Gran Turismo 5: First Look

Gran Turismo 5 has had a bit of an elusive and confusing history.

Announced in 2007, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue was Polyphony Digital's tease of what was to come with the final GT5 release. More than 60 cars and six tracks were included in the Prologue when it was first released a year ago.

Despite being just a small taste of GT5, Polyphony decided to go ahead and update the game a few times, bringing new cars and game modes with it and thus delaying the final release of GT5.

For those new to the series, Gran Turismo is a simulation racing series from Polyphony Digital, an internal studio with Sony. It is a highly acclaimed franchise, shipping over 50 million copies worldwide since the PlayStation debut in 1997.

GT5 will expand on the content offered in the Prologue, with Polyphony claiming the game will feature hundreds of cars. The exact number is not yet known, but what is known is Ferrari will be included in the list of manufacturers for the first time in a Gran Turismo title.

A full 16-player online mode is confirmed to be in GT5, as well as the in-car view from the Prologue.

The release date has varied. Currently TBA, it was rumoured to be put off until 2010 after they had finished updating the Prologue. Then in November 2008, Sony's Southern Europe chief executive expected a holiday 2009 release.

To complete the confusion, Sony Computer Entertainment America's Hardware Marketing Director James Armstrong said at the 2009 Game Developers Conference that they were looking at a release across “all platforms,” possibly implying a release on PS3, PS2, PSP and even potentially PC.

More information will no doubt be released in the coming months, so stay tuned to NoobFeed for the latest.

Ian Mailloux, NoobFeed