Gran Turismo 5

[Hawkeye]

The track editor stuff sounds like a PR idiot mouthing off about something incorrectly, but it would be very interesting addition if true.

I enjoyed playing around with the very limited track editor in V-Rally2 on the PS1 back in the day, and ModNation Racers is high up on my most wanted list due to the track editor features that have been shown.

I couldn't care less about car exterior customisation though. If it comes down to that verus a delay I'd rather just have GT5 out sooner, as on a personal note it's something I couldn't care less about. I've unlocked a ton of that stuff in NFS:Shift, but I wish I could trade it against some garage slots as it's pointless for me.

[JP]

Starting December 17, PlayStation 3 users will be able to download the Gran Turismo 5 Time Trial Challenge from the PlayStation Store for a chance to win. Everyone who downloads it will get a chance to try out Gran Turismo 5?s brand-new physics engine by test driving the new Nissan 370Z on the road to winning an exciting grand prize package that would drive any GT fan wild.

The competition itself is US & Canadian residents only but I hope they won't do something that stops other regions from playing it.

There's no mention of which track or which build of the game it's from but there are a few other details on the PlayStation Blog.

EDIT:
SCEE territories are getting their own competition too. The SCEE competition is linked to the 2010 version of the Nissan GT Academy.

For people who aren't aware of the Nissan GT Academy it was a competition run using GT Prologue and the person who placed the best times was trained to be a professional driver and was entered into the GT4 European Cup as a driver for the Playstation Nissan Team.

Surprisingly, he won the championship in 2009...


I suppose it's worth entering for people who want to be a professional racing driver but but I suppose you need to be posting pretty special times to get past the first stage.

There's a few more details on GT Planet about the demo.

Announced just hours ago on the PlayStation EU Blog, GT Academy 2010 will be held in a brand new demo of Gran Turismo 5 hitting the PlayStation Store on December 17, 2009. The demo will feature a stock and tuned version of the Nissan 370Z, and, while Sony has decided not to release the track just yet, I have been aware of the competition for some time now and GTPlanet reveal the demo will include either Spa Francorchamps or the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

However, Sony described the track as a ?specially created section of a new Gran Turismo 5 circuit?, which suggests to me it?s the Indianapolis GP Circuit, as it is quite literally a ?section? of a larger circuit. (Let?s not forget it was also the big track prominently shown in Gran Turismo 5?s E3 2009 trailer.)

GT Planet

[Roddie]

Apparently the demo is up on the EU and JP stores; not had a chance to check.

[Darwock]

Japan has something free called Time Trial Challenge, I presume that's the demo.

[hudson]

Just had a whiz on the demo. Not much in the way of difference from Prologue. Runs really smooth and looks nice. Would like the full game.

Yes it's called Time Trial.

[MisterBubbles]

Its to get yourself into GT academy, with fastests time in each region going forward until 2 people make the academy , then 1 person wins the right to drive for the GT PS3 team in a Nissian GT4. As John Parry's post explains to you.

[hudson]

Once booted up, the game also tells you that it's a demo of GT5.

[Roddie]

Runs really smooth and looks nice.

Seems to be plenty of tearing.

[hudson]

Didn't really notice any during my 3 laps. Will check again later.

[hudson]

Digital Foundry have took a magnifying glass to it.

Turns out 1080p is more prone to tearing...

Their findings...

720p : Around five per cent of the total 60Hz output consisted of torn frames, with a minimum frame-rate of 52FPS.

1080p : Results were fairly similar: the same low of 52FPS, though the torn frame count elevated to around 12 per cent of the system's output. Overall, this seems to be in keeping with the approximate performance level that we saw in GT5 Prologue in much the same conditions. Whether it will be improved in the final game out next year remains to be seen, though it should be pointed out that the gamescom demo we saw earlier in the year also ran in a very similar fashion to Prologue.

I ran in 720p. There's definately nothing I saw that broke my concentration from the game in terms of peroformance.

[Roddie]

Makes sense; I was playing in 1080p.

[Anpanman]

Mine seems to 'jump' as if there is a small delay whilst it loads something off the HDD.

I have a small list of niggles but overall I like it and can see me making a purchase.

[Brad]

What's odd is that the GT HD demo that was around at launch had no tearing whatsoever and yet looked just as good.

[saturn-gamer]

I think that the cockpit and external view look much better in this trial. The replays look better too (and run at a higher framerate?). I also noticed much less jaggies and in 720p it seems the tearing is also brought to a minimum.

But its the gameplay that took a serious boost. I really like the gameplay of this, I have a blast throwing the weight of my car into the bends.

[Darwock]

Tried out the demo - I thought I was kind of tired of GT, but it felt good to be back behind the wheel.

There was a noticable lack of smoke/dust effects. I had some major lock-ups and skids, but in the replays there wasn't a trace of any tyre smoke. Ran off into the gravel trap - might as well have been concrete, no dust at all.

That seems odd, I'm sure I remember those kind of effects in previous versions. Watching the rallying is going to feel very sterile if it remains like that.