Tag Archives: gran turismo 5 prologue

Speaking on the US PlayStation blog, SCEA producer Takau Imasaki has revealed that updates for GT5 Prologue are in the offing, including off-the-board races and new communications features.

“Private races with buddies and in-game chat are all in the works but will not be ready from day one,” he said. “Will keep you posted on the progress!”

GT5: Prologue will release in Europe on March 28.

Seems the previous report saying GT5 Prologue pre-orders had hit 1 million in Europe was a bit off. A SCEE rep just got back to us saying they’d “been checking this information internally and can confirm that we currently have orders for almost 1 million units of GT5 Prologue across SCEE territories.”

That includes Australia and New Zealand. So the racer’s not the first game to go platinum before release as previously thought. Just to clear that up.

Here’s the review and here’s the story about the download. It gets an eight, by the way. GT5 Prologue is out in Europe on March 28.

Missed this last week. At the bottom of all those GT5 Prologue press releases was confirmation that the franchise has now sold more than 48 million units in total. The racer, therefore, will almost certainly move past the 50 million mark with the release of Prologue in the US and Europe on April 17 and March 28 respectively.

While impressive GT has some work to do to step up to the other big hitters currently throwing lifelong sales figures around: GTA was recently confirmed as having moved 66 million units, while the Sims neared the 100 million mark this year.

It’s still just down as “March” with no definite date, according to SCEE, but the European version of GT5 Prologue will include six tracks, 71 cars, split-screen, Drift Mode, access to “Gran Turismo TV” and tuning.

Key Features:

• The first ever Gran Turismo title with online racing: drive online against up to 16 other Gran Turismo aces
• Race a total of 71 stunning cars
• Race the Eiger Nordwand, Daytona International Speedway, the London City Track, Fuji Speedway, Suzuka and the High Speed Ring – then race them all in alternative layouts
• All-new physics engine means true next-generation vehicle handling
• All-new and improved opponent AI for a nail-biting race experience
• Access to Gran Turismo TV : a world of great motoring TV programming online including the BBCs Top Gear
• In-game museum featuring the history and heritage of the top car manufacturers
• My Garage – a personalised homepage feature with calendar, clock and map & weather of major race circuits worldwide
• Quick Tune facility allows you to adjust power, tyres, suspension and more
• All in stunning High Definition at 1080p

Press release, including all details and full car line-up, after the link.

More »

While SCEE’s promising an imminent announcement of GT5 Prologue’s date in Europe, the Americans have been thrown a rather large bone with news that the US version is going to receive decent content addition over the Japanese release.

According to this, the American disc will include split-screen racing, a Drift Mode and car tuning. We haven’t seen the Japanese release, if we’re being honest, so we’re not sure if tuning was included previously.

[Update: We've just been told that there definitely wasn't tuning in the Japanese version - Ed]

The five tracks from the Japanese version are included, and the High Speed Ring has been added. Each track has two layouts.

There’s a full list of cars – there are more than 60 of them – through that link.

While we all know that retailers do tend to have a “hit and miss” record when it comes to release dates, this all does sound depressingly inevitable. According to an email sent to customers by UK chain GAME, “The legendary “Real Driving Simulator Gran Turismo 5 is heading to PlayStation 3 in 2009, utilising the uber-console’s raw horsepower to generate an unrivalled level of realism”.

The same email says that GT5 Prologue is releasing in Europe on March 28.

SCEE has announced neither a date for GT5 or its cut-down precursor as yet.

Speaking in a rare interview, Polyphony Digital front man and Gran Turismo producer Kanzunori Yamauchi has promised that GT5 will provide a “global” community for fans of the game from the hugely anticipated PS3 title’s “online capabilities”.

“This Gran Turismo was going to be the first game produced for the PlayStation 3 hardware, so we definitely had to take the specs of the game to a whole new level, he said. “For example, we’ve increased the number of cars that can run in a single race. We’ve also worked hard to make the driving simulation more real. For instance, we’ve tried to give the player more control when drifting the car. Another element is the AI, the cars that you race against. It’s become much more intelligent. Also, this game will have online capabilities. Even up till now, I think Gran Turismo has created a unique global community, but the users weren’t really connected to each other. Now the community will really become global. This will be a big change.”

Yamauchi continued, “Our goal is to include every joy and fascination of automobiles into the game. Since we’re trying to create a virtual reality, I think it could be called a simulator. As you know, there are many aspects in the world of automobiles. In a sense, the game will have elements that will resemble an encyclopedia of cars.”

The development super-star’s beginnings were also discussed in the interview.

“Things don’t happen so easily,” he said. “At first the whole concept of Gran Turismo couldn’t be understood by the games publisher. Back then, there wasn’t anything called ‘driving simulators’. They also couldn’t understand why it had to involve cars that really existed. Games of that nature didn’t exist.”

And just for fun, Yamauchi also detailed the contents of his garage. He currently owns a “heavily modified” Nissan 350Z, a Honda S2000, a Mercedes SL55 as a “daily driver”, a Porsche GT3 (“This car was the benchmark I set for myself when I started building the 350Z. I think the 350Z’s performance is very close to the GT3 now.”) and two Ford GTs, one white and one gun metal.

Gran Turismo 5 has no release date as yet, but its precursor, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, is heading for a March release in Europe and is already out in Japan. Watch the interview for yourself, right here.

According to this, SCEE’s confirmed that GT5 Prologue will hit Europe on March 28, priced £24.99. The precursor to the main event in GT5 is to include ten tracks, 37 cars and four modes, although details in that story are slim.

A downloadable version of the game is also expected through PSN.

Update: Uh oh. Looks as though there may be something amiss here. Just got this back from SCEE: “With regards to your query, we are aiming for a late March release for GT5 Prologue, although pricing has yet to be confirmed.”

Gran Turismo 5 Prologue will launch in America on April 17, says this, priced $39.99. The precursor to the full game, which currently has no fixed date, will be available via PSN or on Blu-ray disc. Over 60 cars will be included in the release, as will online racing for up to 15 people simultaneously. Bargain.

Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is still down as a “spring” launch for Europe. Which it clearly isn’t.