GTPlanet

Since the release of Gran Turismo 1 in 1998, one feature has been on the wishlists of GTPlanet members everywhere: the ability to load your own music into the game.  With the release of the new PlayStation 3 firmware update 2.4, those dreams will finally come true.  The 2.4 firmware allows you to access the XMB PS3 menu while you are actually playing a game on the system, including all of the music that you’ve loaded onto your PlayStation’s hard drive.  As you can see from the video below, you simply turn down the in-game tunes (so they won’t interfere with your own, obviously), fire up the XMB, find your song, and hit the play button**.  Also, because the PlayStation 3 is backward-compatible with both PS1 and PS2 games, you’ll be able to take advantage of this new feature in every single Gran Turismo game released in the series.  Many of you don’t listen to music while you’re driving, but this is a very welcome addition to the games for those who do!  The new firmware will be available to download via your PS3 on July 2, 2008.

**UPDATE: Since this was first posted, more information about in-game music has been revealed.  According to this post on the Sony blog, “Currently only music stored on the HDD is accessible in games that support this feature. We’d also like to reiterate that Firmware v2.40 merely enables custom soundtracks. It’s up to developers to include this feature in upcoming games (or to patch existing ones).”  That obviously rules out all PS1 or PS2 games, and the current Spec II edition of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue.  So much for that…

A bit of information has popped up in the Gran Turismo 5: Prologue news section about the first international online race event.  Beginning on Thursday, June 26, you will be able to race up to 12 other players from anywhere in the world on the High Speed Ring circuit.  This represents, finally, a step forward in the development of the online racing environment.  All of the current online events limit you to competitors from your local region/continent, and it is good to see that Polyphony are ready to push the boundaries of the functionality of their software.  Also, it brings hope that when we are able to create private races, we won’t have any limitations on who we choose to compete with.  This international event trial will end on July 3rd, so don’t waste any time if you want to try it out - head over to our Gran Turismo 5 Prologue forum to meet up with the best racers every country has to offer.

Amazon began a great promotion with Gran Turismo 5: Prologue today: buy the game and you’ll get a $15 Amazon Gift Card completely free.  For those of you who don’t have your copy yet, now is the time!  Here’s the details from Amazon - you’ll find the complete terms on the product page.

Order Gran Turismo 5 Prologue for PlayStation 3 between June 19, 2008 and July 22, 2008 in our Video Games Store and receive a $15.00 Amazon.com Gift Card*. An email will be sent out by July 29, 2008 and will include the Amazon.com Gift Card and redemption instructions. This offer applies only to the purchase of the Gran Turismo 5 Prologue for PS3 offered by Amazon.com and does not apply to products sold on our site by third-party merchants or through third-party areas such as Amazon.com Marketplace or Auctions. Limit one per household.

The GT Academy competition was officially kicked off today!  To sign up and participate, visit gtacademy.eu and enter your PSN ID.  Once registered, simply view the online events in Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, and post a fast lap around the Eiger Nordwand in a Nissan Fairlady Z Version S.  Be sure to register in the competition with your Official GTPlanet PSN ID to show the world just how fast GTPlanet drivers are!  The full press release is posted after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »

New information has emerged about the GT Academy, the latest promotion by Sony to give Europe’s fastest GT drivers a shot at a real racing career. The first press release was vague on details, but today we have everything you need to know. The entire competition is broken down into three stages:

Stage 1 (June 2 - July 21): The first phase of GT Academy will take place online with a “giant” virtual Gran Turismo 5 Prologue tournament. The competition will run for seven weeks and to enter, players must register their PSN ID at gtacademy.eu. The next time they play GT5 Prologue online they will be able to race in the GT Academy Time Trial where they will compete to be the fastest around the Eiger Nordwand track in a Nissan Fairlady 350Z.

Stage 2 (after July 21): The fastest 20 drivers in each country will be invited to a national final to compete head to head on Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. The three fastest drivers from the final will win a seat at the Stage 3 competition.

Stage 3 (August 25): The fastest three drivers from each country travel to Silverstone to take part in the GT Academy - a real-life driving competition on the track itself. Competitors will not only have to prove their driving skills in a Nissan GT-R but will also be tested for their mental and physical skills in a series of tests. The two fastest drivers from Silverstone then have the chance to enter a four month training programme to earn their racing licenses and take part in a real life race in a fully race prepared Nissan 350Z at the 24 Hour endurance event in Dubai in January 2009.

Hopefully, a large number of GTPlanet users will be participating in this competition, and one of our own will make it all the way to Dubai. Regardless, it’s great to see Sony and Polyphony taking advantage of the game’s online capabilities to expand the reach and influence of the series.

A “Nurburgring Special Edition” of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is on display at the 24-hour endurance race of the Nurburgring Nordschleife. As one of the most popular circuits in Gran Turismo 4, there is perhaps no other track that Prologue owners want more. Here’s a few shots of Nurburgring Special Edition in action (taken by Oliver Wegen of ringfotograf.de), along with video of a complete lap. Check out the rest of the images here.

Of course, many people have begun speculating that the circuit will be available to download soon, but this may be a bit optimistic. Closer inspection of the screenshots reveal that no changes have been made from the Gran Turismo 4 version of the circuit - it’s the same “place” in high-definition. It is unlikely that Polyphony would release the circuit to the public without bringing the visual details up to par with the others in Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. It is also unlikely that a Prologue edition of the game, only intended to be a preview of things to come, would include such a highly anticipated part of the series. What do you think?

Sony Computer Entertainment has announced the cumulative worldwide shipment of 50 million Gran Turismo games worldwide.  This milestone was achieved thanks to the international release of Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, after selling 2.2 million copies after just a few weeks on store shelves in Europe, North America, and Asia.  Here’s what series creator Kazunori Yamauchi had to say about the event:

“Initially, Gran Turismo was an ‘alternative’ racing game, kind of an outsider in the genre,” said Kazunori Yamauchi, Producer of Gran Turismo. “And we made it thinking that it would be okay as long as it reached out to ‘the select few who would agree with us.’ So this figure — 50 million units — is simply astounding.  [ ... ]  I would really like to thank all the fans who have supported the Gran Turismo series over the years, for all their passion and love of the game. We’d like to continue making every effort to create cutting edge, high quality games, so that we don’t disappoint anyone’s expectations.”

Now, let’s break down the raw data and see how each game actually contributed to this total.  I think you’ll find the results very interesting.

First of all, you may be surprised to see that Gran Turismo 4 actually sold fewer copies than any of the previous games, despite drastically improved visuals and unprecedented depth and variety of game play.  However, it was the second game on the PlayStation 2, and the “wow-factor” of Gran Turismo 3′s visuals back in 2001 were not so unique to casual gamers four years later. If you look closely at the chart, that’s a trend that was also repeated with the first two games in the series on the original PlayStation.  When the series hits a new console for the first time, it’s almost guaranteed to sell more than its predecessor, as Polyphony Digital flexes their creative muscles on new hardware.  By the time the second game arrives, we see more new features and cars introduced, but the general populace is not visually stimulated enough to run to the store.

Of course, that’s not the case in Europe, where the numbers show an increasing demand for each game in the series.  Unlike North America, nearly every European who bought  Gran Turismo 3 also picked up Gran Turismo 4, and continue to lead the sales of Gran Turismo 5: Prologue.  The series’ rising popularity in Europe also seems to be driving Sony’s marketing and promotional decisions.  Europeans enjoyed a whirlwind tour with series creator Kazunori Yamauchi attending lavish launch parties in London, Madrid, and Germany, while the United States has yet to see even a television commercial.  It will be interesting to see how Sony Computer Entertainment continues to promote the games as we slowly move towards the monumental release of Gran Turismo 5 in Europe and abroad - it could be the beginning of a strong focus on the Old World as the Gran Turismo franchise moves away from its homeland…

Business Week recently posted an article discussing the influence that the Gran Turismo series had on the development and eventual release of the Nissan GT-R in the United States.  While most of us are aware of the intimate relationship between the series and the GT-R, it’s both interesting and good news to see the major business media outlets take notice and recognize the influence of this little thing we call Gran Turismo.  To quote a senior Nissan executive:

“It blew us away, really it did. But one of the chief responses in our consumer surveys about the car – one of the chief places people had heard about the car was this game, this video game called Gran Turismo.”

Of course, many other cars have also been made very popular because of the series, such as Mitsubishi’s Lancer, which have always been renowned for their versatility in the games.  Hopefully, more automakers will take note of the power of the GT series, promoting an active interest in the development and implementation of their vehicles in Gran Turismo 5.  Read the full BusinessWeek article here.

Coming out of nowhere, Sony has announced “GT Academy” - a program for Europeans that translates their on-track performance in Gran Turismo 5 Prologue into a real racing career. Starting at the end of May, a series of online races will be held to determine the two most competitive players. The two winners will receive four months of real-world racing school instruction, and a racing seat with the Nissan team in the 24 Hours of Dubai later this year! This is a very surprising and unusual program for Nissan and Sony to embark upon, and there are still many details which are unclear. For example, how will the online competitions be regulated to prevent unfair driving and bumping? How will the races themselves be determine, tracked, and monitored with the current online system? Stay tuned for more details as we get them - meanwhile, hit the track and sharpen your driving skills! See the full press release after the jump…

Read the rest of this entry »

Since Gran Turismo 5 Prologue has been released in Europe, we’re finally beginning to get a trickle of information about the full Gran Turismo 5 as it lingers upon the horizon. One of the first tidbits to come down the pipeline is the confirmation of a new “city circuit” located in Madrid, Spain. While this is certainly very interesting, it does make you wonder why Polyphony would create a new circuit where one does not exist, while the infamous (and very popular) Circuit de Catalyuna is only a few hundred miles away. Obviously, some licensing issues (and costs) for the circuit must be factored in, but there is no question it would be a great selling point to an even wider range of racing enthusiasts.