GT5 never looks anything but pristine but, as has become an unusual staple of the series, the lighting model tends more towards "the sun is everywhere" than realistic. The whole thing basically looks like a car commercial, and sometimes it felt like I was playing one.

Here's the deal: If you're one of those car nuts I mentioned earlier, here's your game. Have fun, we'll see you in a year when you finally leave the house. If you're not in that group -- you like, even love racing games, but care less about tuning and more about the thrill of the race -- GT5 is like walking in on a group of physicists discussing string theory and asking who wants to go toss around a ball for a bit. You're looking to have fun; they're only interested in studying the math behind how it bounces.