Gran Turismo PSP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn5rBftQ1b0

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

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!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1FF8_0mAOA

A rumored list Sony’s list of games to be presented at E3 2009 has popped up, and it has a lot of people talking – not for the games that are on the list, but for the game that is not: Gran Turismo 5.  We have anxiously been waiting for what Sony has called one of their “biggest events in the past 11 years“, and many legitimiate sources have hinted that GT5 and Gran Turismo Mobile for the PSP would both be making an appearance at the show.  Of course, it makes sense, given the fact that it has been so long since we’ve heard any news about the development from Kazunori Yamauchi, and the next big game show (Tokyo Game Show) doesn’t hit until September.

In a revealing statement from last week’s Game Developer’s Conference, SCEA Director of Hardware Marketing John Koller mentioned that Gran Turismo 5 will be released across “all platforms” when it “makes the most sense”.  The comments came from a Q&A session and were just picked up by VG247:

In a very interesting statement at E3 today, GT series creator Kazunori Yamauchi brought us both good and bad news.  The good news is that he confirmed that the Polyphony Digital team was focusing nearly all of their efforts on Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, working hard to bring us features like vehicular damage, private online races, new tracks, and more cars.  Of course, there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch, and he added that these updates could push the full version of Gran Turismo 5 back into 2010.  He also confirmed that Gran Turismo Mobile, for the PSP, is still in “active development” but probably not be released until after Gran Turismo 5 (in other words, 2011).

Since IGN posted an article about U.S. games retailer GameStop canceling pre-orders for Gran Turismo 4 Mobile for the PSP, rumors have been flying around the internet that the highly anticipated title is no more. While I can certainly understand why anyone would think that, most of the reports do seem to be jumping the gun just a bit, and most reporters have completely forgotten about a recent interview with Kazunori Yamauchi less than a month ago. He clearly states that Gran Turismo Mobile will be released after Gran Turismo 5, which would put this mobile version quite far off into the future. With the additional workload of Tourist Trophy, Gran Turismo HD, and now Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, I am certainly not surprised that it has been pushed to the back burners. Perhaps it’s just me, but this new game would appear to be an excellent launch title for the PSP2. A spring 2009 release would provide the development team with just enough time, and would be an excellent way to keep the momentum of the series going strong after GT5 has been on store shelves for a few months. What do you think?