For Polyphony, it's all about the detail. Take one of Gran Turismo 5's premium cars to a night-time Kyoto in the Photo Travel Mode and you'll see where those six years since the last installment proper have gone; they're in the light refracting across the headlights, in the reflections that glisten across the perfectly sculpted bodywork and in the rivets and nuts that are each perfectly placed and painstakingly rendered. Forget photo-realism; catch it from the right angle and Gran Turismo 5 looks better than the real thing.

Get behind the wheel and that same attention to detail shines just as brightly, earning Gran Turismo 5 its billing as 'The Real Driving Simulator' and then some. Forza Motorsport 3's strength lay in its cornering as you struggle against its tire deformation system and Need for Speed Shift is about the experience at the redline as you hit maximum velocity. Gran Turismo's genius is in its braking zones. It's here that GT5's fantastic physics show their worth.

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That's violently clear from the first moment you go under the hood and flesh out the Nissan Silvia, Toyota Corolla or whatever other vanilla Japanese car you choose as your first ride. Hit the anchors and it's likely to fishtail widely as it struggles to lose the kind of speed that the car was never designed for, leaving you flailing into the corner and thinking to yourself that the supercharger you just strapped on may well have been a step too far.

Move up the power band and the challenge will rise in tandem; stopping a vintage Dodge Challenger for Monza's first chicane can prove a herculean task, and Gran Turismo adds some little flourishes to bring that home. The screen judders as the weight of the car shifts forward and the tires begin to skim along the tarmac like a well-thrown pebble across a pond, making it a challenge in itself just to spot the turn-in point and apex. Get into the corner and the physics won't let up, and by threading the V8's power through too eagerly you can feel the chassis protesting that you're pushing it that little bit too far.

Introduce a few of Gran Turismo 5's new features and then it gets really interesting. Take a race-spec Toyota Castrol Toms Supra 97 around a rain-slicked Le Mans and it's like nothing you've ever seen as you rip down the Mulsanne head-first into a wall of spray, the lone windscreen wiper whipping fruitlessly across the slim window of your faultlessly modelled cockpit.

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All wonderfully accurate, and for those who like wrestling with untamed machinery impossibly exhilarating. But others may understandably find it all a little daunting. Thankfully Polyphony has had the foresight to open up its superlative handling model to all-comers, and Gran Turismo 5 is more approachable than its predecessors thanks to some all-new assists that can make hurling around a pedigree GT car as carefree as driving one of the all-new karts.

With its handling model proudly restoring Gran Turismo upon the driving throne, it's now easier than ever to fall in love with its exhaustive garage - and this time out there's a lot to fall for. From the nimble karts with their willingness to be hurled around to the brace of contemporary WRC cars that simply demand to be thrown about, it's a list that's as long as it is lust-worthy. But as ever it's just as easy to develop an unlikely love affair with those less than spectacular starting steeds, tuning them to within an inch of their lives until they're near un-drivable beasts.