GTPlanet

Gran Turismo PSP launched with an interesting and new incentive: a free, bonus car depending on where you pre-ordered the game or if you download it via the PSN Store. However, users in our forum have reported everything from receiving incorrect cars, invalid codes, to not receiving a code at all! Fortunately, your cries have been heard, with Sony issuing an apology to affected customers along with a promise to get everything straightened out.

The message only appears on their Japanese website for now – and they really just ask you to sit tight. If you received an incorrect code, you’ll get another one, and if your code isn’t working, it will be soon. If you’re having issues yourself, keep an eye on our GT PSP message board and others will certainly be reporting in once everything gets straightened out.

For those of you who still aren’t conviced of a 2009 release date for Gran Turismo 5, here’s something new to consider.  In a comment on PlayStation’s official blog, Peter Dille, Senior Vice President of Marketing, dropped this remark after someone mentioned they were hopeful for a commercial about the game:

Oh, we have one for GT5 all right…

Commercials, of course, take time to produce, but this particular campaign is already rolling, and “have” suggests that it’s already sitting on a hard drive somewhere.  In that case, it should be ready just in time for Christmas…  Now, do we have any readers from Sony’s ad agency?  ;)

Note:  If you’re curious about the image above, it came from this “Season’s Greetings” video by Polyphony Digital a few years ago.

According to a report by VideoGamesZone.de, Gran Turismo 5* is at Berlin’s IFA trade show…in 3D. The news comes off Sony’s press conference at the show, focusing on their consumer electronics products. The theme of IFA seems to echo what all the big players first started promoting at CES last January: 3D movies and games.

As you might remember from CES, they actually had a copy of GT5 Prologue running on a prototype 3D television. I got to experience the game firsthand, and I can tell you that it was remarkable – not in the “oh-wow-something-is-flying-out-of-the-screen” sense, but it gave the world of  Prologue surprising depth and scale. It didn’t feel like I was looking at a screen – it felt like I was looking out of a window, watching a Nissan GTR drive around Suzuka in a miniature world defined by Polyphony Digital’s texture palette.

VGZ expects Sony to push 3D display technology hard in 2010, and they just might use GT to do it. The question, then, is what does it mean for our favorite franchise beyond GT5’s release? Could Gran Turismo 6 be used to showcase the next generation of Sony televisions? Could you justify upgrading to a new 3D TV in a few year’s time, or do you even want to?

*We’ve heard no other reports that GT5 (not Prologue) is at the IFA show, and there’s a good chance the demo is the same thing we saw at E3 earlier this year. If it does turn out to be something new, we’ll be sure and bring that to you as the news breaks.

Gran Turismo PSP may be coming out on October 1st, but if you can hold out a few more days (and have some extra cash laying around), you can pick up this “Limited Edition Entertainment Pack” on October 20th.  Here’s what you get for $200 (via press release):

• “Mystic Silver” PSP-3000
• Gran Turismo PSP on UMD
• A “downloadable voucher” for a white Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 – a color which is otherwise not available in the game
• 2GB Memory Stick PRO Duo
• PlayStation Network downloadable “movie voucher”
• Sony Music Pass voucher, good for downloading 10 songs

If we break down the numbers, considering the PSP-3000 “Core Pack” is $169.99, you’re basically getting the game for $30 (it’s regularly $39.99) along with a few extras.  This appears to be North America’s “bundle”, and although they’ve tried to sweeten the deal with a few extras, you could argue that European and Japanese consumers have a stronger incentive to spend more money, and they won’t have to wait until October 20th to do it.  In Japan, of course, they get this black PSP-3000 emblazoned with the GT logo, and in Europe, you’ll get GT PSP for free if you spend $250 on the new PSP Go.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

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.

Welcome to GTPlanet’s live coverage of Sony’s E3 2009 press conference!  After months of anticipation – and complete silence out of Polyphony Digital – expectations are running high for some type of major announcement regarding the Gran Turismo series.  We already know that Gran Turismo Mobile is going to be announced, but questions still remain about Gran Turismo 5.  What’s going to happen?  Watch this box below over the next few hours to find out!

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A “demo” that has sold more than 3.3 million copies will be added to the PlayStation 3’s “Greatest Hits” library on June 16, along with several other popular titles which have “reached a significant sales threshold”.  Thus, GT5 Prologue continues the decorated history of the franchise, with each worldwide release attaining “Greatest Hits” status.

Of course, when PS3 games are added to the library, their price is reduced to $29.99.  With usual MSRP’s of $59.99, this is a significant cut.  However, Prologue has been available for $39.99 since its release, making it a less exciting addition to the library.  Regardless, it’s an interesting announcement for Sony to make, especially considering what a flood of Gran Turismo 5 news at E3 could do for sales of Prologue…

There may be a hint of sensationalist link-baiting in VG247’s latest headline about Gran Turismo 5 – indeed, you can’t help but wonder why they didn’t mention these comments by SCEA Director of Hardware Marketing John Koller in their article last month.  Regardless, his additional comments reinforce the important notion that the GT series is coming to platforms other than the PS3:

“[Polyphony Digital] report directly into our CEO, Kaz Hirai, so it’s a little bit of a ‘wait and see’,” the exec told VG247 when asked when we can expect to see GT5.

“But we look for that franchise to continue on as many platforms as possible.”

You won’t see GTPlanet jumping to any rediculous conclusions about a PC (or Xbox, ha!) release, but Mr. Koller’s broad choice of words there is still raising a few eyebrows.  E3 2009 may be even more interesting than we originally thought…