Gran Turismo is great..
..probably Clint Eastwood last acting role I'd imagine. He's getting old.

I've blagged a free invite to some Microsoft awards bash in London next Wednesday so I'm trying to get the details sorted to see if I can make it.
( Bill Clay a.k.a. Claudio, Fri 20 May 2011, 8:54, 2 replies, latest was 15 years ago)

I hope you're being daft.
I've got Gran Torino waiting on the laptop for such time as I feel like watching it. Tonight I shall be mashing all manner of cars into each other in the latest offering of the hit Playstation driving series, Gran Turismo 5.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Fri 20 May 2011, 8:57, Reply)

I thought you couldn't mash cars in GT5 because the broke?
Frankly, the only driving game I liked was Sega Rally.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Fri 20 May 2011, 8:59, Reply)

We've only really played the early series because my mate's a bit shit and it's his Playstation.
I think the later levels have damage but in the early races it's all "point at the apex and take that place by force" which is fun but I prefer more realistic racing.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Fri 20 May 2011, 9:01, Reply)

Yes, I'm in a daft mood today
I watched a good episode of Baby Looney Tunes this morning, Monty didn't burn my house down and I have chocolate. It's a good day so far.

My kids had a good driving game for the X-Box which I quite enjoyed playing. You had to drive through billboards and complete missions. Paradise City or something like that.
( Bill Clay a.k.a. Claudio, Fri 20 May 2011, 9:01, Reply)

I played a few on the Xbox, I got given one a couple of years ago.
Burnout 3 which was fucking mental, Forza and another one I can't quite recall. Forza is brilliant, even better on the 360 with steering wheel, pedals and fucking massive HD screen.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Fri 20 May 2011, 9:04, Reply)

burnout is mental
eventually as you progress it gets so fast that it's petrifyingly difficult to control.

I do quite like project gotham, but then I'm not a fan of realistic driving games. If I want realism I'll take my car on a track. GT is still a long, long way from being properly realistic.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Fri 20 May 2011, 9:08, Reply)

Forza 3's probably the closest I've felt to actually driving some of these cars.
It's still arcade but the modelling is great and force-feedback really helps. Having your eyes massaged by a massive HD screen (at my brother's house admittedly) is fucking sexy too.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Fri 20 May 2011, 9:09, Reply)

an old housemate of mine
tried to use GT3 to practice the nordschleife before he took his 911 on it as part of the Gumball rally. He spent months on it (particularly as I believe there were no Porshces on the early GT games so he had to build his own) ... until he had a sub-9 minute time and he reckoned he knew every corner blind. The actual track took him 14 minutes and he shat himself inside out.

Although that's a bit of an extreme example of lack of realism ;)
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Fri 20 May 2011, 9:13, Reply)

The whole thing's on the old Forza, dunno about the newer one
and I gave up after a while. There are so few visual cues to where you are on the track and remembering the sequence of 100+ corners just isn't my bag. I'd rather drive 100 laps of a four-mile track than eight laps of that.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Fri 20 May 2011, 9:18, Reply)

oh, yeah
but if you're about to take 65k's worth of german rear-drive mentalness on an 18-mile track that still has Arnco on the corners than I think he felt any heads up would be wise...
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Fri 20 May 2011, 9:19, Reply)

Understandable, the number of Porches I mashed to bits trying to get particular corners of that track right I'm with him on that.
I'd still love to be taken round by that lady with the Transit that was on Top Gear, she seemed nice.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Fri 20 May 2011, 9:21, Reply)

nice dirtier than a Cornish tin-miner's sock.

/obligatory strikethrough
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Fri 20 May 2011, 9:22, Reply)

That too.

( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Fri 20 May 2011, 9:23, Reply)

Indeed
compare and contrast with Harry Brown, which is basically the same premis but set in the UK, which was utter pish.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Fri 20 May 2011, 8:58, Reply)

I didn't think Harry Brown was too bad
It got seriously daft towards the end but there were some effective scenes early on, particularly the first confrontation with the drug dealer in his 'den'.
( Bill Clay a.k.a. Claudio, Fri 20 May 2011, 9:03, Reply)

There was a massively unnecessary amount of "gore" violence.
that just completely ruins the whole concept.

I mean, it wasn't an awful film, it's just depressing how much better it could have been if he hadn't resorted to that level of bloody violence. Also, the ending is utterly fucking ridiculous. I think he just got bored and used a "random mental generator"
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Fri 20 May 2011, 9:10, Reply)