Is Gran Turismo dying in America?

Sales figures from the Gran Turismo series today found their way onto the net, suggesting that Polyphony Digital's long-standing series has plenty of life left yet.

Debuting on the PSOne, figures for the original Gran Turismo stand at 10.84 million units (Japan 2.25 million, North America 3.99 million, Europe 4.29 million); on the same format Gran Turismo 2 sold slightly less at 9.34 million (Japan 1.71 million, North America 3.96 million, Europe 3.65 million).

The series move onto the Playstation2 with the release of Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec currently stands out as the largest title in the series, shifting an unbelievable 14.36 million copies (Japan 1.89 million, North America 6.88 million, Europe 5.58 million). The muted release of Gran Turismo Concept Series and Gran Turismo 4 Prologue still managed to shift close to 1.5 million units each, while the recent release of Gran Turismo 4 currently stands at 6.25 million worldwide (Japan 1.09 million, North America 1.94 million, Europe 3.12 million).

With total sales of the series bursting past the 40 million mark, it's believed that Kazunori Yamauchi and his team are currently taking time away to develop an original title; but with talk of damage, the intriguing prospect of GT4 Mobile and suggestions made during the launch of GT4, we doubt itll be too long before the latest title in the Gran Turismo series arrives.


Link

While GT3 may have sold more copies than GT4, keep in mind that after GT3, PD made GT Concept, GT4 Prologue and the BMW and Prius test drives. A bit more on sales figures

Dying? Hardly
 
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I don't get why people even compare the GT series to Forza, sure they are the same type of game but are on totally different systems.

Also I think GT's sales will heavily depend on the quality and features of the online mode.
 
GT3 was bundled with PS2 for a good time, on the U.S, hence the inflated numbers.

Still, there's a bit of truth in that. Since GT1, sales in japan and the U.S have been declaning, while they are improving in Europe.

GT5P numbers would help us get a better picture. Let me try to find it, because vgchartz is not really a source, they just make apropriate guesses, not actual info.
 
GT is the second best selling console series, to GTA. Even it does not "sell well" it will only not "sell well" for GT. Hell, just about any other franchise would love the sell half as much as GT. I do agree that GT has lost some of its allure in the US but GT5 can change that. I do not think GT5 will hurt GT5 sales but rather the relatively smaller amount of PS3s.
 
What I gather on this sales list is that GT5Prologue has actually been the most succesful warmup to a GT game yet.

Additionally, GT4 didn't do as bad as Tom Servo posts. His own link suggests GT4 to have sold 10.57million copies (6.18M in Europe, 2.96M in the US and across Asia 1.43M).

-Z
 
Tom Servo
Sales figures from the Gran Turismo series today found their way onto the net, suggesting that Polyphony Digital's long-standing series has plenty of life left yet.

Debuting on the PSOne, figures for the original Gran Turismo stand at 10.84 million units (Japan 2.25 million, North America 3.99 million, Europe 4.29 million); on the same format Gran Turismo 2 sold slightly less at 9.34 million (Japan 1.71 million, North America 3.96 million, Europe 3.65 million).

The series move onto the Playstation2 with the release of Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec currently stands out as the largest title in the series, shifting an unbelievable 14.36 million copies (Japan 1.89 million, North America 6.88 million, Europe 5.58 million). The muted release of Gran Turismo Concept Series and Gran Turismo 4 Prologue still managed to shift close to 1.5 million units each, while the recent release of Gran Turismo 4 currently stands at 6.25 million worldwide (Japan 1.09 million, North America 1.94 million, Europe 3.12 million).

With total sales of the series bursting past the 40 million mark, it's believed that Kazunori Yamauchi and his team are currently taking time away to develop an original title; but with talk of damage, the intriguing prospect of GT4 Mobile and suggestions made during the launch of GT4, we doubt itll be too long before the latest title in the Gran Turismo series arrives.


Link

While GT3 may have sold more copies than GT4, keep in mind that after GT3, PD made GT Concept, GT4 Prologue and the BMW and Prius test drives. A bit more on sales figures

Dying? Hardly
Click to expand...


Yeah, Since that article in 2005 GT4 has sold over 10 million copies, not reaching GT3 numbers but reaching the sales of other full GT releases. Europe/PAL sales are up a good margin though US sales are down by an even larger margin. If the US sales were the same as they were in GT3 then GT4 would have sold more.
 
Adding Daytona was the first step from PD to get American gamers back. Now they need to add NASCAR and its a done deal.
 
PSNkilluminati
I think thats why GT5 needs to include damage
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While damage, weather and time of day changes would be nice, and make some sim fans and reviewers happy, I think the effect on sales will be marginal at best. Besides, we have no idea how many copies will sell in America, or how many PS3s will get purchased because of it. But I'm betting it's in the millions within five months of release, adding a substantial boost to the PS3 market share in the US.

By the way, I know quite a few in the US want to see NASCAR included in some way to GT5, but I can't imagine anything more boring...
 
always gran turismo sold in europe better than north america (exept GT3 )

coz most americans like arcade racing games (like nfs...etc) more than simulating racing game

each series sold between 10 - 15 million copies

best sold game in psx : gt 1
best sold game in ps2 : gt 3 and gt4 in a second

gt series always sold better than fianl fantacy and even (Halo 3) " the biggiset hype game ever " doesnt reach GT 4 sales
 
VGchartz is a terrible site to use, however GT3 was a system seller for the PS2 heavily advertised and packaged alot over the Christmas after release so that explains the massive hike over the GT4 sales to be honest
 
Not so much about sales but you have more chances of name recognition if you were to say Gran Tursimo than you would with most other games. On the other hand if I were to ask random person on the street what Forza Motorsport is, the answer would range from an opera about cars (Forza Del Destino is an opera by verdi) to an italian racing team.
Generally, sales in other than violent action/war games has stagnated. Another reason is the saturation of racing titles. It used to be the GT was the few triple A racing titles but with Burnout and NFS, not to mention PGR and Forza, and with more choices, those who prefer less simulation and more action racing, now have better choices. Besides GT3 was the groundbreaking game on the PS2, and perhaps the one that made GT a household name (plus as someone had said was bundled with PS2). I don't think GT5 will achieve the same level of sale garnered by GT3 in NA. With more 360 in NA, Forza 2 will probably sell better- not because it's a 2 disc game.
 
Kinetic
VGchartz is a terrible site to use
Click to expand...
VGChartz is only a little questionable on current data, however they've been closer than NPD before. However, they have the best database of historical data available. Unless someone knows a better source.

In any case, it would be hard for GT4 to catch GT3 since it was out three years earlier and a bundle for longer. Even then, by SONY's own press remarks, GT4 was the biggest selling game for the first six months of its release in 2005.
 
Yeah not a good idea to use that trash which is VGChartz. GT is slowing down in America and Japan though looking at the numbers on the PD website however EU is getting bigger and bigger. For GT standards GT5 might not sell great in NA but that is GT STANDARDS, I expect at least 2 million in NA and 1 million in EU.

Damage will do slim to nothing in terms of increasing or decreasing GT5 sales, you get those from GAF whom moan and say "no damage no buy" but they talk out their backside 99.9% of the time. Those whom have interest in GT will purchase GT5, those saying "no damage no buy" can look forward to Forza 3 this year.
 
I don't think that GT4 just died in the MA market, for we've seen a tremendous membership increase on the lead-up to GT4, and another burst of membership upon its actual release in North America.

GT3 was quite anticipated in its July 2001 launch (in NA), since it came with a new console; there were few driving games available for the PS2.

My hunch is that by early-2005, PS2 games were much easier to copy and illegally transfer to others. PS2s were modifiable to read those burnt copies, and there was also a lot more competition in the racing/driving genre for the PS2 by that time.
 
I can think of a factor that everyone seems to forget, including the Boss himself.

American sales might be down because there are very few cars that Americans automatically reconise from home. a lot of that was fixed with GT4, of course, and PD is getting the Idea, but the sudden apperance of Evos, STI imprezas and skyline GT-R's over her should prove that the appearance of those models in games stimulates interest.
i STILL say they could get a bump in US sales if they pulled more US Muscle Variety out. I'm still scratching my head over the fact that GM wouldn't licence a 57 Chevy (which is as iconic as a friggin Model T), or that FoMoCo is being cheap over older Mustangs, etc. Ford Europe is getting all the goodies. I'd like to see a Double Falcon showdown (US Falcons versus AU Falcons), and find out if Old fairlanes and Galaxies are the really Uncontrollable yaghts they come across as

since this is now the era of DLC, those kind of things should be offered as such
 
Sniffs
I'm still scratching my head over the fact that GM wouldn't licence a 57 Chevy (which is as iconic as a friggin Model T), or that FoMoCo is being cheap over older Mustangs
Click to expand...

Who said GM wouldn't license the 57 Chev? I am quite sure GM and Ford (aswell as many others) are very open to what cars PD or pretty much any developer wants to use, it's upto PD to choose what cars they want to include in GT. Sometimes a manufacturer will request cars to be included for their own marketing of that model.
 
Well GRAN TURISMO will rise from the dead in North America since everyone will be addicted to GT 5 when it is launched.
 
Jay V
Who said GM wouldn't license the 57 Chev? I am quite sure GM and Ford (aswell as many others) are very open to what cars PD or pretty much any developer wants to use, it's upto PD to choose what cars they want to include in GT. Sometimes a manufacturer will request cars to be included for their own marketing of that model.
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Somehow, I think Ford is the reason olders Mustangs don't make into racing games. Remember Ford don't make money off the sell of used cars, so they is no sense in advertisements. Take Forza's Turn 10 for example, a company thats based in NA. Then take the Fox body Mustangs ('80 to early '90s generation). In NA they're is more drag cars then any other forms of racing. Then couple that with the fact that you can't go to a single drag strip with out seeing a Mustang. So this would leave you to believe Fox bodied Mustangs are very popular in NA. Forza has tons of American muscle yet the Stang is forgotten. You would think Turn 10 would have tried to get one of the most popular cars in US history, yet it fails to show light. But I could be wrong and Turn 10 are just oblivious to American culture. Sorry to go bit off topic. I think the real comparison should between Forza 3 and GT5, two games that will be released around the same time, not years apart.
 
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There are 3 or 4 old Mustangs in F2. The fox's aren't popular outside of drag racing hence you don't see them in games that basically focus on circuit racing. Also, if companies only included new cars there would only be about 100 cars in the game.
 
Northstar3914
There are 3 or 4 old Mustangs in F2. The fox's aren't popular outside of drag racing hence you don't see them in games that basically focus on circuit racing. Also, if companies only included new cars there would only be about 100 cars in the game.
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Whats popular at the drags is popular on the street. Since Forza goes for street cars, with crappy body kits that have no effect on the car except for adding weight, you would think its more of a street racing game on circuits (not a bad thing in my opinion:sly:). The comment about only having 100 cars, I was talking about Ford, not other companies. Granted, I'm a disgruntle Ford guy.:grumpy: And your avatar offends me.
 
I like Ford's(they seem to be the only ones that make good looking cars anymore) to, but prefer Mopar muscle cars.
 
Northstar3914
I like Ford's(they seem to be the only ones that make good looking cars anymore) to, but prefer Mopar muscle cars.
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You have a good point. Ford really didn't have iconic muscle cars. Sure, they had the Boss, but Mopar had 'Cudas, Challengers, Chargers, and Dusters, any which one I'd be happy to have in my driveway. Now that this thread is firmly off-topic, I'll shut up.
 

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