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Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi wins class victory in real-life 24-hour endurance race
Alright, stick with us here because we're about to get super inside baseball: In Europe, there's a country called Germany, and in Germany, there's a village called Nürburg. Now, built around Nürburg is the Nürburgring, which is one of the deadliest race tracks in the entire world. The serpentine course spans nearly 15 miles of hairpin turns and arrow-straight straights, and is used by supercar giants like Ferrari and Lamborghini to test the mettle of their latest creations. "The Ring" (as car-folk call it), is home to an annual GT and touring car endurance challenge called the 24 Hours Nürburgring, where teams of drivers from all over the world take shifts racing one car around the track for 24 continuous hours. This year's 24 Hours ended earlier today, with Gran Turismo producer Kazunori Yamauchi and his team claiming a first-place class victory with their Nissan GT-R. Similar to a "Best of Breed" award at a dog show, a class victory means that even though the team may not have placed first over-all, they were still first out of cars of their type. This win comes on the heels of the team's recent victory at 24 Hours of Le Mans, where they grabbed second in-class. Drift past the brake for an exceedingly German video of the car/driver in question, and see if you can spot one of the many boners graffitied around the track. [Thanks, Marco!]
Track logos point to possible Gran Turismo 5 DLC
GTPlanet recently did a bit of internet sleuthing into the Gran Turismo 5 official website, and uncovered logos for 24 tracks which aren't currently available in the game. A few have appeared in past titles, including Gran Turismo 4 and Gran Turismo PSP -- but all 24 have never appeared together in the same title. Check out the process through which these logos were divined on this GTPlanet forum post, and check out the full list of tracks after the jump. It's unclear whether these logos are actually indicative of a batch of tracks that are coming to Gran Turismo 5 as DLC -- though it's worth noting that the list contains the track "El Capitan," which was shown as a GT5 track in a cross-promotional video posted (briefly) by Red Bull last year. If that particular track actually ends up in the game, that would mean that Polyphony Digital has been working on it for a while! Why, that doesn't sound like them at all.
Gran Turismo goes from racing lines to clothing line
Not to be outdone by another blockbuster franchise -- Metal Gear Solid -- the Gran Turismo brand has spawned its own clothing line. But where Konami is going for authenticity to its game and characters, Sony is focusing on neatly cut (and expensive!) coats and shirts. Being sold through the newly launched Gran Turismo Boutique, the threads range from a $25 T-Shirt with barely a hint of GT branding up to a $200 "endurance jacket" with the series logo embroidered across the back. Here's hoping the site's shipping isn't as delay-plagued as the series the clothing represents.
Yamauchi: Gran Turismo 5 to get in-race game saves
So, you're in the middle of the big race. In your sleek, modified land-rocket, you pour through the turns, inching out the opposing steel beasts while hurtling through space at half a football field-per-second. You're playing Gran Turismo 5, of course. You catch the draft behind your rival and slingshot past the -- OH MAN! You're telling us all of Scrubs is on Netflix Instant Watch? Like, every single episode? Sorry, high-intensity driving action, but we're done here. Fortunately, stoppping in the middle of a race won't have to mean losing your progress following an upcoming GT5 update. In a recent tweet, Polyphony Digital CEO Kazunori Yamauchi said -- as translated by GTPlanet -- that a feature which will allow players to save in the middle of the game's lengthy endurance races is "currently under development." Soon, friends. Soon you'll be able to watch all the Scrubs you want, and that unforgiving vehicular gauntlet will be waiting for you when you get back.
Gran Turismo 5 patched to 1.06, Remote Racing enabled
If you prefer to keep a safe distance from your driving sims -- or consider them an adequate venue for expressing your obsessive, controlling nature -- you should have someone pop in your Gran Turismo 5 disc today. According to the official site, an automatically administered patch (bumping the game up to version 1.6) enables support for Remote Racing, a mode that allows you to manage drivers in B-spec races via the Gran Turismo website. You could be earning money at work right now. In addition, the patch allows tracks from the Course Maker to be used in online races, which also dole out more experience points. Gran Turismo 5 v1.6 supports multi-monitor, multi-PS3 setups, and claims to have optimized the speed at which games are saved. It's a significant (and free) update, so be sure to have your assistant read the full documentation and report back to you.
Thrustmaster T500 RS review
For a long time -- a long, long time -- Logitech and Gran Turismo have gone together like rubber and asphalt. Like carbon fiber and fender flares. Like drivers' privates and their Nomex underpants. The two were tight, but with GT5 came a changing of the guard. Thrustmaster, a company world-renowned for its high-end flight controls and its giggle-inducing name, stepped in and bought the license. The purpose? To release the decidedly high-end T500 RS wheel, the controller designed to abolish memories of all the plasticy racing controllers that have come before from the company. Does it succeed, and is it worth the pucker-inducing price of $599? These questions and more answered below. %Gallery-117113%
Sony: GT Academy round two ruined by cheaters, won't count
Sony's GT Academy competition, which was intended to provide the world's best Gran Turismo 5 players with a chance to win a spot as a real race driver using their virtual driving skills, has hit an ugly speed bump. The game's publisher has announced that the second round of the five-round tournament is being stricken from the records -- and the third round delayed -- because some participants were taking advantage of flaws in the game in order to achieve seemingly impossible lap times. Specifically, cheaters were able to cut corners on the Rome and Madrid courses without being penalized by the game for doing so. Rather than reward the cheaters or end the competition entirely, Sony has decided to allow everyone who participated in round two to proceed to round three. Developer Polyphony Digital says that it's working to fix any potential exploits before conducting the third round of races, but can't put an ETA on the completion of the patch. That being the case, the planned start of round three on February 14, 2011 has been delayed indefinitely. We're glad that the competition is (hopefully) being made fair for everyone, but have to admit that it would have been pretty funny to see one of the "winning" cheaters cutting corners on a real race track.
Gran Turismo Anywhere to launch in early February
First announced at Tokyo Game Show last year, Gran Turismo 5's long-awaited Remote Races feature is finally gearing up for launch. A tweet from series head Kazunori Yamauchi confirms an "early February" release for the update. Formally known as "Gran Turismo Anywhere," Remote Races allow you to control B-Spec races from a PC or mobile device by logging onto the official Gran Turismo website. You won't be able drive, but you will be able to issue commands during the race to a virtual racer that levels up (and down) over time. While not particularly engaging, it is a good way of earning money to use towards better cars in-game. With the update arriving in early February, it seems Polyphony Digital is making good on its plans to release near-monthly updates for the PS3 driving sim. Update 1.05 came out in late December, and added 608MB of new features and tweaks. What else could be in store for 1.06?
Gran Turismo 5 moves 560,500 units in December, 1.14 million sold between Nov. and Dec.
Despite not making December's NPD top 10 list, Gran Turismo 5 sold 560,500 units last month in the US and Canada. IndustryGamers got the number straight from the NPD Group -- a number which looks like an apparent dropoff from Sony's late November launch numbers, which heralded 5.5 million units shipped worldwide, 1.25 million of which were in North America alone. And hey, let's not kid ourselves: a good amount of December's "sales" figures are also accounted for in November's "shipped" figures. All of them, in fact -- 1.14 million copies of Gran Turismo 5 have been sold in the US and Canada thus far, a representative from NPD told us this afternoon, leaving approximately 110K copies from the initial shipment still on store shelves. That said, plans for periodic support in GT5 were highlighted by developer Polyphony Digital as recently as last month. Add that to the fact that the 2011 Formula One season is just around the corner, and we'd say it's likely that racing fans will continue to pick up the game as early 2011 progresses.
Gran Turismo 5 races against reality on German track
Sony has a video comparing the real-life Nürburgring with its digital re-creation in Gran Turismo 5. It naturally features the amount of impressive detail work one would expect from a game that was so long in development.
Thrustmaster T500RS, the official Gran Turismo 5 wheel, unboxed and tested (video)
Wondering how Thrustmaster's upcoming$599 T500RS wheel stacks up to the competition from Logitech and Fanatec? Haven't had your daily dose of heavy metal backing music? You'd better click play on the video embedded below. InsideSimRacing has managed to get one of the first wheels in the country and, while we're mildly jealous, we won't stop from passing on their impressions -- which aren't universally positive. The trick flip pedals that go from "F1" to "rally" style? Gimmicky. Rubber instead of leather? C'mon. Price? Astronomical. The rest of the impressions? You'll just have to start streaming to find out. [Thanks, Chris]
A serious unboxing of Thrustmaster's official GT5 racing wheel
Inside Sim Racing does not mess around. When the site got its hands on what it says is one of the first Thrustmaster T500RS units in the US (a.k.a. the official Gran Turismo 5 racing wheel), it made this epic unboxing video. Carrying a $600 price tag [Ed.'s note: Not a typo!], the peripheral is expected to ship in North America and Europe on January 5 ... which, coincidentally, is when this blogger's car payment, less than half the price of the T500RS, is due. [Thanks, Chris]
Gran Turismo 5 receives 608MB of bodywork for v1.05.
Gran Turismo 5 is ready to go back to the shop for a major 608MB, version 1.05 patch. The update includes seasonal events, upgrades for winning races and save data backups.
GT Academy competition to be featured in Speed Network reality show
Not only are the best Gran Turismo 5 players getting a chance to be professional racecar drivers, but they're gonna be on the teevee, too! The competition, which started up this month, is turning into a reality show on the Speed Network next year. When the finals start up in March of 2011, the last 32 contestants and their travels and travails will be filmed for the show as they go through the last of the contest and the race training process. It's not mentioned whether or not the contestants will have to perform stunts on a desert island, live in a house together while under the watch of cameras 24/7, or give roses to each other but we'll just assume, since it's a reality show, that all of those things will happen. We also wonder which contestant will be the plucky, charismatic racer that eventually becomes a D-level celebrity.
Gran Turismo 5 gets three free premium cars for Christmas ... in Japan
Sony Japan is putting a special Christmas gift in the stockings of Gran Turismo 5 owners in that territory. From December 24 to January 31, Japanese GT5 drivers will be able to download a Lamborghini Murcielago LP 640, a BMW M3 Coupe and a Jaguar XJ13 completely free for use in the game. The Lambo and the Beemer were originally included in the game's collector's edition, and the Jag was a promotional extra from Facebook. The promotion is currently for Japan only, so you US and European players will have to live with the usual coal in your stocking. Maybe next year, try not being so naughty?
Gran Turismo 5 creator wants monthly updates, plans premium car upgrades
Gran Turismo 5 may be out in stores, but its creators don't consider their work complete just yet. Since its release, Polyphony Digital's racing game has already received a few updates, with more on the way. Series creator Kazunori Yamauchi explained to Famitsu that "it would be good to have one update every month." Of particular note for car enthusiasts would be the expansion of the game's premium car offerings. Although the game launched with over a thousand cars, only one fifth of the vehicles are represented with "premium" models, which feature higher resolution textures, fully modeled interiors and undercarriages, and damage modeling. Yamauchi promised that new premium cars would be made available for download, but Andriasang notes that he failed to confirm whether or not the updates would be free. Although the team is working on adding new features and updated models into GT5, there are a few items you shouldn't expect via patches: new cars and courses. "They may be added as expansion content," Yamauchi explained, "or we may leave it until the next title."
Gran Turismo 5 loading times slashed with SSD install
Sick and tired of sitting through loading screens between races in Gran Turismo 5? If you've got yourself the cash, slap a solid-state drive (SSD) into that puppy and watch the loading times plummet -- at least, so says Phil over on the Beyond3D forums. Taking two PS3s (an older "fat" with the game installed on a Corsair F120 SSD drive and a Slim with the game installed on its standard SATA drive), Phil timed how long it took for the game to initially load up and checked out several different tracks' loading times in the game's Arcade mode. He found a sizeable, consistent drop in loading times. The biggest factor seems to be the architecture of the SSD itself -- it has no moving parts, so there are no mechanical heads moving around frantically to access the thousands and thousands of tiny, incremental files that make up the Gran Turismo 5 installation. While SSD seems like it would be better for installing games compared to regular storage, the drives are still costly. Factoring in the affordability of other compatible 2.5" HDDs and the SSD solution seems more and more impractical -- despite the impressive loading times you see above. Update: Some commenters brought it to our attention that we inaccurately reported the compatibility of some solid-state drives with the PS3 Slim. We apologize for this oversight and have updated the article accordingly.
Gran Turismo 5 ships 5.5 million worldwide
Sony's pretty confident in its latest big release, Gran Turismo 5. The publisher shipped 5.5 million copies of the game to retailers worldwide since launching in late November, pushing the entire franchise's worldwide lifetime shipped numbers to just over the 60 million mark (61.41 million, precisely). Gran Turismo 5 debuted on November 24th and placed 8th on the NPD's software sales ranking for that month. Sony and developer Polyphony Digital also noted their dedication to expanding the world of GT5 in the future. "Polyphony Digital Inc., will continue hereon to vigorously promote development of the Gran Turismo series, which can be expected to evolve even further through the PS3 platform and broadband network environment." Let's hope for more notable additions, like the recent introduction (v1.03) of tiered vehicle damage to online races.
Gran Turismo 5 patch v1.03 adds tiered damage to online races
Those of you taking Gran Turismo 5's detailed vehicles onto the information superhighway will be glad to hear that the latest patch for the game adds selectable car damage. After downloading the patch, GT5's "My Lounge" section allows you to choose how much mechanical damage you're willing to suffer during online play, from "None" to "Heavy" ("Mechanical damage will be more severe, and can only be repaired by making a pit stop ... damaged parts will be indicated with on-screen icons"). The "Light" damage option means parts of your car can be damaged, but its health regenerates (no, we're not joking). It's not clear whether the update also adds cover for your cars to hide behind while said health regenerates. The patch is available as of right now and it takes up approximately 150MB of HDD space -- Polyphony Digital has yet to detail any other fixes/additions the patch brings with it. If you spot anything else, feel free to drop us a line! [Thanks Russ!]
Michael Jackson: The Experience moonwalks up UK sales chart, Black Ops king of the hill
Gran Turismo 5 ran out of gas after its debut week, dropping 61 percent in sales and into fourth place on Chart-Track's UK All Formats chart. The top three titles were Call of Duty: Black Ops, FIFA 11 and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. The big premieres for the week were Donkey Kong Country Returns and Super Mario All-Stars 25th Anniversary at 13 and 22, respectively. So, last week we almost neglected to mention Disney Epic Mickey, because it didn't make the Top 40. We thought its performance might have been an anomaly ... until it missed out again on the Top 40 and maintained its place at #11 on the Wii Chart. Not a good sign. Comparatively, Ubisoft's Michael Jackson: The Experience, which debuted down at #38 last week, had a thriller of a second week, shooting up to sixth place. It's now holding hands with Ubisoft's stalwart Just Dance franchise, which had its numerical sequel in the fifth spot. Find the full UK top ten after the break.
