Earlier today, Amar212 dropped an odd bombshell on the GTPlanet Forums, posting a cryptic message full of hidden details about Gran Turismo 5. Before you continue, have a look at Amar’s post for yourself. It’s an exciting, well-crafted read that you are sure to enjoy. If you’re still lost, keep reading for our careful analysis of each main point – and why you should believe them…
The engineers at Digital Foundry have used GT5 Prologue to demonstrate one of their new video performance analysis tools. As you can see in the clip above, their software graphs the frame rate at a given point in time while marking each torn frame. They cite all of the criticism that the game has received for “tearing”, yet their objective results show the game performs exceptionally well. Another revelation: frame rate is cut down to 30 FPS during the “pre-race drive-by”, with lots of torn frames. Once the player gets control of the car, the game rockets up to 60 FPS, with no obvious explanation. Watch how the FPS is, otherwise, only really affected when other cars are in very close proximity.
What the Digital Foundry guys found most interesting, though, was how the actual level of anti-aliasing changed depending on what resolution the PS3 was set to output:
GT5 is a very special game in that while it runs with 2xMSAA in 1080p mode, at 720p, it renders at 1280×720 but invokes 4xMSAA -- one of the few games on PS3 that actually does this.
You can learn more about what MSAA means, or just head on over to Digital Foundry’s blog entry for more details. Thanks for sharing your results, guys -- we’ll be watching for a follow-up the next time the game is updated.
This head-to-head shootout between GT5 Prologue and Forza 2 by the Inside Sim Racing guys caused quite a stir in our forums last week, and it’s worth posting here for those of you who missed it. Needless to say, the latest GT game didn’t fare quite so well, partly due to the fact that it wasn’t able to provide the features, size, or scale of a complete title. This has put some GT fans up in arms, and you can argue that some of the evaluated criteria wasn’t appropriate. That aside, their critiques are honest. More than anything, though, the review spotlights what features Gran Turismo 5 needs the most in order to stay competitive.
Check out the video and see for yourself!
In a rather surprising “public” appearance, Gran Turismo series creator Kazunori Yamauchi is starring in a Japanese commercial for GT5 Prologue, which you can see above. There’s nothing new (aside from Yamauchi-san’s acting skills), but it’s interesting to note that we are seeing some new efforts to advertise the series… This video just popped up on the web, but it could have been running for quite some time now -- if any of our readers in Japan could clear this up (along with what is being said), please let us know.
UPDATE: Commenter fade006 brought another video of La Sarthe to our attention. Check it out:
Take a look at this: video of the infamous Circuit de La Sarthe, home of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. No, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen La Sarthe (or even the Nurburgring) in high definition, but this is the best look we’ve had of the track in motion. Like the special “Nurburgring Special Edition” version of the game, the track is probably just a ‘glorified’ version of the same model we saw in Gran Turismo 4. Regardless, to a fan base starving for new GT5 Prologue tracks, this clip should provide a tiny bit of refreshment (and hope!). Thanks to GTPlanet user seizure_ for digging this up -- check out his forum topic for more.
NOTE: For the skeptics, the instrumentation is from GT5 Prologue:
Drifting star Tanner Foust has helped put together ‘Drifting 101‘ -- a quick video tutorial on how to drift in Gran Turismo. The video starts out with basic information about drifting, but keep watching and you’ll see he gets a little more technical with suspension settings and the like. If you’re already a strong virtual drifter, you won’t see anything new. If you’re looking to learn from the best, though, hit play! For more, subscribe to GTPlanet’s YouTube channel or browse through our existing library of clips.
Sure, we’ve seen plenty of cars from the real world introduced into the 
Gran Turismo games – it happens at SEMA each year. We’ve even got the GTbyCitroen, a real world concept crafted by Polyphony Digital themselves. What we haven’t seen, until now, is a car coming out of the game into real life. According to early rumors, that’s exactly what is about to happen with the Tuned Nissan Skyline Coupe (V36) that we all know from Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. The car will apparently be crafted by high-end Japanese tuning shop Zele Performance, to be introduced at the 2009 Tokyo Auto Salon in January. We’ll keep an eye on this and post more details as they emerge…
When we got our ‘virtual’ hands on the GTbyCitroën last October, most assumed that would be it for the concept supercar. It should be sitting in a museum or Polyphony Digital’s headquarters by now, right? Wrong! Surprisingly, Citroën has handed the keys (or whatever this thing uses…) over to the AutoExpress Magazine editors for some time behind the wheel! In real life, the car features a 580bhp V8 engine, with an estimated 0-60 time of four seconds and a top speed of 180 MPH.
“With no sound deadening, the noise is awesome. The big V8 roars through the rev range and pops and bangs angrily when you lift off the throttle. But it’s not really the engine or how big the brakes are that’s important – it’s the way it looks. The GT is more than five metres long, and its menacing exterior is made up of 21-inch diamond-effect alloy wheels, scissor doors, blue LED headlights and enormous air intakes. The smooth-flowing lines along the side of the car are met with sharp edges at the front, which accentuate the angry look.”
Read more about their experience in the full article. Although not unprecedented, it’s quite unusual when a car company gives the automotive media access to one of their concept vehicles. Now, let’s just hope they shot some video of the car in motion!
