Sony announced that Gran Turismo 5: Prologue would be getting a nice update tomorrow. The main addition to the game will be the launch of Gran Turismo TV. If you’re big into cars, this is a huge plus.
GT TV will feature both free and paid video content all about cars. Whether you want to see them being made, tested, or tweaked, there will be a show for you.
In addition to GT TV, a few gameplay enhancements will be included in this patch. Polyphany Digital is bringing you fixes in penalty judgments, more tire choices for Time Trial and improved physics during collisions between cars during online races. Good stuff.
So if you have a copy of GT5: Prologue, fire it up on Friday and download the update. I know I will.
An eagle eyed member over at PS3 Forums posted up a camera grab of Nurburgring in Gran Turismo 5 Prologue at an event for the race at said track. You can see in the screen that the game says “spec II”, indicating we might see some other big changes in the game.
We already know that Polyphony Digital plans to support GT5 Prologue with DLC and such until the release of the full GT5 game. Could Spec II bring other new tracks, cars, or gameplay modes as well? I would have to think so since the “spec II” moniker refers to more than just adding a track; it refers to some decent changes.
I think the most important question here is how much will this all cost? Sony and Polyphony Digital have been quiet on the situation, so only time will tell. I just hope it’s not too much.
Die hard Gran Turismo fans have been chomping at the bit for more 1080p racing goodness ever since the GT HD demo was released on the PlayStation Network shortly after the release of the PS3. With Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, their prayers have been answered. GT5 Prologue is the best looking racing game on the market, but the content falls a bit short.
It’s tough to deny the beauty that is GT5 Prologue. The game runs at 1080p at a blazing 60 frames per second. Car models are intricately detailed to exactly mirror their real life counterparts and these are easily the best car models in any game on the market. The courses in the game are a mixed bag. Don’t get me wrong, they’re all beautiful, but some are more detailed than others. London is a beautiful recreation of the city, but don’t expect too much going on at Daytona. Being the best looking track in the game, it’s a shame you don’t get to see London too often in single player until the end. To complement the graphical engine, GT5 Prologue has an amazing soundtrack. Each of the tracks chosen fits well and keeps your adrenaline level up while making sharp turns and trying not to slam into the wall. Sound effects are also done well with each car having a unique sound for its engine.
I got my copy of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue for the PS3 today. I’ve been anxiously awaiting this title for a while, as I’ve been a huge fan of the series and racing games in general. So when I put the game in my PS3, I was more than ready to race. Here’s a breakdown of what happened:
9:24pm - Loaded the game, started the install process
9:37pm - Install ended (13 minutes total, using 5349MB)
9:38pm - Began downloading the game update
9:42pm - Error occurred during download, had to start over
9:44pm - Began downloading the game update… again
9:51pm - Update finished, needed to hold the PS button to quit the game
9:52pm - Restart game, going through menus
9:53pm - Begin car shopping (you have to buy a car first with the 35k credits you have before you can race)
10:01pm - Bought car after looking for a while for what I can afford (settled on Mazda RX-8)
10:07pm - Finally finished first single player race (2:52 total race time)
So as you can see, if you get the Blu-Ray version of the game, it’s going to take you an absurd amount of time sitting there doing nothing waiting to actually play the game. Seriously, this is just ridiculous. It took 40 minutes before I was able to actually play the game.
Sony announced the full soundtrack for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue in the US. There are quite a few tracks that separate this from the European and Japanese versions of the game. I have to say, I’m fairly impressed. Some great stuff here.
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is coming soon on the PS3 in North America. Japan already has the game and Europe will be getting it very soon. To prepare, check out this gameplay footage from the London track. It’s damn pretty. And from all the play time we’ve had with the game, this should be on the top of every PS3 owner’s buy list.
Japan has been playing Gran Turismo 5 Prologue for a while now, and soon US gamers will get a chance to tear up the track. The game is being released on April 17th as both a download from the PlayStation Store and available at retail. Both versions will run you $39.99
The retail version will ship with a bonus HD making of video, if you’re into that sort of thing or are running short of hard drive space on your PS3. We’ve played Prologue a few times here at Loot Ninja and think it’s definitely one of if not the best driving games that you’ll play this year.
One of the last games we checked out at Sony’s Media Day was Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. Running at 1080p at 60fps, the game is absolutely stunning. From the car models to the tracks to the background environments, every aspect of the game looks utterly amazing. The game is set to be released in Spring 2008 on both Blu-Ray disc and as a download from the PlayStation Store. No pricing has been set for North America just yet.
When the game ships, it will include approximately 70 cars and 5 reversible tracks, including Daytona. Like all Gran Turismo games, you’ll have to progress through the races to unlock most of the cars. There won’t be any license tests in Prologue, but will make it into GT5 when the full game is released. There will be more car tuning than what’s found in Gran Turismo HD, but nowhere near the amount you’ll find in the full GT5. There will be no damage modeling in Prologue, as Polyphony Digital didn’t have enough time to dedicate to making it work perfectly.
We all knew that Japan was getting Gran Turismo 5 Prologue this month. But we didn’t know when we’d see it over here in the US. Until now.
Amazon has revealed the release date on their website as February 19th here in the States. The game will be available both at retail and as a download from the PlayStation Store.
Japan will see a downloadable demo of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue on the PS3 on October 20th (which happens to be this editor’s birthday). No word on the rest of the world, but I’d expect it to hit the US and Europe a few weeks later, as that’s the standard we’ve seen previously.
Translated from the latest edition of Famitsu:
release Dec 13
demo version from Oct 20
mysterious disguised GT-R will be driveable in the demo version
first time Daytona has been in the GT games
watch car info programmes from around the world on GT.TV
use points you gain from offline events in the final product to buy fascinating cars
Sounds good to me. Hopefully we see the demo and final release close to the same time Japan does.
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