Fans of the Gran Turismo series have been through a lot over the past 13 years or so, but none of those years have been as dramatic as 2010. Though I wasn’t able to get this out before the calendar flipped over, I wanted to take one last look at where we’ve been before moving forward (just as I did at the end of 2009)…
Photomode image by Spark_GTP.
January
2010 started on a very high note – GT Academy 2010 was in full swing, and we rang in the new year enjoying the free, though limited, GT5 Time Trial Challenge demo. Excitement was also building in anticipation of the full game’s March release date in Japan…- With the expected release date less than three months away, the Gran Turismo 5 art was officially revealed. Excitement continued to build through what turned out to be a very revealing CES 2010.
- Just days after the conclusion of CES, the first bit of confusing and bad news hit hard: GT5 was quietly and mysteriously delayed in Japan, just four days after Yamauchi and his translator confidently confirmed the March date in a CES interview. Left with a newly open-ended release schedule, fans settled in for a long, cold, and confusing winter.
- GT5’s new “Data Logger Visualization Technology” was first revealed to the public by Kazunori Yamauchi at the Tokyo Auto Salon. Curiously, there has been no mention of this interesting new technology since then…
February
Sony executive James Armstrong accurately predicted GT5’s eventual release date during a newspaper interview. While talking with him about the statement at the game’s launch party in Madrid last November, he laughed and said he just “got lucky that time!”- GTPlanet was on hand for the GT Academy 2010 Silverstone Finals, eventually won by French competitor Jordan Tresson.
March
- A Sony rep reveals the company was targeting an October release for Gran Turismo 5. Getting closer, but still no cigar…
- YouTuber mimaximax gets regular access to a GT5 demo in Tokyo, generously sharing lots of game-play video clips with the hungry masses, clamoring for any and all scraps of information during what was originally supposed to be the game’s release month.
April
U.S. GT producer Taku Imasaki confirms that Gran Turismo 5 will fully support 3DTV technology.
May
- The Nurburgring GP course is confirmed for GT5.
- Kazunori Yamauchi successfully competes in (and completes!) the Nurburgring 24 Hours.
June
- GTPlanet gets a completely new look and feel.
- Gran Turismo 5 gets an official November 2 release date at a very exciting E3 2010. A beautiful new trailer, awesome screenshots, and the first day/night transition game-play video are revealed.
- The game’s weather system, course maker, and go-karting features are accidentally revealed in an official Sony interview with company executive Shuhei Yoshida.
July
- More than 100 days before its expected release, GT5 was already hovering near the top of sales charts.
- Gran Turismo 5’s Signature and Collector’s Editions are officially announced and detailed.
August
GT5’s new karting game-play, tire marks, and Monza circuit are all revealed thanks to GTPlanet’s team on the ground at Gamescom 2010.- GTPlanet conducts our first one-on-one interview with Kazunori Yamauchi at Gamescom.
- The legendary Spa Francorchamps circuit is seen in Polyphony Digital’s collection of reference assets, revealing that developers have visited and studied the track.
- Sony and Polyphony Digital are faced with legal threats as the city of Siena, Italy protests the Piazza Del Campo karting track’s appearance in GT5 at Gamescom. The issue was eventually resolved (and actually boosted pre-orders), but the track is still nowhere to be seen in the final version of the game…
September
- The first Gran Turismo 5 kiosk demos begin showing up in Best Buy stores around the United States, revealing a considerably overhauled (though still highly criticized) damage model.
GT5’s weather system is officially revealed in a new trailer at the Tokyo Game Show 2010.- Polyphony Digital’s collaborative project with Red Bull to develop the X1 Prototype is also announced at TGS.
- The new GT5 “We Love Cars” marketing campaign kicks off in Japan.
October
- Just a few short weeks before the worldwide launch of Gran Turismo 5, Sony announces the game is delayed once again until the “Holiday season” to bitterly disappointed fans and harsh criticism from the press.
November
- Still without any official release date, Yamauchi announces Gran Turismo 5 is complete and the game discs are already in production.
- Video game distributors in Europe mention the game is being shipped to retailers, and the first leaked copies of GT5 appear in the wild – but there’s still no sign of a release date.
The first round of un-authorized game-play videos hit the Internet, as Sony responds with attempts to remove the material from YouTube.- Sony finally announces November 24th as the release date for Gran Turismo 5 in North America and Europe, increasing sales of the game more than 1300% at online retailer Amazon.com. Other online stores dedicate all their employees to the game just to handle increased demand.
- GTPlanet is invited to the Gran Turismo 5 International Launch Party in Madrid, Spain, where it is announced that many frequent online updates will be published throughout the game’s lifetime. The Red Bull X1 model (now known as the X2010) is also officially revealed to the world.
- The first updates are issued for Gran Turismo 5, with v1.02 available just two days after the game’s release.
- The first-ever United States GT Academy is announced (!!!).
December
Kazunori Yamauchi confirms that a new, officially licensed GT steering wheel – the T500 RS – will be released by Thrustmaster.- The Gran Turismo 5 v1.03 update is issued, introducing mechanical damage to the game.
- GT5’s online, web-based social network is officially released.
- Sony announces GT5 sales topped 5.5 million, blasting the GT series to a total of more than 60 million copies worldwide.
- Gran Turismo 5 v1.05 is released, introducing “Seasonal Events” and lots of other tweaks.
- GTPlanet hosts our annual philanthropic fundraiser for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, proudly raising more than $1,000 to help fight this terrible disease. Thank you, everyone, for your help in reaching this milestone!
Looking forward, it is not yet entirely clear what 2011 holds for GT fans. With rumors of a new PSP2 floating around the web, could another mobile title be in the works? How much content will be added to GT5, and when when can we dare mention Gran Turismo 6? Regardless of what happens, I thank all of you for your interest and support throughout 2010, and I hope you’ll continue to rely on GTPlanet for all your GT series news in the future. Happy new year!
See more articles on Review and Year in Review.
T500 RS Reviewed at SimRacing Tonight
I truly hope that the Spa Circuit is hidden somwhere in the game. i heard a runour that there will be no DLCs which makes me think that theres no chance of a SPa DLC
As every year…thanks Jordan for your effort for keeping us hardcore GT fans well informed.
Jordan, great work with the site all year-long. I don’t visit as much as I used to, since the game is finally out, but I still check back to get in-depth scoops about the updates to the game and for advice in the forums. Thanks again!
2010 was a hell of ride and GTPlanet was always the place to check for Gran Turismo news, and will probably always be. I hope 2011 brings as many uncertainties in a good way… Thanks to Jordan and all those who keep this site up and running.
Sorry about my spelling. Never been very good at it :)
There is much more that needs to be adressed before replays. Dont get me wrong would love to see multiplayer replays but that isn’t as importand as improving anti-cheating system or getting rid of flickering shadows or appearing mountains.
Also would love to see livory editor but i dont think that would happen (not for gt5 anyway)
I agree, flickering shadows is really kind of annoying!
It was a great year once GT5 was released, One question though, why aren’t there any replays in online mode and on 2 player split screen?? I would have preferred they not bother with 3d!!
There are replays in online mode. After the race click on the, “race results” button in the lounge and you can save the replay. You can even take photos from it.
5.5 million sales is underwhelming to be honest…
5.5 million sales after less than 2 weeks. Some people are never happy.
Actually, it was 5.5 after 10 days. Does anyone know the latest sales-numbers? Couldn’t find numbers later than Dec. 11th. Should be around 7 or 8 million by now, I guess
thanks for such an amazing site, and all your hard work. Good luck for the future and…. roll on GT6!
congratulations on raising the $1000 jordan a great cause and a great result! No doubt this means alot to both yourself and close people to you, and not forgeting the GTP community for donating the money!
Alex
2010 was a great year for GT5 and gaming in general. Thanks for your work Jordan, a truly great site! ☺
Happy new year, hoping for Kaz or Sony to announce something new about GT in E3 2011 this year. :)
And ive also got a feeling that gt6’s production will actully go quite smoothly. I dont know why. Just somthing tells me that gt6 will get a release date and stick to it. Its an ambitious thing to say i know :)
What a hectic year with so much good and so much bad news. How many delays were there since the game was anounced? Still the more you cant have the game the more you want it and boy did i want that game
This year has been nuts, alright. Here’s to an exciting and informative 2011! Anybody else wondering what ‘GT for boys’ could become?
Went the same way as “GT HD”.
two things are for sure, i think. first, the psp2 will arrive soon and a new mobile gran turismo is RIGHT NOW in the making. second, there is gonna be gran turismo 6 news this year. the guys already said they are working on it. :))
happy new year.! ;-)
Wow. I didn´t actually realize that all those things happened in only one year. Let´s hope this year gets as exciting as the last one. Happy new year to all of you, and especially to Jordan who always kept us up to date and did a great job running this site.
2010 has been a long, bumpy, and grueling ride. It will be interesting to see what the future brings.
Thans for a great year everyone! We finally got our game…Can´t wait to see what 2011 holds for us!
Thanks for the hard work you put into this Jordan!
I blame you for becoming a GT addict ;)
Thanks to everyone at GTP for keeping us up to date on breaking news about GT5. Lets hope 2011 is less or a roller-coaster than 2010 was :)
best race simulation game
you mean driving simulatio, gt5 doesnt simulate racing.
@ Jos
What you said is EXACTLY opposite. If it was only a ”driving” simulation, u should be able to turn your car’s engine on and off, open the doors, turn on the radio and all those stuff. What a “racing” simulation is, is just obviously different. You do all necessary things that are crucial to “races”, not street driving ;)
Despite the fact that they actually assigned it as a “Driving Simulation”, I think it would be better if it was “Racing Simulation”.
I sincerely hope polyphony releases the other previous tracks that were on GT4 in GT5. I would definitely pay 15 dollars for that.
Especially the Test Course………..let’s bring back the Max Speed tests, too. =)
With respect and a big hug to you Jordan from Russia! Stay Heavy!!! Happy new year!!!
Hey Jordan, don’t know if its legit, but I saw a title called “Gran Turismo Raceway” on the Wikipedia page for the Gran Turismo Series. It says it would release on PSP and PS3. Any news on this or is it fake?
Here’s the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gran_Turismo_(series)#Games
Anyways, great job this year, congrats on the Pancreatic Cancer Fundraiser, and let’s have a prosperous GT filled 2011!
Thanks for all the kind words, everyone. Scooter, this is the first I’ve heard of “Gran Turismo Raceway”.
Thanks for the good job Jordan,keep it up,you are doing perfectly.
And BTW the wikipedia link seems to be edited at 22:16 31/12/2010,there was something that yamauchi was involved(Man at the top awards 2010),I have no idea what that might be,but it was held on December 30/2010,so maybe the “Gran Turismo Raceway” might came up from there,or it could be a prank,in any case it seems like this year is becoming very interesting.
I just went through the page history, it seems someone without an account mysteriously added this extra on the 28th of December. It’s probably a troll trying to see if he can make the internet go rumour crazy or something…
Gran Turismo Raceway may be an Online place where they said you can drive around and obey speed limits and stuff. Maybe on psp too.
40% of me wants to believe somebody made this up
1% of me believes that all this is totally legit, and will be out this year
59% believes that it is true, but we won’t see it until GT6 and GT2 for PSP in 2024.
EDIT:
Sorry for the double post, but “Gran Turismo Raceway” isn’t on there as of 11:05 PM EST on 1/3/2011.
Darn, Sony caught wind of it. Or the troll just read these comments and said “mission accomplished”. Or maybe somebody here created it. Or maybe Translator-San created it. Or maybe…
The list goes on and on…
Wow
the Ferrari 458 picture looks $#%#$% incredible!
Thanks Jordan for all the stuff that you have done for GT fans all over the world.
+1 Well done Jordan and the entire GTPLANET team.
Congrats on raising over a thousand dollars =)
It will be interesting to see what kind of updates we will see in 2011
it was a great year for GT fans.. I don’t think anyone can deny that!
EDIT@ the Red Bull X1 is renamed Red Bull X2010. Thanks for keeping me up with news on times where i just couldnt wait anymore.:):):)
Yes, lets promote a prototype car heavily for over a month then change the name…
I’m still going to call it the X1…