US/EU PSN Stores Back Online, Still Nothing for Japan

Since Kazunori Yamauchi announced the next Gran Turismo 5 update was being held back due to ongoing problems with the PlayStation Network, GT fans have had special reason to closely follow news about the service. Fortunately, Sony has taken yet another important step forward, bringing the PSN Store back online today in the U.S. and Europe.

However, take special note the service is still offline in Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea. As such, there is little chance this latest bit of positive news indicates the next GT5 update is about to be released. As previously mentioned, issues with credit card companies and the Japanese government are preventing Sony from restoring services in their native country.

Stay tuned for more…

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Comments (100)

  1. GT5Pro

    They didn’t even hack them to steal information, they just got in and overloaded the servers to prove that the security level was weak and Sony knew it was. They’ve been hacked three times by anonymous alone and only brought one event to light.

  2. pigboy

    I cant believe the trouble i have connecting a PS3 to vista?? i can sign in on me computer but nothing goes through me local area connection.When the network went down last time same story,nothing to the PS3 = cant sign in!! im fed up with it.vista constantly changes settings from private to public for the network settings.i give up.its no fun and a waste of time,me dog must think im mad,well know i am…haha

  3. Rayline

    Question to all:

    Do hackers have balls? I’m thinking they are very sad and need a hug. Maybe they were bullied at school, or get frustrated with their jobs at burger king. I dont know. Just because you “can” doesn’t mean you ” should”. Hack all the computers that control nuclear weapons all over the world…… If you are so wonderfully smart

    1. Strikey182

      Exactly. They are just a bunch of computer geeks who think they are being cool and tough by hacking.
      Sod off and just let the company run as its supposed to.
      Gah, they annoy me so much!

  4. honchie

    The store is still beyond screwed up, I selected my free downloads then get an ERROR MESSAGE, $%^&!!!! They never uploaded & it shows that I used up my free credits selecting them. THANK YOU SONY.

    1. Spoox777

      I’ve had trouble too. Error messages to begin with then when i finally managed to get it to work i picked my first game which was Infamous & could not pick the second. The reason why i cannot pick my second game is that PS Store has given me 2 copies of Infamous. Why would i want 2 copies? Please sort this as i want my second free game.

      That was this morning. Now it’s the afternoon & i cannot even access the PS Store.

  5. yak sox

    Thanks for this news. I’m in S.korea and it’s extremely frustrating that PSN is still down here. There’s no info about what’s going on and Sony seem to be really dragging their butt with providing the info to the c.card companies.

  6. Andrew

    I would love to see on the PS Store a DLC for gran turismo 5, with features like new Premiun Cars, New events, and the increasing of level 40 cap.

  7. Lambob

    Cheers, in hopes for ANY E3 announcement from PD and or Sony. Apparently, Sony just got hacked again. let’s see where this goes. I’ll just play some Witcher2 on the PC for a while.

  8. Amac500

    I wish they would at very least tell us what the new update does then. I’m hoping we see those 25 tracks and some of the new models of Le Mans cars (90x, R18, AMR-One).

    Why don’t we have any premium gt Le Mans cars like the Corvette or BMW or now we could get the Ferrari Italia

  9. Jonathan

    Ok so i got online today and saw that they have the welcome back program ready for download i clicked on it and it says an has occurred is anyone else having this problem?

    1. YUP

      Keep trying, it’s been twitchy since the store came up. Taken me multiple tries for a number of downloads.

    2. Jonathan

      Yeah I finally got it to work downloading dead nation and infamous right now… And then to my secondary account little big planet and wipeout muhahahaha.

  10. tk

    …Anyways PSN IS up in Japan.PD don’t need the store to patch the game. These Bs excuses are really starting to bug me.

  11. PoopShoot

    Forza is better than GT5..that is the cold hard truth…GT fans need to accept that. I’lf somebody thinks GT is better then they have not played Forza…answer me this..why is GT5 better?

    1. lol@fanboys

      “Forza is better than GT5” is an opinion, not a fact. Just like “GT5 is better than Forza” is also an opinion, and also not a fact.
      I own both, and I prefer GT4. For me, GT4 is better than GT5 or Forza. That GT4 is better is also an opinion, and still not a fact. Go figure.
      Fanboys are people who don’t understand that having an opinion does not automatically qualify it has a fact….(insert cold hard truth reference that doesn’t really add anything here)……fanboys need to accept that (“need to” and “capable of” being two different things unfortunately). If somebody thinks having an opinion centered on personal likes and dislikes directly translates to that opinion being the one and only correct opinion to the point of being universally factual, beyond argument, and omnipotent in it’s mere utturance upon a blog comment page…….awnser me this…..how long does it take to send a post from the center of the universe, and do you have a message for SETI so they can justify cash expenditures to date?

    2. infamousDee

      By what possible measure? They’re both touted to be driving “simulations”, and anyone that genuinely believes Forza is more realistic – graphics or physics wise – as a driving game needs to get out there and take a car round a track in the real world, and that’s a fact, not an opinion.

    3. Tim

      Same exact thing applies to EVERY GT ever released IN MY OPINION, so lol@’s point still stands. Just declarring your opinion a fact still doesn’t make it one.

    4. Banner Ad

      I think we covered that under “Fanboys are people who don’t understand that having an opinion does not automatically qualify it has a fact….(insert cold hard truth reference that doesn’t really add anything here)……fanboys need to accept that (“need to” and “capable of” being two different things unfortunately)”. Paying special attention to: “(“need to” and “capable of” being two different things unfortunately)”. Lol.

    5. infamousDee

      @Tim I said *more* realistic, as in compared to GT. Realism can be proven, “better” can’t.

    6. Mr Wizard

      Congrats, you now have an opinion that aslo counts has an unproven theory. But it’s still not a fact, and won’t be untill qualified persons conduct proper studies, submit the results to peers who attempt to repeat the experiments and/or otherwise verify or refute the data, and the findings are widely accepted under proper scientific review.
      Since you don’t have all that, it’s still just your opinion.
      Has for “better”. “Better” can be proven. It just requires “better” to be difined in a way that can be properly tested has opposed to the generic use of the OP. All you did was define “better” with a testable variable. Namely physics. .

    7. School's out!

      I don’t know what scares me more: That because of hackers we’re down to teaching 6th grade scientific principles in here, or that people seem to be arguing that a theory is accurate just because you can test it.
      You can test to see if i’m dead, it can be proven, but that doesn’t make me dead no mater how many tests you run. Obviously I am alive at the time of writing.
      Just because people have the opinion that GT5 physics are more realistic, and you can test it, doesn’t mean anything other than it’s being a valid but not necessarily accurate opinion . It’s not even a full theory yet. It’s only an observation prior to formulation of an hypothesis, and faaaaaaar from fact.

    8. School's out!

      And just driving a real car arround isn’t proof. That’s still just the observation phase. Two people can go do it, and still come up with differring opinions based on the experience. Heck, i’ve heard forza fanboys make the exact same argument.

  12. SmileyOr1

    My Widget is still not connecting to PSN from West Coast USA this morning. Message still says server maintenance even with forced authentication.

    :(

  13. Pepps

    I held off until just recently to buy a 458 Italia – when I drove it everything became crystal clear. That car is pin sharp and sounds like no other!
    Don’t moan about content, just find a car you love and enjoy it. This game’s brilliant – updates will come along when they’re good’n’ready.

  14. I Love GT5

    Japan is always last.
    It was even last in opening the PSN (5/28 in Japan)
    Because of the delay in Japan, I couldn’t get a gift from a guy.

  15. Rayline

    New update better have saves for endurance, upgraded all cars to premium, normal soundtrack, career racing modes ( that are proer racing career simulation), ice-cream truck for nurburgring, and…… Beer

    1. rayzone12

      hell yes bro i quit playing just because of that and the lack of trading and removing all the really cool cliches that made the game fun. and yes more beer bro.

  16. well....

    I hope one day GT will offer more. As good as the game is, and believe me i love gt5, i still feel like it’s still incomplete, compared with the other brand.

    1. Chad

      I feel exactly the same way. Maybe one day GT will have a real selection of cars that you actually want to drive, offer new tracks and vehicles in an important number, and stop rehashing things half done. The other brand (Forza, let’s call things by their name) is excellent by the way to this extent. Let’s hope GT gets a big slap on their pride to make things way better very soon. I love GT, I hope they wake up soon and either fire Kazunori Yamauchi or make him understand what the people expect from their game.

    2. Gwert

      Considerring Kaz owns PD AND the base rights to the GT series, to “fire” him would only mean no more GT games on playstation, so yah, not gonna happen……..

    1. Butters

      Considering PD is going to announce a new title for the PSVita, it’s looking more and more likely that they won’t announce/release anything, until E3 comes around.

  17. Vesko84

    Yea where is my dlc code for a koenigsegg ccr ? On top of all your network was out on my birthday so I still didn’t get my dlc for free car so there u have it I wan’t my koeningsegg ccr :)

    1. LOL

      So he’s mad that the network wasn’t up so that he could download DLC that doesn’t exsist anyway?
      OK.
      In that case, i’d just like to share how mad I am that the PS3 doesn’t come with a majic pixie dust dispenser that fullfills every wish i’ve ever had while drunk on whiskey.
      Damn Sony.

  18. MeToo

    But I was playing against someone from Japan last week, he even had the Jap flag next to his name. How is this possible?

    1. awesomizer

      Maybe it’s because he created an account by saying his oountry was japan ^^ So if hw lived in US the psn was up!

  19. Kyle Rohde

    About time! Amazing to see all that Forza 4 is going to offer, 2 years after Forza 3 came out, including importing your garage so you don’t have to start over. They managed to come out with two games in less time than it took the GT team to make one game. I still love GT5 but I’m starting to wish I’d bought a 360 instead of a PS3.

    1. G

      I wish we had comments that related to the actual subject… I mean as good as Forza 4 sounds like its going to be, the fact youve got an very excellent game right there but seemingly wish for something thats possible to do tomorrow… go trade it in my friend you can work on Forza 3 before Forza 4 comes out… Go quick before its too late!!! hehe

    2. Dr.Boss.

      might as well troll a troll

      forza = call of duty…
      simmer down’d, simplified, generic, mass consumed, Garbage

    3. ZeroSixZ33

      Come on guys. The guy was just trying to telling us that the new update will turn GT5 into Forza. :P

    4. rayzone12

      Dude what are you talking bout Forza is a kids games this is a mans game go play with your leggos dude

    5. lol@fanboys

      At least you can allways count on stupid fanboy bickering to spice up an otherwise droll article comment section durring a PSN outage. Good job people. Keep those fiction based delusions flowing, and don’t forget to pay the monthly dues so the new BS talking points newsletter gets published in time for E3…….

    6. infamousDee

      Until Turn 10 fix those god-awful, floaty physics, I’m not planning on purchasing any more Forza games for the time being.

    7. Pryor

      @Gulyo Your a funny guy. I just found comments from you on another forum, selling your PS3 and G25 from…..december 2009. Troll confirmed, but seriously dude you have been keeping this going for two and a half years, on other forums too, just give it up.

    8. Lol

      Yah, we busted gulyo almost a month ago in the “GT5’s New “Muscle Car” Seasonal Event & Updated Online Car Dealership Now Available” article, with qoutes from just this site alone. He hasn’t quite realized yet that our memories work just fine, and nobody is fooled. lol.

    9. Andrew

      Ii dont understand why u even come to here..if u like forza go to a website where people will care about your randomn OPINION. And not a gt5 website for people who like this game.

    1. Fred

      And a pointless complaint from you to go with it. That must mean things are finnaly getting close to being back to normal……….

    2. Facepalm

      “Gulyo November 30th, 2010 at 8:11 am #
      I sell my whole stuff … PS3, GT5 and DFGT … and NEVER EVER buy again , really, not my style !!!”

      “Gulyo May 17th, 2011 at 2:36 am #
      I sold my stuff in March …I bought Xbox for upcoming KING, Forza 4 !!!”

      Yet still following GT5 articles looking for updates and news………how very odd…..XD

    3. Banner Ad

      I think we covered that under “Fanboys are people who don’t understand that having an opinion does not automatically qualify it has a fact….(insert cold hard truth reference that doesn’t really add anything here)……fanboys need to accept that (“need to” and “capable of” being two different things unfortunately)”. Paying special attention to: “(“need to” and “capable of” being two different things unfortunately)”. Lol.

    1. Butters

      All the people who don’t expect a big update, crawl out of your cornhole for a second and smell the coffee. This is going to be the greatest update, yet.

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