[jwrebholz]

These comparisons are invalid for a couple of reasons, the main one being fear.

Personally, when I'm driving in GT4, I drive like I've got nothing to lose. I fly around corners at high speed, brake as late as possible without plowing into the wall, use the ENTIRE track (that includes the lawn...stop laughing dammit), and generally push the car to its absolute limits and beyond.

In real life, I hold back. Why? Because I DON'T WANT TO DIE. If I plow into the wall at AngstKurve on the Nurburgring in GT4, no big deal, I usually just keep right on going, with no harm done. If I did that in real life the car would be totaled, and likely so would I (because in most cases I'm doing over 140 MPH through there). Basically there's no consequences if I screw up in Gran Turismo. The only real problem is that it occasionally gets frustrating when you get a hard to control car (like the Lancia Stratos) and wind up pinballing down the technical section between Adenaur-Forst and Bergwerk.

There's also the matter of inertia. Even with a good force-feedback wheel, you don't get all the tactile sensations you get when you're really driving. You can't feel the G-forces against your chest when you put the hammer down, you can't feel the car leaning in hard turns, you can't feel the tires slowly (or quickly) losing adhesion, you can't feel the brakes locking up. Unless your copy of GT4 is hooked up to a multi-axis simulator, you won't get those important sensations that tell you how the car is reacting.