Gran Turismo or Forza 2?

DarwinsFavoriteTortoise

In short, which game is (as a whole) the more accurate representation of driving?

I've played only Forza 2, but for some reason my friend hates it with all his heart. Whenever I mention a lap time or something in Forza 2, he won't shut up about how Gran Turismo is so much better.

Also: Will Forza 3 be pretty much equivalent to Gran Turismo 5 (again, taken as a whole)?

Thanks.

matt has a problem

Aside from the damage model, Gran Turismo is the more accurate simulator. This from Wikipedia, about Gran Turismo 4:

The Gran Turismo series has been modeled on a realistic racing experience. 500 to 700 parameters define the driving characteristics of the car physics model.[citation needed] According to the developers, a professional driver was invited to set times using the same car on the Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit, and the GT4 lap times were within 2% of the real life equivalent.[citation needed]

Jeremy Clarkson, host of the Top Gear television program, performed a head-to-head test of real life versus GT4 on an episode of the program. He ran Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in real life in an Honda NSX for a lap time of 1:57. His GT4 lap time was 1:41:148.[16]

Clarkson also had to be shown by a race driving instructor where the line was between the game and reality. He pointed out that adjusting one's braking mid-turn in a real car could cause loss of control, and also mentioned that in the game, he is compelled to take bigger risks than he would in real life, and that in the game, the car did not suffer from brake fade.

Despite the apparent discrepancies, in a column for The Sunday Times, Clarkson had this to say about GT4:
“ I called Sony and asked it to send me a game chip already loaded with the 700 computer cars. And I am in a position to test out its claims because, unlike most people, I really have driven almost all of them in real life.

There are mistakes. The BMW M3 CSL, for instance, brakes much better on the road than it does on the screen. And there’s no way a Peugeot 106 could outdrag a Fiat Punto off the line. But other than this, I’m struggling: they’ve even managed to accurately reflect the differences between a Mercedes SL 600 and the Mercedes SL 55, which is hard enough to do in real life.

There’s more, too. If you take a banked curve in the Bentley Le Mans car flat out, you’ll be fine. If you back off, even a little bit, you lose the aerodynamic grip and end up spinning.

That’s how it is. This game would only be more real if a big spike shot out of the screen and skewered your head every time you crashed. In fact that’s the only real drawback: that you can hit the barriers hard without ever damaging you or your car. Maybe they’re saving that for GT5. Perhaps it’ll be called Death or Glory.[17]
”

Karl Brauer of edmunds.com performed a similar test, also at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, in which he and two others - professional race driver AJ Allmendinger, and IGN "gaming editor extraordinaire" Justin Kaehler - set times in GT4 and real life in a variety of cars. Brauer's best time in a Ford GT in the game was 1:38, and his best time on the real track was 1:52. In the four vehicles the trio tested, none was able to duplicate his game times on the real track.[18][19] Brauer suggested the main differences between the game and reality:
“ Which brings up the single biggest difference between reality and virtual reality — consequences. A mistake on Gran Turismo 4 costs me nothing more than a bad lap time. A mistake with a real exotic car on a real racetrack is... a bit more costly.

The other major difference between virtual racing and the real thing is feedback from the car — or an almost total lack thereof. Yes, the force feedback steering wheel does its best to let you know when you're veering off the track, or sliding the rear end, but none of this comes close to the kind of information you get while driving a real vehicle. And in a car like the Ford GT, that's vital information.[20]

Of course, none of this is a "fun" qualifier. The major complaint with the GT series (aside from lack of damage) is that it's too much of a simulator, and not enough of a fun game.

Topweasel

Personally I like Forza. A little bit more customizable and there are some very fun race options. I think Forza takes some getting used to and for an ultra simulator Forza is almost unbearably realistic. I think that makes mastering Forza even more sweeter.

Nova_C

Pretty much six of one, half dozen of the other (They're pretty much the same, in other words).

I enjoyed GT3 more than any other racing game, save NFS3, but I thought GT4 was mediocre. Couldn't even say why. I really enjoyed Forza 2 and I'm looking forward to Forza 3. I think the biggest deciding factor should be which system you'd prefer to race on because as far as the games go, they're pretty equal quality racing games.

LaPuzza

I was a GT guy through PS1 and ps2, but got tired by the end of GT3 of the whole thing. Forza reignited my love of racing games. The damage model makes any contact dangerious, which makes you careful of your competitors, instead of looking at them as cornering help like I did in GT2 and 3.

Both are good games, just a Pepsi and Coke thing.

Nappuccino

GT5 is supposed to have damage modeling isn't it?

If so, that factor may become meaningless (unless GT5 does the modeling terribly)

The Black Hunter

GRAN TURISMO: DEATH OR GLORY

I would buy the christ out of that game


EDIT: I cannot wait for the next GT game
I just love the initial grind of having to tear and crawl your way to the top.

And when you get there you have what was a dodgy Evolution V that can now outrun anything with less than 20 stickers

RUNN1NGMAN

The one thing I absolutely hated about GT4 was the licenses. I don't know if Forza does something similar, but GT4 makes you do a bunch of different exercises and tests before you can actually enter regular races. Lots of cone slalom time trials, track time trials, cornering exercises, etc. They actually do a good job of teaching you how to drive, but at some point they get really excessive and start to piss you off.

The Black Hunter

Yeah, the licenses should have codes or something

fuuuuuuuuck them

bsjezz

i actually think the licenses are part of the fantastic appeal of the gran turismo series

they kind of train you into taking the tracks in the most perfect way, which in turn makes you feel like that much more of a damn superhero racedriver when you execute it in a real race and finally take the elusive sunday cup