PS3 Fanboy

The team at Polyphony Digital made this short video (starring Santa!) to wish everyone Merry Christmas. But don't expect Rudolph and his red nose in this vid. No, Santa's driving away in a new car. And it looks awesome.

[Thanks, Jeffrey M.!]

Did you know that Polyphony Digital, makers of the world-renowned Gran Turismo series, actually works on real cars? In fact, they're responsible for the multiple function display of the upcoming Nissan GT-R. These displays are typical of modern airplanes, but is being utilized in Nissan's posh car.

CNET goes through the details: "there are 11 user-definable display panels, its components (gauges and meters in both analog and digital display mode) being arrangeable according to the user's needs and taste." This technological piece of overkill could only come from Polyphony, with their thorough knowledge of both technology and cars.

This isn't the first time Polyphony has worked closely with car manufacturers. It also produces simulation movies for car manufacturers, most likely using the same technology used in the Gran Turismo series.

[Thanks, w.c.!]

The creator of the Gran Turismo games, Kazunori Yamauchi, has confirmed that there will be an in-car view in Gran Turismo 5 -- a first for the Gran Turismo series. Speaking to French motorsports TV show Turbo, Yamauchi said:

"To translate the real car into 3D, we use data and assets provided by the car manufacturers, but we also use a scanner that completely digitizes a car. Here's a scoop: We're also modeling the dashboards because you can drive from the interior view in the upcoming Gran Turismo 5."

The in-car view is something that fans have been requesting for a long time, so this should make quite a few people happy. It seems like Polyphony Digital is really pulling out all the stops this time around; this combined with car damage, shows that the Gran Turismo series truly is going next-gen (sorry GT HD -- you don't count). Makes you wonder how many of the changes are because of Microsoft's driving games though. PGR 3 has a great in-car camera, and Forza 2 has damage modeling already and they both have online play. So the Gran Turismo series definitely has some catching up to do in some areas.

We say confirmed with a question mark because the debate is still up in the air, but apparently there was a little scuffle between a group of message board visitors and a Gran Turismo development staff member regaring the issue of damage to the licensed cars. The staff member worked on Gran Turismo HD and is hard at work on Gran Turismo 5, which is awesome. But here are a few quotes from the guy worth scratching our chins over:

• "...We're not ready to implement damage until they can be shown in a truly authentic way (which is extremely hard work if you think about it)."
• Damage in Gran Turismo would make the franchise unstoppable, don't you think? He responds: "No I mean, really, really, really hard work... to the extent of creating another game, almost. From our standards, what other games are doing is "simplified damage". You know how [anal] we are when making our games... we would want to simulate every single dent differently."

Not sure why they bleeped out anal -- it's a perfectly appropriate word, because Polyphony Digital really does get down to the most painstaking detail when crafting these games. So what's this sound like to you? The staff member who said this checks out. He's completely legit (but we can't reveal the obvious). We're saying there won't be damage this time. Maybe for GT5 A-Spec or something. I dunno. I won't mind. Besides, you're not supposed to crash in the driving sim games.
[Thanks, derrickgott007!]

This is speculation, but not exactly a rumor since it comes from a Sony Europe press release. While talking about the Gran Turismo HD Concept for download on day one of the European launch, Sony let slip a hint that more GT goodness will be gracing the consoles soon. Since Sony and Polyphony said they weren't going to add more to the HD Concept demo (if memory serves), this leads one to believe that Gran Turismo 5 is at least going to be demo-worthy by year's end.

From the press release: "A big year for Gran Turismo starts with a free download for PS3 owners. We can't say too much right now, but it's going to be a big year for this title; Gran Turismo HD Concept is just the beginning." So, maybe Sony hasn't been lying around complacently after releasing that concept demo -- they've been hard at work getting things done. Sweet. What do you guys think? A new HD Concept demo, or GT5?

You heard right -- this Fall (or Autumn, if you want to be really specific) Sony and Polyphony will be releasing a sort of demo Prologue to the upcoming Gran Turismo 5. It's rumored to feature several cars and circuits apart from what we experienced with Gran Turismo HD. Not to mention some online network play via the Gran Turismo Network.

Well, since this comes out in the Fall and the next full iteration of the GT series is due out in the Spring of '08, we've got to wonder if this will follow GTHD in some respects. Namely, will it be free to download? We're going to vote 'yes' because the Gran Turismo series is pretty much Sony property. Sony wants to keep their network free and there's no reason to charge us for that. For third-party games there'll probably be a fee once demos start rolling out. What do you guys think?

[via Joystiq]

Sadly, this "updated" version of the neat demo for Gran Turismo HD doesn't come with any special tracks or added options. It fixes a bug. Apparently, a 700MB bug. That's right, no patches, but you've got to re-download the entire thing. Not only that, but doing so erases all your track and drift records. It's... kind of a slap to the face, Polyphony. Why? I was in the top twenty for something... well, probably not anymore, but at some point I was.

Oh! We never told you the bug. Here's the big problem: the bug caused the time to stop before you got to the finish line. That's it. Download the new version at your own discretion, everyone!

We'll keep this quick. You know it, we know it, it's known. The Gran Turismo HD demo has gone live in the PlayStation Store for, what we assume, all regions. Download it. Enjoy it. Wait until the fifth installment of the series? We'll have to. It's a pretty large file, so make sure you've got something else to do in the meantime... like, say, blog on a website where you get insulted more often than discuss the topic at hand. Just for the record, if we say something that's so easy to make fun of or call out as being biased and untrue, it's called "flamebait"... and it's intended. Did you take the bait? Absolutely. We're not actually offended by the reaction -- it's completely expected and many of the comments are entirely true and valid. It's still pretty funny, though. Anywho, let us know if you make a "best time" on the track and it gets put up on the internet -- we'd love to have it linked! Enjoy guys/girls!

There's got to be a way to get our grubby American hands on this demo! Japan gets to download the free GTHD demo on December 24th, we know, but what does it include? New details have surfaced and the available cars and track are known. The track is Eiger Nordwand, available in both normal and reverse racing modes. The cars are thus:

• Suzuki Cappuccino '95
  
• Mazda Eunos Roadster '89
  
• Honda Integra Type R'04 (yes, the Integra is a Honda)
  
• Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV GSR'96
  
• Infinity G35 Coupe
  
• Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX GSR'05
  
• Lotus Elise 111R'04
  
• Nissan Sky Liner GT-R V Spec II '94
  
• Toyota Celica GT-FOUR Rally Car '95
• Ferrari 599'06

You start with the Cappuccino, just like every day of my life (har, har), and by completing certain criteria, you unlock the next car. So on and so forth. No online play, but you can post your scores online and the top-ranking fellows even have the race itself up for download. Pretty snazzy! Hope we can get into it, also.

That was fast! Right after some amazing screenshots were revealed, Sony and Polyphony decided to cut the crap and halt production of Gran Turismo HD, focusing solely on Gran Turismo 5 due out in 2008. GTHD is, however, going to come out as a demo on December 24th, offering a little less than a dozen cars and two variations of one track. It's supposed to be a Japan-only demo, but they couldn't possibly keep it away from everyone else. Could they? Now... while this is pretty sad news (even though people were complaining about the microtransactions idea and people will know complain about a free demo... go figure), we have to think... could this demo truly be more of a lead-in to Gran Turismo 5 instead of the resignation of GTHD? A taste of what to come, one may say. Leave us your thoughts.