Kombo's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.

What the Game's About
2008 not only marks the 10th anniversary of the Gran Turismo games (time flies when you are having fun), it marks the first time the GT universe can pit their driving skills against others. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue runs in full HD to give gamers a pristine visual look that is sure to set the bench mark for racing games here on out. Pick from 70 cars over 6 tracks with customizable options to slightly tweak a race to your liking. While not quite the full version of GT5, you can get an idea of what to expect when that game finally decides to release.

What's Hot
This is semi-complete Gran Turismo in HD and the driving is a reliable as a Swiss watch. During the time spent with the game, there was not a second on the tracks that went by that was out of place. Prologue adds some new features that give a glimpse to what the full game is like the GT-TV, which opens a portal for a whole new way for car manufacturers to interact with car enthusiasts. Overall, the game is as polished as the 70 cars that you can take for a spin. Above all, Prologue maintains a "classy" nature.



The graphics look amazing. The cars are meticulously modeled and painstakingly detailed. The cars shine with a realistic glow that makes it look so good it is hard to believe at first. For those that can handle it, 1080p at 60fps sounds mind-blowing. 720p is resolution I played Prologue in and it is hard to imagine the game looking any better. The dashboard view lets you see the working speedometer and the hands of your driver, while totally useless, is a "bragging rights" feature that adds to the ultra-realism.

Not only will the graphics set your phaser to stun, the driving mechanics are nuanced and fun. The difference between the horsepower, handling, weight and torque in the cars might be small but it can make all the difference in the world in a close race. This is all stuff GT players have now taken for granted but is worth mentioning. Online matches are particularly fun because of the human element behind the wheel makes races white knuckle. The tracks offer different race dynamics. Where Daytona is a flat out speed track, the London course has razor sharp corners so you have to watch your speeds.



Drifting is a great new mode added to Prologue even though it is challenging at first. The fun comes from the sliding around corners at ridiculous speeds trying to accumulate a high score. The best part is you improve after every run. The worldwide competition to have your score on the leaderboards is one of the most primitive yet addicting ways to get you to keep drifting.

What's Not
Prologue is good, but in the area of content, it is skimpy for the series that is known for adding everything and the kitchen sink. The 70 cars are all cool but it would have been nice to have more. The six tracks are well put together and the reverse direction races make the 6 tracks seem like 12, but don't be fooled by the track trickery. After quickly finishing up the single player challenges, you'll want to see more pavement and challenges.



Since Prologue is a "demo" of the full version of GT5, the online mode is in its early stages. The result is an online system that feels aged. Online is the same menu based affair gamers have come to know. Pick a room, wait for a match, wait again if you have to, and then race against others. That would have been entirely forgivable if it weren't for the lack of custom games and absence of Bluetooth headset support. As it stands, you must accept the fact that Prologue is lacking online, which is a shame because that is where the lasting value hinged on due to the short single-player challenges.

Value quickly becomes an issue. While the game is not full price, you may still try to justify the cost. The reason for that is because some areas do not feel like a complete game. While the idea behind releasing Prologue in the first place is novel, some things might have hit the cutting room floor that weren't supposed to.



Technically, Prologue has some of the same flaws found in past GT iterations. The driving AI isn't the best and collisions on the track result in some "floaty" recovery time. Online is even worse because if someone is driving too erratically, they will start to blink and pass through cars like a ghost. While the concept of not having an online bully knock the cars off the road was a nice thought, it is annoying in practice.

Final Word
By now, many of you have made up your mind even before this game was reviewed to go and buy it. If you're one of those people, kudos to you, my friend, because when you pick up the game, you'll be in racing nirvana. The other group that should go and buy this game is car enthusiasts because they won't be successful in finding a better simulation car game on the market.

While you are in a race, the flaws will fade into the background as you wrap yourself in a blanket of world class gameplay and polish. Same goes for online, the gameplay and polish win out over the borderline archaic system. Once you reflect on the game, you'll pick out the issues but they are minuscule in the grand scheme of things. The only real issue is, are you willing to bite the bullet and pay for a game that is in between a demo and game?