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Gran Turismo 4 to Make Holiday Release...Offline
sm4kxd writes "EuroGamer is reporting that in a press conference at the Tokyo Game Show, Sony representatives stated that Gran Turismo 4 is still on schedule for release. They're looking for a December 4th Japan release, followed by a near December 14th release date in both the states and Europe, but it will be exclusively offline. There is to be a follow up GT game with online capabilities that has a speculated release sometime in 2005."
Try http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=56 697
Who cares about a new Gran Turismo game without online play? It's been the same game over and over. Sure, the last sequel had the benefit of PS2-powered graphics, but what's this one going to bring to the mainstream-gamer's table? A few more cars? More decals? Spiffier-looking still shots that wind up being lost when you're actually racing? Please.
If Sony had any respect for its customers, they would abandon this game's Xmas hopes and prep the game's release, with online, for Spring 05, rather than wait a few months after a lame Xmas launch and later release an "online patch" product for the low low price of $49.99!!
...considering Gran Turismo 3 was essentially perfect in what it was trying to achieve. The whole point of a GT4 (aside from making craploads of money) was to play Online.
I guess GT4 will just be GT3 with new cars and tracks - another expansion pack.
This seems like one of those "Someone is going to get fired" screw ups to me.
Shoot Pixels, Not People!
Given that the online part of GT 4 was the big new thing, I think that Sony now has big time egg on their faces. So I'm going to make the big ol' guess that they will want to do something to make up for it in part. I wouldn't be too surprised to see GT 4 bundled with the new PStwo for XMas at some discount. And to sweeten the deal a bit, I'm guessing that while there won't be online multiplayer, there probably will be some kind of online goodies, like leader boards and stats, and maybe some downloadable cars later. They might even have downloads of player data for ghost races.
Now to toot my own horn, I speculated on this several weeks ago in my blog!
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
The game has been already oft delayed enough as it is. I could understand if it were delayed to add more track, cars, or improve the AI, but to this news implies that the major delay has been related to the online piece of the game. Considering that GT4 Prologue edition has been released in Japan and Europe's markets earlier this year, it's obvious that the engine is done.
I am now having my doubts on how well it will perform online once the online version comes out if they haven't been able to nail it down after all this time.
Am I the only one that thinks this is a good thing? The Gran Turismo games are, IMHO, the best thing since Tetris. If I want to play against a bunch of assholes, I will just invite my friends over. That way, when they park their cars sideways on the corkscrew in Laguna Seca, I can kick them in the nuts instead of yelling/typing at them. Seriously though, I have always enjoyed single player GT more than multiplayer, and I am kind of glad that they are releasing these as different games. I doubt I will buy the online version.
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It would be very cool if soemone would combine the photorealism of the GT models, the terrain maps of the world (see today's worldwind program), and finally the online road DBs of mapquest into one uber driving sim game. I know there's a lot to be desired in terms of terrain height maps (above a certain resolution is probably not available to the public), but if someone could just add details to high density areas, it would be worth the trouble.
Just think, if the PS3 had this game, they could put to use the BD-ROM's storage capacity to store the US (or wherever)'s road data. And with an internet connection, you could download the weather and maybe even traffic conditions of whatever town you are driving in at the moment. I know it sounds silly, but just think; I wouldn't mind practicing a drive in some town that I would be travelling to for business. I'd even do it for town I'm probably never going to but would be curious to 'see' (Barrow, AK in the dead of winter comes to mind).
Yeah, I know True Crime SofLA tried some of that, but all the models were rather low in resolution (cars, streets, and height maps).
Too bad the costs of such a project would probably be massive, but I would certainly 4-5 times more for it than a regular PS2 game.
0- Eamonman Proud member of DNRC
5 years ago, there were reports of delays for Gran Turismo 2. It wouldn't make it out for Christmas '99, and would be pushed to February 2000.
Through some miracle though, (I heard it was 120 hour work weeks), they were able to release it a week before Christmas, to the surprise of almost everyone. Of course, you could only complete 98.2% of it.
So, I guess I haven't lost hope yet.
Karma: Can only be portioned out by the Cosmos.
Why? 'cause I STILL don't think that the ability to take a game online is a make or break feature. I will scoop up GT4 on release day, online or not. Hell, many of the games I've bought recently are capable of online play and I never end up playing them online anyway. Judge the game on its merits. Is it fun, are the graphics good, the sound, the mechanics, etc... If there is an online mode, is it well implimented? It doesn't make sense to judge a game for features it doesn't have. For instance, would you hold it against a game if it didn't support a VR helmet? Of course not. The same should go for online modes. Personally, I'd rather see no more games support online play than have online play sledge-hammered into every game under the sun JUST so they can throw it on the feature list.
Will love the game even with it's lack of online play. Those types of people appreciate the game's realism, not the photorealistic bushes on the side of the road. Some people can't always get what they want, and they just have to whine on here about it. Please, get over yourself, no ones making the game exclusively for you. The lack of online play is a bad move for the developer, but you know how these things happen, publishers want the game pushed out NOW NOW NOW, especially with the holidays coming up. I know people who have a Recaro Race seat, big screen TV, Wheel Controller w/ Shift Knob and Pedals set up as their GT playzone. So until you guys really play the game like that, I think you need to stop barking to the big dogs about how the game is just a re-hash. What kinds of Fans are you?
Flat Screen TV for F