Genre: Racing
Developer: Polyphony Digital
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

Gran Turismo 5's visuals are inconsistent: every menu has a different set of aesthetics, and there is a wild variation in car model and track quality. The in-race engine is technically adept and the artwork is generally good, but overall rendering output is often distractingly muddy compared to the title's biggest competitor, Forza Motorsport 3.

The game's menu and race soundtrack consists of the same strange light rock and techno-jazz fusion that is typically associated with the genre. Importantly, the in-race tire sound effects are fantastically realistic. Engine sounds for a lot of the cars, on the other hand, sound suspiciously alike; did Polyphony actually record the engine noises for most of the cars in the game? It does not sound so.

Gran Turismo 5's career mode is poorly paced; its menus are cumbersome to navigate, it is difficult to get an appropriate car for some events due to random and rotating used car selection, and the special events feel out of place because they are inconsistently integrated with the rest of the career mode. The physics engine is generally wonderful, but doesn't seem to realistically factor in car weight or balance; all of the cars seem to handle too similarly regardless of girth or drivetrain type.

In addition to the problems laid out above, the lack of a Forza-like PI system means that it is extraordinarily difficult to compare cars within the game, severely limiting the title's use as a car reference source. Taken as a whole, it's a shame that this title suffers from so many blemishes, because it has lots of cars, lots of track, lots of things to do, and somehow even manages to put those elements together in a sort of addicting fasion, almost in spite of itself.