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The award-winning Gran Turismo franchise returns with its 5th installment, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, exclusively for PlayStation 3. With its signature realism and unrivaled physics, this highly anticipated precursor to Gran Turismo 5 continues to blur the line between simulation and reality.
"Prologue" is defined as an introductory or preceding event or development, and true to every letter, Gran Turismo 5: Prologue treats both long-time fans of the Gran Turismo franchise as well as those coming to it new, with a generous sampling of what they can expect to see in Gran Turismo 5 later in the year and further releases on the PS3.
The new direction of Grand Turismo |
Take your ride online for the first time.
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Race across six international tracks.
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Customize your ride in the garage.
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Developed By the Best
Polyphony Digital is the developer of the Gran Turismo franchise, led by creator Kazunori Yamauchi. Polyphony Digital is known for pushing the limits of the PlayStation hardware, and with its realistic graphics and physics, Gran Turismo 5: Prologue is no different.
In addition to receiving CAD data from the auto manufacturers, they have taken thousands of photos to model each car (and track). As an example of the level of detail, a car in Gran Turismo 4 has the same number of polygons as a headlight in Gran Turismo 5: Prologue.
Polyphony works even closer with the automotive industry to make sure that the cars look and drive just as they do in real life. In fact, Kazunori Yamauchi designed the on-board computer for the real Nissan GT-R. If you’re lucky to buy one when it releases, you will notice the Polyphony Digital logo when you start your car.
Take Your Cars and Tracks Online and Off
Gran Turismo 5: Prologue features over 60 stunning cars – including vehicles by Lotus, Mitsubishi, Nissan and Ferrari for you to race on seriously realistic, real-life tracks: including the Eiger Nordwand, the London City Track and Suzuka – all rendered in incredible High Definition graphics.
There's also all-new driving physics for the most lifelike driving experience ever and new, improved opponent artificial intelligence for the toughest race challenge yet.
But that's not all – for the first time ever in the history of Gran Turismo, players will now be able to race online. Up to 16 players will be able to go head-to-head on some of the world's best racetracks on PlayStation Network.
All you need to get racing is a broadband connection and PS3. Once you're up and revving, Global Online Rankings and the My Garage homepage feature will leave the world in n o doubt as to just who is the best at Gran Turismo.
And then there's the Online Dealership, providing a wealth of information on cars and manufacturers and also Gran Turismo TV – a dedicated online channel available exclusively from PSN and packed with some of the greatest content that Motorsport, car manufacturers and TV has to offer.
Key Features:
- Race over 60 cars from worldwide automotive manufacturers, precisely modeled both inside and out.
- All-new interior dash view, featuring full driver animation and working gauges.
- Compete on 6 tracks with 12 total layouts, including Fuji Speedway, Suzuka Circuit, and for the first time ever, Daytona International Speedway.
- Online racing with up to 16 players, complete with detailed rankings, plus downloadable ghost cars and race replays of top racers.
- New online community features including Gran Turismo TV, featuring worldwide automotive and motorsport programming.
- Tune vehicle performance, from suspension and tires to gear ratio and engine modifications.
- Rendered in stunning 1080p at 60 frames per second with crisp, realistic lighting and camera effects (replays rendered in 1080p 30fps).
Full Car List (71 cars):
- Lexus IS F '07
- Nissan Skyline GT-R V-spec II Nur '02
- Nissan Fairlady Z Version S '07
- Nissan Skyline Sedan 350GT Type SP '06
- Nissan Skyline Coupe Concept '07
- Nissan Skyline Coupe 370GT Type SP '07
- Nissan Skyline Coupe (V36) Tuned Car
- Nissan GT-R Proto '05
- Nissan GT-R '07
- Honda Integra TYPE R '04
- Honda NSX Type R '02
- Acura NSX '91
- Mazda Atenza Sport (2007 Tokyo Motor Show reference exhibit)
- Mazda RX-8 Type S '03
- Mazda RX-7 Spirit R Type A (FD)
- Mazda RX-7 (FD) Special Tuned Car
- Subaru Impreza WRX STI (18inch BBS Wheel Option) '07
- Subaru Impreza Sedan WRX STI spec C Type RA '05
- Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX GSR '05
- Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X GSR Premium Package '07
- Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX GSR Tuned Car
- Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X GSR Tuned Car
- Suzuki Cappuccino '95
- Suzuki Swift Sport '07
| - Suzuki Cervo SR '07
- Suzuki Cappuccino Tuned Car
- Suzuki Swift Sport Tuned Car
- Daihatsu Copen Active Top '02
- Daihatsu OFC-1 '07
- Chevrolet Corvette Z06 '06
- Chevrolet Corvette Z06 (C6) Tuned Car
- Dodge Viper GTS '02
- Dodge Viper SRT10 Coupe '06
- Dodge Viper SRT10 Coupe Tuned Car
- Ford Mustang V8 GT Coupe Premium '07
- Ford GT '05
- Ford Focus ST '06
- Ford GT Tuned Car
- Audi R8 4.2 FSI R tronic '07
- Audi TT Coupe 3.2 quattro '07
- BMW Z4 '03
- BMW 135i Coupe '07
- BMW M3 Coupe '07
- BMW 135tii '08
- Mini Cooper-S '06
- Mercedes-Benz SL 55 AMG '02
- Volkswagen Golf GTI '01
- Volkswagen Golf V GTI '05
| - Alfa Romeo 147 TI 2.0 TWIN SPARK '06
- Alfa Romeo Brera Sky Window 3.2 JTS Q4 '06
- Ferrari 599 '06
- Ferrari F430 '06
- Ferrari 512BB '76
- Ferrari F40 '92
- Lancia Delta HF Integrale Evoluzione '91
- Citroen C4 Coupe 2.0VTS '06
- Renault Clio Renault Sport V6 24V '00
- Clio Renault Sport V6 24V Tuned Car
- Aston Martin DB9 Coupe '06
- Jaguar XK Coupe '06
- Lotus Elise 111R '04
- Lotus Elise '96
- Lotus Elise 111R Tuned Car
- Lotus Elise Tuned Car
- TVR Tuscan Speed 6 '00
- TVR Tamora '02
- Art Morrison Corvette'60
- Amuse/Opera Performance Gran Turismo 350Z RS
- Amuse S2000 GT1 Turbo
- Mine's BNR34 Skyline GT-R N1 base '06
- Blitz Dunlop ER34 '07
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 A passionate labor of love to give us the drive of our life. |
| Review Date: April 24, 2008 |
| Reviewer: The Matrix Fan, |
Wow. Trying to give Gran Turismo 5: Prologue a complete review is like trying to count the grains of sand on the beach in Ashikita, but I'll do my best.
Whether you are a new player of Gran Turismo or a long-time fan like myself, the only place to truly start is choosing the Gran Turismo TV option and watch the video "Beyond The Apex". I watched this video at least 4 times before I even started playing the game.
We get to meet Kazunori Yamauchi, Gran Turismo's creator. This man loved cars by age 8, and his love has developed into a lifelong dream of providing video gamers the perfect balance between car beauty, and car functionality.
But this is no easy task - for example, his development team took great pains to take 20-30,000 pictures of just ONE racetrack over a 2 month timeframe! Why? To make us feel like we're racing on the real thing.
Every curve in the road, every tire mark on the track, every dip of the car frame with acceleration and shifting is designed to give us all the sensations we would feel driving a car in the real world.
The game gets glowing reviews from Tanner Foust, a professional drifter and Rally car driver. It's one thing for a person like me who's never been on a racetrack, it's quite another when a professional driver says this is the type of game that encourages people to go out and buy a rear wheel drive car and try it for real!
Okay, so let's get on to the gameplay.
The online PS3 players can use the functions of News, Online Racing, and Online Rankings. The only thing sweeter than hosting a race with players from across the globe and winning a three lap race by a hair's breath, is seeing YOUR name at the top of the online rankings.
There are 71 cars to choose from, more than enough to whet our appetites until the full version of Gran Turismo 5 is released. This game gives us a lot of creative freedom: we can alter the AI difficulty, the active steering, the driving physics, braking, traction control, tires, and much more.
The graphics are, for lack of a better word, flawless. During the intro movie, a car is shown driving on a road with sunlight reflecting off the rear panels - the light is shown as patchwork through leaves on a passing tree. That level of detail is also in the gameplay itself.
There are 4 different viewpoints for driving the car: a player with the top-of-the-line racing wheel can choose three camera angles inside the car, while other players can choose the exterior camera to get a better overall view of the car's physics. As far as the controller options, we can choose the button setup ourselves. I was very impressed to see the controller schematic for not just one, but FIVE driving wheel simulators to choose from.
On the racetrack, we have a blue line to direct us on the best path to victory, which we can either follow or alter at our own risk. The path also shows us the optimal brake times, which is a fantastic feature for the novice and expert alike. We have rules to follow - The days of cutting across patches of sand to get ahead of our opponents are gone. There are penalties for hitting other cars, ramming cars off the track, using shortcuts and any boundary collisions.
So what are the shortcomings?
Well, the online portion does have limits. If the host player of a race has a slower internet connection, the race can end prematurely or the picture quality/gameplay is sacrified. Some players are extremely courteous, other players may resort to cheap schoolyard tactics which can ruin the overall racing experience.
The AI can be a little cruel on the racing circuit. We can't hit other cars, but if we're in the line of another car that drifts into us, we get penalized.
The emphasis on drifting is more prevalent in this iteration of Gran Turismo, and the art of drifting is not easy to master. The more casual player might find this aspect of racing very frustrating.
Younger gamers might get frustrated with the realism of the game's physics....this isn't Twisted Metal, after all. But hey, if Kazunori Yamauchi could love cars at age 8, then I guess anything is possible.
But the biggest shortcoming? This is only a prologue....the finished product will most likely not be released before 2009.
Anyone with a passionate love of cars probably has this game in their library already. The casual player can definitely give this game a rent, much as I did. Be prepared, though: Once you appreciate the fine art of drifting and racing with the precision of a heart surgeon, you won't be returning this rental on time. You'll be saving your pennies for a Dualshock Wireless Controller or a Gran Turismo Racing Wheel.
Gran Turismo has truly earned the title of "The Real Driving Simulator". |
best GT ever, with caveats
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| Review Date: April 21, 2008 |
| Reviewer: JoshJosh, |
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is really thin on content for anyone who just came off Gran Turismo 4 or even Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec. So, if hundreds of cars, thousands of aftermarket parts, and dozens of tracks is mandatory then don't consider GT5 Prologue.
However, what's actually on the disc is almost perfect. The driving is excellent and the force feedback with a wheel is tremendous. The technology is great, with gorgeous lighting and the best looking cars I have seen in a game. The challenges are easily beatable depending on your skill, but I have tons of fun just trying to do hot lap and rise up in the rankings.
The only place I can really ding the game is in online play. There is no way to make a private lobby, and early races are plagued with people who play like its Burnout. But it's in there, and you can earn money for better cars quickly. A better online system would give the game a lot more replayability.
So, basically, the physics, look and feel, and feature set are all greatly improved over past games. It doesn't have much content but the core driving experience is as usual superb. |
Exactly What Anyone Intelligent Should Expect
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| Review Date: June 12, 2008 |
| Reviewer: elixxxer, Bay Area, CA |
Please ignore the reviews touting this as an incomplete game. They were clearly expecting something other than what the title promised, a Prologue. If you are a serious Gran Turismo or car enthusiast like myself and own a PS3, you are doing yourself a great disservice by not purchasing this game. The graphics are astounding, there is a healthy choice of cars (70+) and online play works very well. In fall, crash damage and enhanced online gameplay will be added via online update, so Polyphony is not leaving this game alone until the full release of Gran Turismo 5.
While the game still feels like GT of old, the new in-cockpit view adds genuine realism and excitement to the gameplay. Also ignore others here as they assert that the driving dynamics are the same as all previous GT games: this is blatantly fallacious. In "professional" physics mode, handling characteristics are far more realistic than ever before. You can genuinely feel body roll, push (understeer), mid-corner rotation and squats and dives from acceleration/deceleration. Each car feels immensely different and astonishingly organic.
Again, if you are have been a fan of the GT series, do not wait until the full game arrives and pick this one up immediately. If you never liked GT, big surprise, you won't like this iteration either. Also, all of your progress (bought/won cars, money, etc.) will be carried over to the full game as well. Anyone expecting more than a "prologue" had their expectations set too high. Yes, the full game will obviously be more comprehensive, but with promised online updates and by far the best driving dynamics ever created for a racing game, Gran Turismo Prologue is easily worth $40. |
All 71 cars available
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| Review Date: May 25, 2008 |
| Reviewer: D. Hong, Philla, Pa |
| For those who do not have the time to earn all the cars and tracks, visit gamefaqs. com and download the game save file. There you will find the save file which has all the cars, plus the F1 2007, and tracks. Great way to drive all the cars instantly and tracks if you just don't have the time to devote. |
Realistic Racing
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| Review Date: May 14, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Wehrli, usa |
| Gran Tourismo 5 Prologue is the first racing game I purchased for my PS 3. The graphics and colors are extremely realistic. Using the controller for steering, braking, and accelerating takes some getting use to. The wheel might be easier. All the tracks have an arcade version were you can do time trials to build skills before actually racing. The cars you race in events never crash so you have to run a near perfect race to beat them. You have a wide selection of cars to choose from. You start out with enough to buy a low powered car to race with other lower powered cars. As you win races you win cash to purchase faster and more exotic race cars. Overall, you experience what it is like to drive at high rates of speed on several famous race courses. It is well worth purchasing before the full version comes out |
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