If you passed on Gran Turismo 5 when it released late last year, now's your chance to rectify the situation.
In a great update at the PlayStation Blog , we find out a number of things: our most anticipated is the new downloadable content for the racer; it'll include new vehicles and tracks, "plus some additional surprises." Here are a few details from Gran Turismo creator and Polyphony Digital boss Kazunori Yamauchi:
"The coming Gran Turismo 5 Spec 2 update is an update that contains the feedback from the users playing GT5 online every day. We have added cars such as the newest NASCAR race cars, but many of the updates are those that improve usability and expand the field of game play. I believed from the initial release of Gran Turismo 5 that it would be the users that would make the game grow thereafter, and we added things like interior views for the standard models because there was a lot of request for it from our users. You could say that this update is the shape and form of GT5 that was created through the opinions of our fans."
Now, as for the upcoming free update: all the cars in the game will now have interior views, although the detail you see will be based on the car you choose. Other improvements include "greatly reduced load times," faster menu response time, and adjustable opponent AI in Arcade Mode. Players will also be able to save their progress during really long racing events, which should come as a huge relief. Makes those marathons seem more accessible, right?
The Photo Mode has been updated to allow players to take pictures with their personalized avatars. You'll even be able to fast-forward and rewind race replays. Last but certainly not least, the game will drop to $39.99 this week. This all makes GT5 bigger and better in just about every possible way…is now the time to give it a try?
Related Game(s): Gran Turismo 5
What was once old, is new again! Rejoice racer fans, if you missed out on this before, get it now, if you got it before, get the update when it arrives, it will remake your game by the sounds of things.
"What was once old, is new again!"
Indeed!
"New physics, and improved A.I."
Depending on the extent of this, this itself is enough to make it a new game and experience. Add that with the track and car packs… folks, GT5 is reborn lol. Not that it wasn't dead before. Well, at least not to me.
Wasn't dead to me either. Plenty of life in GT5 prior to Spec 2.0 and DLC.
Really stoked about the update. I just got a Logitech G27 so its good to hear that it will officially be supported when the new update drops. Now all I need is to get a playseat.
Great news about the mid race saves after I burned my graphics chip on the 1st 24hr race from leaving my PS3 on for about 30 hrs straight. Had to buy a slim and now my 20 gig bc model w a 500 gig HD is just rotting in my back room. It still works fine on most games, but the AC games were glitchy as hell. Lol, sometimes in GT5 an opponent would pass me and their car windows would be a psychedelic neon green.
Oh no. I'm sorry about your PS3. It's actually rare that I'm hearing graphics chips burning up after extended hours of PS3 usage. I mean I've heard of crazier stories of people leaving it for weeks, and they're fine. Very unfortunate, and I feel ya.
I have a 60gig with YLOD, and it's just unbearable at times thinking that there might not be a permanent fix for it.
GOOD NEWS INDEED, time to pop in my GT5 and start updating.
Most people think Forza 4 will grind it to dust but we'll see, recently an IGN article wrote that what's going on with GT5 with Forza 4 around the corner.
And I believe this is the answer they got.
Lol. I still wonder if it was a coincidence, or it was really a response effort either to IGN, or Forza 4.
If it's the latter, this is why I love competition. GT and FM are competing no matter how you put it, even being on different platforms. It's clear that FM wants to take GT's title as a world renowned simulation racing game, but GT's not giving up easily so it's interesting stuff for us, seeing them counter-attack each other in some way. It brings and forces innovation to both series.
Forza 5 will come out in 2013 that's for sure but GT6 will probably come out in 2013 as well.
Just my guts though, 3 years should be enough for Kazu to perfect what wasn't perfected before.
You know, you might be right. Forza has been pretty consistent with their 2 year schedule. If they both clash on 2013, it's gonna be almost like MW3 vs. BF3 again.
For that to happen though, PD will need to finalize GT5 soon, and get to GT6. If not, it might be pushed next gen, which I don't want!
I wonder if Porsche will finally be included. It seems like GT has every major car manufacturer except Porsche. Anyway, I cant wait for this update. I will have to put it on hold once Uncharted 3 and Skyrim drop. And Tekken Hybrid. And Twisted Metal. Damn, too many games and not enough time!
I believe Porsche is called RUFF in GT5. I don't remember.
Still don't really have any Porches/Ruf's though.
I'm afraid it won't. Even Forza 4 can't get their hands on them. We'll have to wait will EA's contract with Porsche expires, which should be soon. We'll see then.
Also, RUF is a tuning company. They're not really Porches. All their cars have their own engine, technology etc. The only thing that's Porches about them is the body. Same with Brabus and Mercedes.
Doubt it… EA has exclusive rights to the Porsche license, which is why Forza 4 has none, though 3 did (Well, EA had the license then too, but now that they have the Shift series, I don't see them sharing again). RUF is basically the aftermarket manufacturer for Porsche, so that's how most racing game developers get around that little inconvenience. So unless EA do decide to share, no Porches. 🙁
EDIT: Damn, daus beat me to it.
Last edited by Lawless SXE on 10/6/2011 4:00:51 AM
Lawless, well since we both pretty much the same thing, you can look at it as double confirmation combo lol. Some extra insurance on people's thought can never hurt, unless you're paying for it.
WOW APPLAUDS… man i gotta salute polyphony & there dedication to those who are automotive enthusiast. this great news indeed.
Wow! Great news I'm glad they added interior views for the standard cars. That makes me very excited! 😀 Yay!
Unfortunatly i sold this game a year ago due to many disappointments with the game. But im glad PD never gave up on the GT5 crowd. I may add this game to my christmas wish list. Glad to see they addressed many issues and added more content ill pick this up again. I always wanted to love gt5.
Shouldn't have said that around these parts…people gonna be pissed…lol, I get where your coming from though…I always appreciated the realistic desgin of GT5 mechanics, but the overall game was lacking in alot of respects which made me consider it kind of a messy masterpiece if I might say!
Fair. I can see how it would. You'd have to be a dedicated fan to be understanding what's really going on behind the GT franchise. It's something I don't expect the casual to understand, so whenever I see that someone is disappointed by it, I'm not one to jump ship and consider the person a hater. I for one, have always loved the game for what it is though.
GT5 IS a game that had to be evolved. It's not a coincidence that we're seeing so much changes. It's because the game isn't what it's visioned to be at release and Kaz has even admitted that.
daus26 put it perfectly.
Every ps3 owners who loves racing games should have this game by now! Please support PD. They're a small, hard working company that deserves our thanks, as do many other Sony first studios.
You can rest assure, if their DLCs are paid, I'll be buying every one of them. Yes, I'm a GT fan lol.
I wish I can edit, but anyway… with over 6 million clearly sold, I guess they're still not ready to give this game a "greatest hits" label?
So what's the full criteria for a $29.99, "greatest hits" title anyway? My assumption now is that it has to be at least a year after release.
Anyway, just curiosity striking me as usual.
It's already platinum in Europe, and the criteria for that, iirc, is 400,000 copies sold + 9 months on the market.
Just did some digging… 10 months and 500,000 copies sold to go Greatest Hit.
Sony are probably reluctant to do it as the game is still being updated and they sometimes offer special editions, or complete versions as the GH, like MC:LA, LBP (although that was the GotY edition, I never saw that standard here, only Platinum. Same goes for AC2) and nothing else that springs to mind immediately.
Wow thanks lawless. I didn't expect anyone to do extra digging. I was expecting someone who knew on the top of their head. But yeah, thanks again.
That makes sense, that Europe is already seeing platinum. I'm wondering now why U.S. hasn't followed ship. I think you're right that the updates has something to do with them. I'm thinking when they do release the GH version, it'll have all the latest update already in the disc. I wonder if it'll have "Spec 2.0" on the cover, like MC has with "Remix," LBP with "GOTY," etc.
FINALLY!
i was starting to think we would never see any DLC for it!
shame it has to come out in the fullest month of the year though.
have to break out my copy again in the drought season next year.
if i can be f*cked, i was so pissed off when my ps3 bit the dust AGAIN last year and i lost all my progress!
no f*cking way am i golding all the licenses again, that almost sent me bald!
and broke 6 steering wheels……
listen, it's nice they are still patching up this game but a lot of these features should have been included day1. like the abilty to save mid race, generic cock pit views on standard cars, and the ability to rewind replays. there is no reason this stuff should not have been there from the start.
what gt fans really want is more premium cars and the ability to perform racing modifications on more cars. oh yeah if you aren't going to fix the shadows then give us the ability to just disable them. i still think the premium/non premium split in gt5 was an awful idea. it's frustrating not to being able to do the same things with the standard cars plus they don't look so hot.
Last edited by Excelsior1 on 10/6/2011 3:40:54 AM
The shadows was the poorest aspect of GT5; you just wouldn't expect it on a PS3 AAA exclusive. The other exclusive don't have this graphical glitch as far as I can remember. Actually, MGS4 suffered the nasty shadow effect as well 🙁
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
shadows?…SHADOWS?…Who the freak cars about the that, but excelsior…your right, I felt the same way when I read about this update. WHy was this already not in the game. And yes the Premium/Standard car design was a poor idea…most of them are the same damn car….Mistibishi 3000 or GTP, Miata or Enos, Evo, etc…very, very pointless.
When a developer deliver a game with the breadth and depth that GT5 had on day 1, and follows that up with at least a year of continued development, enhancement and fixes along with additional content. Don't you think it's a tiny bit churlish to jump on their for it? I mean this long after the initial release of the game, this is essentially a 0.5 upgrade. You might have had a point if this was delivered 2 months after release, in fact you may well have stated the same opinion then, I'd have to go look it up to be sure. Either way, like Criterion before them, Polyphony is doing a truly excellent job supporting their game and customers and no amount of would've, could've, should've is merited.
While I see your point Excelsior1, I am not sure you are understanding the mass amount of support PD is STILL giving GT5. No other race game developer has gone to such lengths.
You have to be careful on what you wish for. If you wanted all this to be included Day 1, the game wouldn't have released when it did. Kaz honestly wanted 2 more years on this thing. Let's just be grateful that it released when it did, and that we're getting so much upgrades for free.
As for shadows, I'm reading that it's because GT5's lighting engine is too advance to leave off only a bit of ram for antilizing shadows and such. That's why you also see blocky smokes. I'm pretty confident that they're pushing the ps3 as hard as they can. This is something I'm least hopeful on. They'd probably have to downgrade to 720p, 30fps, and have less polys on their cars to get everything smoothed out, or one of them, Idk. I'm not techy.
Awesome!!! Cant wait!!!
You know, I still laud Criterion for the awesome support that they put forth for Burnout Paradise with multiple updates and patches, but with this Polyphony really is going the extra mile. Like Criterion before them, they really deserve to be lauded for this continued/continuing support of their game and customers. At some point they will have to call it a day on GT5 so that they can move on to GT6. I have to hope though that they still maintain a small team to continue with bug fixes and small enhancements while the rest of PD moves on to GT6.
Agree. We'd have to have some really greedy fans if they want PD to work on GT5 for the rest of this gen. Actually, another year of GT5 updates is even way too much I think. We should be nearing the final stage.
As you mentioned, maybe they can leave a small team to work on bugs, DLCs, or such. But then again, they're a pretty small company. They only have 150, and it shows that even with their talents, a small group has its limits on producing efficiently to that of people's expectation and Kaz's huge vision.
These are the kind of updates real developers put out on the PSN. Name one blockbuster multiplat that is this devoted to their product after release. I guarantee the best selling franchises of all time can't do this… you know… fix and improve gameplay.
This is obviously beyond awesome! As I stated before, their previous updates were more than enough to warrant PD a huge pat on the back and a hand shake. Now we get Spec2 for FREE.
I can't say they could've timed this any better, either. FM4 has just been denounced as little more than a 3.5 version of the game. GT5 is getting it's .5 version of the game… For free!
The shadows are bothersome, just because they are so wickedly jagged. like… FFVII type-jagged. I do see how they integrate totally fine at higher speeds in-game, but it's one of those nagging details that pokes me in the eyeball. Fortunately, I didn't entirely buy this game to drool at objects. Physics in this game lead me to believe these cars could've all looked like 1980's Lincoln Town Cars and I would've freaked for it.
Long story short – There are far to few of a game that focus on gameplay like GT5 does. It is just absolutely stunning, being one who races cars as a hobby, that they incorperated so much of the dynamics into place. The 'Ring is always such a challenge, but I something I'm familiar with is the Seca track. Boy, does that feel familiar. It's awesome!
I hope Road America becomes a DLC. I'll pay $60 for that track. I love me some RA! 🙂
So… when is this update being released for public consumption?
-Arvis
October 11th, sir. DLCs are said to be about a week after.
That sir, is seven shades of awesome.
Does this free update come with a new hdd because these updates are getting crazy. Why not just give us user friendly menus, quick loading and interior views in the first place? I wager there was room on the disc for it.
Haha lol, Hopefully $20 then I might get this!!
What about local 2 player replay playback videos? please tell me that this has now been added to the game!!!
@wolverine,
Local 2 player replays have been in the game for quite a few months now, update 1.07 or 1.08 added them I believe. I want replays in the private lounge.