GTPlanet

Shortly after Gran Turismo 5’s feature list popped up on Polyphony Digital’s website, pandemonium broke out as everyone rushed to secure an accurate translation.  With the added excitement of the playable demo at GamesCom and our first look at damage, some pretty remarkable new features slipped under the collective radar.  We’re going to put the spotlight on one of them today which could have an major impact on the racing game genre across platforms: “head tracking” with the PlayStation Eye.

The concept itself is simple enough -- it’s a camera that tracks the movement of your head -- but the results are breathtaking.  If you’ve never seen this new technology in action, watch the following demos and you’ll quickly realize the implications of such a feature in Gran Turismo 5:

As we learned from Polyphony Digital’s website, you’ll be able to use this head tracking technology to manipulate the “cockpit camera” and presumably look through the corners and at your opponents with the simple turn of your head.  From the translation (confirmed by Yamauchi):

“…the movement of Cockpit Camera interface (confirmed in full 3-D. The camera can be fully manipulated and you can opt to have your head tracked by the PSEye)”

The PlayStation Eye is already available for $32.99, but is not typically considered a must-have peripheral for most PS3 owners due to a lack of software support.  That could change in a very big way, selling lots of additional Eye hardware for Sony in the process.  For now, though, we could be looking at GT5’s “dark horse” in the race for consumer’s hearts, minds, and dollars.

Here’s one of the better-looking videos of Gran Turismo PSP gameplay footage via IGN, showing the Citroen GT competing against the infamous TVR Speed 12 at Suzuka.  Unsurprisingly, as with most journalists who demonstrate racing games, his skills leave much to be desired…

If you’ve seen lots of pictures and videos from the show floor at last week’s GamesCom convention, you probably noticed this full-size, Audi TT motion simulator running what appears to be a special version of Gran Turismo 5: Prologue.  While this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a motion simulator hooked up to a copy of GT (indeed, this same Audi was brought to the Leipzig Games Convention last year), you can only imagine how badly manufactures of consumer-grade “motion seats” would love to interface their own products with future GT titles…

Did any GTPlanet readers at the show get to try this out?  What were your impressions?

While most of us are still getting over the shock of seeing a damaged car in Gran Turismo, many others criticized Polyphony Digital’s work for not showing over-the-top destruction found in other, often more “arcade” racing games. Apparently, Kazunori Yamauchi himself responded to critics in his latest French interview with GamesBlog.fr, but we missed it the first time around without a full English transcript.

His other comments are significant, claiming the Gran Turismo 5 demo shown at GamesCom “marks only the first step of what we want to achieve for damage.” He goes on to ask for feedback, stating that “we’re interested to know how far the players want to go.”

Those who have defended GT5’s previewed damage model have cited the extremely high level of detail found in other areas of the game – which consume development time and technical resources inside the PS3 – as an explanation for the less sensational crashes.  In other words, if you were hoping for “more”, you would be wise to put your own expectations in check.  Gran Turismo 5 is obviously a game which will receive many downloadable updates during its lifetime, and Yamauchi is probably referring to refinement of the damage model over the long term. We’ll just have to see how – and if – the damage model has changed the next time GT5 is shown in action.

For those of you out there who still aren’t convinced of Gran Turismo 5’s pending 2009 release date, take a look at the game’s official brochure handed out at last week’s GamesCom convention. Snapped by RiseOfGames, the brochure was quickly translated by forum users – but you don’t have to be fluent in German to figure out what “4. Quartel 2009″ means.  Via user G.T.Ace:

Developer: Polyphony – Platform: PS3
Genre: Racing – Number of players: T.B.A.

Release: 4th Quarter of 2009

THE ULTIMATE RACING GAME RETURNS

(lots of stupid PR blah blah, really nothing important)
The player can choose between over

1000 cars to race on incredible detailed racetracks and unlock PlayStation Trophies (blah).
The new NASCAR and WRC championships improve the

Gran Turismo experience. Players are challenged to fight their way up the online leaderboards against other racedrivers from all over the

world.

Italian website MultiPlayer.it has captured a massive collection of Gran Turismo PSP screenshots, taking particular care to show us all of the new menus and game options.  You’ll see everything from mode selection screens, car selection screens, track selection screens, car trading screens, ad-hoc multiplayer screens, car/track info screens, settings, and everything in between.

Notice the black bar at the bottom of the game-play shots – it was solid black when we saw the game at E3 last month.  It’s now translucent…  Thanks to forum user Marky246 for the tip!  Check out the gallery of 40 new images after the jump.

(more…)

With more people able to spend more time on the GamesCom show floor with the Gran Turismo 5 demo, we’re getting better and better quality videos and images of the new game.  Some of the best footage we’ve seen so far comes from EuroGamer, with this HD clip showing off the improved lighting and extensive new environmental details in the background.  Pay special attention to the trees and buildings, which really give the game a much more natual look.  Another highlight to watch for comes shortly after 2:50, when the Subaru crashes in to the tire barrier at the first turn of R246.  The stack of rubber goes bouncing and rolling in a natural, fluid way, contributing to the vibrance of the environment.  You’ll also get another peek at damage, but that’s not really the focus of this video.

While the quality is good, it’s still just a video of the TV screen -- hopefully we’ll get a “direct” capture soon, but that’s entirely up to the people at the Sony booth…  Regardless, enjoy!

Finally, someone (EuroGamer) with the opportunity to play Gran Turismo PSP has the great idea to select the series’ most infamous track: the Nurburgring Nordschleife!  The “Green Hell” looks a bit more like heaven from the “cockpit cam” of this Renault Clio.