The Skinny on Gran Turismo: HD
There seems to have been some confusion making the rounds on the net over this topic so I figured it was time to clear things up once and for all. You see when Sony showed GT: HD off at their E3 2006 press conference, they never categorically stated whether what we were watching was a true successor to Gran Turismo 4. The footage looked great, but it really wasn’t the kick you in shins then pull your pants over your head while giving you a noogie experience most were expecting from Polyphony Digital… visually speaking. Sure the cars looked more complex, and sure it was running in 1080p, but it still pretty much looked like GT 4, just running at twelve times the resolution with a frame rate twice as fast.
For anyone interested, the story goes that Polyphony Digital was actually not planning on showing anything at all at E3 this year, but then Ken Kutaragi stopped by and asked politely that they get a demo ready… in three weeks. Thankfully the team had created high resolution art assets for GT: 4’s photo mode that could be used, allowing the demo to be created in record time. At least that’s what Japanese gaming publication Famitsu says is the case. Either way, it’s an interesting story.
Sony’s press site describes Gran Turismo HD as a prototype, merely an E3 tech demo meant to give a glimpse of what we can expect from the real next gen GT. In Kazunori Yamauchi’s (creator of the GT series) own words:
“The wait for the next generation of Gran Turismo, post launch of PS3, may not be as long as you think.“
Somewhat bizarrely, the press site also lists Gran Turismo: HD as being available for the PS3 at launch, but then it also lists Heavenly Sword as a launch title, and we know that’s been delayed so it must be a clerical error… right? (packaged demo disc for the win!)
There seems to have been some confusion making the rounds on the net over this topic so I figured it was time to clear things up once and for all. You see when Sony showed GT: HD off at their E3 2006 press conference, they never categorically stated whether what we were watching was a true successor to Gran Turismo 4. The footage looked great, but it really wasn’t the kick you in shins then pull your pants over your head while giving you a noogie experience most were expecting from Polyphony Digital… visually speaking. Sure the cars looked more complex, and sure it was running in 1080p, but it still pretty much looked like GT 4, just running at twelve times the resolution with a frame rate twice as fast.
For anyone interested, the story goes that Polyphony Digital was actually not planning on showing anything at all at E3 this year, but then Ken Kutaragi stopped by and asked politely that they get a demo ready… in three weeks. Thankfully the team had created high resolution art assets for GT: 4’s photo mode that could be used, allowing the demo to be created in record time. At least that’s what Japanese gaming publication Famitsu says is the case. Either way, it’s an interesting story.
Sony’s press site describes Gran Turismo HD as a prototype, merely an E3 tech demo meant to give a glimpse of what we can expect from the real next gen GT. In Kazunori Yamauchi’s (creator of the GT series) own words:
“The wait for the next generation of Gran Turismo, post launch of PS3, may not be as long as you think.“
Somewhat bizarrely, the press site also lists Gran Turismo: HD as being available for the PS3 at launch, but then it also lists Heavenly Sword as a launch title, and we know that’s been delayed so it must be a clerical error… right? (packaged demo disc for the win!)
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