The Forza 5 news just keeps on coming. First was the announcement that Forza Motorsport 5 will be a launch title for the new Xbox One console. Now comes news from Turn 10 Studios that the McLaren P1 will be the official cover car for Forza 5 and the game will somewhat correlate to the real McLaren P1′s release date.
To celebrate the occasion Forza and McLaren have partnered up for a contest in which a lucky individual will win a trip to the Goodwood Festival Of Speed where they will have the ride along of a lifetime in the P1! The second place winner gets a trip to McLaren’s Technology Center and the third place winner gets an “exclusive McLaren prize pack”.
To enter the contest, contestants must sign up on McLaren’s Facebook page and then use a special app to decipher the location in which the two McLarens were racing each other in the official trailer (which can be seen in my previous post). Of the correct answers a winner will be chosen at random.
I wonder if journalists are allowed to enter? Oh well, good luck to all of you!
At the special Xbox event in Seattle to announce the new Xbox One console it has been confirmed by Microsoft that Forza Motorsport 5 IS coming and it will be a launch title for the Xbox One console. As far as when that launch is remains to be seen but the event is still going on as we speak so stay tuned to this post for updates! For now you can see the official Forza Motorsport 5 logo above.
As I suspected from the teaser video a while back, today at a special event celebrating the franchise’s 15th anniversary at Silverstone circuit in the UK Sony and Polyphony Digital announced that Gran Turismo 6 is coming this year (holiday) and it is coming to the Playstation 3. While that might be odd considering that Sony recently announced that Playstation 4 was also coming this holiday, it makes sense if you consider that Gran Turismo 6 was probably very far along the development process by the time most of us were taking the shrink wrap off our copies of GT5.
Does this mean there isn’t a Gran Turismo coming for Playstation 4? Hardly, while nothing has been announced I am sure the crew at Polyphony are already hard at work on GT7. But that’s a story for another time. Lets get into GT6 shall we?
First off all the cars and tracks from GT5 will be in GT6 including several new additions which brings the total car count to 1200 when the game is released and additional cars to be added via DLC and customization via aero parts and wheels will be available for “almost” all cars. In fact Sony claims “several thousand” aero parts will be available and that GT6 will have more levels of customization than any of the previous titles.
Beyond the new cars, new locations will be added including Silverstone Circuit as well as 6 other new tracks making for 33 tracks total with 71 layouts. If that isn’t enough, more tracks are promised in the future with DLC and the track editor has been improved so players can create the circuit of their dreams.
When it comes to gameplay the programmers at Polyphony Digital have completely re-done the physics system. The new model will be based off new aerodynamic data, tire data from Yokohama, and suspension geometry data from KW Suspension.
The last thing you should know is that while the full game won’t drop until “holiday 2013″ a demo will come in July and that demo will be the launch pad for the next GT Academy, so start practicing now!
For more info on the game (including the car list for the July demo) check out the trailer and press release below. I will bring you my own impressions of GT6 once I play it on the E3 show floor next month.
UPDATE: It looks like the Gran Turismo 6 news is so big that the official website is down from all the traffic!
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. today announced Gran Turismo®6 (GT6™), the latest version of PlayStation®’s best-selling franchise, will be released in Holiday, 2013. The news was revealed today by legendary Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi at an event held to celebrate 15 years of the 70-million-selling series.
GT6 for PlayStation®3 will bring new levels of authenticity to ‘the Real Driving Simulator’ as well as introducing stunning new tracks and cars and a revised user interface. A new compact game engine will improve operation and increase the flexibility to expand it with downloadable content. Meanwhile, the game is also set for expanded connectivity with other devices such as smart phones and tablets and increased social and community functions.
All of the cars and tracks from Gran Turismo®5, which has sold over 10m copies since launching in 2010, will be retained in GT6. But notable new additions to the already impressive line-up of historic cars, road cars and the latest race cars, brings the total car list to 1200 at launch, with new cars set to be continually added online. Several thousand aerodynamic parts and custom wheels will be available for almost all cars, and players can personalize their own custom cars in game to the greatest ever level possible.
The UK’s famous Silverstone Circuit will be just one of seven new locations in Gran Turismo 6, taking the total to 33, with 71 different layouts available, 19 of them brand new. There will also be regular additions of new tracks set to be made available online. The improved course maker function will provide gorgeous scenery spanning several tens of square kilometers including the magnificent backdrop of Andalucía.
The theme of Gran Turismo’s innovative collaborations with partner companies will increase with the inception of GT6. A number of exciting new projects that blur the line between the virtual and real will be announced in the run up to the game’s launch. Not least of these is GT Academy, a collaboration with Nissan to unearth real racing driver talent that first ran in 2008. It was announced during the event that the competition returns for its biggest ever year in 2013, with the entry mechanic set to take place on an exclusive GT6 demo in July.
Other notable partnerships in the development of GT6 have been with tire manufacturer Yokohama Rubber and suspension company KW Automotive. Both companies are active in the commercial car industry and in racing, and they have acted as technical development partners for the game’s new physics engine, for its tire and suspension kinematic modeling, creating an even more realistic experience for GT fans.
“It is amazing to think that it is 15 years since we first released Gran Turismo,” explained Kazunori Yamauchi, during the announcement at Silverstone Circuit. “Things have changed a lot since then and now Gran Turismo 6 is a further evolution of my dream. We’re pleased to deliver GT6 to PlayStation 3 as we have a very loyal community on that platform. However, we have refactored the game to make it very flexible and expandable, with a view to making many future developments. I am very pleased with everything about the new game and the new additions, but the launch will be only the beginning for GT6. The game will continue to develop throughout its life. I already have many ideas for things I want to achieve in the next 15 years of Gran Turismo!”
The celebration of 15 years of Gran Turismo event at Silverstone included a demo of GT6 featuring the famous circuit. Guests were able to play the game in the familiar circular Gran Turismo race pods before having a chance to take to the real track in cars provided by Audi, Ford, Jaguar, KTM, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Toyota.
Further news about Gran Turismo 6 will be revealed at the forthcoming E3 and Gamescom events.
Cars featured on the GT6 Silverstone demo (* denotes new to Gran Turismo):
Acura NSX ’91
*Alfa Romeo TZ3 Stradale ’11
*Alpine A110 1600S ’68
*Audi Sport quattro S1 Rally Car ’86
Ferrari 458 Italia ’09
*Ferrari Dino 246 GT ’71
Ford GT ’06
*KTM X-BOW R ’12
Lamborghini Countach LP400 ’74
*Light Car Company Rocket ’07
McLaren MP4-12C ’10
*Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 ’11
Nissan 370Z (Z34) (GT Academy Version) ’08
Nissan 370Z Tuned Car (GT Academy Version) ’08
Nissan GT-R Black edition (GT Academy Version) ’12
*Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 N24 Schulze Motorsport
Nissan Leaf G (GT Academy Version)
*Tesla Motors Model S Signature Performance ’12
Toyota 86 GT ’12
Summary of new Gran Turismo 6 features announced by Kazunori Yamauchi:
New Game Engine
• Refactoring
• Compact, nimble operation
• Flexible expandability
• A new rendering engine that pushes the limits of the PS3
New Physics Engine
• New suspension and kinematics model
• New tire model
• New aerodynamics model
• Technical partnership with Yokohama Rubber and KW Automotive
1200 Cars, abundant custom parts, and on-going DLC
• From historic cars to the latest racing cars, the game contains a total of 1200 cars.
• Multiple aerodynamic parts and custom wheels will be available for almost all cars.
• Players can create their own personalized custom car in the game.
• Cars will be continually added online
33 locations, 71 layouts
• 33 Locations and 71 layouts will be provided from day1 (7 more locations and 19 more layouts than GT5)
• More new tracks will continue to be provided online
New Course Maker
• Massive scenery spanning several tens of square kilometers
• A new course generation algorithm
Community/Club/Race Organizer
• Players can form their own communities
• Various community levels from local and domestic to global
• Players themselves can create and manage their own online events
New User Interface
• Balancing directional key operation and touch operation
• Quick response
• Shortening of loading times
Multi Device Compatibility
• PlayStation®
• Smart Phone
• Tablet
• PC
At the same time as the PS3 version of GT6 the “Real Driving Simulator” launches, a mobile version and web application version of GT6, will be created to enjoy Gran Turismo’s massive community space.
Real/Virtual “Edge Effect” Activity
A variety of “Edge Effects”, the chemical reactions between the real world and the virtual world for which the Gran Turismo series is famous, are also planned for GT6. Exciting collaborations between various automotive manufacturers and collaborations with brands crossing different industries will be revealed gradually across the next six months.
GRID2 will officially release two weeks from now and the team at Codemasters is making sure they give players plenty of reasons to drool over it. The latest trailer reveals that several locations in Asia and the middle-east including Yas Marina circuit and various togue passes in Japan will be in GRID2. We also get confirmation of drifting as well. Hopefully the drifting will be more than an “add on” to the rest of the game. See it all for yourself in the new video below.
This year marks the 15th anniversary of Gran Turismo. Yes, it really has been 15 years since the first time some of us put that sweet disc in our Playstation console and got whisked away to a land where we could have any car we wanted, even cars we’ve never seen before. It is also confirmation that those of us who remember the very first game really are that damn old. Christ…
Anyway, to celebrate the anniversary Sony has announced a special event will take place at Silverstone circuit in the UK on May 15th at which, plans for the franchises future will be revealed. By the location (Silverstone) I am also thinking that a few tidbits about the next GT Academy competition will be made public as well.
I am hoping GT6 will in fact be announced, and that it won’t take 6 years to make. After all the time we waited for Gran Turismo 5, plus the awesome-ness coming from Drive Club, Gran Turismo better come soon and come correct! If you want to do some speculating on your own watch the announcement to the announcement video below.
Like many drivers, when I am going to a place I have never been before I rely on a GPS to make sure I don’t get lost. Most of the time it works out just fine. However, my GPS is pretty old so sometimes it likes to play a game called “update the directions at the last possible freakin’ second” in which a left turn suddenly becomes a right turn and I completely pass where I am supposed to go or I do something stupid and try to make the next turn with less than 20 feet to do it in. Let me tell you, in real life that is not fun!
Yet, it looks like the brains at Codemasters took a page from my old and busted GPS by turning that malfunction into a game mode for GRID2 called “LiveRoutes”. How does it work? Pretty much the same way my crappy GPS does only without the risk of getting lost or actual bodily harm. Imagine racing through the streets of Paris at triple digit speeds but not knowing where to go next; relying on a GPS to tell you! Still hard to picture? Just watch the new trailer below to see it in practice. It looks a lot more entertaining in a game than it is in real life!
When Sony came out and announced the Playstation 4, it was a big flarkin’ deal. They held a super private media get together at a posh location and live streamed the whole thing to the world. It was all very exciting, except for those of us who love racing games. We all were hoping that we would see Kazunori Yamauchi step out onto that stage and say “hey, we are 90% done with Gran Turismo 6!” Instead, we got was a trailer (an awesome trailer but still a just a trailer) for “Drive Club” which looks great but does not have the gravitas behind it that a well established franchise such as Gran Turismo does. While there is obviously still a chance Gran Turismo 6 will be announced at E3 2013, I have yet to hear anything that would indicate its going to happen.
Since that Sony meeting passed the world gaming community has been waiting for Microsoft to make its move. Well, they finally announced that…that they will make an announcement. Xbox will be holding an event next month on May 21st and many predict that it will introduce the next generation Xbox to the world. Exciting for gamers in general but what’s in it for us racing fans? Well I’ll tell you…
At a location that I can’t tell you about, a person/ninja whom I cannot name, back flipped out of the shadows and told me that it is nearly certain that Forza Motorsport 5 will be announced along with the new Xbox. It is unknown if this will happen at the May 21st event, at E3, or in a stand alone event but the word is it will be announced within the same time frame.
You might be asking why I would trust a ninja who stalks the shadows. Well this particular ninja happens to be a very well connected insider in the gamming community. However, since neither Microsoft, Turn 10 Studios, nor Dan Greenawalt have made any announcements or even hits on the matter I still have to chalk this up to rumor and speculation.
But if I were a betting man I would put every dime of my savings, which adds up to…a dime that we will get some kind of official word about the next Forza Motorsport title sometime between May 21st and E3 2013!
At last year’s E3 Playseat revealed that their coveted Red Bull Racing branded F1 sim-racing chassis would be coming to the US market. While that was great news it was salted a bit with the additional news that it would come with a $1,999 price tag which pretty much put it in the “out of reach” realm for most of us.
However, Playseat recently announced on their Facebook page that a new seat (very similar to the Red Bull unit) will be coming to PlayseatUSA.com and Playseat.com on May 1st. The new seat, dubbed the “Grand Prix” has a similar design and seating position as the Red Bull rig but minus the branding and hard shell for the seat itself. There may be other differences as well but so far all the details have not been made public. Playseat does say that the Grand Prix will cost less than its Red Bull Racing branded brother but as far as how much less remains a mystery.
Given that the non-branded shell edition of the F1 seat retails for $1,799, I would make a guess that the new “softer” version may likely come in between $1,000 and $1,200. Those prices are just speculation on my part though. I guess we will not know for sure until the Grand Prix is released next Wednesday (May 1st 2013).
For a closer look just click the thumbnail below for a large picture.
While the world waits for E3 to see if the next Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport games make their debut on next gen systems, Slightly Mad Studios (the team behind Need For Speed SHIFT 2) have been hard at work, free from EA working on their next game for the current generation of consoles.
Known simply as “Project CARS” this game looks to build on the incredibly visceral experience the studio created with NFS SHIFT. The team is using their new ”World of Mass Development” or ”WMD” platform to essentially build this game free of publishers by relying on a world wide collaborative effort that connects gamers directly to developers to ensure they deliver the exact experience that gamers want. So far it looks like it is working out pretty well. There are beautiful environments, licensed cars, day and night effects, weather, and some incredible lighting techniques. All of which are visible in a trailer that could probably make Christopher Nolan jealous.
If you want to know what I’m talking about simply scroll down and watch the trailer below. Keep in mind that all the footage you see is in-game.
In the last GRID2 video viewers were introduced to “World Series Racing”, the fictional series in which GRID2 is based. In the latest video we get to see a few of the places around the world that players will visit in their quest for the championship. The video also introduces a few of GRID2′s game modes like elimination, time attack, and touring car racing.
Speaking of touring car, the video gives a reveal of a few real life BTCS cars that will make their way into the game such as the Volvo S60, the Gomez Competition, and Chevy Cruze. It also looks like players can expect a healthy amount of GT cars such as the McLaren F1 GT and Mercedes Benz SLS AMG GT3.
Players will have the opportunity to race the aforementioned cars at famous European locations and race tracks like Brands Hatch, the streets of Paris, Algarve International Circuit in Portugal, and Barcelona.
To see it all for yourself check out the video below and catch anything I may have missed in the official press release.
Los Angeles, Calif. – March 28, 2013* – Today *Codemasters*® announced a host of new cars, locations and racing clubs set to feature in *GRID 2*™ when it launches on May 28. In addition to revealing high performance European vehicles, including those from the game’s Super Touring Car class, Codemasters also released a gameplay video showcasing highlights of *GRID 2*’s European races; the video is now playing at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pui_NH03i0w
The “*GRID 2*: European Expansion” video focuses on the European cars, clubs and locations. In *Road Races* on the *Côte d’Azur*, players speed through tunnels cut into sheer rock and tackle the climbs, plunges and hairpins set amongst some of the most stunning scenery in the world.
The *Street Racing* category is showcased in central *Paris*, which comes alive to the sound of roaring engines as cars blast down its magnificent boulevards, sling-shot around the Arc de Triomphe and speed past the Eiffel Tower. *Track Racing* is represented at the *Algarve International Circuit* in Portugal which makes its console debut in *GRID 2*. Commonly known as Portimao Circuit, this state of the art, $250M track was opened in 2008 and has quickly gained a reputation as one of the most exciting circuits in motorsport, with constantly undulating asphalt and wide areas built for overtaking. Additional European locations set to star in *GRID 2* include Brands Hatch (Track Racing), Barcelona (Street Racing) and the Red Bull Ring (Track Racing).
The “*GRID 2*: European Expansion” video also reveals two of the four Touring Cars in competition. In the Super Touring Cars class, the Volvo S60 BTCS – one of the premiere performers in the BTCS and Volvo’s flagship racer – goes wheel-to-wheel with the Gomez Competition, a motorsport thoroughbred custom developed by GC Automotive in Herault in the South of France, with performance that rivals cars from global manufacturers.
Additional Touring Cars in the game include the BMW Motorsport 320 TC – the latest evolution of the car that Andy Priaulx drove to two championships –and the Chevrolet Cruze Touring car, which secured wins in both the WTCC and British Touring Car Championship in 2010, proving this American marque could compete with the best in the world.
*GRID 2*’s car list draws models from the finest manufacturers from three continents. Prime examples of European cars set to star in *GRID 2* that give a flavor of the car roster include;
BMW E30 M3 Sport Evolution (Evo3)
BMW Motorsport 320 TC
Caterham-Lola SP300R
Ford Focus ST 2013
Gomez Competition GC 10.1
McLaren F1 GT
Mercedes Benz 190E 2.5 Evo 2
Mercedes Benz SLS GT3
Pagani Huayra
Volvo S60 BTCS
Further cars to star in the game are to be announced.
The individual character of every car is brought to life through *GRID 2*’s groundbreaking TrueFeel™ handling system. Drawing on expertise from professional motorsports drivers and Codemasters’ 15 year heritage in creating award-winning racing games, TrueFeel™ handling lets players feel what it’s like to drive some of the most exciting cars in existence.
*GRID 2*, the long-awaited sequel to the BAFTA-award winning, critically acclaimed *GRID™*, will race into retail on May 28 for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Windows® PC and is available for pre-order now.
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