New Release Date Discussion

[Jedi2016]

January 4th is actually a pretty good guess, based on the information we have.

Before the delay, GT4 was coming out in the States eleven days after the Japanese launch (12/3 - 12/14). It makes sense that the "gap" between Japan and the U.S. would remain about the same, regardless of how long the game was delayed.

So, assuming that the game will indeed be on Japanese shelves on Dec 28th, that means the game will come out in the States on either Jan 4th or Jan 11th (new games typically always come out on Tuesdays).

So here's hoping..

 

[VT]

Sheesh .. that means I'm gonna have to cancel my VT pre-order and pre-order it at home when I get there .. ::sigh::

 

[Flaanders]

I suppose that with the move foward of release date, they scrapped the bass fishing controler support. (anyone catch that one the last time around?)

 

[CMe]

THE BAD:
Yes they're pushing back the 🤬 release to Q1 2005.

THE GOOD
Yes the release will have support for internet game play. 👍

 

[Jedi2016]

Yes the release will have support for internet game play. 👍

Says who?

You must have missed the part where the game was finished and did NOT include online.

 

[CMe]

Says who?

You must have missed the part where the game was finished and did NOT include online.

Dude....
http://ps2.gamespy.com/playstation-2/gran-turismo-4/567341p1.html

 

[Mr. McShake]

hmmm... you think something like that would of been on the boards already if it were in fact true.

 

[Jedi2016]

Oh, you mean this part?:

"With the aid of the PlayStation 2's Network Adapter, players are be able to interact, chat, and of course race against six other GT4 players. Photorealistic backgrounds take players to locations such as New York City, and the Grand Canyon. Over 500 car models are available to race with, each handling physics that match their real world counterparts."

Puleeze... that's the same sales pitch they've been spouting for the last TWO YEARS. Quite simply, that information is no longer valid as of the announcement in September at TGS. The same place they announced the car count at over 650.. the listing of "500" should tell you right there that the information is old as dirt.

 

[Smoke_U_24/7]

I agree, Mr._McShake. If online in gt would be in the game, Yamauchi would have told us about the feature in the first place, just like he told uis about the photo mode feature.

CMe, please read Jedi2016's signature. KY probably told that lie to get us even more excited to buy the game. Or if it wasn't a lie, Please forgive me for saying that, All of the big VG Magazine web site's have been assuming that it was online because of the series' population.

 

[CMe]

Knowing first hand how much better NFS is with it's online game play...I guess I'm just hopefully optimistic about that GT4 news.

BTW there's always xLink Kai (I hope).

 

[Jedi2016]

FYI, the online version of GT4 is due out sometime next year.. probably Q3 at the earliest, most likely Q4 or Q1 '06.

My signature is directed at the people that think that GT4 is going to suck because it doesn't have online. I don't remember hearing those complaints about the previous GT's.. GT has never had online, I just don't understand why people get so pissy about a missing feature that no previous GT game ever had.

 

[adramire]

What the heck could they be doing to the game that is acusing so many delay's?!? they better have Ferrari, Lambo and Porsche and it better be near perfect! this is ridiculous!!

 

[Jedi2016]

And another one... *sigh*

NO ONLINE

NO FERARRI

NO LAMBORGHINI

NO PORSCHE

GET OVER IT.

The game is being delayed for manufacturing problems, NOT to add any new features.

 

[Mr P510]

Well said Jedi.I wish people would listen and just get over it.....sheeesh.

 

[Minnesota01R6]

The game is being delayed for manufacturing problems, NOT to add any new features.

From what I've read it seems like its actually software tweaks and/or bug fixes.

In order to live up to the expectations of the Gran Turismo fan base, SCEA decided that GT4 needed extra time to finalize all the key features and localization issues across worldwide territories.

I don't know what localization they need to do to release it in japan, so I would guess that they stumbled upon some aspect of the game that wasn't working the way it should in any version (ntsc/pal) or language.

Regardless, I agree that they are not taking this time to go back and add anything. They are fixing something that was broken bad. I guess it could be possible that ferrari called up KY at the last second and said they would license their cars to him, but the odds are about as good as Michael Schumacher showing up at my front door and giving me his F1 car.

 

[S31Ender]

From what I've read it seems like its actually software tweaks and/or bug fixes.



I don't know what localization they need to do to release it in japan, so I would guess that they stumbled upon some aspect of the game that wasn't working the way it should in any version (ntsc/pal) or language.

Regardless, I agree that they are not taking this time to go back and add anything. They are fixing something that was broken bad. I guess it could be possible that ferrari called up KY at the last second and said they would license their cars to him, but the odds are about as good as Michael Schumacher showing up at my front door and giving me his F1 car.

If Michael Schumacher shows up at your front door tomorrow and gives you his F1 car, I'll laugh so hard I'll cry.

 

[Jedi2016]

The manufacturing theory is based on the fact that we first heard about the delay not from retailers (although they did spout off the usual nonsense), but from distributors, who were hearing it from the manufacturing plants that there was some sort of undefined problem. The exact reason was never mentioned, but it's been speculated it could have to do with the sheer size of the game (no PS2 game has ever completely filled a DVD9 before), or a scheduling problem.. that Sony, in their infinite wisdom, held off on scheduling time at the manufacturing plants until they had a definite "gold" date for the game. And by the time the game went gold, they were left scrambling trying to get it manufactured in time. And couldn't quite hit the mark.

The "official" statement does include mention of minor tweaks and/or bug fixes, but according to an SCEA Testing Division employee, the game has already completed testing and passed with flying colors. Which, by all accounts, would mean it went straight from there to the pressing plant. Which brings us back to the manufacturing problem.

My theory is that the delay is actually happening only in Japan, that the problem in pressing is centered there (I don't think they have our resources for making DVDs.. I think the bulk of the DVD manufacturing plants are here). But I also think that SCEA is under orders from Sony Corporate to not release the American version until after the Japanese version is on shelves. This would explain SCEA's somewhat vague "Q1 2005", so that they can freely shift the date back and forth inside the first three months of the year, to accomodate the Japanese release + 2 weeks. The two weeks seems about right.. they'll probably wait until the game is actually physically on store shelves in Japan, then proceed to set up shipments to retailers here in the U.S., which can take a week or two.

Which also means that, right this minute, there's probably a warehouse somewhere in the U.S. filled with ready-to-play copies of GT4. Ain't that a *****?

 

[Smoke_U_24/7]

I totally forgot about the online version of GT4, Jedi2016! Sorry about that. I knew that The online GT4 was coming out, but I didn't mention it because that version is not the subject of this thread. But the online version might be affected by the set back of the original GT4's date. Thanks for all of the inside info on GT4's set back. Where/when did you find out all of the news?

 

[Minnesota01R6]

I just don't see why sony would give up the holiday buying season in north america because it wanted to release the game in japan first. Not to mention the fact that they could get the Japanese version printed here and charter a cargo plane to fly them all back to Japan if it was an issue of booking someplace to stamp the dvd's.


I'm not trying to complain or flame or anything. I guess I would just like to get an answer that is a little more specific than the official "localization and refinement of key features".

The weird thing is that there's probably at least 50 people in the world that know what the true cause is and nobody is leaking it. If I tell my mom what I got my girlfriend for christmas my girlfriend knows what her present is within 15 minutes. If GT4 was sitting in a warehouse somewhere, someone on this board would know someone who works at the plant they pressed it at and the info would eventually make it to the board.

hmmm, maybe I should go on a hunger strike and chain myself in a lawnchair to SCEA's corporate offices untill I get an answer. It worked for homer against the isotopes!

 

[Smoke_U_24/7]

But what I don't get is that why is everyone getting different stories. I'm not following the news of this set back very closely, But it's got me P.O.'ed that these are nothing but rumors and theories. Jedi2016 says that It's manufactoring problems (which is more than likely the real reason, 9 gigs is big for a video game) Minnesota01R6 says that they're fixing the localization and key features of the game. Why keep us guessing?

Jedi2016's last post got me thinking: What if GT4 was supposed to come out on two disks, just like GT2 did? Is the reason behind the set back is because they scrapped that plan and decided to just put it all all one dvd9 or vice-versa? The situation is very interesting once you think about it.

 

[Rezonance]

Whatever the reason for the delay, it's gotta be pretty major. To miss out on the Christmas buying season by just a few weeks is a HUGE marketing ****-up. I'll bet some heads are rolling at Sony for that one. Yeah, they'll still sell a frigging pantload, but the all-out rabid buying frenzy of Christmas will be long gone.

 

[Minnesota01R6]

Smoke, I've been following a little closer than you, but not much. The official line from sony/PD is the "localization and refining key features" thing. You can read about it at any game site: this IGN article and this gamespot article are good examples.

There were rumors just before the announcement that a delay would be upcoming, but everyone was rejoycing in the fact that sony/PD had just thrown a big "it's finally done!" party. Many a person ate his words after saying "its gone gold, they can't delay it now".

So, the question is: were the rumors right for the right reason? someone could have just made up "production line problems" in order to mess with people right before the release and then it turns out there is a delay and everyone assumes the person was telling the truth, buys the production line reason, and so on. I however have learned to be very skeptical of stuff posted to this board without a cite to gamespot, ign, play station magazine, etc. I want to hear it from the horse's mouth instead of playing the telephone game and getting a story that is 1% fact and 99% b-s.

As I said, the production problem is plausible, but I doubt sony would miss x-mas unless they absolutely had to. Even if they couldn't get the game out untill Dec. 24th. I am going to write IGN and ask them to get a more specific reason for the delay from sony. Maybe if enough of us do that they will give us a decent answer.

 

[mrhambone]

my local games store says the PAL version is out on feb the 20th

personally i reckon all the stockists of the game are getting a different story about the proper release date, and it could be out any time at all in (hopefully ) the first 3 months of 2005 no idea when though. But that date(20th feb) seems good enough to me for PAL.

 

[Minnesota01R6]

well, I 1-upped myself and sent an email to sony's media relations department as well. we'll see what kind of an automated response I get. 👎

 

[Greyout]

maybe useless (outdated?), but interesting
http://www.ecommerce.or.th/APEC-Workshop2002/ppt/slide/hirano.pdf

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

What do you mean "taking this long". The game wasn't due out in the States for another three weeks.. so it's been delayed another three weeks, that ain't enough time to do d**k.

Gamestop is probably right about the date, since the Japanese release is scheduled for the end of December, and the U.S. will be only a couple weeks behind it. But they're wrong about online.

I am pretty sure he said "taking this long" because the original release date was supposed to be this year in January 2004. So its already been pushed 11 months and now a few more. Thats what he means by "taking this long".
These threads really should be closed the second they start.

 

[Greyout]

n/m

 

[SaintKamus]

ignore this post, double posted by accident.

 

[SaintKamus]

FYI, the online version of GT4 is due out sometime next year.. probably Q3 at the earliest, most likely Q4 or Q1 '06.

My signature is directed at the people that think that GT4 is going to suck because it doesn't have online. I don't remember hearing those complaints about the previous GT's.. GT has never had online, I just don't understand why people get so pissy about a missing feature that no previous GT game ever had.

i think you're dreaming, the online version has not been anounced officialy, it was just comented that "there will be an online version later on" this will probably end up meaning GT5. don't belive me? just wait and see.

and by the way, just what do you mean "people get so pissy about a missing feature that no previous GT game ever had."

excuse me? i was pissed of GT3 didn't have it, but then, there was no network adapter back then (wich was a shame, considering the older "obsolete" dreamcast had one). GT2 didn't have it, no networking for PS ONE, so that's fine. same for GT1.

but now we get GT4, there's a network adapter out, and even the new PS2 has one built in (wich should've been included in the original PS2, and for all you people that say "but that would've been too expensive!" just remmember the dreamcast ok? spare me.)

ok, so now, 4 years later after the PS2's release you can finally play online in lots of games... (WAAAY OVERDUE!). and the PS2's flagship title, that is multiplayer by nature doesn't have support for it?
geez, i'm sorry if i try to get my money's worth, i can see how some people (like you) don't care about such things, you don't care about competitive gameplay, heck, you're a hardcore GT series fan and you play with the DS2.
so you're not competitive, that's fine. but howbout those of us who are? we get screwed.

i hope i helped you understand why we want online in GT4, and wanted it in GT3 but wasn't possible due to sony's mediocre console rollout. (say what you want, the PS2 launch was a disaster, the PS2 did great because of all the hype they created with early tech demos, but as a whole, the console could've been better, the Dreamcast launch was superior, but their marketing wasn't enough to keep them in bussiness.)

what i don't get is people like you, what do you care if people want online or not? you're getting your game either way, you can still play vs AI even if it has online, and you can still play with your DS2, and nothing will change that, so you're happy right? you get your features, but just cause you have the game the way you want it, doesn't mean it's the way evryone wants it.

so in a nutshell, whats it to you if people talk about the lack of online?

 

[gt3_racer05]

march? man, that's long, 4 more months. Oh well, i'll let it through this time.