GT5 gets three Nürburgring courses

By Oli Welsh Published 13 May, 2010

Grand Prix, Nordschleife and 24 Hours.

Polyphony Digital has revealed that there will be three circuits from Germany's motorsport Mecca, the Nürburgring, in Gran Turismo 5.

The famous and daunting 14-mile Nordschleife (star of every single motorsport game made since, oh, PGR2?) will feature alongside the modern Grand Prix track and the Nürburgring 24 Hours course.

You can read more about it and see screens at the US PlayStation blog and the official GT5 site. Or, if you happen to be going to the Nürburgring 24 Hours race this weekend, you can try it out for yourself.

"For a car enthusiast, the Nürburgring is the equivalent to what places like the Eiger Nordwand or Mount Everest means to a mountaineer," said GT creator Kazunori Yamauchi. "There is that special allure about it that you just can't explain in words."

It seems there's still no-one at Sony brave enough to tell Yamauchi-san to stop adding things to his game and release it already. In recent months, the addition of NASCAR racing has been announced, and rumours have swirled around support for 3D and PlayStation Move.

Gran Turismo 5, first revealed in 2006, has had its March 2010 Japanese launch delayed and currently has no release date. On the PlayStation Blog, the game's US producer hints that we should look forward to more news from E3 next month. Let's hope it's a date, not a new feature.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (55) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • richardiox #1 2 years ago

    /states obvious

  • wizlon #2 2 years ago

    The day this is released a giant flaming asteroid is going to obliterate the earth... at least that's what the 360 fanboys want to happen.

  • Mkwone #3 2 years ago

    It seems we're being given more information regarding the game lately. Hopefully they're gearing up to give us a final release date...again.

  • RodHull #4 2 years ago

    Wow! With this new features you are really spoiling us! Maybe they'll include decent handling and physics this time as well?

  • clearblue #5 2 years ago

    I'll catch these famous and daunting courses on Forza 4 I think.

  • Bleedingplums #6 2 years ago

    "Ployphony". No one's gonna believe that's a typo!

  • Mildew #7 2 years ago

    Oh FFS just release it already! Planning to get GT6 for my retirement 35 years from now...

  • aidey6 #8 2 years ago

    EG and most gaming sites should stop reporting pointless info about this until Sony can give gamers a window as to when this is being released. The time taken gamers would expect these tracks in or just add them as DLC once the game is released

  • cianchristopher #9 2 years ago

    7/10s gonna be pretty funny when this comes out...

  • Boomerang #10 2 years ago

    Wow, this is still going? I remember buying my uncle Prologue for a birthday pressie fully 2 years ago. I bet the final game bears no resemblance to that. 2 years is a looong time in development hell!

  • LazyNinjaUk #11 2 years ago

    I think its got to the stage now where they could say there's a track set on the Moon and no-one would care, they just want to finally be able to play the game.

  • jonsaan #12 2 years ago

    Ah so what. Just release the game our gtfo.
    Edited by jonsaan at 13/05/10 @ 10:28

  • MrChuckles #13 2 years ago

    i wonder when we'll get a new version of an established racing game that DOESN'T include all the bloody tracks for the last incarnation....

    I love Forza, but having 50% of the same tracks EVERY version is getting really boring... Silverstone is so flat, why can't we have Brands Hatch?

    Nurburgring again though, just, meh....

  • wizlon #14 2 years ago

    Please say the move functionality won't be played with two controllers held vertically like a steering wheel, that would suck.

  • Jay-ITFC #15 2 years ago

    Nurburgring & Nordschleife!? How original.

  • UncleLou #16 2 years ago

    Wow! With this new features you are really spoiling us! Maybe they'll include decent handling and physics this time as well?

    I understand a lot of complaints when it comes to GT5, but handling/physics sure is a remarkably weird one.

  • powderfinger1971 #17 2 years ago

    @MrChuckles: 2nd that motion for Brands Hatch. I don't like Silverstone, but love those tracks with elevation changes. Laguna Seca & Road Atlanta for example.

  • MrChuckles #18 2 years ago

    @powderfinger1971 - Yeah, Road Atlanta is clearly the best track in Forza with a very British Racetrack feel of sweeping bends hairpins and a chicane.

    Laguna is ok, but the section after the corkscrew is a bit fiddly and annoying.

    Mugello and The Autumn one are quite nice too.

  • homerramone #19 2 years ago

    I know this is stating the obious, but there have been more final release dates for this than Status Quo have had final tours !

    :-)

  • Spekingur #20 2 years ago

    Duke Nukem Syndrome?

  • RodHull #21 2 years ago

    @UncleLou

    In every iteration so far every car has handled pretty much the same albeit with a different top speed. Compare it to the palpable differences between cars in the likes of Forza, GT2, Grid, Pgr and the like. Sure some of them are arcadey but at least there's obvious differences between the cars on offer.

  • JahB #22 2 years ago

    while i love the track itself, am i the only one that finds this 24 hour nonsense stupid?

  • des #23 2 years ago

    meh...and people still care about this...zzz
    Ellie should review it,together with Duke.

  • spammage #24 2 years ago

    I don't want new "spanky" features I'm not going to benefit from, I just want the fucking game already. You can ruin it with Move and 3DTV patches later, just get the thing out of the door!

  • solidSnake04 #25 2 years ago

    i think we gonna play GT6 before this game comes out ;).

  • Antaios #26 2 years ago

    "It seems there's still no-one at Sony brave enough to tell Yamauchi-san to stop adding things to his game and release it already."

    This. I wish someone would.

    @ gungrave: Agreed. Then again, Nordschleife is awesome. :) Actually, that's the main reason I still boot GT4 up once in a while, to do an epic splitscreen race with a friend.
    Edited by Antaios at 13/05/10 @ 12:01

  • chrisola #27 2 years ago

    in other news, the game will be about cars.

  • Whatsfor #28 2 years ago

    How many 50GB discs will this game ship on?

  • makeamazing #29 2 years ago

    7/10s gonna be pretty funny when this comes out...

    7/10 would be a good score right, the same as Alan Wake and Splinter Cell?

  • apoc_reg #30 2 years ago

    God this makes me depressed, back in the day GT was THE game. Now i really couldnt give a crap as its not moved on nearly enough to put this on my radar.

  • jambo74 #31 2 years ago

    Will it have hovercars, as they will be the main form of tramsport when the game is released.

  • waggy79 #32 2 years ago

    You would think with all the time they've had with this it will end up the best game in the history of the world. You would think. But Alan Wake and Killzone 2 say different.

  • DoctorFouad #33 2 years ago

    I am sure that Gran Turismo 5 will simply redefine what people could expect from a driving video game.

  • beastmaster #34 2 years ago

    GT 5 gets 3 release dates.

  • barkertron #35 2 years ago

    I'm hoping for Wario Stadium

  • Kenshin001 #36 2 years ago

    Kind of impatient about it too, but the new shots looked incredible.

  • Retro_ #37 2 years ago

    A few decent Rally courses would be a another nice addition.... ok ok I'm only kidding *tut

  • Beano #38 2 years ago

    Sounds great.. will be my GOTY in 2014 !

  • jag10 #39 2 years ago

    they should of ripped everyone off and released everything as DLC.

  • secombe #40 2 years ago

    In other news, GT5 gets Suzuka, Twin Ring Motegi, Infineon and Laguna Seca.

    So bored of the 10 or so circuits that get wheeled out by default for every racing game these days. Give us Castle Combe, Oulton Park, Portimão, Okayama, Mondello, Arctic Circle etc.

    I guess most devs are now recycling existing scans of the popular circuits to save cash, as it's pretty rare to see something genuinely different in a console game these days.
    Edited by secombe at 13/05/10 @ 15:45

  • Red-Moose #41 2 years ago

    Itwould be nice to meld Test Drive Unlimited with these circuits. Instead of trashing my car and getting pulled by the police, you pretend drive to a track day in silverstone, then do some motorway TD:U style gameplay, drive to Hockenheim another track day, enter a race, get drunk in some small village and avoid beign arrested for drink driving, etc., . Maybe kerb crawl for hookers in Paris, etc.,. There is so much potential in the driving genre but all we get are the same restricted tracks.

  • jebus #42 2 years ago

    @gungrave "an Marino and Mount Panorama (Bathurst)"

    Oh god yeah - Bathurst was great. I remember being on the test team for World Touring Cars back in the day and that was the first time I became aware of Bathurst in any racing game. Utterly fantastic. I was also very fond of Surfers Paradise.

  • thelzdking #43 2 years ago

    If they haven't improved the AI then everything else is for naught.

  • Spekingur #44 2 years ago

    @DoctorFouad, #36.
    "I am sure that Gran Turismo 5 will simply redefine what people could expect from a driving video game."

    Oh? A long time between releases?

  • SavageEvil #45 2 years ago

    Hold on why are people complaining at all? Only once has Sony actually delayed GT5, everything else was the online mags and analysts assuming when the game was going to be released. To date GT5 has been delayed a whopping "1" time, yet everyone is complaining about it taking forever. I say I welcome the addition of the 24 hour course, and not many racing games model the Nur correctly to begin with (FM all 3 games), the Nur in GT4 craps all over the flat as a pancake FM3 version. I just hope the day/night cycle makes it in for that course as well, that will be so awesome to take those hills in pitch darkness with only my headlights to light my way. I wish they would get Mt. Panorama in there as well as, Donnington Park, Catalunya and Kyalami. Here's to hoping what doesn't make it in on release gets added as DLC.
    Before anyone gets any ideas, I play the stuffing out of FM3 on Live, black S7 with red tail end, soon you will spot me in McLaren F1 whizzing around courses taking on the AWD cars.

    @Those complaining about new courses not being added, the amount of time it takes these guys to just photograph and mesh together satellite topography of each course they add, increases the length this game stays out of our hands. Not to mention the legal stuff you have to go through just to get the O.K. to use the course in your game. One thing about PD is the attention to detail, but one thing i wish is that they fill the stands on the courses for races and add crowd noise and all that fanfare, that would the piece of immersion that was missing from their games so far. How about some swans in the lake on HSR and they fly away when cars come screaming by...the little touches go a long way.
    Edited by SavageEvil at 13/05/10 @ 17:50

  • Antaios #46 2 years ago

    SavageEvil: we know. The "the game hasn't been delayed because there hasn't been a real release date yet" is just as old and worn out as the entire "omg another delay [insert random Duke Nukem joke here]" routine. Game's taking a ridiculously long time to hit the streets and it's taking far longer than it should have been, I think we can all agree on that.

  • busboy33 #47 2 years ago

    @UncleLou:

    Some aspects GT nails dead-on, but it is also legendarily known for some . . . questionable . . . physics implementation, most notoriously the "GT Bounce". That one problem IMO more than any other tarnishes the "true driving simulator" tagline for GT.
    Cars hit each other in races. Cars hit walls and objects in races. By focusing on the handling of the car in a solo run, they've neglected the practical realities of an actual multi-car race.
    Undoubtedly its a tough nut to crack, and undoubtedly there are some things that GT is top-of-the-class in doing. But collisions (so far) haven't been one of them, and to quote Ed Harris, "rubbin's racing". Prologue had some iffy collision implementation, so whether or not they get that dialed in for the final release remains to be seen (insert your favorite "never coming out" comment here).

  • Ryze #48 2 years ago

    Shame that the game still doesn't exist nearly 5 years after annoucement, eh?

  • aphexstwin #49 2 years ago

    busboy, it wasnt ed harris. it was robert duvall. see more of these pro race drivers are talking about handling....

    good news of a full nurburgring and fully implemented races to go with it, the way it should be, rather than 'heres some dlc for you to do nothing with'.

  • SavageEvil #50 2 years ago

    @Antaios it's understandable to get upset that the game isn't out yet, but blame the game media, these guys keep guessing when it's coming and everyone keeps thinking that Sony solidified the game was coming out, when they never said a word.

    @busboy33, has any game nailed collisions correctly for you? You are talking about GT5 and to my knowledge it has new collision algorithms as well as damage. Your post doesn't seem to point out what you want from the game, certain things in driving games like GT and FM I find strange, like going door to door with another car nets different results in both games that are out. In FM3 that is one touchy subject, it's something that you should avoid at all costs as it almost makes your car completely uncontrollable. To my knowledge race cars are the only vehicles that can't go door to door with good results, because of the fact that their tires have such snap grip loss, but road going vehicles do not lose control as easy going door to door. Hopefully they address this issue you are speaking of, I'm wondering if big time impacts incapacitate your car, causing immediate loss of race. One thing I seriously want is dedicated server for GT5, I don't want that mess that FM3 now has for online lobbies, that mess sucks rocks.

  • gnrlstuart #51 2 years ago

    i think this will get nowhere near as many sales as it would have if it launched a couple of years ago. the whole 'wow factor' of HD gaming has subsided, and even graphical powerhouses like killzone 2 and uncharted 2 have way less impact than when the ps3 was considered next gen. though this will no doubt be a great game, i cant help but feel it has grown stagnant due to lack of regular releases. we should be waiting for gt6, not gt5 still....
    Edited by gnrlstuart at 14/05/10 @ 01:45

  • Spekingur #52 2 years ago

    @KingAntoine, #54.
    Why are you using past tense? GT isn't even out yet so past tense doesn't even make sense. Also, GT5 might always end up being turd-like as well. We won't know until it is out. Which is sometime in the future, hopefully the near future so all this "it's going to be good/bad" discussion can be done with.

  • sonicyoda #53 2 years ago

    @busboy33

    Undoubtably undoubtably undoubtably undoubtably?

  • aphexstwin #54 2 years ago

    gt is one of the worlds biggest selling video games franchises. if we were to take a straw poll here in eg, which, lets be honest, has more ms than sony fans, the low selling/low review point will shine through, but if you look round the web, theres millions of buyers for this game.

  • sonmi451 #55 2 years ago

    they modelled a fucking campsite!!!!!!!

    2 years of development time wasted testing out different tents...