Yamauchi on Gran Turismo
Producer discusses GT HD, GT for Boys, GT PSP and more.

September 25, 2006 - One of the most assured pieces of gaming vaporware may see release after all. Famitsu.com, reporting from the Tokyo Game Show, got confirmation from Gran Turismo series producer Kazunori Yamauchi that development on Gran Turismo for Boys is still underway. We haven't heard anything about this PS2-based kids oriented GT title since Yamauchi announced it over a year ago at a Gran Turismo 4 party, causing concern that Yamauchi had been drunk at the time.

Now on to another vaporware candidate, Gran Turismo 4 Mobile. Development on the PSP entry in the Gran Turismo series still seems to be under way. Said Yamauchi regarding this game, "We're of course considering PlayStation 3 and PSP connectivity, similar to how a PC connects with a cell phone. I still can't comment though."

So in addition to Gran Turismo HD (Japanese PS3 release in December) and Gran Turismo 5 (planned for PS3 release in 2008), keep Gran Turismo for Boys and Gran Turismo 4 Mobile on your release calendar.

Famitsu also scored commentary from Yamauchi on a variety of Gran Turismo topics. The producer joked that the upcoming GT HD download service would be like iTunes, referring to it as a GT Tunes. He also provided some relief for those worried about the expense of downloading cars and tracks for GT HD. Polyphony hopes to make content that has been downloaded for GT HD available for use in the next GT.

Yamauchi also explained some of the reasoning behind making car damage and advanced opponent AI available as downloads rather than as part of the December GT HD release. With online games, it's difficult to follow the current development practice of adding more and more features to a game prior to its release, explained Yamauchi. Instead, although as a developer it's difficult and feels a little strange, it's best to start service on something, no matter how small, and build it up with players.

If it means getting the next Gran Turismo title in a little over two months, you won't find us complaining.

September 22, 2006 - The most powerful property in racing games is undoubtedly Gran Turismo, Sony and Polyphony Digital's racing simulation series. Few other franchises in existence pay homage to their inspiration more than GT does, and fewer still go to such extreme lengths to provide such detail.



This immaculate attention to detail means that the series has an incredibly rabid fan base, die-hard racers who gobble up each subsequence release as soon as it hits store shelves. The somewhat downside to this effect is that these fans want Gran Turismo 5 while Sony and Polyphony are currently showing off Gran Turismo HD, a "port" of sorts of Gran Turismo 4 to the PlayStation 3. While this year's E3 press conference garnered some resentment to the series after its lengthy (and somewhat boring) demo, the companies have stuck to their guns and are displaying the game in full force at this year's TGS.

Curiously, the game isn't quite the straight-up port that it seems (slight graphical upgrades aside). Rather than picking up the game and receiving 700+ cars and a ton of tracks like you would with GT4, the game will be microtransaction-based. That is, you'll pay a small bit of real-world cash to buy cars and tracks, allowing you to pick up only the parts you want (or need). The catch may come to those who want everything, but that's how life goes we suppose.

For TGS, a number of "in-car" setups were playable that featured Logitech's Driving Force Pro, the racing wheel that went hand-in-hand with Gran Turismo 4. A set of 10 cars were available that ranged from a Lancer Evolution IV to a Mazda Eunos Roadster to the bad-ass Lotus Elise. Only one track was available that ran alongside a cliff's edge, and we were limited to a four-minute trial run before the game would time out.

In practice, there's really no difference between GT4 and GTHD as far as driving goes. In fact, if you put a blur filter over the game, you probably couldn't tell the difference. Cars seem to handle identically and it retains the exact same sense of speed. This is of course an extremely good thing in most cases, but it also means that we still haven't seen the addition of damage modeling to the series. Perhaps that's what GT5 has in store for us.

Visually, the game looks like an incredibly high resolution version of GT4. Running at 1080p over HDMI, the game is leaps and bounds cleaner than even GT4 running at 1080i. Aside from resolution, there are a handful of nice visual upgrades to be seen, like a great specular lighting system on the cars, but most of the environmental changes are simply cleanliness. Textures are much sharper with cars looking absolutely stellar and backgrounds cutting through your eyes like a razor blade. The bystanders on the side of the track now look to be fully 3D and nicely animated, with some fans even standing up from a crouched position as you approach.

Again, aside from all that however, this is the PlayStation 3 version of Gran Turismo 4. The microtransaction element is certainly curious, so it'll be interesting to see how that pans out. But all in all, this is the same old Gran Turismo that we've loved for years, but it's not the true next-gen Gran Turismo.