Gran Turismo HD officially canned - Next stop is GT5

[amar212]

I'm also very sceptical about all those infos - we'll know what are the real facts in less then 24 hours. But if it's true... Noone will like it, I'm sure of that.

 

[Wolfe]

So are some of you like totally crazy ? What's up with these naive 1000 $+ calculations ?
I tell you sth, there won't even be 100 cars and nobody will charge you over maybe additional 50 bucks, so please stop making these childish assumptions....
Always the same... throw a prerendered trailer to the masses and they will go OMG UBER GRAFICS... the same here, where is your sense of reality ? Read the info and before you react, then let it rotate in your brain for another 20 seconds before writing complete nonsense... thx

As a6m5 said, the prices and number of available (purchasable) cars and tracks have been revealed.

It's a bit amusing that you're calling the lot of us "childish" when you didn't read all of amar212's post and immediately jumped to the conclusion that we were pulling numbers out of thin air.

Very few, if any, of us have already "jumped ship," as you might say. Almost all of us are waiting on an official announcement before taking the "unofficial" info that amar212 so graciously provided as 100% true.

 

[Max_DC]

While I think that's entirely possible, the information at hand seem to indicate:

I am waiting to see......

Yes, but these are rumours... nobody will every charge over 1000 & for a full game. You are Japanese, you know how tricky translations can be. Not to forget that people in interviews talk about their visions and ideas, mix that with some facts and this the result. And PS3 games won't cost over 100 $ as in another thread... just like the Formula 1 game doesn't look like the 2005 trailer, told that everybody at that time, 50% didn't believe.

Let's bet, it will be possible to get all content for this GT Classic game for less than 99$ additional to the full retail price. Let's bet

 

[Max_DC]

As a6m5 said, the prices and number of available (purchasable) cars and tracks have been revealed.

It's a bit amusing that you're calling the lot of us "childish" when you didn't read all of amar212's post and immediately jumped to the conclusion that we were pulling numbers out of thin air.

Very few, if any, of us have already "jumped ship," as you might say. Almost all of us are waiting on an official announcement before taking the "unofficial" info that amar212 so graciously provided as 100% true.

Who said I didn't read Amar212's post ?
Who said that I accused everybody in this thread ?
I wrote "some of you" and I talked about the 1000$+ calculations.
I tell you why this won't happen. Nobody will pay it and it's not worth the money... it is no new content, just updated PS2 data. Do you think that they sell Gt4,5 online for 1500 $ and in 2008 they release Gt5 with all new engine and thousands of hours programer work for 60 $ ?
I don't doubt, that the price tag is real ( 50$ for a car ) but there will be packages and I also doubt that the game will ffeature no cars and tracks in the beginning. So mark by words : downloading all content won't cost more than 99$...
Think about it, it's just too crazy to be real...

Edit :Sorry for double post, there are so many people in this thread that I assumed some of them already posted before I hit the submit button...

 

[a6m5]

Yes, but these are rumours...

Supposedly, it's from the Yamauchi interview in the latest issue of Famitsu Magazine. Now, I tried to find this interview in Japanese, so I can read the original interview myself, but I could not locate it. Not even on the Famitsu's site.

nobody will every charge over 1000 & for a full game. You are Japanese, you know how tricky translations can be. Not to forget that people in interviews talk about their visions and ideas, mix that with some facts and this the result. And PS3 games won't cost over 100 $ as in another thread... just like the Formula 1 game doesn't look like the 2005 trailer, told that everybody at that time, 50% didn't believe.

Yeah, translation are easy to botch up in these circumstances, you are right. And I think we are, including the people who are upset, just in disbelief right now. We are just waiting to hear that this was some kind of mistake.

Let's bet, it will be possible to get all content for this GT Classic game for less than 99$ additional to the full retail price. Let's bet

Even $99 is more than I approve of. For GT5's Simulation Mode, maybe!

 

[G.T]

Interesting. Sounds good so far.

Fingers crossed they release a PAL version ASAP, if ever.

 

[Specialized]

Well im not to worried about this. If there is actually going to be 750 cars for download then most of us will only have to purchase 30 maybe even 40 cars the other 710/720 cars will all be Skylines in "special" colours anyway!

Seriously though, i dont think PD will market the game like this. They CANNOT expect a gamer to spend over $500 let along the best part of $1000. They obviously know that alot of the market for this game is for those between the ages of 15 and 25 and money doesnt exactly grow on trees! One of their biggest markets being the "poor student" cannot possibly mean they will be expecting you to take out a bigger student loan just to play GT and guild PD's increasingly large pockets.

As mush as i love the GT Series if this does turn out to be the case then i certainly will not be buing into the brand untill i see a better resolve.

This is either some serious marketing ploy to offer such costly cars then snip the price by a third or something to make a still expensive price seem affordable or somebody somewhere has got their wire crossed. Im hoping for the latter of the two.

Spec....

 

[TheCracker]

I can asume from what i've read about this latest news that:

a) Sony really want a GT title available on or around launch.

b) PD don't want to rush out GT5 (as if they could!) so will release a Prologue style stop gap, or two.

c) PD have actually listened to what the fans want this time.

d) Sony/PD want to test the waters with online modes of play and online downloadable content and get it working well and sorted before they fully jump in with their flagship title (GT5)

I would also guess that you might be able to download a car or track and use it for a limited amount of time (a test drive) before you commit to purchasing it. I have no interest in 75% of GT4's cars, only dipping into this 75% if i need a car for a certain championship or race and probably never using it again. I therefore don't really mind about starting the game with few cars and actually buying the cars i really want. As long as these 'prologues' are cheap to buy in the first place (or even free as L4S said) i think its all good news.

 

[HoffY]

DISCLAIMER: yes i realise this is not official etc etc blah blah


Opinion on unofficial infos thus far. SUCKS. Two versions of the game adds confusion for a start. I dont want to be worried about figureing out what different versions offer over each other and which is the best value. Either one is GT4:HD and one is GT5 Prologue and respectable prices and full content like NORMAL and expected (with downloading EXTRA content at later dates to cost a little penny ala PGR3 et al). Or they go bust and wont be getting my dollars.

One things for sure.. i'm not getting any more confident about this PS3 and GT. The reason i'm wanting a PS3 is mostly for a GT game in HD with a bit more content and some long over due next gen features (more real tracks, online, downloadable new content in time etc). This is really making me think "hold back till way after its realease so you know what the is really the case"! lol

ah well. */me awaits some solid info*

 

[VNAF Ace]

I don't think I'll buy GTHD. It sounds like "GT5 Beta" to me. And I refuse to pay money to download more courses and cars when I know PD can put a lot more stuff on a BD-ROM. I mind as well wait for GT5.

 

[Solid Lifters]

DISCLAIMER: yes i realise this is not official etc etc blah blah


Opinion on unofficial infos thus far. SUCKS. Two versions of the game adds confusion for a start.

LOL What's so confusing? Who gets confused about two games on one disc? Stop being silly, please.

I dont want to be worried about figureing out what different versions offer over each other and which is the best value.

What the hell are you talking about? You don't need to figure anything out! lol Buy the game and play both versions to your hearts content! Simple, man.

Either one is GT4:HD and one is GT5 Prologue and respectable prices and full content like NORMAL and expected (with downloading EXTRA content at later dates to cost a little penny ala PGR3 et al). Or they go bust and wont be getting my dollars.

Are you drunk? You don't make much sense!
They're both on the same disc. One, with a lot of content that is similar to GT4 and will be available for online play. The other, a fresh new look at what GT5 is going to be like when released sometime in 2008. If people want to make it into a more full gaming experience, and test the downloading content waters, they can. It's both a special opportunity for PD to learn about what their customers want and gives these same customers a chance to tell PD what they want while getting a glimpse of what the future holds for GT.

One things for sure.. i'm not getting any more confident about this PS3 and GT. The reason i'm wanting a PS3 is mostly for a GT game in HD with a bit more content and some long over due next gen features (more real tracks, online, downloadable new content in time etc). This is really making me think "hold back till way after its realease so you know what the is really the case"! lol

ah well. */me awaits some solid info*

Good. Wait. Because, it doesn't sound like you know what GT HD is all about, anyway.

 

[cudadude2]

I still have to go back to Sony developing the Blue Ray storage system. Its supposed to hold tons of gaming info. That is the foundation that sony built the PS3 around. If the games are going to be as we're all talking about with no cars and no tracks, what exactly would be on the amazing storage disk? One line of information around the edge. It cant be.

b

 

[amar212]

Well, www.1up.com has digged out something fairly intresting in thair comment regarding this very issues. It is part of interview with Phil Harrison (Sony's Head of everything regarding commercial PS brand issues) from last June'S OPM magazine.

Transcript:

"OPM: Most people, when they think of a hard drive on a game system, they think of it as just a really big memory card. When you and Kutaragi are encouraging developers to use the hard drive to its full capacity, as someone with a software background, what are you envisioning when you say, "Use the hard drive"?

Harrison: I'll give you an example; Kazunori [Yamauchi, producer of the Gran Turismo series] would kill me for this: Imagine Gran Turismo shipping on a disc with one car and one track. And then you can browse, online, a dynamic circuit of vehicles that's growing every day because either the car manufacturers are adding new vehicles or we're adding new vehicles. And you can see a specific-type car that's being called up and say, "I think I'll play with that one. Let me download and play it." Maybe the business model allows you to play it for a day; maybe the business model allows you to own it forever. But that content is now yours on your hard drive. Or [maybe you could download] new tracks, new music, whole games.

You know, I think that developers and consumers are going to be presented with different "play packets." There will be the big 50-gigabyte experience led by a Best Buy, a GameStop, and that will be played through in a normal game style, but there will be other games that are totally dynamic, that are more like a service. That's what I was trying to show with the SingStar video at the end [of our GDC presentation]."

What to say? Percentage of previous info being true has just risen up for 50%. But hey, PD managed to give us 30 cars and 2 cars, which is not bad when yuo take into concern what Harrison "imangined" for us (quote from above: one car and one track).

Lucky us. Waiting for official news, all of this is going directly - nowhere. 👎

 

[fasj6418]

what bother me is that there´s no explanation whatsoever for taking content form an old game and making you re-buy the game. i could at least try to understand if we could download newer models for GTHD classic, cars we didn´t had in the 2005 release. and that game was supposed to be online. there´s nothing new to that and still content is been stripped.

of course, in TGS they will clear things out, they will say some cars will be free, some cars will come in packs - still, unacceptable. why not release the classic HD with everything GT4 has, plus the online and 1080p? then if you want to put extra cars into that, then its a different story, we can analyse. but right now... it might not be as bad as it seems, but it will be bad to some extent.

famitsu (the only source so far) didn´t made up that story. KY actually told that to them... for japanese speakers, does KY mentions that in that play beyond video???

well, i like to buy the game as a whole, i like to unlock cars by playing well, not for having money. that´s the difference in real life. what was cool about a videogame is that you could have things not possible in real life, you could try lots of cars and tracks. this is just one aspect of realism that i spit on it. disgusting. even if i was going to cut the crap cars i would still want 100+ cars and them some 40 tracks...

something is not right and they are very dumb for letting this PR fiasco happening. they should say something before TGS... god i hope its not E306 all over again... if it is, then i´ll have to rethink my PS3 purchase...

sorry about bad sentences and wrong grammar, i´m just pissed off and can´t think of anything else right now...

 

[Cobra_UK]

All of this is going nowhere, adding more confusion, much like the confusion with the PS3 and it's basically making Sony look more and more like a company with a great product, but no sense of direction. Sony seems to have lost it's grip on consumer needs, and honestly, lost it's grip on reality. It's no coincidence that Sony's shares are dropping slowly but steadily in value. As someone put it earlier, unless the Blue Ray is RW and not just ROM, which it won't be, why do we need it? If games will come with a base package and then most of the content, features and patches will come from online why do we need such massive capacity Blue Ray drives? One would imagine we need much bigger HD drives and can stick with DVD drives. But Sony wants us to buy Blue Ray so their new format wins. Even though Sony's Betamax was higher quality than VHS it was more expensive and it was not as easy to use or work with as VHS, and we all know VHS won that format war.

Lets look at the GTHD fiasco. One would imagine a GT4, online, with car models from Photo Mode, with the 3D wheels and bumpmapped tyres, all of the next-gen particle, lighting and texture effects, all the 2D spectators replaced with the 3D spectators from some city and rally tracks, up to 20 cars on track , 4 player split screen, skid marks, some front wings to go with the rear wings, ability to paint the wings in the colour of the car, ability to save multiplayer replays, and last but not least all of the reported bugs, glitches and errors resolved, all in 1080p or 720p HD. It wouldn't exactly be a next gen GT but it may, I do mean may, keep people happy and waiting until 2008 for GT5, and make them buy into Sony's expensive PS3. But this? GTHDP, GTHDC it's confusing, preposterous in terms of pricing, and just plainly idiotic. I could go into how idiotic it is but unless you're a moronic fanboy, a millionaire or just plain stupid you can see for yourselves. KY and PD are again a bunch of developers that have lost touch with the gamer's needs and they are testing the gamer's patience and inteligence to the limit. It's quite sad really.

 

[Thundercat]

I'm just gonna wait it out and see what's really in store for all of us. Right now there's too much confusion, speculation, verbal sparring, claims, counter claims, disclaimers . . . etc.
It's making an otherwise dull Thursday morning rather exciting . . . can't wait to see what's around the corner!

 

[Flerbizky]

I'm just gonna wait it out and see what's really in store for all of us. Right now there's too much confusion, speculation, verbal sparring, claims, counter claims, disclaimers . . . etc.
It's making an otherwise dull Thursday morning rather exciting . . . can't wait to see what's around the corner!

So very very true !...

 

[RacingFreak2k3]

We all gotta just slow down though. I know that purchasing cars for a prologue type game seems crazy......but GT5 will probably follow suit with GT's 1-4......giving you a ton of options, and the same amount of cars on the disc that everyone can have access to.......and then if you want some special cars and tracks, you will have them for download....kind of like in PGR3. Like amar said, there's nothing totally confirmed at this point.....and yes it's hard to tell what direction PD is actually going in.........but we all need to take a step back, and just breathe.

 

[Rue]

Nice one, amar!

Surely one of the main reasons console gaming is so popular it because it's always been something you can pick up and play as the mood takes you. It seems to me that the console of tomorrow will be the PC of today. It's a bit early to speculate, but if all this buying upgrades online with MS and Sony is a goer, I'll be putting my cash into a Nintendo Wii and brush down my copy of GT3 for rainy days.

 

[LaBounti]

Wow, so many cry babies. geez guys, just wait for GT5 in 2008, theres no way we will see a GT5 this year or next. Dont buy it, stop crying.

This what I hoped for so I'm happy. The game wont be $50 or $60.

 

[MasterGT]

I stated earlier, when word first leaked out about the old GT:HD demo was to be sold as a release version, that the whole GT:HD idea was the wrong one, anyway. Since SONY plans on selling the current console for about another decade, what are all of the PS2 owners going to play as an on-line racing sim, especially if the only current one, ToCA 3, goes out of print? They should have released GT4 On-line as the medium for us to tolerate waiting for the full GT5, and they would still have made lots of money.

I am not going to buy an on-line version of a GT show demo. I am certainly not going to let SONY rape my wallet with a game.

There will be other PS3 games to consider before GT5 makes it to market and let's hope SONY gets their on-line business model straightened out beforehand, because this one isn't going to work with me. For example, if we need to have some obscure car to participate in a certain on-line race, then I presume all participants will have to have bought the same content or I don't race.

Let's hope other game companies don't follow this one, too. If they do, I will watch for developments such as the first PS3 GPL games. I watched the video of the Wii launch conference and Nintendo certainly seems to have a better attitude, not that I intend on buying one. The differences with what the two companies are doing is astounding, based on GTHD.

Cheers,

MasterGT

 

[Dave A]

What we need to hear is whether or not the GT Classic will come with all of GT4's content and maybe more and then have additional downlaods, or if it is how it's been translated, that it will come with zero cars and zero tracks and then you buy everything with real money. However it is of these two depends on how well I recieve this title, the differences in reception are almost polar opposites.

 

[MRTeam]

Ok here's some more fuel to add to this awesome fire. Is it possible we'll visit the aftermarket performance parts websites to download parts we want? Is it possible that manufactures will sell discs with their new models to upload to our hard drives? Just visit your local dealer and purchase the disc. Yes it is. There's no way PD can put together a disc which has everything we want. That's been proven by just looking at the enormous suggestions for GT5 and the debate on the various forums. So exploring this "downloading what you want" is going to happen. How many of us actually drive every car that's in GT4. I definitely don't and I'm sure I'm not alone. I'd be happy with a disc that has all the things that happen in a race, flags, weather, damage, parts failure, etc. Let me download/purchase the cars I want to race. If that means waiting online for a race to begin with my car so be it. I'll just log on and watch another race that is being held. Hopefully this GTHD has the capability to transfer the purchased items to GT 5 when it comes out in 2008+. Sorry if I offended everyone with my opinion, but my plan would be to have all the tracks, a few cars to race online, photo mode, film editing mode, and all the things that occur during a race. Oh does anyone know what the price is for a good set of racing slicks for a Dodge Viper Team Oreca? Maintaining your car is also part of the Gran Turismo experience.

 

[fasj6418]

All of this is going nowhere, adding more confusion, much like the confusion with the PS3 and it's basically making Sony look more and more like a company with a great product, but no sense of direction. Sony seems to have lost it's grip on consumer needs, and honestly, lost it's grip on reality. It's no coincidence that Sony's shares are dropping slowly but steadily in value. As someone put it earlier, unless the Blue Ray is RW and not just ROM, which it won't be, why do we need it? If games will come with a base package and then most of the content, features and patches will come from online why do we need such massive capacity Blue Ray drives? One would imagine we need much bigger HD drives and can stick with DVD drives. But Sony wants us to buy Blue Ray so their new format wins. Even though Sony's Betamax was higher quality than VHS it was more expensive and it was not as easy to use or work with as VHS, and we all know VHS won that format war.

Lets look at the GTHD fiasco. One would imagine a GT4, online, with car models from Photo Mode, with the 3D wheels and bumpmapped tyres, all of the next-gen particle, lighting and texture effects, all the 2D spectators replaced with the 3D spectators from some city and rally tracks, up to 20 cars on track , 4 player split screen, skid marks, some front wings to go with the rear wings, ability to paint the wings in the colour of the car, ability to save multiplayer replays, and last but not least all of the reported bugs, glitches and errors resolved, all in 1080p or 720p HD. It wouldn't exactly be a next gen GT but it may, I do mean may, keep people happy and waiting until 2008 for GT5, and make them buy into Sony's expensive PS3. But this? GTHDP, GTHDC it's confusing, preposterous in terms of pricing, and just plainly idiotic. I could go into how idiotic it is but unless you're a moronic fanboy, a millionaire or just plain stupid you can see for yourselves. KY and PD are again a bunch of developers that have lost touch with the gamer's needs and they are testing the gamer's patience and inteligence to the limit. It's quite sad really.

best post about the subject so far, regardless of what they say in the conference.👍

 

[RacingFreak2k3]

Ok here's some more fuel to add to this awesome fire. Is it possible we'll visit the aftermarket performance parts websites to download parts we want? Is it possible that manufactures will sell discs with their new models to upload to our hard drives? Just visit your local dealer and purchase the disc. Yes it is. There's no way PD can put together a disc which has everything we want. That's been proven by just looking at the enormous suggestions for GT5 and the debate on the various forums. So exploring this "downloading what you want" is going to happen. How many of us actually drive every car that's in GT4. I definitely don't and I'm sure I'm not alone. I'd be happy with a disc that has all the things that happen in a race, flags, weather, damage, parts failure, etc. Let me download/purchase the cars I want to race. If that means waiting online for a race to begin with my car so be it. I'll just log on and watch another race that is being held. Hopefully this GTHD has the capability to transfer the purchased items to GT 5 when it comes out in 2008+. Sorry if I offended everyone with my opinion, but my plan would be to have all the tracks, a few cars to race online, photo mode, film editing mode, and all the things that occur during a race. Oh does anyone know what the price is for a good set of racing slicks for a Dodge Viper Team Oreca? Maintaining your car is also part of the Gran Turismo experience.

I like how you've explained the idea of buying the cars and stuff, but i think the problem lies where people don't want to have to buy cars at all online if they should already be available in the game. No, not many people drive all of the cars in GT....and i see your point there...but just like in GT4, everyone should have a choice of a bunch of cars from purchasing the game....and then if extras come along, they can be downloaded for a price.....or free is good too. But if i want a few hundred of my favorite cars, i don't want to be forking over an extra 50 bucks or anything like that in order to just start the game.

 

[zonekill]

No word about damage in any of the GT games?

The "new" track The eiger nordwand is maybe the old Grindelwald track from GT2!?
(The eiger nordwand lies in Grindelwald in Switzerland.)

 

[DuckRacer]

Well, if we're starting with a shell of the game that's on a disc, where's all the downloaded content going to go? The HDD? If everything all totaled up amounts to 40GB+, it's going to fill up most of the premium PS3's HDD.

EDIT: New article (though not much new info).

TGS 2006: Gran Turismo HD Set For Release
Sony to release PS3 GT close to launch.
by IGN Staff
September 20, 2006 - One of your first PS3 games may just be Gran Turismo! Famitsu reports that Sony Computer Entertainment will be releasing Gran Turismo HD to the PlayStation 3 for Japanese release in December. Polyphony Digital is now slaving away at the game under the watchful eye of producer Kazunoru Yamauchi, who shared some details on the game with the magazine.


Gran Turismo HD is split into two modes of play. In GTHD Premium, players get to sample a portion of Gran Turismo 5, with two brand new courses and 30 cars that fully make use of the PS3's capabilities.

This mode will offer arcade-style races, but it continues the spirit of the series by serving as a "pure driving simulator." Premium mode will not have any elements of the series Gran Turismo mode, where you earn new cars and courses by clearing events. All cars and courses will be available from the start.

Famitsu shows first screens from The Eiger Nordwand course. Assuming the shots are real time, we can look forward to a true test of the PS3's power. The other course is, according to Yamauchi, set in a natural setting. Polyphony is looking into adding weather changes to the courses in Premium mode, making it so that rain will stop midway through a race.

The magazine also has images of the Toyota Celica and Subaru Impreza rally car models from the Premium mode. The cars in GTHD Premium mode will be fully modeled not just on the outside, but on the inside as well.

The second mode of play is GTHD Classic, an online racing mode that's based off both the Gran Turismo HD demo from E3 and the PlayStation 2 beta test that Polyphony conducted a few months back in Japan. The development staff has fixed up the problems with the beta version and is even working on adding new elements.

In Classic mode, you start off with no cars or courses. New cars and courses are added via downloads. The game will offer over 750 cars and 50 courses.

SCE will be charging players for these downloads. While pricing hasn't been finalized, we can expect each car to cost between 50 and 100 yen (50 cents to 1 dollar). Polyhpony plans on adding more cars and courses on a weekly or monthly basis, with some cars available in limited quantities. Concerns over players using real money to trade vehicles may keep car trading functionality out, although Polyphony is currently looking into the matter.

Courses will cost between 200 and 500 yen. According to Yamauchi, the difference in cost is due to the amount of work that goes into the course. The Nuremburg course will likely cost more, Yamauchi noted.

Polyphony is looking into other types of downloads. Yamauchi mentioned the photo mode as a new mode of play that players might be able to download. The team is even looking into making new parts downloadable.

Premium mode will also offer download elements. Polyphony plans on making 30 cars downloadable via the PlayStation network platform. New courses will also become available in time. It's unclear if these will be available for free, or if we will have to fork over our yen.

Gran Turismo HD seems to be positioned somewhat like Gran Turimso 4 Prologue, a Japan-only release that offered a sampling of Gran Turismo 4 well before the final game's release. Polyphony is aiming to finish up work on the true Gran Turismo 5 in 2008. But prior to that, they wanted to both show a sampling of what Gran Turismo would look like running on new hardware, and build up a full network service in time for GT5. Premium mode takes care of the former, with the latter filled up by Classic.

SCE has not commented on a US release for the game, but Yamauchi did reveal to the magazine that we can expect an overseas release at around the same time as the Japanese version.

 

[Tedehur]

PD must be having too many salespersons and executives, and not enough programmers. They don't sell games any more, they sell ideas and previews only. Much more cost effective perhaps.

So this time they developped the sequel & prologue concept further. After GT3 Concept (GT3 with new cars and less options), then GT4 Prologue (a mere playable demo of what GT4 would be), they'll release GT5 Prologue + GT4 Concept as a bundle called GT HD. And the greatest idea of all is that it's gonna be an empty shell and we'll have pay to fill it in.
That'll soon be a true real driving simulator : we'll have to pay virtual fuel, virtual tyres... perhaps even entry fees to race on the virtual tracks.

Way too "Micro$ofty" in the approach IMO.

 

[DuckRacer]

PD must be having too many salespersons and executives, and not enough programmers. They don't sell games any more, they sell ideas and previews only. Much more cost effective perhaps.

So this time they developped the sequel & prologue concept further. After GT3 Concept (GT3 with new cars and less options), then GT4 Prologue (a mere playable demo of what GT4 would be), they'll release GT5 Prologue + GT4 Concept as a bundle called GT HD. And the greatest idea of all is that it's gonna be an empty shell and we'll have pay to fill it in.
That'll soon be a true real driving simulator : we'll have to pay virtual fuel, virtual tyres... perhaps even entry fees to race on the virtual tracks.

Way too "Micro$ofty" in the approach IMO.

Not to be off-topic, but since when did MS release a shell of a game and expect people to fill it in?

 

[Tedehur]

I wasn't actually refering to the game market but rather to the way they make users pay for new versions of Windows or Office or whatever they sell that costs much more than what the new features are worth.
But that comes a bit off-topic, you're right.