It seems to ME that the handling has got a lot more complex and realistic...
This is consistent with what I have read elsewhere.. a much more realistic model for tyres and suspension...
The AI is however still not the best. It is better but not aggressive enough to be a challenge.
G27 or driving force GT for a wheel depending on budget.
I just wrote a novel about this over on GTPlanet. I kind of gave up on GT5 about 2 & 1/2 years ago because I was looking for something that console racing just couldn't provide. After fooling around with Rfactor, GTR/Race 07/Evo, LFS, etc, I finally settled on iRacing. I managed to progress pretty well but between juggling my commute, working hours, kids, and my wife going back for her post grad degree, I just haven't had the time for it over the past 18 months. And a lot of those guys in iRacing are hard core players. If you go in without practice and a good setup, they'll eat you alive. So I bought GT6 hoping for a good off-line game. Something I could have fun with whenever I had the time and didn't have to worry about practice and feeling guilty if I screwed up somebody else's safety rating, let alone my own.
I was able to spend a good 3-4 hours with GT6 over Christmas, without having to constantly watch the clock or fight off drowsiness. My goal was to try and progress in single player mode. And I have to say, looking at it with a critical eye, for me personally as a hard core sim fan, the off-line portion really leaves a lot to be desired. There are plenty of events, but they're all the same, start from the back, conga line start, pass the leader in 3-5 lap affairs, that involve a bunch of truly hapless, slow moving, brake checking, door closing, throttle fearing dumbots, that serve no purpose other than keeping you from reaching the rabbit out front. And while the rubber banding affect may make this game appealing for a wide ranging audience with wide ranging skill sets, I just find it laughable. If you spin during a career mode race, there really is no drama because the more you spin, the more AI slow down for you. At least up to a point.
I'm afraid things aren't really any better in Arcade mode either. I actually had a somewhat interesting two lap race yesterday with the Ferrari Dino in Arcade mode, AI set to maximum aggression, all aids off, no ABS, stock configuration, two laps around the whole Nurburgring 24 hr course, using a T500 wheel and H-pattern shifter. And the first few cars were so slow and ponderous that I could only shake my head. Meanwhile the Honda NSX with about 50% more power was building a tremendous lead. Once past the other AI, I pushed myself very hard to try and catch up and managed to cut the gap down by half by the end of the first lap, only for the NSX to suddenly ease off at the beginning of lap two and it allowed me to pass pretty easily. And from then on, it hounded me, although I was eventually able to pull away in the twisty parts. But it was a good 35~40 kmh faster than me down the Doettinger Hoehe and handily caught up again before it bumped me twice in the braking zone and knocked me off the road. I mean, really, is this a NFS game? Do the AI have any weight? Do they even feel it when you knock into them?
At that point I tried experimenting and let me tell you, they're invincible. You can crash into them, full speed--WHAM. And they just get momentarily out of line and immediately continue on as if it was nothing. Sometimes they barely even leave the road, but if they bump you, and do it at the right moment, you're spinning helplessly out of control. I wasn't sure whether I was playing Mario Kart or Outrun with an amazing physics model.
And the rubber banding makes me nuts. License tests and one-make events aside, during the race events, there is almost no perceptible reward for driving quickly and cleanly. If you set up to make a pass, the AI will immediately get in your way and brake check you. They are programmed to compromise their own speed and lines if it means they can get in your way and spoil your momentum. Yes, sometimes this happens in real racing too but for the most part, in the real world, you'd be racing against other drivers that are at least TRYING to drive quickly and to the best of their ability. And unless you're Sebastial Vettel with a far superior car, you can not simply drive around them and leave them for dead like you can in GT. Consequently, in GT6 there is NO point or purpose in pushing yourself, in driving at the limit of your ability, of fighting for seconds or tenths of a second. Better just to 'laze' around the track and enjoy the scenery. Because no matter how fast or slow you drive, eventually, they'll roll over for you. they should call GT6 "The Sunday Cruise".
In short, I think I'm pretty much done with the off-line portion of the game. I may go back here or there, but I doubt I'll bother completing the rest of the events and I can't really see much purpose in soldering on for the same stick and pony show. I want a REAL race. A race with qualifying. A race with a grid start. Or at least a normal rolling start where everybody can start accelerating at the drop of the green flag. I want a race where the AI try to compete by actually driving quickly, not by acting like a bunch of pawns, blocking you from reaching the queen (rabbit). Sadly, off-line mode is the WHOLE reason I bought the game. During the last 3 weeks, I had completed all of the events from Novice up though IA and I kept hoping things would get better. And then over the Christmas break, I just went 'star searching' in order to get enough credits to partake in and pass the IB & S license tests, just so I could unlock all the content in the hopes that there was more there. And something more challenging. And if the S events are all that's left, it doesn't look like it.
I'll still play GT6 from time to time. But it's clear, much like GT5, it's better on-line with a group of like-minded friends than it is off line. And frankly, no matter how good your connection is, the PS3's hardware, the flaky P2P connection model and the PSN itself just conspire to generate an all-together unsatisfiying online mode. 16 player maximum lobbies, full of lag and fading mics. And we won't even talk about public lobbies. Where as by comparison, on the same connection, I can have races with 40+ other opponents with little to no lag in iRacing.
GT6 is good. It's an improvement over GT5 in just about every way. We know there's more coming. And there are GREAT online options available in the lobby--just about everything you could think of. Unfortunately, it's really a 'driving' game and not really a 'racing' game. At least off-line. And that's where I was really looking for an improvement.
Edited by jaisli, 27 December 2013 - 17:09.
I won't miss B Spec races though.
/sarcasm. 
Only the wheels listed in the menu are 'officially' supported. And I'm guessing it's not one of them.
