GOTY 2010: Best Racing Game Runner Up - Gran Turismo 5

2010 was a pretty big year for racing fans, as they finally managed to get their hands on the much anticipated Gran Turismo 5.

The title from Polyphony Digital was a long time coming, and, judging at least by its content size, it is the biggest racing game in the world.

Sadly, all that content (over 1,000 cars, over 70 tracks) hasn't exactly made it the best racing game in the world.

While you can't actually fault the level of polish in the game or the details rendered in full HD, in the end, Gran Turismo 5 still feels a bit bland or, like the producer of Need for Speed: Shift 2 revealed, sterile.

It has over 1,000 cars, but it's not that impressive as you won't be interested in ten versions of the same Nissan Skyline or every Mazda created since the start of the Japanese car company.

Also, most of them are just recycled from earlier Gran Turismo games, so they won't actually please the racing simulator purists, because of the lower details, and not even casual racers, who want impressive cars, not vehicles like the Suzuki Cappuccino or Volkswagen Lupo.

For all its faults though, GT5 is still a might impressive game, at least judging by its technical scope.

You will find a dizzying amount of customization options and performance tweaks for practically every car, but, sadly, most of them won't be touched by regular players, who just want a quick race and not a hardcore simulation with factors like weather, tire degradation or fuel level affecting their performance.

Still, leaving aside the very impressive technological features, games need to be fun and entertaining for all types of players, and, sadly, Gran Turismo 5 doesn't exactly deliver such an experience.

If you want a hardcore simulator that will deliver the most realistic experience short of actually getting into a real car, GT5 will deliver that by leaps and bounds.

If you just want to have fun with a game that was hyped beyond imagination, then you won't exactly be pleased with this new game.

Gran Turismo 5 is currently available exclusively on the PlayStation 3.