E3: GT5 Prologue this year

By Robert Purchese Published 12 July, 2007

Sony plates another taster.

Gran Turismo 5 Prologue will be coming to the PlayStation Network later this year, Sony announced at its E3 conference yesterday evening.

It's another free taster of what we can expect from the full Polyphony Digital game due some point in the future. The demo will let players race online for the first time ever in the series, using a bunch of shiny cars.

We imagine you'll probably be gawking at the hugely impressive graphics we saw in the on-stage trailer, too. "Look at the reflections on that," said Ellie Gibson, who was commentating live from the event.

The decision to release another Gran Turismo 5 teaser stemmed from the success of HD Concept earlier in the year, which let you race a handful of cars around a single track - supposedly powered by a version of the GT5 engine.

It was so popular more than one million of you clamoured to download it, according to Sony Worldwide Studios boss Phil Harrison. And rightly so, reckoned Eurogamer hack Tom Bramwell, who went hands-on with it back in March.

So it all seems to be shaping up well for the iconic and immensely popular racing series. But will we see the full game before 2009, Sony?

Head over to our Gran Turismo 5 Prologue gallery for the latest screenshots, or in to Eurogamer TV for the E3 trailer.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (37) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Steroyd #1 5 years ago

    Gran Turismo 5 Prologue will be coming to the PlayStation Network later this year, Sony announced at its E3 conference yesterday evening.

    Wait did you say it was a downloadable?

    It's another free taster of what we can expect from the full Polyphony Digital game due some point in the future.

    Wait... did you say Free!?

  • SeesThroughAll #2 5 years ago

    Haven't GT "prologues" been available free in the past?

    Good news this is. I hope the Prologue (or should I say, DEMO) brings online multiplayer racing this time. :)

  • FlamingCarrot #3 5 years ago

    Makes Forza 2 look a bit weak. Lets hope they actually have damage and in car view this time out....somehow i doubt it. And less awful lounge / lift music.

  • SeesThroughAll #4 5 years ago

    Car damage has already been denied twice. One out of two is not bad, though :)

    EDIT: The cockpit has been confirmed. The trailer shows it off quite a bit, in fact.
    Edited by 1 at 12/07/07 @ 15:48

  • ruckus #5 5 years ago

    After all this wait it had better make Forza 2 look weak. I'll probably get it anyways (just like Forza 2) even if it doesn't feature a cockpit view - but I'll whinge about it none the less.

  • Artemis_Matsas #6 5 years ago

    The screenshots and trailer look brilliant. This is just what the PS3 needs... you better give this to us soon Sony.

  • onyxbox #7 5 years ago

    HD Concept earlier in the year, which let you race a handful of cars around a single track - supposedly powered by a version of the GT5 engine.

    At the time i seem to remeber Sony saying that HD Concept was the GT4 engine running in Hi-Res.

  • Steroyd #8 5 years ago

    STA The only Prologue that's been released is the GT4 Prologue and they charged £25 for it as well.

    I just want EG to double check GT5 prologue is free so my hopes aren't dashed.

  • paulf #9 5 years ago

    certainly looks like the palace theatre (les mis was there for years) at cambridge circus, london street racing ftw

  • mossychops001 #10 5 years ago

    "Black ASS" Thats Eddie Murphy from Shrek isn't?

  • PlugMonkey #11 5 years ago

    I've never really 'got' Gran Tourismo. The licenses seemed so much harder than the races that I'd spend hours and hours and hours getting my race license, by which point I'd be so good I'd breeze through all the actual races it unlocked, and then it was back to grinding at the next license.

    I never played 4. Was that any different?

  • Weezer #12 5 years ago

    These images look impossibly (and suspiciously) high resolution. Although I'm not a great believer in amazing graphics in racing games - I'm playing Forza2 in glorious HD and I still spend most of my time focussed on the racing line, ratherthan admiring the scenery.

    To be honest, it could be half the resolution and I doubt it would effect the gameplay one iota.

  • mossychops001 #13 5 years ago

    Cannot wait to race down Shaftesbury avenue in a Evo VIII. this looks great!!!!

  • FlamingCarrot #14 5 years ago

    Give it a Feeder track on the intro movie and i'll die happy. They need to beef up the sound of the engines though as i'm tired of the wasp in a jar effect. A V12 needs to sound like a V12 not a kazoo.

  • Kenshin001 #15 5 years ago

    Looked boring. Sorry.

    Should have crashes like Burnout.

  • mingster #16 5 years ago

    O piss off plugmonkey...

    you said exactly the same thing for Halo .. I never really got halo..zzzzz

    boring troll

  • Steroyd #17 5 years ago

    Plugmonkey

    The way the races were structured in GT4 was kinda broken difficulty curve went up and down so sharply it was more frustrating than as satisfying as GT3.

  • SBfistfun #18 5 years ago

    zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

  • Scimarad #19 5 years ago

    Might I suggest buying Burnout and avoiding GT, Kenshin?

  • Arcadiian #20 5 years ago

    @ Scimarad.

    People would pay good money for advice like that.

  • Kenshin001 #21 5 years ago

    @Scimarad

    I will buy it, looks mad. Just wish I could get excited about GT5. Looks good graphically and all and online could make it, but at the mo looks a bit dreary.

  • PlugMonkey #22 5 years ago

    Mingster - Nah, I just thought it'd be fun to see if I could get accused of being a Sony fanboy and an Xbox fanboy in the same day, when in fact I'm patently neither. Hence the same wording.

    It's amazing how many people will tell you to piss off for no reason at all for expressing your honest opinions. Just because they think you're against their brand of electrical appliance. Very odd.

    Steroyd - I suspected as much. The lumpy difficulty curve really spoilt the other games for me. This looks stunning, so hopefully they've put some focus on balancing. If not, it might be worth it anyway just for online.

  • ChromeMud #23 5 years ago

    GT5 Prologue...yawn.
    Have they moved the goalposts yet or is it the same old game with indestructible cars,crap AI and a face-lift.
    Ooh,it's online....that is so NEXT GEN!

  • penguin_overlord #24 5 years ago

    Although the PSN store is a poor cousin to Xbox Live in terms of usability it does have to be said that PSN does have some cracking things on it. Tekken is a great game and getting something like GT Prologue for nothing is amazing. Plus, only on PSN can full-price games like SOCOM and Warhawk be downloaded.

  • Caimbeul #25 5 years ago

    to the comment about it looking supiciously high res...I believe that at the conference it was said to be running in "full HD" ie: 1080p

    PGR 4 does look great with the environmental effects BUT it still looks very artificial, like Forza 2. GT looks more photorealistic.

    If Polyphony have something akin to the performance analyzer that they had for PS1 & 2 they should be able to push the hardware very far indeed.

  • Hughes. #26 5 years ago

    GT4's progression was mainly broken because it was supposed to be online, and bafflingly online was dumped, so they had to cobble together a bigger offline experience. It still looked fantastic, and had a massive amount more cars, but, much like with GT1 - GT2, the first PS2 game was a more satisfying experience. The photo mode was a fantastic bonus though, and being able to simply save photos to any USB flash-drive was brilliant.

    So, unlike Star Trek films, the odd numbered ones are the best. They also shift hardware like no other franchise.

    If Prologue is to be free, it'll be a huge improvement on GT3 Concept and GT4 Prologue, which were not worth the £25 asked for them.

  • captainrentboy #27 5 years ago

    Undeniably gorge looking screenies, but that's to be expected from a GT game, they've always pushed the hardware whatever the format.
    Although how come no racing game developer can make it look like the cars actually belong on the track? They always look kind of superimposed, not just GT by the way, nearly every car game, it never looks quite right.
    As sexy as it is, and just like Forza 2 on the 360, this aint my bag at all, too much faffing about, give me the new PGR any day of the week.

  • DanC89 #28 5 years ago

    JUST get on with the real thing!

    Christ, they said that they put off GT4: Mobile to do GT:HD, and now that was canned to a demo thing...they come out with this. At least it's online, eh?

  • Beano #29 5 years ago

    But did Sony announce any EU PS3 price drop?

    No?.... WTF!!!!!!!!!

  • dave06 #30 5 years ago

    oh my god they still making this shit, well you queers can enjoy driving your indestructible penismobiles into eah others arses while i play some pgr4 and fuck your sister


    preferably at the same time :)

  • septimus #31 5 years ago

    Not much different to Forza 2 I bet... but GT5's audio seems far better from the brief video.

  • Darren #32 5 years ago

    Certainly looks better than Forza 2 for sure - it's like comparing a next-gen game with a last-gen one really - but, of course, it remains to be seen how it plays. GT4 looked nice but it was a pretty boring game with bland A.I. and a lack of damage modelling, less a game and more a car showroom really.

  • LFMartins #33 5 years ago

    This is a simulation game.Why make it more arcady?
    There are some people who like simulation,did you know that?
    So why can´t they have their simulation?

  • HelloWorld #34 5 years ago

    "Never liked GT. It needs a damage model, less realism. Burnout Paradise: roll on!"
    Yeah. Also, cornflakes would be nicer if they had bits of sugar on them.

  • 3william56 #35 5 years ago

    More freeness is good.

  • lance.carter #36 5 years ago

    doubters should definitely see the glorious HD video at game-trailers and don't listen at work with crap speakers on...listen at home on your decent computer and hear the quality audio.

    With Ferrari, 20 player online, damage for racing cars, and THEM graphics/frame rates/camera work, I'd say Turismo still has a bright future...but of course GT5 will compete with the inevitable Forza3....
    Edited by 1 at 13/07/07 @ 14:20

  • Duds2k #37 5 years ago

    At least it's free this time.

    As opposed to last time when they sold a magazine cover disk demo for £24.99