PS3 Fanboy

Editor's Note: This review was published earlier, before the reviewer completed all the license tests. We pulled the review, acknowledging it was an inaccurate representation of the game. The reviewer has completed all the license tests and has provided a new, edited review.

Before gamers ever really got to play it, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue was already slapped in the face with accusations of being nothing more than a glorified demo. Branded with such a stigma, many gamers had turned away from Prologue and decided to wait out until next year when the "real" GT5 races out. Are these people vindicated in their racing abstinence? Or are they missing out?

Gran Turismo 5 Prologue does continue the tradition of maintaining the most realistic driving sim out on the market. It does this with stunningly gorgeous visuals while at the same time playing like a charm. A rigid online mode does drag the title down a bit, but overall, Prologue will leave you well satisfied. This is one PS3 exclusive that'll definitely make you proud to be a PS3 owner.

When you hear the word "soon" from Polyphony Digital, you have to interpret it as "in a year, or our next game" at the very least. Anyway, Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi said they've been in talks with automobile manufacturers who initially "hated the idea of deformation, now they're slowly coming around to it ... We've still got a few to convince, but we will. Expect deformation in the very near future: very, very soon." Sounds almost too good to be true!

Yamauchi also talks briefly about Prologue, but it's nothing particularly new. He apologizes to fans for not being able to shovel out a full game all in one go, but we're fine with this set-up -- we want Polyphony to get the game to where they want it before releasing it.

If you think you can get away with not purchasing Gran Turismo 5: Prologue because you're so sure that as soon as it's released, the whole game will get a release date a couple of months later, you're wrong. On a recent PlayStation Blog post, associate producer at SCEA Chris Hinojosa-Miranda responded to comments about the game, saying that "GT5 is still about a year away. You should just decide now to buy [Prologue], enjoy it, go online and race against anyone and everyone, rank number one worldwide, get the girl (or guy) and become the most popular kid in town." But what if we already are the most popular kid in town? What then, Mr. Hinojosa-Miranda?

In the comments section of his most recent post on the PlayStation.Blog, SCEA producer Takau Imasaki mentioned that in-game voice chat and a private race setting will be available for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue in later updates. Now this news comes in as semi-official as it was not part of the original post, but was made in response to a reader's question. Imasaki wrote, "Private races with buddies and in-game chat are all in the works... but will not be ready from day one. Will keep you posted on the progress!"

We're hoping Mr. Imasaki makes sure that promise is kept. While we won't be seeing these additions by the time Prologue drives its way home with us, we're still anxiously awaiting to hit the GT racing circuit nonetheless. These new features are definitely great, but we can live without them for just a bit longer.

[Via CVG]

If you don't watch a lot of TV then you might miss these Gran Turismo 5 Prologue commercials. Or they're only airing in Europe. Or if you do watch a lot of TV and see these, you might want to see them again. So here are two TV spots for the upcoming driving simulator -- and they look spectacular. The second one can be found after the jump, because we don't want to put too much awesome up front and overwhelm you. Plus it's a lot longer.

[Update: finding the news slightly suspicious, we had our very own European blogger, Jem Alexander, double check the number with SCEE. They confirmed it to be true. So there you have it!]

It's not every day games go "platinum" before they're even released. Generally, this occurs with huge titles, but even taking that into account it's an uncommon feat. Factor into that the notion that a game whose title explicitly states it's a Prologue to a full game ... and it's nearly unbelievable. But in Europe alone, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue has achieved just that: one million pre-orders.

What we need to remember is that the pre-order number is not only for Europe alone, but also just for the Blu-ray release of the game -- not the downloadable version. If half of the people who intend to purchase the game pre-order it and the other half download it, well, this is going to be huge. Add America and Japan into the mix and we've basically got the best-selling PS3 title to date; at least, that's what we're assuming will happen. What about you?

Takau Imasaki, producer for Gran Turismo 5 at SCEA, recently talked a bit about the upcoming US release of the game. Slight tweaks are being made to make it a more user-friendly title for the Western audience. By releasing this trial game, Prologue will serve as a testing ground for Polyphony's first real foray into online gaming. They're trying to "catch up to Microsoft in that regard," they said.

Car damage? It will eventually happen in the series, but not until the designers are able to "perfect" it. Don't expect it any time in this series of GT games. Also, because users are already being charged for this early preview of the full GT5 experience, there won't be much DLC in Prologue. That would be a little mean, no?

[Thanks, Patrick!]

[Update: Clarified wording.]

Click for high-resolution image.

Every time we get a glimpse of GT5, we can't help but feel overly giddy for more. Luckily, Sony's Three Speech blog really cranked out the Gran Turismo 5 Prologue screens today with more shots of tracks, cars, and the pit. The environments look so spectacularly life-like it's almost scary. We wouldn't want to crash in such a real simulation; it's just simply too much of a scary thought.

Despite our crash-phobia, we're really looking forward to getting in this game's driver's seat and burning up some rubber. GT5's March-April release is just too far away.

[Thanks Clayton!]

With the advent of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, a lot of people are wondering how many of the features will make it into the final version of Gran Turismo 5. One would expect all of them, but here's what was gleaned in a recent interview: more cars in a race, global community connectivity, increased drift control, better competitor AI, and a veritable car encyclopedia.

Kazunori Yamauchi's own garage is nothing to scoff at: a souped up Nissan 350Z, Honda S2000, Mercedes SL55, a Porsche GT3, and two Ford GTs. Two! Lucky man.

[via Videogaming247]

European release dates are usually up in the air until someone announces a big delay, or some kind of issue causes a game to get a much later release than its Japanese or American counterparts. Sony has promised that Europe will see a release of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue sometime in late March. No price or solid release date, naturally, but it's still interesting to see the game almost upon us. The US release date is still tentative, but aiming at a mid-April launch. When we get more solid confirmations, we'll let you know!

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.!]

It would seem Gran Turismo 5 Prologue has made its launch in Japan and to the lauding of many a critic as an excellent game. Er, partial game. Well, we aren't entirely sure how to classify it, but it's launched in Japan. If you're really good at reading Japanese (or lines of question marks as this Firefox browser insists on showing), you can probably glean some more information from the listing, but as far as we can tell, it's totally a different language and we, like, can't read it.

There seem to be planned updates through the new year already. It is great to see such continued support for the game. Hopefully we'll get our hands on it soon enough and see how poorly we actually drive. According to simulation.

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.!]

In addition to causing mouths to drop and tongues to roll on the Tokyo Game Show floor, Gran Turismo 5 has some pretty big plans, it seems. Polyphony Digital's Kazunori Yamauchi spoke about his vision of the future of GT5, as well as confirming the game's ability to hold a steady 60fps while delivering full 1080p content. Yamauchi also expressed his relief at rumble returning, as he felt it was crucial in games like these. What we saw at TGS, the new My Page and TV Mode, were the big hitters and demand a little more discussion.

The My Page is fairly straightforward, adding a personal element to the gaming experience. You get to customize your car on display as well as the background. That's all fine and dandy, but the top of the screen has a band that really brings in the online capabilities of the game -- worldwide weather forecasts and an interactive buddy list that shows your friends as glowing dots on a globe, akin to the users spotted using folding@home.

The TV Mode is where things get interesting. This channel will allow you to see car-sporting events rarely seen, like the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (now called Super GT). Car manufacturers will get video content to you through this mode as well, but Yamauchi won't stop there! He plans to ultimately allow virtual test drives of the manufacturer's cars, with a real dealership spokesperson in the "passenger seat" telling you about the car via voice chat. If you decide to actually buy the car, for real, that can all be done through the Gran Turismo dealership -- you'll still have to go and pick up your new car though. Strange stuff, huh? Would you buy a car based off of a virtual test drive?

We're having a very hard time just choosing which Gran Turismo 5 garage image to use for this post. They're all so dynamite. We're finally catching more glimpses of cars outside of Ferarri's, which is nice since we're almost to the cars normal people can afford. Nothing quite like driving your car, or the car you'd like to reasonably get, around a track like a total badass. Since you wouldn't do that for real, right? Well, from our limited knowledge of cars, it seems these pictures feature the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, Nissan Skyline, Ferarri Whatever (does it matter? It's a flippin' Ferarri), the GT-R (fill in the gaps), an Alfa-Romero, Audi TT, BMW Z4, and some ugly maroon car. Enjoy the pictures!

[via PS3Forums]