GTPlanet

Mercedes-Benz is running a special blog, hosted by “Matthew”, covering the launch of the company’s new SLS AMG at various events around the world. Of course, he was on hand at the Tokyo Game Show, and shared the experience with the video above. While there’s little that we haven’t already seen, things get a little more interesting when Polyphony Digital employees show up to take a second look at the SLS on display.

Presumably, they’re looking to refine the model in the game, and seemed particularly curious about the functionality of the headlights. They also observe the opening of the fuel door cover – something which will need to be simulated thanks to the new, fully animated pit crews who attach a fueling rig to the car. As we slowly learn more and more about the game, it will be interesting to see how Yamauchi’s team choose to implement these small details.

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You probably remember the stunning Ferrari 458 Italia video that Polyphony Digital put together for the company. Now, they’re doing it again for Toyota’s new concept car: the FT-86. This time, we actually get to hear some engine and improved tire noise, along with what appears to be a new track at…dusk? It’s fun to speculate, but we probably shouldn’t read too far into the sounds or time of day just yet. Regardless, take a look and enjoy! I’ll update this post when I get my hands on a better [HD] version of the trailer.

The engineers at Digital Foundry have used GT5 Prologue to demonstrate one of their new video performance analysis tools.  As you can see in the clip above, their software graphs the frame rate at a given point in time while marking each torn frame.  They cite all of the criticism that the game has received for “tearing”, yet their objective results show the game performs exceptionally well.  Another revelation: frame rate is cut down to 30 FPS during the “pre-race drive-by”, with lots of torn frames.  Once the player gets control of the car, the game rockets up to 60 FPS, with no obvious explanation.  Watch how the FPS is, otherwise, only really affected when  other cars are in very close proximity.

What the Digital Foundry guys found most interesting, though, was how the actual level of anti-aliasing changed depending on what resolution the PS3 was set to output:

GT5 is a very special game in that while it runs with 2xMSAA in 1080p mode, at 720p, it renders at 1280×720 but invokes 4xMSAA -- one of the few games on PS3 that actually does this.

You can learn more about what MSAA means, or just head on over to Digital Foundry’s blog entry for more details.  Thanks for sharing your results, guys -- we’ll be watching for a follow-up the next time the game is updated.

The GT Academy Experience is about to jump off the internet and on to the airwaves via Dave, a men’s television channel in the UK.  The 30-minute episodes are set to air on Saturday nights at 7:00 PM, starting today (April 4, 2009), but no word yet on exactly how many shows you can expect.  Dave has already posted videos from the event that GTPlanet put together back in February, so the show will probably be put together from that footage.  Nevertheless, if you’re in the UK, check it out, and don’t forget to enter to win the PlayStation 3 that Dave is giving away to promote the show.

Thanks to Jack for digging this up – check out Dave’s site for more details, or check out the full TV listings for air times.

In a rather surprising “public” appearance, Gran Turismo series creator Kazunori Yamauchi is starring in a Japanese commercial for GT5 Prologue, which you can see above.  There’s nothing new (aside from Yamauchi-san’s acting skills), but it’s interesting to note that we are seeing some new efforts to advertise the series…  This video just popped up on the web, but it could have been running for quite some time now -- if any of our readers in Japan could clear this up (along with what is being said), please let us know.

I am very happy to announce GTPlanet’s latest venture into the world of online video with GranTurismoTV.com! This is the first online video channel dedicated to the Gran Turismo series, and we anticipate it to fill up quickly with lots of new Gran Turismo 5 content on the horizon. The new site also represents the next stage in the evolution of our online community, as users will be able to quickly and easily upload their own content to be featured. The GranTurismoTV.com video player is also completely “embeddable”, so you can display our videos on your own forum or blog posts. Here’s a quick sample of the new player, showing the Japanese intro movie from Gran Turismo 5 Prologue.