Sony had the chance to deliver a killer blow, but it’s missed.

First of all, I should make it clear that I have not played Gran Turismo 5 yet, so I’m not commenting on its gameplay. I should also point out that while I work for an Xbox magazine, I was on a PlayStation magazine until recently and am generally very neutral. I’m positive about both formats, but not deluded about the flaws in either.

So I haven’t played it, but I have seen it and, to be blunt, the trailers and screens issued by Sony lied. It is not the best looking game ever. It looks good, but I’ve seen better on both PS3 and 360.

Now, I’m not a graphics whore and I’m generally forgiving about visuals, but this is Gran Turismo. It’s car porn. It’s supposed to look better than anything else ever – that’s its role in the universe.

I honestly thought that the idea was for Sony to release Gran Turismo 5 and for it to be absolutely irresistible on first sight. Regardless of the driving experience or whatever new features have been stuffed into the latest package, the sales angle is simple – man sees cars with unprecedented levels of visual sheen in PS3 game, man can no longer fight urge to buy PS3. From what I’ve seen of Gran Turismo 5, that’s not going to happen.

It’s still a very, very strong brand and not a bad game by any means at all, so it will sell PS3s. But I thought it might be something for Microsoft to be really scared of. I thought it might single-handedly make the 360 look old. But it doesn’t. It’s better looking than Forza 3, sure, but I’d say F1 2010 looks better on both PS3 and 360. Surely Codemasters shouldn’t be showing up both Microsoft and Sony.

Ah well, see you again in five years time…