Gran Turismo 5: Prologue

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!

Finally, the press release we’ve been waiting for! SCEA has announced a plethora of new features, along with a complete car and track list that is raising quite a few eyebrows. Our resident GT news aces amar212 and alba have posted the full press release in our GT5 Prologue forum, with the highlights below.

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!

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!

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.

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!

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:

The Blu-Ray version is also going to include a “behind-the-scenes” HD video feature, showcasing some of the hard work that Polyphony Digital has undergone to get the new game out the door. The press release also mentions a “Quick Tune facility allows you to adjust power, tires, suspension and more…” If this is true, it finally means that GT5 Prologue drivers will have more control over their settings, and we’ll hopefully see even more competitive online races. Speaking of the online aspect of the game, there is still no mention of private or password-protected online race events. Hear our cries, Polyphony! See the full press-release by SCEA for all the details.

A well-written article about the level of realism found in Gran Turismo 5: Prologue has been posted over at Kombo. If you don’t have any experience pushing a real race car to the limits, Brian Alexander has done a good job of explaining what that feels like – and how no game will ever be able to compete with it.

After years of waiting, all of you lucky enough to own a Japanese copy of Gran Turismo 5: Prologue can download the latest update to the game and race head-to-head with one another! The only downside at the moment is the fact that your competitors are chosen at random and you can only choose from a pre-set list of live competitions. We can only hope that Polyphony Digital quickly looks at offering “private” races, preferably password-protected, that will allow serious racers to stick together in this new online environment. Please, Polyphony, please!

This past Thursday, Gran Turismo 5: Prologue was released to the Japanese public! We now have all the details of the new game, and many of GTPlanet’s own members have already gotten their hands on a copy. Click here to get the game for yourself, no matter where you live! The game is available both as a Blu-Ray disc and as a download from the Japanese PlayStation Store, but for now you must have access to a Japanese credit card and address before you’ll be able to buy a copy (the game is expected to release in the United States and Europe Stores in March 2008). GT5 Prologue contains 5 courses, available in 10 different layouts: