Received my PS3 with GTA5 and Separate GT5 (19th September 2013)
It all arrived today from Play.com!
Setting Up the System
Took me a while to add the PS3 to the router’s whitelist as I got confused about the router admin interface. Used the manual connection method on the PS3 so I was to turn off UPnP to match the router. (GTA2 doesn’t like UPnP.)
For a long, long time I couldn’t get HDMI output at 1080p. Eventually I did the system update to version 4.46 in the hope this would help. Told it to shut down after the update was complete and forgot, so was quite confused why the screen went blank at the end! I followed the official steps to reset PS3 HDMI connection and it worked! Whatever happens when you turn the PS3 on this way magically makes everything work, perhaps coupled with the software update. It automatically switched to 1080p which was nice.
Took about 2 hours from getting the box into the flat to having a working XMB with sound, Internet and full resolution. That’s too long, imho.
Gran Turismo 5
Installing
Managed to register BenMillard on PSN for myself! Wewt!
Downloaded all the free add-ons for GT5 using the Playstation Store.
It started by creating a Game Partition 1.1GB big. It then found update version 2.14 and I let it install that right away. It took about 1 hour to install 15 updates. The screen was blank for a long time with the HDD flashing a little at times, a lot at others.
The game started automatically once it had finished. It told me loading times would be faster if I installed 8GB of the game onto the HDD. So I let it do that.
About an hour later it was ready to start! Had to do some setup for the account
1st Race
Chose to do the old Challenge A race as it is for 400PP and 500PP cars.
Won the first race by a few seconds. Immediately have over Cr100,000 and my character reached Level 10 experience! Accidentally kept my 400PP car for the 500PP race! Luckily there were no tyre limits so I used Racing Soft front and rear. Got the 1st place halfway through the last lap.
The last event is for 650PP. Most of the grid was JGTC cars but the front 5 were old Le Mans cars. Way out ahead of everyone by 50 seconds was the Ford GT LM Edition Spec II. Impossible.
(Later in the game I returned to this and completed it with the Pagani Zonda LM Race Car with Praiano’s tune. This car demands respect and punishes over-eager throttle use!)
2nd Race
Changed to the 500PP FR Challenge instead. Engine restricted my Corvette C7 Final Test Prototype, which was free from the Playstation Store.
Rapid Start for B-Spec Drivers
Enter them into the old Season Events called Online Challenge-C but only the race at 650PP. A, B and C are all great in fact and are each worth about Cr500,000 with loads of experience points!
A detuned Mazda 787B dominated the JGTC cars and most of the LMGT1 class. McLaren F1 LM Race Car will take a bit of coaching to get past on some tracks. Pagani Zonda LM Race Car was also a challenge at one circuit, I forget which though.
Grand Theft Auto 5
Installing
It automatically installs 8GB on the first run. It plays a slideshow of the promotional artwork with a movie soundtrack ending credits type situation playing behind it.
It took about half an hour.
After a confirmation screen, the intro movie starts. This becomes a playable tutorial and it certainly drops you in at the deep end!
Power Saving Ruins Your Game
A couple of times I’ve left GTA5 paused during the very long missions. When I return the PS3 has powered down, losing my progress!
THIS IS A REALLY STUPID CAUSE OF DATA LOSS!!!
Also, YOU CANNOT CHANGE THE POWER SETTINGS while a game is running. There are actually quite a few things which just leave me shaking my head in disbelief at how stupid a version 4.5 system can be.
Also, a few things in GTA5 are absurd – such as trying to kill enemies who strafing beside you at close range.
Fixing the Time
It’s always 1 hour out. Here’s the fix for my out-of-the-box PS3:
- Settings > Date and Time Settings > Daylight Saving.
- Set to Daylight Saving as it’s Summer.
Zoe’s was also an hour out and Gran Turismo 5 would often complain about it. Nearly all these Date and Time settings had to be corrected as well as a manual tweak to get the minutes right.