PS3 Gran Turismo 5 XL Edition
Sony Computer Entertainment
Video Games - Best Sellers
PS3 Gran Turismo 5 XL Edition (Video Game)
I bought the XL edition, having owned both GT3 and GT4 and having never played GT5. The game is as fun and challenging as I expected and there is a huge variety of tracks and cars and events. The game itself is good and the only complaint that I have would be the load times, which are frequent and long enough to really distract from the game itself.
As far as the XL edition specifically is concerned, it probably wasn't the best choice for me. It was nice that all of the game updates were included etc etc and most of the XL content is great but the fact that so many good cars were included right at the beginning of the game actually kind of ruined the game for me. I instantly took the Red Bull prototype car (by far the fastest in the game and worth about 20 million credits) and began destroying races in it. I quickly collected millions of dollars, which allowed me to purchase awesome cars for the races which the redbull car couldn't enter.
I say this kind of ruined the game because Gran Turismo, at it's core, has always derived it's pleasure from pain. The pain of being dominated in races because you have neither enough credits nor enough talent to win this race or that. This experience in frustration always challenged me to rise above and save money to upgrade my car and do license tests to improve my skills etc. until I finally, after pouring so much into the game, had the satisfaction of winning that event. Having really fast cars for free has taken most of that experience away. Races are easy when your car can lap the fastest opponent (despite crashing several times). This reduces the need for driving skill and really lowers the overall satisfaction of the game. So, what I've had to do is start trying to find the worst car that I can for each race or series and try to win with that. It brings some of the satisfaction back, but the experience still lacks the underdog feeling that I always got from starting out on the rock bottom and clawing my way to the top.
Overall, the game is great despite inordinately long load times, but if you are like me and always liked GT because of the work involved in mastering it, the XL edition might not be the best choice.
