As GTPlanet user amar212 has had more time to explore his early PAL copy of Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, he has continued updating his very informative post with new information and more impressions about the game. He’s even included a simple guide, carefully detailing the best “path” through the game so you can get your hands on superstars such as the F40, Ford GT-LM, and of course the F2007 as quickly as possible. In his latest update, however, a thoughtful Amar emphasizes two key points which I believe will set this particular game apart from others in the series: earning money and car tuning. With lower prize values in a limited selection of race events, higher powered vehicles are harder to come by, and the “Quick Tune Screen” will play an important role for advanced players. To quote Amar:

Amar212, who got his hands on a copy of a PAL edition of Gran Turismo 5: Prologue yesterday, has brought us even more updates! A beta tester is already driving the Ferrari F2007, and Amar was able to grab a quick snapshot of the cockpit view from the online replay feature (good thinking!). The online functionality for the PAL game was enabled today, and he describes the online connectivity as “smoother” than what we have previously experienced with Japanese copies. We’ve also learned the “Quick Tune Setup” feature only becomes available after you complete the C, B, and A events, and it brings a return of car setup control that we are used to in the previous games. Go straight to his post here for all the details in our GT5 Prologue Forum – once again, thanks for the updates, Amar!

GTPlanet’s own amar212 just got his hands on a PAL (European) copy of GT5: Prologue! This has led us to some awesome new discoveries that have previously been kept under wraps. A few of the highlights are below – read his full post here for all the details and latest updates, and join all the other fans here in our GT5 Prologue Forum.

Before the game is even released in Europe or the United States, SCEE is reporting that Gran Turismo 5 Prologue has already surpassed one million pre-orders. This makes Prologue is the first ever PlayStation 3 title to go Platinum – and it hasn’t even hit store shelves! Get in on the action and pre-order your own copy now!

Just this afternoon a flood of 43 new GT5 Prologue screenshots have been released, showing us the new features such as the “Quick Tune” options as well as a look at in-car settings adjustments via the new logitech wheel. Also, don’t miss the mouth-watering black tuned Ford GT, and get a first-hand look at the new drifting mode coming in North American and European updates! Of course, they just keep coming in our GT5 Prologue Forum, so head on over to this thread and share your thoughts!

Since the full car list was released last week, everyone has been waiting for one thing: the first screenshots of the Ferrari F40 and Ferrari 512BB. Today, thanks to our resident insider amar212 in our GT5 Prologue Forum, we got a peek! The F40 has turned out to be one of the most detailed car models Polyphony has ever produced, resulting in some pretty incredible screenshots. We’ve also got new images of the two-player split screen race mode (which shows the Ferrari 512BB!), along with two highly anticipated shots of the new track, High Speed Ring. Enjoy!

Along with the press release above, we’ve just added 36 new high-resolution Gran Turismo 5 Prologue screenshots to our extensive gallery! The new images start here on page 7 and page 8, with some of the highlights below. Enjoy!

Sony has announced Gran Turismo 5 Prologue / PS3 bundle packs will be available in Europe on March 29th. If you haven’t already purchased a PS3, this will be a great opportunity to pick one up along with the new game. The real question: why are there no plans to bring this package to North American markets..? Of course, if you’ve already got a PS3, you can go ahead and pre-order your copy of GT5 Prologue at Amazon right now!

Takau Imasaki’s recent interview at the 2008 Game Developers Conference reveals little new information, but gives us a brief glimpse inside the development of the series and where it may be headed. Imasaki is the SCEA producer responsible for making the GT games more “friendly” to the U.S. market. He takes credit for “speeding up” the original Gran Turismo to give it a more arcade feel – one that he felt would be more popular with stateside gamers. The most interesting part of the interview came when Imasaki was asked about why they planned to release ‘Prologue’ in the first place: “We want to get the experience of developing an online game. By having something out there, you learn from a lot of consumer feedback and learning how consumers play the game online… Microsoft and other companies are light years ahead of us in terms of experience, so we want to get that experience as well.” Check out the full interview below:

Sony’s new DualShock 3 controller will be arriving on April 15th, just in time for the North American release of Gran Turismo 5: Prologue! The DS3 is the official wireless controller for the PlayStation 3 to feature “rumbling” vibrations without wires, and will go on sale for $54.99. I’m sure that most of us remember how much the original DualShock controller changed the gaming experience in the original Gran Turismo, and it’s great to see this essential feature come back as the series moves onto the new console. Of course, the DualShock 3 is already available in Japan, and you can easily import one for only $59.90 (also available in white), so you can go ahead start enjoying your games with the rumble features right now.

There has been a lot of GT5 speculation floating around the internet over the past few days, thanks to a recent email sent by the large UK video game retailer GAME.co.uk. It states that Gran Turismo 5 won’t be available until 2009, then quickly reminds users that Gran Turismo 5: Prologue is right around the corner (with a convenient link to pre-order the game at their site). A lot of gaming news sites have given this source a lot of credit, but I’m not sold on the reliability of the information just yet. From a purely speculative point of view, however, a 2009 release date would make sense, given the unprecedented international release of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. Sony has always put pressure on Polyphony Digital to get their games out the door, and I doubt that they would invest so many resources to launch this mini-game if they didn’t expect to receive a significant long-term return. Anyway, here’s a snapshot of the email sent by GAME, as posted by videogamer.com. Regardless of what you think of it, the next few months are going to prove to be quite interesting!

A few of the first hands-on comments have been popping up around the web by people who actually got to play Gran Turismo 5: Prologue with the new Logitech Driving Force GT wheel, and so far, they are good. While these are just impressions from the floor at the Game Developers Conference (and not full reviews), it is interesting that the force feedback is getting so much attention. Hopefully, these folks have experience with other force-feedback wheels, and can actually detect an improvement from the older games.

There has long been speculation that Gran Turismo 5 Prologue would be arriving on European shores in late March, but nothing we could really put a finger on. Now, as usual, our very own amar212 spied the official European date, quietly tucked away near the bottom of the press release announcing Logitech’s new wheel.

Logitech has just announced the all-new Driving Force GT wheel for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue! This is the first wheel of its kind that has a dial on the wheel itself to allow the user to adjust things on the car in real time, such as brake bias and damper settings. The force-feedback feature has also been given more power, and most importantly, the illuminated GT logo in the center can now be pressed to blow the car’s horn in the game.

I’ve always had a thing for official GT logo merchandise, and it looks like it is finally starting to show up. According to a few of the eBay auctions, if you purchase a PlayStation 3 / GT5 Prologue bundle, you can also get a free GT5 Prologue ‘windbreaker’ jacket. Although similar bundles are imminent for the North American and European markets, it is highly unlikely that we’ll be getting the freebies as well. The individual jackets are beginning to pop-up on eBay, though, so grab one while you still can!

Part 2 of the Kazunori Yamauchi interview that we posted yesterday has been uploaded by GTChannel. There isn’t many interesting questions for this second part of the interview, but he did mention an interesting aspect of the online Gran Turismo 5 experience that we haven’t heard before: “users can also create an online community – for example, fans or owners of the GT-R can create a community or team of their own…” It will certainly be interesting to see if this new feature is mentioned down the road as it has a lot of potential to expand on the game’s online arena.

A new interview with Kazunori Yamauchi was just released by GTChannel, where he discusses some interesting things about his own history and projects that he has worked on in the past. His own personal garage consists of a heavily modified Nissan 350Z, a Honda S2000, a Porsche GT3, and a Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG which he uses as his daily driver. He also owns two Ford GT’s: one white, and one in gunmetal gray.

As you may have heard, Sony has recently launched their new “official” website for the North American version of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. Although we have already reported that there will be more than 60 cars in the U.S. version of the game, the number of tracks mentioned on the site has been raising a few eyebrows. To quote from the new site:

Those of you who have already purchased the Japanese version of Gran Turismo 5: Prologue probably made a good decision. In its latest press release and PS Blog update, the North American release date has been set at April 17 for the new game. Pricing will be set at $39.99 and it will be available as a Blu-Ray disc or as a download from the PlayStation Store. The most interesting thing about the new press release was noticed by resident GT guru amar212 – there will be more than 60 cars for North America. This is a significant increase from the 37 vehicles currently available in the Japanese version of the game. Perhaps they will be available for download in a future update? It’s impossible to say for now, but good news nonetheless.