Gaming

Thanks to Jon and XEPEGSM for the tip!

Hello all, from drizzly Cologne!

Remember the track editor our inside man, amar212, told you about all the way back in April of 2009? It’s now been officially revealed, and IGN is first to give a few hints of what’s in store for this interesting new feature.

The GT5 Japanese release date has been announced today (November 3rd), along with yet another special edition of the game that includes a limited-edition, blue PlayStation 3 console. Read up on all the details right here.

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

Thanks to our team at Gamescom 2010 (and a new YouTube video uploaded by PlayStation Spain), we’ve got an early scoop on the contents of the latest Gran Turismo 5 demo on display – confirming some of the game’s most exciting new features. GT5’s new karting mode is revealed, along with the debut of the Autodromo Nationale Monza circuit! Andreas of InsideSimRacing also noticed that skidmarks are visible on the tarmac (see video above, though it’s not from Andreas), and a non-functioning “course maker” option was visible in the menus. He also wisely compiled a complete list of all the cars and tracks available:

Here’s the first batch of screenshots from Gamescom 2010. I’ll get higher-resolution images up as soon as they’re available. One interesting to note: the Lamborghini Miura’s unconventional headlights tilt upwards when turned on – an idiosyncratic detail which, as you’ll notice in the screen shot above, was not overlooked by our friends at Polyphony Digital.

Gamescom 2010 is finally here, and it’s time to kick things off with Sony’s official press conference! The show actually starts at 7:00 PM CEST – check this table to convert that to your local time zone, or keep an eye on this countdown timer. Gamescom isn’t quite as big as E3, so live video streams are a little harder to come by, but thanks to your news tips we do have a few to watch. In case they don’t work, simply fall-back on these live-blogs in the links below.

That’s one headline I never thought I’d write, but it’s true! Sony has just announced a special promotion (for U.S. residents only) with SUBWAY, and they’re giving away copies of Gran Turismo 5 before it’s November 2 release date. There’s no details on exactly how early they’ll be shipping out the prizes, but it’s exciting to know the game will be floating out in the wild before you can find it on store shelves.

An unfortunate set of circumstances required me to unplug for a few days, and I want to get everyone caught up with the latest batch of news over the past week or so. Frankly, there hasn’t been much going on in the world of Gran Turismo, but all of that is about to change with GamesCom 2010 coming up next week! Several GTPlanet members will be in attendance throughout the event, and we’re going to have more exclusive coverage than ever before – watch for more major announcements on that over the next few days. For now, here’s a quick summary of what you did (or…didn’t) miss:

Remember the contest held to title the Daiki Kasho song used in Gran Turismo 5’s E3 2010 trailer? The winner was finally announced last week after Kazunori Yamauchi made his selection from 5,444 entries: “5OUL ON D!SPLAY”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92mDRnjgwmc

Remember when we first got the hint that there would be “two collector’s editions” of Gran Turismo 5? It turns out that was correct, as the Signature Edition was just announced today for everyone except residents of the United States. Here’s what you get for €179.99 (pre-order here at Amazon.fr):

The PlayStation BETA event I told you about was finally held this past weekend. GTPlanet reader Adam Lang was first on the scene, and has been kind enough to provide us with lots of videos and screenshots from the GT5 demo on display. Most notably, you’ll see a much-abused Enzo Ferrari show heavy damage to its front bumper, along with an Audi R8 and the MOTUL R35 Skyline JGTC car. He’s also provided a lot of (literal) screenshots of the demo, so you can get a higher-resolution look at gameplay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB1UyZAV1Vo

Great news for our man Lucas Ordoñez (winner of the first GT Academy)! Lucas and his team, RJN Motorsports, have qualified their Nissan 370Z have first in its class for the Spa 24 Hours race this weekend. I’m not aware of any online live video streams of the race (if you find one, please share it in the comments below), but Lucas has promised me that he’ll be constantly updating his Twitter feed and his Facebook page directly from the paddock throughout the event. Good luck, Lucas!

Scans of the French PlayStation Official Magazine’s feature on GT5 reveal the magazine is weighing in on two of the game’s most exciting unannounced features. Most confidently, they’ve listed karting as a major category in the game and even included a small note on the track editor. Of course, the text is in French, but you can see all the scans for yourself right here.

Programmers from the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Society of Automotive Engineers have found an interesting way to build “green racing” features on top of Gran Turismo 5: Prologue. Apparently, the system works by sitting between the steering wheel and the PlayStation 3, watching and recording controller inputs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=746uWpjd85w&feature=player_embedded