Gran Turismo 4

Sony's Gran Turismo movie will tell the story of how GT5 gamer Lucas Ordóñez became a real-life racing driver.

The 10 years and 11-month-old PlayStation 2 has shot through the 150 million units shipped mark, Sony has announced.

Why does Kazunori Yamauchi, creator of Gran Turismo, get special dispensation from Sony when he makes a game? Because each main Gran Turismo release has sold roughly 10 million copies - or more.

The same cars on the same tracks across 13 years of PS history.

In last week's Gran Turismo 5 tech analysis, Digital Foundry delved into its gaming archive and compared the new game to sections of gameplay from GT4. This got us thinking. Could we trace a tech lineage through all major versions of the game released to date, right from the franchise's beginnings in 1997?

Two tracks compared: PS2 up against PS3.

Sony has revealed that the Gran Turismo series has shipped over 50 million units on multiple PlayStation formats, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi has said that a PC instalment in the hit racing series is something he'd consider doing in the future.

Kazunori Yamauchi is a man living the boy racer dream - or rather, he would be, if boy racers even dared to have this kind of dream. As the creator of what is arguably the world's most authentic, most comprehensive simulation of race driving, he lives and breathes cars and motorsport.

Gran Turismo 4 may have gone to market without an online mode, but that was never likely to be the end of it - and Sony's now put an online-enabled version in the hands of beta testers.

GT4 Online, which got some press earlier this year [no it didn't! - legal team], has yet to be announced as an actual product, but rather it's being viewed, a bit like E3 2006's Gran Turismo HD, as a tool for testing technology.

According to those who've got a copy, most notably IGN, it resembles regular Gran Turismo 4 - except it has an Online option, allowing for quick races, races with your own tuned cars, and private chat-rooms that allow you to commune with your fellow petrol-heads.

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Polyphony Digital's PS2 exclusive racer Gran Turismo 4 has held on to the top spot in the UK sales chart this week, despite strong challenges from a host of new releases - four of which make it into the top ten ranking.

It's unusual for a game to launch on a Wednesday in Europe. Then again Gran Turismo 4 is a pretty unusual game. Enormously popular almost by default, it's the most detailed and extraordinarily vast racing simulation available on the PlayStation 2, and the gains made by developer Polyphony Digital since GT3 have made for a more accessible, rewarding and varied experience than ever before. Team leader and series creator Kazunori Yamauchi was in London last week to celebrate the launch, and we took the opportunity to ask him about the proposed online version, the competition, next-generation games development and PSP title GT4 Mobile.

Version Reviewed

PS2 (exclusive)

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The latest incarnation to the most lavish driving simulation in the world is almost upon us, but the wait has been long. By the time it finally emerges in Europe in November it will hold the unwelcome record of being dogged by the most delays in the series, following on almost three and a half years from the mighty Gran Turismo 3 - the first must-have PS2 title that few have managed to better since.