GT5 Prologue demo this week

By Robert Purchese Published 19 October, 2007

In Japan. Shouldn't stop you.

Sony Japan has said it will be releasing a free demo for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue on its regional Store this Saturday, 20th October.

That means all you have to do to is pop a fake beard and moustache on a new account and pretend you are Japanese so you can get hold of it.

Inside it are seven cars from the game that you can roar around one Suzuka Circuit: 2009 Nissan GT-R, 2008 Mazda Atneza (zoom zoom), 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STi, 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X GSR, 2008 Daihatsu OFC-1, and 2009 BMW 134i Coupe.

Despite not knowing what most of that means, we can tell you it is very pretty, and you will need to download the demo before it disappears on 11th November.

The full version of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is due out on the Japanese Store in December.

However, the European release date of the game is still treading unknown waters, as is the whereabouts of our demo. But we should be able to update you as soon as Sony UK gets back to us.

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 (28) Latest comment 4 years ago

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

  • Steroyd #1 4 years ago

    :)

  • monkie_king #2 4 years ago

    wait, a free demo of a demo you have to pay for?

    /head asplodes

  • Hughes. #3 4 years ago

    It's better than no demos for the "demos" you had to pay for in GT Concept and GT4 Prologue. Of course they were a damn site too big to be called demos, as will GT5 prologue be. They were still a rip-off though. I'm still waiting for a GBP price before I make a decision on this. The cost of the demo is in my favourite price bracket though. Cheap as free.

    From what I've seen so far the tracks don't look as rich as Eiger Nordwand, so I don't think they've finished HD-ifying them yet, repeating road textures and such, but it should give some idea where things are headed.

  • Putty-Man #4 4 years ago

    Dam you monkie_king, got there before me.

    Good tactic to get people to pay for a demo tho, by releasing a demo of that demo first.

    Its all just demo-tastic.

  • SAH1977 #5 4 years ago

    GT5P is the must have driving sim for any car fan.

    To call GT5P a 'demo' is a little simplistic considering the content.

    I just hope the new sim mode is included in the actual demo.
    Edited by 1 at 19/10/07 @ 12:20

  • icelt #6 4 years ago

    Yeah the "demo" called GT5:prologue will support 16 player online racing. I don't recall too many free demos providing that kind of feature. Although... the last time I read Poly's plan in this regard they stated that the racing grid would be random generated (ie no way to select your competitors). I'm not certain if that was a mistranslation though or if maybe something changed in the interim.

  • anonim1979 #7 4 years ago

    One (short) track.
    Seven cars.
    No online.
    No damages.
    Weak graphics (probably scaled like GTHD before from 1440x1080 to 1920x1080)

    [link url=h ttp://www.gamersyde.com/pop_image.html?G=5970&N=23
    ]http://ww w.gamersyde.com/pop_image.html?...[/link]
    [link url=h ttp://www.gamersyde.com/pop_image.html?G=5970&N=22
    ]http://ww w.gamersyde.com/pop_image.html?...[/link]
    [link url=h ttp://www.gamersyde.com/pop_image.html?G=5970&N=21
    ]http://ww w.gamersyde.com/pop_image.html?...[/link]

    Blah.

  • lambtron #8 4 years ago

    oof those are some ugly trees!

  • Altrezia #9 4 years ago

    Got it down about 20 mins ago, played since.

    Stunning. The boys at sony really got it right this time (except the exessive tyre squeal perhaps)

    Love it.

    edit: on mine i had 16 cars.. dunno what version you're playing.
    Edited by 1 at 19/10/07 @ 23:28

  • DjFlex52 #10 4 years ago

    If this is a demo of a demo of a full retail game, then I wonder when the full retail game GT5 is really going to come out.

    This definitely means GT5 wont come out in 2008 but in 2009. Why would Sony jeopardize the sales of GT5 Prologue if it sells well next year?

  • levis #11 4 years ago

    Downloading as I write.

    GT5 is pencilled in for March 2008. GT4 was released on the exact date in 2005 so hopefully they are still on target!

  • anonim1979 #12 4 years ago

    "Inside it are ***seven cars*** from the game that you can roar around one Suzuka Circuit: 2009 Nissan GT-R, 2008 Mazda Atneza (zoom zoom), 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STi, 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X GSR, 2008 Daihatsu OFC-1, and 2009 BMW 134i Coupe."

    I know that 16 on track at once...

    PS.
    [link url=http://www .gamersyde.com/news_5372_en.html
    ]http://www .gamersyde.com/news_5372_en.html
    [/link]
    Screengrabs + movies from demo.

  • Beano #13 4 years ago

    "GT5 is pencilled in for March 2008. "

    Will not happen... but GT5 Prologue may make that date ;)

    The demo looks amazing though - the car details blows everything else out of the water (incl. Forza 2 and PGR4) while running in 1080p at solid 60fps with 16 cars on the track. Can't wait to see the quality of the full game late 2008 :)

    "Weak graphics" ... WTF ?!?!?
    Edited by 2 at 20/10/07 @ 10:37

  • belziah #14 4 years ago

    trees, trees

    you're doing 130mph on the main straight surrounded by 15 other cars and you're looking at trees.

    you tit.

    the demo is piss easy though

  • Darren #15 4 years ago

    Downloading the 736 MB demo right now... already at 19% after 3 minutes... oooooo... :)

  • Rev.StuartCampbell #16 4 years ago

    Blimey. Looking at the way the car models fall apart when they go over bumpy ground in the replays, this isn't going to make March 2008 in a million years.

  • DanB24 #17 4 years ago

    Now that looks awesome. :) I can't wait for the full game. :D

  • NinjaWilliams #18 4 years ago

    Each to their bone - GT5PD ROCKS! IT'S OFFICIAL, GRAN TURISMO SERIES IS BACK ON TRACK!!! THE REAL UBER DRIVING SIMULATOR! OH YEAH BAYBEE!!! ^_~

  • Gouki #19 4 years ago

    Where has the demo gone?

    why has it been removed from the japanese store?

  • Arwin #20 4 years ago

    Have to say after some initial doubts, the game looks fantastic. The in-car view is awesome but it takes away a little from how good and smooth the game looks, which is more obvious in the bumper/hood cam views. 16 cars is just great, and the cars look crazy good.

    The handling and AI are also top-notch. Zerolight, you either don't know what you are talking about, or you haven't tried it with different tires, or you haven't found the Professional mode option ...

    This game when running in 720p has 4xMSAA already with great looking HDR and 60fps, and with 16 cars on screen ... In 1080p it still has 2xAA (though using 1280x1080p upscaling currently - in game anyway, the rest is native 1920x1080).

    Has anyone tried clicking on the veiled car in the selection screen? That looks just crazy! Took a picture with my lousy cam:

    http://www.n iwra.nl/ps3/gt5pd/P1010024s.
    Edited by 2 at 20/10/07 @ 23:56

  • Darren #21 4 years ago

    I was initially a little disappointed with this demo - the HDR lighting seems to bleach all the colour from the track, Suzuka itself isn't particularly interesting visually anyway, tyres walls are just square blocks, the cars have some jaggy edges (even at 1080p) and the dashboard view, although excellent and superior even to PGR 3/4, has a windscreen that looks as if there's no glass in it, despite one of the cars I was driving having tinted windows from the external view!!!

    However, once I started playing it properly I realised that it *is* a damn good-looking game, particularly in the replays where it makes Forza Motorsport 2, look like the upscaled Xbox game it really is. To my eyes, it doesn't look quite as nice as PGR 4 but this game is running at 1080p @ 60 fps so it's to be expected. Still look dandy though. The A.I. seems better than before, the handling comparable to Forza 2 (hate those squealing tyres though) and I'm racing against 15 other cars, something you still can't do on the Xbox 360. At least in GT5 Prologue it feels like a proper simulation with 16 car races albeit without damage modelling.

    In a word the demo is stunning, I'll definitely pick up the full Prologue version when it's released.

  • murphy245 #22 4 years ago

    this is getting a bit silly now,a demo of a demo? -_-

    better than nothing i suppose,cant wait for gt5 though its going to be amazing,then hopefullly after that they will get round to making gt psp

  • Arwin #23 4 years ago

    This release is actually closely linked to the Tokyo Motor Show, so you should see it in that light.
    Edited by 1 at 21/10/07 @ 13:51

  • Arwin #24 4 years ago

    You couldn't be more wrong. I have Forza 2, the MS Wheel and the console that goes with that. I have Live Gold, and I've had an Xbox for many years before that next to my Playstation 2. I've got some pretty decent online platinum scores on the PGR4 demo. I've been playing racing games since forever (i.e. 20 years).
    And I have a pair of eyes. I quite like Forza 2 for a number of reasons, but graphics are definitely not one of them - the game looks like PC sims of many a year back. PGR4 is somewhat better at 720p with 2xAA but sacrificed the little HDR it had in PGR3 (which was upscaled) to achieve this, and has half the cars AND half the framerate, and has quite a lot of graphical shortcuts (It doesnt have the best looking trees either for instance).

    Don't get me wrong, I like it decent enough, but the Japanese GT5 Prologue Tokyo Motor Show edition already has HDR, 60fps, 4xMSAA and 16 cars with at least twice the detail on them, and much better looking materials, colors and so on. Graphically, it's already way beyond either of the those two.

  • ScottyXTUK #25 4 years ago

    Got all 3 games mentioned here, PGR4, Forza 2 and now the GT5 prologue demo.

    I like the demo, it's got me wanting GT5 all the more. I love the GT series anyway and appreciate all racing games for their different approaches to the racing genre. For me tho, PGR 4 is the muts nuts, it looks amazing and the richness of the graphics and weather effects and lighting are the best out there full stop.

    I'm sure GT5 will be a fantastic game too and am looking forward to it immensly.



  • 3william56 #26 4 years ago

    Do really, really expensive cars have some sort of special types that make a really pi$$ weak skidding noise? Because no car I've ever driven sounds like that. The engine noises are great - why are the skid sounds so lame? Traction Control FTL (anyone know what TC is in Japanese so I can turn it off?).

    Got to admit, the first few tries of this I thought it was really anaemic with no crashes and the like, too much like Riiiiidge Racer without the silly skids - but hit the in-car view, and it's a whole new ball game. The way the light and shadows (including off track item shadows) play across the working dash and even the textures on the drivers gloves is simply stunning. Still think I'll be getting Burnout Paradise instead, though. Hope they have an in-car view too - really makes it work on a big telly.

  • Arwin #27 4 years ago

    You can set TCS to 0 (it's the only option which you can set a numerical value so easy to spot), you can turn ASM off (it's the option above it if I remember correctly), you can set the tires to N3 (these are high-grade 'street' tires) if you like yourself some realism, and best of all you can set the handling to Professional, which is the second option of the second option.

    With all these settings, then drive the BMW like I did here and you'll know how hardcore this bit of simulation is. ;)

    http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=Ng5ftoyG2D8

    I also recorded a bit of the veiled Impreza, as that's the best simulated silk I've ever seen. ;)

    http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=huOYMT0d5eo
    Edited by 1 at 22/10/07 @ 09:08

  • Rev.StuartCampbell #28 4 years ago

    "The way the light and shadows (including off track item shadows) play across the working dash and even the textures on the drivers gloves is simply stunning."

    The modern videogame fan, there.

  • slickster #29 4 years ago

    if you jump in a car and try go 100mph around a corner tyers will skid.you drivein a standard car.and you will go of the track you got to look at your speed and play the game like a proper car.