Polyphony Digital

This is it, folks: Polyphony Digital has finally published the complete and comprehensive list of features in GT5. A quick scan actually doesn’t reveal any major bombshells that most of you regular GTPlanet readers don’t already know, but it’s a nice overview, regardless. Start reading here on the official site.

Much like Polyphony Digital’s Citroen GT, it looks like the Red Bull X1 Prototype will also be transitioning from the virtual world into reality – sort of. This is actually just a model, but these pictures from the latest edition of Evo Magazine make it easier to imagine what the real thing could actually look like.

Here’s the official photo collection from last week’s Gran Turismo Awards in Las Vegas. Don’t miss the first new screenshots of last year’s winner, Philip Koenen’s 1970 Ford “Trans-Cammer” Mustang below.

The 8th annual GT Awards were held in Las Vegas last night, and Kazunori Yamauchi gave top honors to Mark Stielow for his custom 1969 Chevrolet Camaro. Check out the complete press release and the first pictures from the event below. Expect a lot more media, video, and interviews to start popping up from SEMA in the next few days.

A GameReactor associate in Tokyo, Gregor Wildermann, has reportedly made contact with Polyphony Digital and Kazunori Yamauchi for further clarification on Gran Turismo 5’s production status:

Remember the threats Sony and Polyphony Digital received from Siena, Italy? They were none too happy about local flags featured in the Piazza Del Campo karting track revealed at Gamescom 2010, and began taking legal action against the two companies. Thankfully, an obvious and simple resolution was found, but it looks like Sony gets the last laugh.

The Tokyo Game Show – the last big industry event before Gran Turismo 5’s November release – is almost here! Just a short drive from Polyphony Digital’s headquarters, TGS is nearly always eventful for GT fans, and this year Sony is expected to begin aggressively pushing GT5 as their flagship 3D title.

Those of us here on GTPlanet aren’t the only ones who like the Gran Turismo series – it’s a pretty big deal for Sony, too. While speaking in an interview with MCV UK, Sony Worldwide Studios’ European VP, Michael Denny, confirmed GT’s importance to the company while defending the its lengthy development cycle:

Remember the outraged city of Siena, which was preparing legal action against Sony because the city’s Contrade flags appeared around GT5’s karting track, Piazza del Campo? There was some concern and confusion regarding what the eventual outcome would be, but the solution fortunately turned out to be quite simple: the offensive flags were removed and Siena’s cultural heritage “protected”…  As reported by Corriere Fiorentino:

For the third consecutive year, Kazunori Yamauchi has been invited to the prestigious Pebble Beach Concourse d’Elegance to present the Gran Turismo Trophy – an award “to support those who make efforts to preserve irreplaceable, precious automotive culture for future generations to come”. This year, it goes to the one and only 1952 Abarth 1500 Biposto Coupe in existence – an unusual, quirky, and significant car. From the official announcement:

The new karting track revealed in the latest GT5 demo shown off at Gamescom 2010 is now causing problems for Polyphony Digital and Sony Computer Entertainment. The track, named Piazza del Campo after the famous city square in Siena, Italy, hosts a world-renowned horse race twice a year known as the Palio di Siena (you may remember it in Quantum of Solace – ironically a Sony movie). Unfortunately, though, in Polyphony’s digital recreation of the location, they’ve (gasp!) used flags of the local contrada without permission. As reported by Corriere Fiorentino, the city is none too happy about it, and is threatening to take legal action against Sony to prevent sale and distribution of the game in Italy.

Before you read any further, keep in mind the information below should NOT be taken as confirmation that any of the following tracks will be in Gran Turismo 5. I am posting this here to get ahead of other media outlets who post this without more careful consideration of what may actually be shown in these images. With that said, the following is an interesting discovery you GTPlanet readers should know about.

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.

Before Kazunori Yamauchi created the first Gran Turismo, he began his career with a title known as Motor Toon Grand Prix. Produced by “Polys Entertainment” (later to become Polyphony Digital), it’s a cartoon racing game featuring 8 karts and 10 tracks. Sony has just announced the game’s availability for download as a “PSOne Classic” on PSN for $5.99. So, if you want to see how it all really got started, grab the 251 MB download and give it a go.

Sad news: remember the Polyphony Digital-designed supercar, the Citroën GT? After it was first revealed in an update to GT5 Prologue, it was widely publicized and praised in the media as the physical prototype made its way around the world at various car shows and events. It even floated around Venice, and this video I uploaded to YouTube (also embedded below) of the car driving around the streets of London has received more than 1.5 million views.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd0fscJeyxg

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The biggest game show of the year is finally upon us, and there’s a lot to suggest that Gran Turismo 5 is finally set for its big debut! Here’s a quick overview of exactly what’s going to happen over the next few days:

With the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race coming up the weekend of June 12-13, Sony has re-affirmed their interest in motorsport with title sponsorship of Team Peugeot Sport. Of course, the PlayStation and Gran Turismo brand has been prominently connected with the event for several years now, with highly-visible banner placement around the Mulsane chicanes. This year, though, with the pending release of GT5, they’ve got more reason than ever to support the big race. Here’s the Sony France press release, via GT5rs (thanks to Vidor for the tip!):

Remember the Photomode location in Gran Turismo 4, which let you place your car on a boat in front of the famous Rialto Bridge in Venice? Citroen managed to re-create this scene from the game in the real world earlier this week, with the radical Citroen GT concept car designed by Polyphony Digital.