Yamauchi: Gran Turismo 5 will be released sooner than expected

One lucky Gran Turismo fan recently had a chance to actually talk to Gran Turismo series creator Kazunori Yamauchi about all things Gran Turismo. Of course, one of the things that came up was Gran Turismo 5‘s release date. More from Yamauchi in the full article.

One lucky Gran Turismo fan recently had a chance to actually talk to Gran Turismo series creator Kazunori Yamauchi about all things Gran Turismo. Of course, one of the things that came up was Gran Turismo 5‘s release date.

When told about fans expecting the game to be released in 2010, Yamauchi laughed it off and said that the game will be released sooner than expected. As vague as ever, but it does raise hopes of a possible 2009 release.

Yamauchi also gave out a few more details about the game, including the current status of damage implementation. Apparently, some companies like Porsche (apparently, their contracts with other game makers have ended so Polyphony Digital is negotiating with them) have already given Polyphony Digital the go signal to total their cars, but other manufacturers (Yamauchi mentioned Ferrari) are being stubborn about it, even for minor side mirror damage stuff.

Yamauchi also confirmed that the “rubber band effect”, a performance boost that gives a player a slight increase in grip and power when he’s more than 2 seconds behind the race leader, will be implemented in some races. Online races that feature qualifying laps won’t have this feature, though.

Speaking of online races, Yamauchi also mentioned that private online races are coming, but they may not be available until after the game is released. Same thing goes for the Nürburgring track. Yeah, it’s going to be in GT5.

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Via GTPlanet forum