The last Gran Turismo game I played was Gran Turismo 4 on the PS2 and at that point I remember being very burned out on Gran Turismo. Soon after I discovered Forza on the Xbox which was an incredible game. Forza 3 was even more mind-blowing and lastly Forza 4 became my favorite racing game of all time.

I decided to check out Gran Turismo 5 (XL edition) because it was cheap and I figured I’d see what it has to offer. So far I have to say I like Forza 4 much better and I can only assume Forza 5 will probably be my next gen racing game of choice.

One of the things I’m not liking about Gran Turismo 5 is its overall presentation and menus. They seem very plain and yet overly cluttered at the same time. The bland jazzy and techno background music doesn’t add anything either, and even the in game race music is getting on my nerves.

I installed the game which claimed would make loading times faster, but they’re still painfully slow. I completed the B license test which consists of 10 individual tests and the time it took to get from one test to the next was painful. I’m not certain why the game doesn’t transition from test to test instead of making me click ‘next session’ and wait for what seems like an eternity to get into the next test. Furthermore I wish the license test barrier didn’t even exist.

The racing is okay, but the cars don’t feel anything like they do in Forza. Nor do they sound as good. Also when I bump into cars it makes an awful sound and I bounce off as if we have barriers. I assume the damage setting isn’t turned on by default, but either way it’s quite an ugly experience.

The tracks and environments are also quite ugly so far. They pale in comparison to the beauty and detail found in Forza 4.

In the end I’ll probably continue to play GT5 as I await Forza 5 and the Xbox One, but if you have a choice between GT5 and Forza 4, I would definitely choose Forza 4.

I was hoping to post a gameplay video, but I’m having issues uploading to YouTube right now. If it goes through I’ll add it later.