First and foremost, I realize that this is not the retail game; it may not even be indicative of how awesome/sucky the game will be. What's more, I can only compare it to GT5P, which came before it. For comparison's sake, I played both games with the exact same wheel setup.



The people in the idle screens - It was nice that they were there, but the fact that they weren't motion-captured made them stand out. In a bad way...

The people in the stands - Ditto above, except the fact that they were 2D made them stand out. In a bad way...

The courses/backdrops - They were serviceable, but could use a little more detail all around...

The level of force feedback - It was there, but somewhat lacking...

My gripe with the people in the game still stands; the people in the idle screens are decently modeled, but noticeably robotic in their movements and the people in the stands are still brutally 2D.

The sole course in the demo actually has a it's fair share of detail. IMO, it looks better than the majority of the tracks in Prologue. Actually, it's almost pretty, but it's TOO nice. It's too pristine and too clean. It's like the textures are too smooth or something... Like the track was completed and the construction crews left fifteen minutes ago. And the grass still looks flat, too.

While I'm nit-picking, I've got to mention the in-car view. It looks great, but it's not as "active" as it could be. There are two reasons:

1.) The stock Z, while relatively well-damped for a street car, still has noticeable body roll in the replays, but it doesn't directly translate in the in-car view. The car jostles slightly over bumps, but it doesn't quite convey the body movement of a 3600 lb street car hustling it's bulk around the track. The camera is a little too still which makes the car seem like it's staying flat when it shouldn't be. If that makes sense...

2.) In the same car, in the same view, your perspective acts as if it's connected to the car. Well, affixed to the car, like you and the car are one. Most humans have a neck. Now, I know that in a track car there are harnesses and braces and helmets and stuff that you have to wear, but when I drive my car (which is not track-prepped, but reasonably sporty and relatively stiffly-damped) my head tilts slightly to compensate for g-forces during regular cornering. Even more so when cornering at speed. It doesn't detract from the overall experience, but it bugs me a little.

Finally, it's awesome that we can actually spin the tires now, but there's absolutely no smoke. Not even a little bit...

Now that the negativity is out of the way, I have to say that I am thoroughly impressed with the improvements made to the physics engine. GT5P was excellent, but this is exquisite. It really, really feels like there's a car attached to a real suspension that's taking it's cues from four real tires fighting to grip the road. The steering feel has improved as well. You can really feel the amount of traction you're generating through the steering wheel. You can actually feel the rear of the car getting lighter as you begin to lose it.

The improvements in the physics engine are really driven home once you switch the tuned car. It actually feels like they took a stock 370Z and tightened all the screws. It doesn't just "control" or drive better, it feels quicker, tighter, and substantially more taut. It's limits are far greater than the stocker it's obvious as soon as you hit the first corner.

If you can't tell, I was very impressed with the time trial. It's not perfect (and, in the game's defense, it's not complete) but it's astonishingly good and shows a marked improvement over Prologue, IMO.

On a somewhat related side note, the fact that the time trial is an improvement amuses me greatly. Everyone complains that the game hasn't been released yet after all this time and questioned why PD released Prologue instead of the full game. This time trial is proof that the reason is because there are still improvements that the team can implement to improve the game even further...