Although many people debate the exclusion of “career mode” in Gran Turismo PSP, it’s generally considered one of the best-looking games on the portable console to date. When you look at some of the static screenshots, though, it can appear rough or “jagged” around the edges (like above), but sure enough – when you play the game or see it in motion it looks much more impressive. Why is that? Keep reading to find out…
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.
In his latest interview with Italian gaming site MultiPlayer.it, Kazunori Yamauchi doesn’t shy away from nearly confirming a “simultaneous world release” for Gran Turismo 5. A worldwide release has been widely rumored after our own Amar212 first hinted at the fact way back in April, and it is looking more and more certain with each passing day. Yamauchi was also asked about Gran Turismo 5 feature list, which GTPlanet managed to grab before it was quickly pulled from Polyphony Digital’s website. Although he comes short of explaining why it was posted, he confirms the information is true. Yamauchi goes on to discuss how the new damage feature will affect a car’s handling characteristics, and goes on to say there will be “real NASCAR races.” Finally, Yamauchi retierates that the game will run at in full 1080p resolution at 60 frames-per-second.
Although there is no official English transcript for the interview, we can thank our own RoadRunner99 for offering the following translation of the most important questions:
MultiPlayer: GT5 Release?
KY: ”The game is still under development but its release is not too far, it will be after the PSP GT release and, very probably, it will be a simultaneous world release”MultiPlayer:What about the game features that were published on the official japanese site, 1000 cars, 80
tracks and YouTube download?
KY: ”We would like to wait to publish them, but what you read on the site is true.”MultiPlayer: Is there something new in the single player mode
KY: ”If you look at the PSP version, you’ll see that the game is very different from the previous Gran Turismo versions. The 5th episode will have many similar features to the PSP version”MultiPlayer: How the damages will influence the gameplay?
KY: ”The damages are not only visible, they will affect the driving style.
It depends on the player, some players will like it, others will not”MultiPlayer: Will we have Nascar and WRC championships in the game or just the cars?
KY: ”There will be real Nascar races
in the game. Nascar had necessary to be included
in the game. Regarding WRC championship we have been trying to add it to series since long ago. Now we got it.”At the end KY confirmed 1080p and 60 fps.
As you may know, Polyphony Digital publishes the sales figures of each Gran Turismo game on their website, and they just updated the numbers for Gran Turismo 5: Prologue. In the last four months (going by the numbers from May), the game has sold approximately 700,000 copies, bringing the total to nearly 4,000,000. No doubt, the Greatest Hits price drop helped drive retail sales, despite the fact that prices on eBay. Regardless, this is an impressive milestone for a “small” game – and one which will, no doubt, pour fuel on the the fire of the endless GT / Forza debate…
It’s not unreasonably pessimistic to say that just because a car is in Gran Turismo PSP, it may not be in Gran Turismo 5. It’s been debated in our forums at length, and we won’t have a definitive answer until we can directly compare the car list from each game. However, things look a bit brighter when you consider this recent interview with Kazunori Yamauchi by French gaming site JVN. When asked about the “interactivity” between GT PSP and GT5, he responds:
“If [the user] unlocks a car in Gran Turismo PSP, it will also be available in Gran Turismo 5.”
Unless something has been seriously lost in translation, it can be inferred that all 800 cars in GT PSP must also be in GT5. Since we already know that NASCARs will not be in the mobile version of the game, GT5’s grand total number must be even larger.
Yamauchi also expanded on the car sharing and exchange features – something new that GT PSP is bringing to the series. Google’s automated translation is a bit awkward, but to summarize: when you trade a car to someone else, it’s gone, and some cars you won’t be able to trade at all (hmmm, what could they be…?). Finally, when asked point blank if GT PSP delayed GT5, Yamauchi answered bluntly:
“I will not contradict you, because all versions of GT are developed within the studio Polyphony Digital. If a person works on an item, it necessarily prevents him from doing anything else. So yes, there is some truth in what you say.”
That admission will ruffle feathers with the impatient among us, but using GT PSP to sell hardware of the new PSP Go is undoubtedly something Sony has planned for quite some time.
In a dash of bittersweet news, we can all collectively stop hoping for an “Update Available” message to appear one day when we fire up Gran Turismo 5: Prologue. The game’s “US Producers”, Chris Hinojosa Miranda and Taku Imasaki confirmed that the team is now completely focused on getting Gran Turismo PSP and GT5 out the door in this Q&A session on the official PlayStation Blog.
Before you get too excited about them answering questions, though, let us be the first to warn you not to expect much. They did confirm GT PSP will not feature damage or DLC, and that only 4 cars will be on track at a time, but Yamauchi already told us that last month. While it’s encouraging to at least see more communication about the game, it’s hard to understand why they selected selected some of the questions when they obviously had no intentions of answering them.
Polyphony Digital’s Citroen GT concept car has been busier than ever – first appearing at the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring, hitting up the 24 Hours of Le Mans a few weeks ago, and now stopping traffic as it drives the London street circuit from GT5 Prologue. Of course, this made for some pretty impressive photo ops, which you can see below. The car is slowly making its way to the Goodwood Festival of Speed, taking place July 3-5. Full press release after the jump…
The Gran Turismo brand once again made a strong showing last weekend at the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans. Trackside banners could be seen all around Circuit de La Sarthe – most notably at the chicanes down the Mulsanne straight. Sony also continued their strong support of the Pescarolo Sport racing team’s Peugeot 908 LMP car, in the quickly-becoming-classic light blue/green/white livery that you probably remember from GT4. Polyphony Digital’s Citroen GT also made the rounds this year, (supposedly) doing a honorary lap around the circuit (still waiting on pictures of that) and appearing in a local driver’s parade.
(Photo by Brecht Decancq. Thanks to DaveTheStalker for the Mulsanne screen grab, too.)
