Photomode

We’ve got some good news for Gran Turismo shutterbugs: it looks like the Scapes feature is not only coming back for Gran Turismo 7, but expanding.

Photo modes are a big deal in modern games. To prove as much, a quartet of GTPlanet members recently contributed to a 68-page supplement in the Official PlayStation Magazine about just that.

Last month, user Yui-san gave us the gift of a misty-eyed stroll down memory lane for the holidays with his gallery of 23 racing games recreated in Forza Horizon 3. For the next installment in his series, the photographer has derived inspiration from iconic cars of television and movies.

Easily one of the most surprising features unveiled for GT Sport last month, a livery editor has finally arrived in the franchise. As a highly-requested feature, players were eager to dive into the editor at the Copper Box, but found everything bar the basic top menu locked out for public use. While we got a quick peak at the feature in action in the latest trailer, it raised as many questions as it answered. When asked about the level of control players will have in the livery editor, Kazunori Yamauchi had this to say:

A new Seasonal Event has been released for Gran Turismo 6, which features the Toyota FT-1 Concept at Fuji Speedway in celebration of the car’s appearance at the New York Auto show this month.

As reported a month ago, the Photo Stream service of Gran Turismo 5 has now gone live. Using this function, any photo set by any player to “Share with Friends” will be anonymously published to the official Gran Turismo website for anyone to see, rather than limiting your works to only the people on your PSN Friends list. There is, however, a small catch in that the service is not available yet to users outside Japan and Asia:

GTPlanet member Abraxas went on a trip to Austria and Italy last year, with a special goal: to visit and photograph some of Gran Turismo 5’s most impressive Photomode locations in the real-world, then compare them to Polyphony Digital’s work.

Announced today on the official Gran Turismo website (and through the in-game news function) is a new feature to appeal to all the Gran Turismo shutterbugs, named “Photo Stream”. In essence this feature allows you to share your finest images, anonymously, with the entire Gran Turismo community through an as-yet unpublished URL:

It’s true, it’s true… the Tournament has come and gone. In its place, our community is taking advantage of the biggest overhaul to GT5 since its release, with the Spec 2.0 update adding some features, and the DLC packages this week (and next for North Americans) bringing even more content. What better way to show off your new rides?

A long summer break for the Photomode Competition news entries – but we’re back! For those that don’t know, our forums have a very healthy Photomode sub-section, and within it, a Competitions area, where users enter their best work for the chance to pick themes… and win in-game prizes! Each week, a previous winner provides a theme, giving users 7 days to submit their single entry. Once that’s ended, said theme provider picks their top images, and a poll is then made for the entire registered community to vote on. The winner then picks a new theme, and so on and so on. So, let’s take a look at what’s up this week in the 4 official competitions, shall we?

While the cars are usually the stars in Gran Turismo 5 (and rightfully so), some of GTPlanet’s users have turned their cameras away from the track to get a closer look at the exquisite detail found in many of the buildings and landscapes in the game. Here’s a few of my favorite images that highlight so many little details that often go unnoticed (don’t miss Polyphony Digital’s photographers in this shot). If you get inspired, head on over to our GT5 Photomode forums and share your own!

As you’ve probably discovered by now, Gran Turismo 5’s Photomode feature can be surprisingly fun and addictive. You’ve probably also noticed, however, that you can’t easily take a pictures of a car’s interior – until now. GTPlanet user IeGI has discovered an easy way of getting the camera “inside” a premium car, and he’s shared a detailed set of instructions here in our forums so you can do the same.

Thanks to RDK, Szmissz, iCyCo, and hsoomal!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q32V6ysLcZs

Thanks for the tip, Randy!

If you’ve been closely following the news over the past few weeks, you’ve probably seen some of these images before – but not at this resolution. The detail that lies in these 5760 x 3240 shots from GT5’s “Photo Travel” mode is remarkable, and they make for great desktop wallpaper! To see some of these locations in motion, don’t miss the short video clip below.

EuroGamer has shared their detailed hands-on impressions with the latest E3 2010 GT5 demo, and it’s full of quite a few interesting and revealing tidbits of information. While I have covered the main points below, the full article contains more detail and is very well written, so head on over there for more.

GameInformer magazine’s interview with Kazunori Yamauchi (a small part of which was quietly posted on their website back in September) was just included in their latest issue, and is now, of course, getting quite a bit more attention. Here’s what Yamauchi had to say regarding damage in Gran Turismo 5: