Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsBrilliant Gameplay - Terrible Menus and Interface - Update after release is unethical and dishonest.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 March 2022
The racing, graphics, control are as usual for GT superb even on a standard PS4, the cars look brilliant, handle realistically depending on the assist level. Thankfully you can turn the dire rubbish music track off so on the surface this game is more of the same but shinier, fantastic to play and with VR (not tried that yet). The downside is the dreadful menu system interface which is littered with endlessly yapping "AI" characters I could not care less about everywhere. It takes forever to cancel through this garbage and get to the racing, I don't care its a racing game let me race and tune and race without all the BS in the way. The UI is so childishly silly it reminds me of Microsoft Bob, it is the same cringeworthy partonising rubbish adding nothing except confusion and pointless twaddle. The worst bit is the startup, first you need to install it - 30 mins, then there is a 4 hour download patch before you even get the thing running. Next comes some "Hi I'm SonyBob, let me show you around" cr*p, then something called Music Rally - which you MUST complete to start the game, drive round a circuit for 10 mins with 80s pop till the track ends and you can finally play the game. No wait - 9 minute patronising history of motor cars first then you can play. Not yet fool first its "Hi I'm SonyBob, let me show you around" again and finally you get to buy a car and race it. 6 hours and the game is OK but the endless AI twittering after every 2 lap race is an absolute pita, I may just bung this in the bin and go back to GT4 on my PS3 same game, less BS. I will suggest to Sony that this needs an optional Adult menu to remove all the guff for the folks who want to play a racing game.
Added after 20 hours play
The game itself is fabulous, the tracks and cars look and handle with the same gravitas they always did, there is nothing nearly as good as GT on the market, there is a lot of depth and a LOT of real heart pounding adrenaline fueled last laps hanging on to a 0.3 second lead. There is an element of pay to play if you want to use it. £16 per 2M Credits that has many gamers up in arms. It is possible to get long into the game without buying credits but you get to a point where life is too short to spend hundreds of hours at 65 / 75 K a race grinding to get the car and tuning you need to progress. I just bought 4M credits extra that should be more than enough, I am however annoyed by this blatant greed on top of a game I paid £60 for and I hope it is outlawed soon.
March 23rd update 1.07 changed the in game credit system making £60K races worth £10K making it a massive grind unless the player buys in game credits with real money pretty much required. At this point I removed the game from my PS4, requested a refund as the terms and conditions of the game have been drastically changed - which Amazon have granted - I am returning the game for a full refund. This was done after the game was released to reviewers and is in my opinion dishonest and unethical and a dreadful way to treat people who paid £50 for a game - 25 years of good will flushed away. Grand Turismo is brilliant but buy a used PS3 and GT 5 for the best version - don't buy this it is an outright bait and switch scam.
