Too shiny? LOL! That's a first.
Anyway, even with a controller the driving dynamics are spot on. My civic has about 335 HP with a stage 3 turbo, and while cornering it was smoking the front left tire like crazy which is quite accurate given the power of the vehicle and the base tyres I was using at the time.
I will say this though to every GT5 owner, get the G25/G27 racing wheel. Right now I am out of money otherwise I would've bought the damn thing.