I've got a little further now so I think it's only fair to update the list I made on launch day:
Positives:
- Physics, and hence cars, seem more alive. This is particular apparent in the effects on the car of weight transition both caused by the car and the driver (e.g. braking hard, turning etc) and that caused by the environment (e.g. going light over a crest).
- The speed/sense of navigation is vastly improved and this makes a huge difference but there are still some glaring annoyances like not being able to skip to the next license test after completing the current.
- Some mandatory assist settings in licenses.
- Frame rate seems smooth at 720p settings.
- A few surprises in the car list for me.
- Friends trace line type thing on the license tests and Seasonal Event time trials is really cool. I'm glad there is an option to make all ghosts, including your own, appear like this is as I find a full ghost car a distraction when hot lapping.
- Premium car models are gorgeous.
- Event variation, even at this early stage, seems better than GT5.
- Blind spot indicators.
- Karts are still in and are as awesome as ever. Shifter karts are also in now which is even better. Cockpit view in a full room of karts at the Nordschleife is just amazing online.
- Some of the new and updated not-in-GT5 tracks are really nice, some are going to work really well for online racing, some are just going to be nice to have a blat around for some scenic spirited driving. All the new tracks are catching me out, it's good to have a challenge. It's also great to see some of the DLC tracks from last time round finally in career mode. I'll race at Spa all day long for free but getting paid is even better!
- With the right car selection, limited knowledge of a new track, some events can be quite challenging. Getting first in the National A 500pp Clubman Cup in a stock Evo X cleanly on Matterhorn was great fun and a fairly decent challenge.
Negatives:
- Jaggy straight edges, particularly noticeable for example on the white lines in the amateur kart race at the GT Arena, eek. It's not the end of the world and sometimes I barely notice it, at other times though it is shocking (until you put it in perspective with the hardware it's running on.
- Have to play a lot of SP to even unlock MP (around an hour or two I reckon - 2 of three events in the novice class plus the nat. B license, 7 races (across any events ) in the amateur class plus the nat. A license). And then when you do get online there isn't even any shuffle racing! What on Earth PD? Seriously? 3 years after the release of GT5 there were still a shit load of regular, clean shuffle lobbies and now it's cut? A mode that encourages adaptability and puts the onus on the driver not the car and you couldn't get it in day 1? Programmatically it's a few lists of comparable cars and a half decent selection on past performance algorithm. Really disappointing.
- Common opponents list on the info screen before entering a race doesn't list PP/HP/weight/tyres for these potential opponents which can make judging the right car to use for a challenge a little harder.
- This is exacerbated as in a few of the races I've been in there is same old problem where if I select a car to have to fight through the pack right from the start the one or two rabbit cars at the front of the pack will be long gone by the time you reach third.
- The dealership definitely overwhelming, particularly when you can't immediately tell standard from premium and there is no way of knowing at a manufacturer screen level of knowing whether there are any premium cars of that make. The upside of this is that it makes the near-duplicate car issue very very obvious if PD bother to look.
- Car list available in arcade mode is way too small and doesn't have many obvious car match ups for split screen.
- Same old sounds/damage model. And similar bugs in the sound, put a sports exhaust on an Evo X and listen to the sound magically disappear when you hit 6k rpm.
- Seasonal event payouts are comparatively low and the gold times aren't particularly difficult to achieve. If they could make repeated payout based on moving up the leaderboard or your friends list a la Rivals that would be great as that should be half the fun.
- No community tab like GT5. I like being able to see the lobbies my friends are hosting but I also like seeing if I might want to join them in a random room they are in and I'm not sure that is covered by the friends room tick box in the lobby filters.
- Not being able to enter photomode in the mandatory post race replay is a mild annoyance.
- No taco stand at the 'ring or on the Moon.
So far I'll stand by my original thoughts:
I have absolutely no doubt I'll sink many many happy hours into it but the PS3 is starting to show it's age a little now.