Jordan Greer

When Ferrari Challenge by System3 hit store shelves last year, it wasn’t warmly received by the mainstream press, proving how difficult it is for more “serious” racing games without a strong pedigrees to become widely popular. Despite the critics, the game attracted many fans right here in the GTPlanet Forums, due to its challenging physics and rewarding gameplay. Tomorrow, System3 is moving their series forward with SuperCar Challenge in Europe, offering a wider selection of cars and tracks, excellent sound, and a refined experience for players using the Logitech G25.

Mere seconds after the throngs of GT fans gobbled up the news off the GamesCom show floor, eyes began to turn to the upcoming Tokyo Game Show for the next flood of Gran Turismo 5 info from Polyphony Digital. Today, we can tell you that excitement is not misplaced, as Kazunori Yamauchi has confirmed a “major advancement” is coming to the show later this month. From his latest interview with G4TV:

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):

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.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQm-6zNOEJE

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…

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.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOUkAq8Kv6w

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:

When GTPlanet reviewed the VisionRacer VR3 earlier this year, we really loved what we saw. Anyone dedicated to their sim-racing hobby would be hard-pressed to find something to match the VisonRacer’s ergonomics, beauty, or quality of construction. Craftsmanship is not cheap, though, and the VR3 is still a significant investment for most gamers. To help out, the VisionRacer guys are offering a special price just for GTPlanet readers: $999 with free shipping to the U.S..

In a video interview with French gaming site GameBlog.fr, Kazunori Yamauchi hinted at Gran Turismo 5’s release date with the following statement (thanks to reece22345 for the translation!):

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.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQPM2g-UsCM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzcVXzrUH9A

When the staff at VG247 got the chance to interview SCEE president Andrew House, they didn’t hesitate to ask him directly about why we didn’t get the Gran Turismo 5 release date announcement that everyone was expecting.  His response:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEUzLSeuY4A

IGN editor Ryan Clements entered the GamesCom show floor this morning, and headed straight for the Gran Turismo booth.  After admiring the game’s new damage features, he got to talk with Kazunori Yamauchi and asked him to clarify some of the questions that were raised yesterday.  As many expected, not all of the cars in the game will feature damage:

As if today hadn’t been dramatic enough for GT fans, Polyphony Digital has pulled the Gran Turismo 5 feature list from their website.  In its place, they’ve announced the PSP-3000 “Gran Turismo Edition” – which is quite curious, considering how strongly the game has been associated with the new PSP Go.  At this point, we don’t have any more details about the availability of this device, only that it’s going to be “released in limited quantity” on October 1st.

Check out all of the 21 brand new screenshots in our full gallery after the jump…