Gran Turismo 6 – why do developers keep slapping L-plates on experienced drivers?

http://media.edge-online.com/wp-cont...urismo-6-2.jpgGT6 finds itself in an awkward middle ground, both of generation and genre, we said in our Gran Turismo 6 review.

Gran Turismo 6 wants to get you behind a wheel as quickly as possible. Once you’ve placed the disc in your PS3’s drive, all that stands between you and the open road is an intro and the name-entry fields. After this, you’ll find yourself parked in the pits at Brands Hatch, sitting in a Clio RS ’11. It’s an efficient opening, undoubtedly, and you’ll initially feel grateful to Polyphony for sparing you the ordeal of navigating another of its outdated UI designs before you’ve had a chance to sample the new driving physics.Heartened, you squeeze the right trigger and wait for the revs to spike. Nothing happens. You try again, but the 2.0L in-line four remains stubbornly unmoved. It’s X you should be pressing. Despite Polyphony’s keenness to be on trend with Gran Turismo 6’s menu-less startup, the studio apparently remains entirely unaware of many of the other genre innovations that have become standardised since 1997.Having located the archaic accelerator, it’s at least now possible to get out on the tarmac. But even after undoing a decade’s worth of conditioning and forcing yourself to ignore the triggers, the experience is still a neutered one. All of the driving aids are switched on and your hot hatch is inexplicably lumbered with an automatic gearbox.Despite Polyphony’s admirable sentiment, you’re now forced to spend a lap wishing it would end so that you can remap the controls to something more befitting of the 21st century and switch off all those patronising driving aids. Much of this could have been avoided by simply asking players if they are new to Gran Turismo – or even driving games – before the game starts, then automatically customising the default settings to suit.

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