- cars get damaged more easily (unconfirmed)
- Garage remembers your sorting options
- Restart race option after finishing it
- Race finish delay (20sec-180sec)
- Player names on lobbies are black when connecting
 
online store was a godsend
sold the tuscona I needed for the pickup truck race!
 
I'm getting a GT5 region 1 from someone much cheaper than a region 2 but my PSN account is region 2. I understand I can still play online but what would I be missing out on? Downloadable content?