Gran Turismo in 2010: The Year in Review

Features January 1st, 2011 by Jordan

Fans of the Gran Turismo series have been through a lot over the past 13 years or so, but none of those years have been as dramatic as 2010. Though I wasn’t able to get this out before the calendar flipped over, I wanted to take one last look at where we’ve been before moving forward (just as I did at the end of 2009)…

Photomode image by Spark_GTP.

January

2010 started on a very high note – GT Academy 2010 was in full swing, and we rang in the new year enjoying the free, though limited, GT5 Time Trial Challenge demo. Excitement was also building in anticipation of the full game’s March release date in Japan…
With the expected release date less than three months away, the Gran Turismo 5 art was officially revealed. Excitement continued to build through what turned out to be a very revealing CES 2010.
Just days after the conclusion of CES, the first bit of confusing and bad news hit hard: GT5 was quietly and mysteriously delayed in Japan, just four days after Yamauchi and his translator confidently confirmed the March date in a CES interview. Left with a newly open-ended release schedule, fans settled in for a long, cold, and confusing winter.
GT5‘s new “Data Logger Visualization Technology” was first revealed to the public by Kazunori Yamauchi at the Tokyo Auto Salon. Curiously, there has been no mention of this interesting new technology since then…

February

Sony executive James Armstrong accurately predicted GT5‘s eventual release date during a newspaper interview. While talking with him about the statement at the game’s launch party in Madrid last November, he laughed and said he just “got lucky that time!”
GTPlanet was on hand for the GT Academy 2010 Silverstone Finals, eventually won by French competitor Jordan Tresson.

March

A Sony rep reveals the company was targeting an October release for Gran Turismo 5. Getting closer, but still no cigar…
YouTuber mimaximax gets regular access to a GT5 demo in Tokyo, generously sharing lots of game-play video clips with the hungry masses, clamoring for any and all scraps of information during what was originally supposed to be the game’s release month.

April

U.S. GT producer Taku Imasaki confirms that Gran Turismo 5 will fully support 3DTV technology.

May

The Nurburgring GP course is confirmed for GT5.
Kazunori Yamauchi successfully competes in (and completes!) the Nurburgring 24 Hours.

June

GTPlanet gets a completely new look and feel.
Gran Turismo 5 gets an official November 2 release date at a very exciting E3 2010. A beautiful new trailer, awesome screenshots, and the first day/night transition game-play video are revealed.
The game’s weather system, course maker, and go-karting features are accidentally revealed in an official Sony interview with company executive Shuhei Yoshida.

July

More than 100 days before its expected release, GT5 was already hovering near the top of sales charts.
Gran Turismo 5‘s Signature and Collector’s Editions are officially announced and detailed.

August

GT5‘s new karting game-play, tire marks, and Monza circuit are all revealed thanks to GTPlanet’s team on the ground at Gamescom 2010.
GTPlanet conducts our first one-on-one interview with Kazunori Yamauchi at Gamescom.
The legendary Spa Francorchamps circuit is seen in Polyphony Digital’s collection of reference assets, revealing that developers have visited and studied the track.
Sony and Polyphony Digital are faced with legal threats as the city of Siena, Italy protests the Piazza Del Campo karting track’s appearance in GT5 at Gamescom. The issue was eventually resolved (and actually boosted pre-orders), but the track is still nowhere to be seen in the final version of the game…

September

The first Gran Turismo 5 kiosk demos begin showing up in Best Buy stores around the United States, revealing a considerably overhauled (though still highly criticized) damage model.
GT5‘s weather system is officially revealed in a new trailer at the Tokyo Game Show 2010.
Polyphony Digital’s collaborative project with Red Bull to develop the X1 Prototype is also announced at TGS.
The new GT5 “We Love Cars” marketing campaign kicks off in Japan.

October

Just a few short weeks before the worldwide launch of Gran Turismo 5, Sony announces the game is delayed once again until the “Holiday season” to bitterly disappointed fans and harsh criticism from the press.

November

Still without any official release date, Yamauchi announces Gran Turismo 5 is complete and the game discs are already in production.
Video game distributors in Europe mention the game is being shipped to retailers, and the first leaked copies of GT5 appear in the wild – but there’s still no sign of a release date.
The first round of un-authorized game-play videos hit the Internet, as Sony responds with attempts to remove the material from YouTube.
Sony finally announces November 24th as the release date for Gran Turismo 5 in North America and Europe, increasing sales of the game more than 1300% at online retailer Amazon.com. Other online stores dedicate all their employees to the game just to handle increased demand.
GTPlanet is invited to the Gran Turismo 5 International Launch Party in Madrid, Spain, where it is announced that many frequent online updates will be published throughout the game’s lifetime. The Red Bull X1 model (now known as the X2010) is also officially revealed to the world.
The first updates are issued for Gran Turismo 5, with v1.02 available just two days after the game’s release.
The first-ever United States GT Academy is announced (!!!).

December

Kazunori Yamauchi confirms that a new, officially licensed GT steering wheel – the T500 RS – will be released by Thrustmaster.
The Gran Turismo 5 v1.03 update is issued, introducing mechanical damage to the game.
GT5‘s online, web-based social network is officially released.
Sony announces GT5 sales topped 5.5 million, blasting the GT series to a total of more than 60 million copies worldwide.
Gran Turismo 5 v1.05 is released, introducing “Seasonal Events” and lots of other tweaks.
GTPlanet hosts our annual philanthropic fundraiser for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, proudly raising more than $1,000 to help fight this terrible disease. Thank you, everyone, for your help in reaching this milestone!

Looking forward, it is not yet entirely clear what 2011 holds for GT fans. With rumors of a new PSP2 floating around the web, could another mobile title be in the works? How much content will be added to GT5, and when when can we dare mention Gran Turismo 6? Regardless of what happens, I thank all of you for your interest and support throughout 2010, and I hope you’ll continue to rely on GTPlanet for all your GT series news in the future. Happy new year!

Want More?

You should follow GTPlanet on Facebook, and on Twitter @GTPlanetNews. You can also get GTPlanet's news by full-text RSS feed, or delivered via email, straight to your inbox every day.

Tagged

Review Year in Review

47 Comments

Newest comments are displayed first.

January 2nd, 2011 at 4:38 am - #

j8mie

Thanks to everyone at GTP for keeping us up to date on breaking news about GT5. Lets hope 2011 is less or a roller-coaster than 2010 was :)
January 2nd, 2011 at 1:44 am - #

Anderson

best race simulation game
- January 2nd, 2011 at 9:42 am - #
  
  Jos
  
  you mean driving simulatio, gt5 doesnt simulate racing.
- January 3rd, 2011 at 6:05 am - #
  
  OmnipotenceZERO
  
  @ Jos
  What you said is EXACTLY opposite. If it was only a ”driving” simulation, u should be able to turn your car’s engine on and off, open the doors, turn on the radio and all those stuff. What a “racing” simulation is, is just obviously different. You do all necessary things that are crucial to “races”, not street driving ;)
- January 3rd, 2011 at 6:07 am - #
  
  OmnipotenceZERO
  
  Despite the fact that they actually assigned it as a “Driving Simulation”, I think it would be better if it was “Racing Simulation”.
January 2nd, 2011 at 1:01 am - #

ShinFuYux

I sincerely hope polyphony releases the other previous tracks that were on GT4 in GT5. I would definitely pay 15 dollars for that.
- January 2nd, 2011 at 1:56 am - #
  
  CaliBoy1990
  
  Especially the Test Course………..let’s bring back the Max Speed tests, too. =)
January 2nd, 2011 at 12:43 am - #

Russiansize

With respect and a big hug to you Jordan from Russia! Stay Heavy!!! Happy new year!!!
January 2nd, 2011 at 12:18 am - #

scooter1265

Hey Jordan, don’t know if its legit, but I saw a title called “Gran Turismo Raceway” on the Wikipedia page for the Gran Turismo Series. It says it would release on PSP and PS3. Any news on this or is it fake?

Here’s the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gran_Turismo_(series)#Games

Anyways, great job this year, congrats on the Pancreatic Cancer Fundraiser, and let’s have a prosperous GT filled 2011!
- January 2nd, 2011 at 12:57 am - #
  
  Jordan
  
  Thanks for all the kind words, everyone. Scooter, this is the first I’ve heard of “Gran Turismo Raceway”.
- January 2nd, 2011 at 1:19 am - #
  
  akiraacecombat
  
  Thanks for the good job Jordan,keep it up,you are doing perfectly.
  
  And BTW the wikipedia link seems to be edited at 22:16 31/12/2010,there was something that yamauchi was involved(Man at the top awards 2010),I have no idea what that might be,but it was held on December 30/2010,so maybe the “Gran Turismo Raceway” might came up from there,or it could be a prank,in any case it seems like this year is becoming very interesting.
- January 2nd, 2011 at 8:49 am - #
  
  Emu76
  
  I just went through the page history, it seems someone without an account mysteriously added this extra on the 28th of December. It’s probably a troll trying to see if he can make the internet go rumour crazy or something…
- January 2nd, 2011 at 1:58 pm - #
  
  Yaycandy69
  
  Gran Turismo Raceway may be an Online place where they said you can drive around and obey speed limits and stuff. Maybe on psp too.
- January 3rd, 2011 at 11:04 pm - #
  
  scooter1265
  
  40% of me wants to believe somebody made this up
  1% of me believes that all this is totally legit, and will be out this year
  59% believes that it is true, but we won’t see it until GT6 and GT2 for PSP in 2024.
- January 3rd, 2011 at 11:07 pm - #
  
  scooter1265
  
  EDIT:
  
  Sorry for the double post, but “Gran Turismo Raceway” isn’t on there as of 11:05 PM EST on 1/3/2011.
  
  Darn, Sony caught wind of it. Or the troll just read these comments and said “mission accomplished”. Or maybe somebody here created it. Or maybe Translator-San created it. Or maybe…
  The list goes on and on…
January 2nd, 2011 at 12:12 am - #

Ferrari

Wow
the Ferrari 458 picture looks $#%#$% incredible!
January 2nd, 2011 at 12:01 am - #

Jay De Guzman

Thanks Jordan for all the stuff that you have done for GT fans all over the world.
- January 2nd, 2011 at 12:57 am - #
  
  Spacegoat
  
  +1 Well done Jordan and the entire GTPLANET team.
January 1st, 2011 at 11:50 pm - #

Jakemania

Congrats on raising over a thousand dollars =)
It will be interesting to see what kind of updates we will see in 2011
January 1st, 2011 at 11:42 pm - #

Andrew

it was a great year for GT fans.. I don’t think anyone can deny that!
- January 2nd, 2011 at 4:27 am - #
  
  rydeen
  
  EDIT@ the Red Bull X1 is renamed Red Bull X2010. Thanks for keeping me up with news on times where i just couldnt wait anymore.:):):)
- January 2nd, 2011 at 2:46 pm - #
  
  RTSolvalou
  
  Yes, lets promote a prototype car heavily for over a month then change the name…
  I’m still going to call it the X1…