North America, Japan, this doesn’t apply to you. But Europe? Pay attention. Sony have provided the first real details on their Gran Turismo/Nissan academy program. Which, to recap, is a GT5: Prologue competition, where the fastest online racers are not only given the chance to race a real 350Z around the Eiger Nordwand, but the fastest drivers from that are given a shot at racing in a 24-hour race in Dubai next year. For real. The competition will kick off on June 2, and will run for seven weeks. So long as you register your PSN ID and can log a time during those seven weeks, you’ll be in with a shot.
When Gran Turismo 5 Prologue launches, it won’t let you create private races for just you and your buddies. Nor will it let you indulge in a spot of in-game voice chat. But don’t despair, because that stuff’s coming later, with these two features (and, most likely, more) to be added to the game in future updates. Certainly sets a new benchmark for those who think games these days are shipping unfinished, but then adding features late is better than never adding them at all. I guess. Ferrari F2007: GT5 Prologue’s “God Mode” [PlayStation.Blog]
Dusted off my Japanese PSN account on Saturday morning to get hold of the GT5 Prologue demo. Since it’s demo code, one track and a handful of cars, there’s not much to say! Fans will still dig the ultra-authentic approach the series takes, critics will still hate on the sterility, ass-kicking adherence to realism and lack of damage modelling (no, despite earlier comments, smashed-up bits don’t seem to have made the demo). One thing everyone will agree on, though, is that the car models look amazing. And the in-car view? Worth all those polygons, it’s creepy-realistic. Anyone thinking of picking it up, all the necessary menu buttons are in English, you’ll be fine. More »
