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Gran Turismo 5 probably coming to US, EU in early 2010 - Polyphony

Series creator Kazunori Yamauchi says global rollout of anticipated PS3-exclusive racer won't trail March Japanese launch by much.

Polyphony Digital certainly hasn't won any races in bringing its latest installment in the PlayStation-exclusive Gran Turismo franchise to market. Announced at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo at the same time Sony unveiled the PlayStation 3, the game has languished largely out of sight from the public eye, though the studio did release the pared-down Gran Turismo 5 Prologue in 2008.

GT5 hopes to make up some time in the stretch.

GT5 hopes to make up some time in the stretch.

As part of this year's Tokyo Game Show, Sony and Polyphony at long last attached a release window for Gran Turismo 5, saying the realistic racer's launch in Japan should come in March 2010. Now, it appears as if Gran Turismo 5's rollout in other regions won't be long after, according to series creator Kazunori Yamauchi. As part of a presentation to the press over the weekend, Yamauchi said the game's North American and European launch should closely follow its Japanese release.

"I don't think it's going to be that much later in the US and Europe," Yamauchi said. "This is based on our production schedule. The reason why the dates for the US and [European] regions are not decided yet is because their marketing is still discussing their issues. It shouldn't be too far off from [the Japanese] date for the other regions as well."

As part of his presentation, Yamauchi also laid out Gran Turismo 5's ambitious offerings, stating that the game will feature more than 950 cars, 20 locations, and 70 variations of tracks from which to choose. The notable game designer also said that those who unlock vehicles in Gran Turismo PSP--which launches alongside the PSP Go later this week--will be able to transfer them for use in the PS3 game.

For more information, check out Yamuchi's presentation, as well as GameSpot's previous coverage of Gran Turismo 5.

188 Comments

  • rccars411

    Posted Jan 10, 2010 12:10 pm GMT

    It just got pushed back to November??? anyone with reason why? About a week ago it said 2-2-10

  • gq_cjc

    Posted Dec 19, 2009 6:16 pm GMT

    @tekken220 No not all cars will have damage. Some will have full damage. Others will have moderate damage. And some will have no damage.

  • masterchief_kar

    Posted Nov 10, 2009 9:24 am GMT

    whoa man did that guy wreck it!

  • Jag-T1000

    Posted Oct 16, 2009 2:42 pm GMT

    I've never liked Gran Turismo games. The driving feels like you are going so slow even though you're going 130mph. When you come to a curve, it takes forever to get there. It's not as fast like Need for Speed or Ridge Racer.

  • tekken220

    Posted Oct 2, 2009 10:27 am GMT

    lol SalarianChemist you're late with your news. PD announced that all cars will have damage

  • Excedra

    Posted Oct 2, 2009 8:27 am GMT

    i knew it

  • SalarianChemist

    Posted Oct 2, 2009 3:37 am GMT

    If the game costs $59 I don't think I will be interested, because I already have the Gran Turismo 5 Prologue game that was priced too high at $39. I just think $100 is too much money for a "compete" version of a game.

    Gran Turismo 5 has the exact same types of graphics as the Gran Turismo 5 Prologue disc; it just adds more tracks and cars. I'm disappointed that not all of the cars in the game will be able to experience fully-simulated physical damage. I would have thought by now that Sony would have overcome the legal obstacles preventing this from happening to those cars.

    One of the things I'm actually very disappointed to hear about is that Gran Turismo 5 does not have 80 tracks as Sony had previously said. I found out it only has 20 tracks -- each of which can be modified with things like Day, Night, Rain, and Snow for what adds up to 80 tracks. This is disappointing considering Forza Motorsport 3 actually does offer 100 truly different tracks.

    I will wait for the reviews before making a final decision, but considering that Gran Turismo 5 Prologue received such disappointingly mixed reviews and has a score of only 80 on Metacritic, my hopes aren't particularly high.

    I do realize there is a difference between a "prologue" and a "full game," but so did the people writing those reviews. The Prologue game was $20 less expensive, so that was taken into consideration, too. I just really do think Sony should offer some type of discount for people who bought Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. I also think it might not be a bad idea to make it so the full game can simply be downloaded to a hard drive. The PS3 hard drive has gotten so much bigger lately that this would defiinitely be possible.

  • Tarmac_Hunter

    Posted Oct 1, 2009 6:20 pm GMT

    @MTMind2

    You're right of course, the axe does swing both ways with fanboyism, it just gets real old after a while. To elaborate my point further, I do actually think Forza 2 (haven't played the demo on 3) is a better game than GT4 or GT5p. I also think that GT5 has a really good shot at taking back the crown from Forza, regardless of what detractors might say. Only time will tell.

    I've also made my observations on physics based upon racing in a real car in the real world (auto-x in my Mazda) and playing "hardcore" sims on PC. My subjective ratings on realistic physics go: GT5p with "pro" physics > Forza 2 > GT5 with "standard" physics > GT4. Again, different strokes for different folks, but it's fairly clear in my mind which is better.

    I think most people agree that PD does better in the graphics arena, particularly with their lighting model. Textures look cleaner too, but maybe F3 addressed that.

  • noodles297

    Posted Oct 1, 2009 6:27 am GMT

    Well fortunately I have 360 and PS3 so I'll be buying Forza 3 in a few weeks (demo was awesome) and GT5..whenever that comes out lol. So far I prefer the Forza series though. But I admit GT5 looks outrageously good graphics wise and definitely outshines Forza.

  • MTMind2

    Posted Oct 1, 2009 3:47 am GMT

    @Tarmac_Hunter

    to be fair, it happens both ways, where for every forza topic, there are hoards of GT fanboys giving their opinions of the game too.

    you're right to a point about metacritic, but I do think forza has higher scores because the reviewers find them to offer more and to have progressed more. gt suffered in it's scores because each new version was like the last one only with more cars and shinier graphics, which would have been fine if the criticisms of the previous versions were addressed, those mainly being the rubber-band ai and the lack of damage (where people can take corners faster by bumping off other cars).

    for the physics, i think the dury is out on that one. some prefer the physics of forza, others prefer the physics of gt. it's down to opinion really.

    for me, the only area i always find better in gt is the lighting. polyphony just have the skill and talent to make the lighting look right in every gt game. forza has improved, but the lighting is still a little bit off imo.

    so it's good to see gt5 finally doing something about damage, even if it's limited, and hopefully the rubber-band ai will be a thing of the past. we'll see.

  • Tarmac_Hunter

    Posted Oct 1, 2009 12:29 am GMT

    I love how all the Forza fanboys come out in almost every GT5 post that gets created. If you're so confident that your game is really better, why are you so defensive? Citing metacritic scores isn't much of an argument... as time goes on, more and more sites have been handing out 9's like candy, so I don't take much stock in those scores anymore. What really matters in a racing sim is the physics engine, and it is in that all-important category that Forza just can't quite keep up. So yes, the livery editor is nice, damage is good (and now both franchises have it) but the physics model is what really takes it, and where GT shines.

  • redclaw01

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 1:40 pm GMT

    Seeing as how forza got higher metacritic scores than GT4 would suggest that forza is a better game now wouldn't it? And the fact that the metacritic score for all GT games has gotten lower for every new installment would suggest that the developers arent bending enough to change the game enough to keep up with the times. GT it a tired franchise and will bet money that forza 3 out scores them once again. So those of you who say forza sucks? You couldnt be more wrong.

  • AnelZukic

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 1:21 pm GMT

    can't wait anymore the game rocks

  • AlfaxD_Centauro

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 11:05 am GMT

    ''The real driving simulator''

    =D.

    I will get this for sure.

    Sorry for others ''simulators'' xDDD.

  • lumeiwan

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 7:05 am GMT

    Sick of waiting.

  • infestedcyborg1

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 12:26 am GMT

    GT5 is looking awesome

  • Sokol4ever

    Posted Sep 29, 2009 5:23 pm GMT

    Well, I had waited this long, whats another few months? Eh.. back to Prologue.

  • Carl_W21

    Posted Sep 29, 2009 4:11 pm GMT

    Sweet, if I recall correctly didn't GT 4 say it would be early in the year but then turned out to be August lol

  • leviathanwing

    Posted Sep 29, 2009 3:52 pm GMT

    this is the one and only premiere racer however you slice it.

  • istuffedsunny

    Posted Sep 29, 2009 3:51 pm GMT

    950 cars, year right. I'm betting more than half of them are DLC. I love GT but I'm not putting anything past those guys, especially after releasing a $40 demo