Announcement of an online car dealership and other new functions in “GT5 Prologue”
Oct 25, 2007
This is a summary of the presentation made on Wednesday, October 24 at the “Gran Turismo 5 Prologue” press briefing that was held during the press preview at the “40th Tokyo Motor Show” currently being held at Makuhari Messe in Chiba prefecture.
Producer Kazunori Yamauchi took the podium and started the presentation with the introduction: “Since we are at the Tokyo Motor Show today, I will introduce some of the game related material. Please feel free to try out the advanced movement and graphics on the test play unit”.
Mr. Yamauchi first discussed the “Gran Turismo TV” service, which has begun operation in the Free Downloadable Demo. In addition to distribution of “Best MOTORing”, as well as all the races of “SUPER GT” and “D1 Gran Prix”, as previously announced, Mr. Yamauchi also announced distribution of the super-popular “Top Gear” automobile program produced by the BBC in Britain.
“The most interesting car program in the world is ‘Top Gear’. Although this is an extremely popular program in Britain, it is almost impossible to see on TV in Japan. While various videos are now being distributed online, the ‘PLAYSTATION®3’ connects to the home television. This is what makes the ‘PLAYSTATION®3’ different from other forms of distribution.”
Mr. Yamauchi then showed a promotional video for “Top Gear” before continuing his description.
“The automobile programs scheduled for distribution on ‘Gran Turismo TV’ lie directly in the middle between programs distributed through regular television broadcasting and programs distributed through retail DVD sales, which are the epitome of a packaged product. Through online distribution over ‘Gran Turismo TV’, we expect that these programs will be viewable by a larger audience than was previously possible”.
This was followed by an announcement of an online car dealership screen in “GT5 Prologue” that was newly added as part of taking the game online. Whereas the car dealership screen up until “Gran Turismo 4” only contained screens for selecting a car, the new online car dealership screen is the source that allows each brand to present a variety of information. A project called “Museum” was also introduced in a new effort to sustain interest in the vehicles by providing historical information about each brand.
By going online, “Gran Turismo”, “car manufacturers and the media”, and the “users” are each able to distribute and share information with each other. Entering its 10th year, this is the shape of the new “Gran Turismo”.
At the end of the presentation, Mr. Yamauchi wrapped up with the following remarks: “‘Gran Turismo’ is no longer our (Polyphony Digital) creation alone. We invite all of the users, all of the manufacturers, and all of the members of the media to join us in creating a new ‘GT’ together”.
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Special Website
The 40th Tokyo Motor Show 2007
BBC Top Gear
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| A video commemorating the release of “Gran Turismo 5 Prologue” has been made available | The collaborative development of the Nissan GT-R multifunction meter was presented | |
| Dec 19, 2007 | Oct 25, 2007 |
