Gran Turismo HD officially canned - Next stop is GT5

NEW INFO 1.12.2006.

Gran Turismo HD has been officialy canned.



News is going like this:

Via its Japanese website, Sony has announced that Gran Turismo HD will only be available as a downloadable demo from PlayStation Store and will not be released as a full product.

Polyphony’s CEO and producer of the GT series, Kazunori Yamaouchi says the company has decided to focus directly on Gran Turismo 5 while offering consumers a work-in-progress via the GT-HD Concept demo. That will be available for download in Japan on December 24.

He said, ““GT-HD Concept” features 10 cars, 1 course with 2 layouts, Time Attack and Drift Trial modes. It also delivers a full HD visual experience reinforced with the new engine being developed for GT5. It has no online support other than a network ranking. The online experience will come with GT5."

No date has been fixed for GT5, although Yamaouchi says there may be further Concept demos in the future. He says the decision was made in the aftermath of TGS. Demos at E3 last year failed to impress gathered journalists, and the future of Gran Turismo has been the subject of much speculation.

More info at japanese site http://www.gran-turismo.com/jp/sp/d374.html.


Awaiting the demo then. Info collected from NextGen.biz.


OLD NEWS BELOW - not important any more.

As still unofficialy stated in day before Tokyo Game Show, Gran Turismo HD should be available in December in Japan for all lucky PS3 owners there.

EDITED: New Famitsu states that game will come with two modes (releases?) "GT HD Premium" and "GT HD Classic". It remains to be seen what does it means. Also, the offical GT japanese site has put up the new section titled "GT meets PS3" dated 22-24/9, which are official dates for TGS 2006. Link: http://www.gran-turismo.com/jp/

Official info and other details are coming as Sony's conference approaches.


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NEW INFO:

First scans in attachment.

There is sight of first new track in GTHD: The Eiger Nordwand, Switzerland.

Also, some light has been added to Classsic & Premium modes:

GT HD Preimum will use full PS3 hardware, potential, while GT HD Classic will be based on GT HD Demo. It is somehow now obvious that both modes will be included on the same disk.

However, GT Classic mode will feature over 50 courses for online racing and online will be 100% included in the game. There is notion about weather changes, but still not mention about being real-time.

New tracks and cars will be offered to download: car is to cost from euro 0.33/USD 0.42 to euro 0.66/USD 0.84, while tracks from euro 1.32/USD 1.68 to euro 3.30/USD 4.20.



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EDITED: Full facts froom Famitsu trnscript of interview with Kazunori:

The latest issue of Famitsu has an interview with Kazunori Yamauchi for the new Gran Turismo on PS3.

+ They'll release 2 versions for the new Gran Turismo (they use the same "Gran Turismo HD" name of the E3 demo for the product names) for the PS3 soon. Both support online multiplayer.

+ The proper GT5 is going to hit in 2008. GT HD is meant to grow the rich network service before GT5. The online modes are based on the 4 modes in GT4nline beta (Quick Race/Tuned Race/Private Race/Time Attack) and several other modes are added. The online will be launched worldwide at the same time.

+ Gran Turismo HD: Premium is essentially a GT5 prologue that uses the full graphics power of the PS3. (Pictures show a 3D spectator crowd, very detailed car models with interiors.) The weather changes while racing. It comes with 2 courses (both original and new, city and nature) and 30 cars including new ones. You can buy additional 30 cars and 2 courses (real circuits) later online. This version (or both GT HD, not sure) is a pure driving simulator and almost a tool. You don't get cars in in-game events, you just do whatever you want with games and courses or buy new ones via online.

+ Gran Turismo HD: Classic is what adopts the GT:HD playable demo at E3 and meant to showcase the online aspect. A race is done with about 20 cars. Apparently this version starts with no cars or courses. You download a car for 50 - 100 yen (0.43 - 0.85$) and a course for 200 - 500 yen (1.71 - 4.26$). Over 750 cars and 50 tracks are available for purchase. Users can define race events freely and can hold online race events by themselves.

+ Not all cars and courses are available on the release date, they are added monthly. Some models may be a limited release for 1000 units. New playing modes and tuning parts may be available via download. It's still undecided if they allow trade among users in fear of real money trade.

link: http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33831


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EDITED: Downloads to be optional

Some sources has mention that translation for japanese articles is bad - exact translation should mean that downloads should be optional for players who doe not want to bother with playing the game in order to unlock something. This - as well as all other info - is still very unofficial.

No official press-release about all features GTHD has been published yet.


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EDITED 29/09/2006

Info inside the first Ferrari movie scheduled for Paris Auto Show - http://www.gran-turismo.com/jp/movie/index.do?id=385 - states that GTDH will be coming on PlayStation 3 in Spring 2007. As Paris Auto Show is in Europe it pretty much says that we could get GTHD with the launch of the console.

NOTE: ALL STATED ABOVE IS STILL UNOFFICIAL AND HAS BEEN COLECTED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES. Very much thanx to Arwin.

*****EDITED

FIRST OFFICIAL PRESS-RELEASE (3th Oct 2006):

Gran Turismo HD ™ featuring Ferrari GT Cars

Paris, France, September 28, 2006 - Polyphony Digital Inc. announced today a new and exciting collaboration together with Ferrari S.p.A. Ferrari cars will appear starting with the upcoming Gran Turismo HD, coming to the PLAYSTATION 3 ® format in 2007 in Japan, Asia, North America, and Europe. The first models represented will be the 599 GTB Fiorano and the F430. The graphical power of the PLAYSTATION 3 ® will allow the display of these prestigious cars in never before seen in “Full HD” quality. The realism of the driving simulation proposed by Gran Turismo HD will allow millions of users to experience the thrills of driving Ferrari GT cars.

“It is with great pleasure and honor we announce this great partnership with our friends at Ferrari.”, said Kazunori Yamauchi, president of Polyphony Digital Inc. and creator of the Gran Turismo franchise titles, “We are looking forward to the exciting possibilities that await us in the future, and hope to share them with you when details are more visible.”

"We are enthusiastic to start this new collaboration with Sony, and are very excited that the Ferrari GT cars will be featured within the Gran Turismo series, one of the most successful driving simulations ever", said Giulio Zambeletti, director of Ferrari Brand Development & Partners department.

****ENDS****

amar is the man! what time is the Sony confrence?

Damn, I dont live in Japan and I dont have a PS3.

Thanks for the info!

Ill bet my ass that GTHD premium has more content like more cars and tracks.

No tmany people do have a PS3, certianlky no one outside of Sony.

Sucks that the videos are only streaming, but oh well. It's better than nothing, and it's been exactly that for five minutes now. Meh.

Awesome news, AMAR. Thanks for the update. Any more details, let us know.

I'll believe it when I see it in stores. What was the delay on GT4, a year and a half?

Nice one Amar - GT HD Premium and GT HD Classic sounds intriguing

sounds bull%$#@ 50 cents per car? 1,50 per track? wtf, how much is it going to cost to have the 719 cars that GT4 had for 50 bucks... i hope they clear things out during TGS

$359.50 for all 719 cars , I don't think we have enough info to start jumping to conclusions about what all this means.

sounds interesting...gt premium and classic...just wondering how big the differents gonna be

New info gathered in the first post.

amar212

New info gathered in the first post.

thanks for that amar!!

can somebody please post those pics, cause that site is blocked from my provider thanks

I think the prices to download cars and tracks is extortionate, downloading 50-100 cars could cost you as much as a full price game, sames thing if you download 10 tracks. They should be bundeled, ie choose 10 cars for £1 or 1 track for £1.

however very good find Amar, we'll see how this all pans out at TGS in a couple of days, my alarm bells might be ringing a bit too soon.

Heres thoes pics for you.

Oh lordy lordy lordy.... that looks sweet. I'm beginning to twitch... maybe camping out for a PS3 isn't such a bad idea!

Now, what would make this truly glorious is if the chroma of the game was corrected so it looked lifelike. Forza looked excellent as far as color, while GT4 looked excellent as far as realism. Realistic graphics all the way around with a new game engine... drooel.

Oh, and as for downloadables, those prices look pretty good to me. I really doubt that Polyphony will offer a hundred cars at a time, or twenty tracks. Just imagine something like a Supercar Pack, with 20 cars consisting of Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Porsches. Less than $10!

And I just noticed L4S's remarks above. What do you say about a "game" which offers less than 20 cars, mostly fantasy, and a few fantasy tracks for about $45? Sound similar?

I'm a pessimist. And I don't trust PDs release dates. Not that it really matters as I won't be having a PS3 very early (unless I get a job).

Any ideas how many cars are going to be on the grid? I couldn't get the vids to work.

Tenacious D

Oh lordy lordy lordy.... that looks sweet. I'm beginning to twitch... maybe camping out for a PS3 isn't such a bad idea!

Now, what would make this truly glorious is if the chroma of the game was corrected so it looked lifelike. Forza looked excellent as far as color, while GT4 looked excellent as far as realism. Realistic graphics all the way around with a new game engine... drooel.

Oh, and as for downloadables, those prices look pretty good to me. I really doubt that Polyphony will offer a hundred cars at a time, or twenty tracks. Just imagine something like a Supercar Pack, with 20 cars consisting of Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Porsches. Less than $10!

20 cars for £10 would be outragous imo, I can play a PC sim and download 1000 addon cars for free. £10 for 100 cars I wouldn't mind so much, and £1 for a track. that to me seems fair. But going by thoes prices you'd have to spend over £350 or $350 to have nearly as many cars as GT4 had. That is not a fair price structure imo, their banking on the idea that people will go "oh it's only a little bit" looking at the price per car, but then when you want 10 cars, or 20 cars it's not such a little ammount.

Pretty interesting and thank you amar.

If it is 50 cents per car, the two-game deal will surely hurt sales.

I think alot of you have the 'price per car' thing confuddled.

You all seem to think that you're going to have to buy hundreds of cars. But the way I think it will work is that you'll be given a huge selection of cars to choose from originally and then you can buy a few as and when they are released post-release.

And think about it for a second, how many cars have you really wanted to 'test drive' in the last year? Now get rid of half of them as their manufacturers probably won't be available to the game and then forget about all the different types (E.g. though not a very good example, would you really want to test drive the 911 GT2, GT3, Turbo and Carrera S?)?

No, at thoes prices I WON'T be buying every car they make avaialble to download, if the prices were reasonable however I probably would. Whether you buy all the cars or not, $5 for 10 cars is damn steep. Sure $5 on it's own is not a lot of cash, but would I go and shove a fiver in the shredding machine, no.

live4speed

Heres thoes pics for you.

thanks but i still cant seem them, cause your porberly linked those pics from that site, and that site it blocked. anyway i will see them later somewhere...

about buying cars for money...i'm not quite sure about it. why would we have to pay for addon cars if we can get them free for pc games?? i dont get it.