Gran Turismo HD officially canned - Next stop is GT5

[kamikazekoala]

Hi, people. Longtime not see.

I too was shocked what I read about GT HD. But I heard there was a mistranslation at the Japanese business site Nikkei and it wouldn't be all that bad.

I read a new article that would clear the confusion. It's a dutch article, so I will translate it to English in my best possibility. I hope that amar22 will find out if this article is a hoax or the truth. (although I hope it will be true)

The article goes like:

Gran Turismo HD comes, like previously announced, in two versions. The Classic version will be no less then GT4 in High Definition and it will include every car and tracks of GT4. You will however have the possibility to buy cars and tracks if you don't wanna bother unlocking them. The prices for these "unlockables" are, like previously announced, between 0,35 euro and 0,70 euro for a car and between 1,35 euro and 3,35 euro for a track. Rest be assured: these buys are completely OPTIONAL.

The Premium version is gonna be a Prologue-like version of GT5. The game will have 2 tracks and 30 cars, but also updated graphics from the Classic version, like the 3D public. You will not have to buy additional content for this game.

I tell you again, maybe it's a hoax, maybe not. But we will probably find out soon, I hope.

 

[-Cheezman-]

what piracy u talking about?

the idea about download stuff for a website and transfering via usb sounds like a good idea...
I dont see any probs in there

If one person pays for a file to download on their PC then transfer to the PS3. They can then distribute that file to anyone else after it is on their PC. Think of it this way. Save a Photomode picture to a USB drive, you can now give that photo to anyone who has a USB drive on their PC. Now, think of that photo as the downloaded content for GT5.

That, my friend, is Piracy, pay for one, and get tons of copies for nothing.

As for GT5's online buying crap. If they do this, I will not be a GT5 subscriber. The PS3 already costs too much money, and is unreasonable at best, but having me pay to buy an empty game, then having to purchase the content for that game, no way in hell. When the official GT5 is released (not GTHD), then maybe I will be interested, as long as I don't forcefully have to buy a car/track with real money just to play the game.

As for the rare or limited cars idea. I absolutely hate it. GT is a game where you are able to drive the cars you could never drive in real life. By making cars in limited quantities, you now have a car you can't drive in real life, or Gran Turismo, now, what fun is that?

 

[Dave A]

I can't imagine the cars and that taking up much space on a dsik tbh, a megabyte each perhaps, GT4's certainly wern't even that. The only thing you should each need to already have is the track, the cars can be cached into your memory and even with a 1mp/s connection, the race should load within 30 seconds. As for the downloads to be unlocks is is possible with regards to GT:Classic that it could work that way, very cheeky of them if it is, however the GTremium will be having some cars, tracks and features added as they're finished so the will certainly not be unlocks. But then GTremium isn't online capable, at least not at launch.

 

[MasterGT]

there is not a chance in the world this will happen. The only way we'll be able to download anything is through the official GT service.

PD has already shown the transaction menu, at TGS. I just haven't seen a good picture of it yet, just tiny ones.

As for pay per download, i have no actual problem with that... although i have a bit of a problem understanding how it will work...

1) You want car
2) open wallet

Are you happy about paying as much for only tracks as you did for all of GT4?

I presume its not gonna be a download but rather a 'unlock'... else lets say i download a Lotus Elise and race with it... what car models will appear when i race someone else? The game needs the physical data of each cars/textures/blablabla to display it localy... Its that or each race takes 4 minutes to 'download' the data from other players, which would be stupid.

I wouldn't presume this. It will be impossible for new data not on the original disc, anyway.

You raised another good point. It might get downloaded each time a new object gets released. That way all on-line players will have all data. I'm not sure how it would work if/when they include LAN play, though.

Cheers,

MasterGT

 

[RedWolfRacer]

An interesting update and confirmation of some things that were previously murky. Still no word about pricing and microtransactions. I'll keep looking, though.

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/734/734938p1.html

eptember 23, 2006 - For our 30th Gran Turismo story here at TGS, we've got quite the update courtesy of Japanese site Gpara.com. Series producer Kazunori Yamauchi held a talk event at the show in which he revealed a number of new details on GT HD and the future of the series.

Yamauchi provided a summary of what's known about GT HD so far, including the split in modes between classic and premium. Just to avoid confusion, we'll repeat the details here. Classic mode is GT4 in high definition and with a few additional visual enhancements. The mode will be playable exclusively through downloadable cars and tracks. Premium mode is a single player preview of Gran Turismo 5, featuring a full-fledged PS3 graphics engine and detailed tracks and car models.

Yamauchi also touched upon the new Ferrari license that came to light earlier this week. Ferrari cars will not only appear in GT HD, but starting half a year from now and continuing for a period of a year, Polyphony Digital and Ferrari will engage in collaborative marketing efforts.

The focus of Yamauchi's speech was on GT HD's online aspects. "GT HD is an online game," said Yamauchi, " and a large scale one at that." While we've already written about the game's online features, from online races to car and track downloads, Yamauchi today hinted at deeper plans. "We'd like to offer users the freedom that was only available to developers," he explained, without going into further details.

While GT HD's reliance on micro transactions came to light earlier in the week, Yamauchi let slip a few specifics regarding Sony's download plans for the game and, potentially, other online PlayStation titles. Sony will host a PlayStation Store service, Yamauchi revealed. This store will be accessible from the PlayStation 3's main menu. For GT-HD, this is where you'll be able to purchase new cars and tracks.

Downloads will be included in both the premium and classic modes of play. The premium mode, as we mentioned in an earlier article, will include 30 cars and 2 courses from the start. Available for download at launch, according to Sony's official press materials, will be one new course and 30 additional cars. Yamauchi revealed at the talk event that premium-grade cars and courses will continue to be added in the future for download.

For classic mode, the number of potential downloads is staggering. Users will be able to download 770 cars, 51 courses and 4,500 items. These numbers are end targets though. At the start of service, only 51 "items" will be available for download. Yamauchi did not give specifics on how this number breaks down.

Car damage will at long last make it into GT-HD, Yamauchi revealed. However, this long sought-after feature won't be available from the start. Polyphony plans to make it available as an update some time in 2007.

Also set to become available through an update is opponent AI. Polyphony will make updated opponent AI routines available for download in the first half of 2007.

Yamauchi also commented on a mysterious new feature that was noticed by some in the GT HD demo on display in the Sony booth. The demo offered players a choice between "normal" and "professional" driving models. Professional, will offer a more realistic driving experience, explained Yamauchi.

IGN attempted to test this feature out on the show floor, but found it difficult to notice the difference due to the choppy frame rate resulting from the early state of the game. We look forward to trying out the feature in the final version.

So why are we getting this fragmented download project instead of the real GT5? Yamauchi discussed some of the logistics behind making the next Gran Turismo. "Creating a car for GT4 took approximately one month. This time, it takes half a year," explained Yamauchi, referring to the development of a car for the premium mode of GT HD (that is to say, cars at the GT5 spec level). "The amount of data for each car is approximately 20 times that of GT4."

They could have still given the game the GT5 name, of course. Yamauchi addressed this as well. "We feel that game play style is changing these days. For the first Gran Turismo, the total play time was over 100 hours. However, GT HD will probably be played around 10 to 30 minutes a day. In other words, rather than concentrating play on a single game over 10s of hours, people will play a little bit each day.. We realize that this is the type of play style that meets current needs, and hope to offer it to players."

There will be a Gran Turismo 5, though. "It will definitely be released in the future," said Yamauchi about the next numbered GT game. On separate occasions, Yamauchi has said that GT5 will be available in 2008.

 

[MasterGT]

Classic mode is GT4 in high definition and with a few additional visual enhancements. The mode will be playable exclusively through downloadable cars and tracks.

Just another source backing up the great expense of this new version.

Cheers,

MasterGT

 

[RedWolfRacer]

Just another source backing up the great expense of this new version.

Cheers,

MasterGT

It didn't say taht you necessarily had to pay for it, just that they were downloadable. :-/ Though the assumption right now is that you'll still have to pay. But I think it's all pretty much speculation for now.

 

[dubbed]

I can't imagine the cars and that taking up much space on a dsik tbh, a megabyte each perhaps, GT4's certainly wern't even that. The only thing you should each need to already have is the track, the cars can be cached into your memory and even with a 1mp/s connection, the race should load within 30 seconds. As for the downloads to be unlocks is is possible with regards to GT:Classic that it could work that way, very cheeky of them if it is, however the GTremium will be having some cars, tracks and features added as they're finished so the will certainly not be unlocks. But then GTremium isn't online capable, at least not at launch.

Screen shot from press release: Two games in one disk

 

[Earth]

Just another source backing up the great expense of this new version.

Cheers,

MasterGT

You know the game is expensive yet there is no confirmed reports (and wont be until PD gets results back from the Japanese launch of the game) on how much the actual game or the downloads themselves will cost.

Give me a break

Thanks for the new info RedWolfRacer. I am pleased to know that KY is gear GT toward the online gaming world. Good. This will increase the longevity of the game.

One question, though. If we download a GT Classic car, will we have to redownload it again for GT5? Or will you be able to somehow transfer your purchase of a particular car to GT5? I think it would be an incredible waste of money to have to buy the same car for GT HD and GT5.

 

[RedWolfRacer]

You know the game is expensive yet there is no confirmed reports (and wont be until PD gets results back from the Japanese launch of the game) on how much the actual game or the downloads themselves will cost.

Give me a break

Thanks for the new info RedWolfRacer. I am pleased to know that KY is gear GT toward the online gaming world. Good. This will increase the longevity of the game.

One question, though. If we download a GT Classic car, will we have to redownload it again for GT5? Or will you be able to somehow transfer your purchase of a particular car to GT5? I think it would be an incredible waste of money to have to buy the same car for GT HD and GT5.

I don't think anyone knows right now. There is a lot of speculation and many many sketchy details floating about which is why GTHD is one of the most talked about titles at the TGS; no one seems to know what exactly is going on with it.

 

[Polyphony001]

I'm rather hoping the "it's all there, just pay as a bribe to get more stuff you don't want to unlock" story is true, it sounds more likely. There's no real need to not include the GT4 stuff if it's the same data. I can understand needing to buy a lot of the Premium mode stuff at a later date. Basically it's porting GT4 to the PS3, adding a Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, AND giving you some extra features. If the second rumour is true about the cars & tracks I think it's an excellent deal.

 

[Wolfe]

There's only one problem with the "pay to unlock things if you're too lazy to unlock them yourself" idea. We already know that Polyphony Digital wants to sell the game for as little as $5 or so. Where in the world would their profit come from if hardcore GT players (which will probably make up most of the consumers of GTHD) can just sit down and unlock the cars and tracks for free?

One question, though. If we download a GT Classic car, will we have to redownload it again for GT5? Or will you be able to somehow transfer your purchase of a particular car to GT5? I think it would be an incredible waste of money to have to buy the same car for GT HD and GT5.

Yet again -- Kazunori Yamauchi stated in an interview that GTHD purchases would transfer over to GT5, which implies that GT5 may have a similar pay-to-download system.

 

[Arawn]

In GT4 there is a difference between a mazda (about 20000 credits) and a pagani (about 350000 credits). How will the next instalment of GT handle this aspect if all cars will cost between 0.42 and 0.84 dollar ?
I think it would be better if you could purchase a prepaid card for e.g. 5$ wich would, when entering the code in the downloadsshop, give you 500.000 credits. That way a mazda would cost you 0.2 $ and a nice pagani 3.5 $.

 

[Dave A]

And a Pescarolo C60 would cost you $45.

 

[Polyphony001]

LOL. Bite me! The price of cars varies too much for that to work. I'd sooner win the races and have the cars unlocked, assuming that's how it will work!

 

[Arawn]

And a Pescarolo C60 would cost you $45.

All i'm trying to point out is that if a pescarolo would cost 0.84 $ (the maximum) you could purchase all LMP and supercars for less then 10$ and then well.. that would be it. why would you buy a normal small roadcar for 0.5$ , or why would you even bother to start with one, for 20 cents more you got a supercar racetrack ready. I've completed GT4 for 95.2% and i still don't own a pescarolo/peugeot 905/toyota one/mercedes C9/bentley speed 8... Do you know why ? because it takes hours and hours ... and some more hours to get 30 million credits. It takes me less then 6 minutes to earn a dollar. I think the game would be quite boring if they don't make the difference between cars.

 

[Polyphony001]

Yes but you can't enter racecars into a large number of the events, and even if you could, where's the fun in doing so?

 

[Dave A]

you can't justify making someone pay more for content that cost the same to create either, it doesn't cost PD more in man power to creat a C60 than it does a Skyline R34 or a Mini One.

 

[Arawn]

you can't justify making someone pay more for content that cost the same to create either, it doesn't cost PD more in man power to creat a C60 than it does a Skyline R34 or a Mini One.

QFT, i knew this, but still...

Yes but you can't enter racecars into a large number of the events, and even if you could, where's the fun in doing so?

Thats my point exactly, where's the fun? you buy the game 10$ (i/we hope) you buy a track 3$ you buy an LMP car 1$, have a go in it. fun fun fun ...
They should make the car less available , eg forcing you to start with a smaller car. my idea was to convert cash to credits but as it turned out the idea wasn't that good (still better then 1 price though). I was hoping to read a quote to my opinion stating about PD already having thought this problem over, but i guess at this moment no one knows for sure. It is a real problem though, we're dealing gameplay here !!!

 

[Swift]

you can't justify making someone pay more for content that cost the same to create either, it doesn't cost PD more in man power to creat a C60 than it does a Skyline R34 or a Mini One.

Wait, unless I'm totally off my rocker, they're going to be more detailed models, etc, etc. So, while I'm not a big fan of paying for more stuff, it should be more then what people that have the "classic" version are going to see.

 

[Dave A]

I'm talking about the pricing of the cars relative to other cars for each version, so an R34 GT-R shouldn't cost more real money to buy than a C60 or Mini One for thier respective versions of the game.

 

[Earth]

Notice the first picture on this page

http://delobbo.com/gran_turismo_HD.html

Is anyone worried that the online racing may only be head to head and B-Spec?

I did hear something about 20 car online races but after all the mistranslations I'm doubting everything now. I don't even know if the weather thing is real. I'm not going to believe anything unless it can be proven it came from PD or KY's mouth.

 

[Koolad]

Notice the first picture on this page

http://delobbo.com/gran_turismo_HD.html

Is anyone worried that the online racing may only be head to head and B-Spec?

I did hear something about 20 car online races but after all the mistranslations I'm doubting everything now. I don't even know if the weather thing is real. I'm not going to believe anything unless it can be proven it came from PD or KY's mouth.

Scary, indeed..

 

[DuckRacer]

Scary, indeed..

Mmmhmm.

Not to troll, but GTHD is looking worse and worse by the day.

 

[Wolfe]

Hmm...interesting. Ya know, the GTHDremium part of the game uses that red colored background, while the GTHD:Classic uses blue...

...also, Polyphony Digital has already declared that the "main point" of GTHD: Classic is the online play...

Perhaps the GT5 code that Premium uses isn't "optimized" enough to support full online play yet, while the GTHD: Classic half of the game takes advantage of the "old" engine to provide complete online multiplayer support...?

The only problem with that theory is that the box cover art is red, too, which means that the powerpoint slide in that picture may as well be referring to the game as a whole, including both modes.

 

[Grayman222]

you can't justify making someone pay more for content that cost the same to create either, it doesn't cost PD more in man power to creat a C60 than it does a Skyline R34 or a Mini One.

animated driver helmets and all the logos on the car and varying licensing fees say "hi". Of course photomode models are done so yeah 0=0=0.

ferrari for example might want a per car cut instead of a single large moneyhat payment this makes their cars cost more.

PD might want to drive players to certain cars by making them cheaper which would make the online game better for everyone. Making slower or less demanded cars half the price of the in demand cars can give them some purchases to lets the people who would buy those cars regardless have people to race.

 

[godzilla_GTR]

is there any pics of the ferraris yet?

 

[gt3_racer05]

Are they doing what I'm thinking? Offer Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche pay 2 download

 

[Wolfe]

is there any pics of the ferraris yet?

Yes. I believe they're available on the official website, or pretty much anywhere that you can find GT:HD pictures.

 

[TheCracker]

The way i see it is:

GTHD:Classic - Is PD's test program for online and 'big' grid racing.
- It will give PD feedback to what sort of online racing punters like and what they don't like and how 'laggy' the large grids are or are not.

GTHDremium - Is PD's test program for downloadable content.
- It will give PD feedback to what sort of cars and tracks people want most and how much they are willing to spend.

These GTHD's are little more than GT5 'Beta' tests for the public. No one is forcing anyone to buy every single car available in Premium - you'd be stupid to do so, since GT5 will probably have a majority of them free anyway a year or so later.

Think of it as PD giving you, Joe Public, the chance to Beta test the next GranTurismo. Say you had no knowledge that GTHD even existed, pretend you'd never heard or read any of this stuff about GTHD - how much would you pay to be a tester for GT5?