Gran Turismo HD scrapped

[Nitrous]

Not long after its controversial unveiling of the new digitally downloadable Gran Turismo HD, Sony has canned the idea.

The title has now been renamed GT-HD Concept and will be available as a downloadable demo from the online PlayStation Store from December 24th.

Developer Polyphony Digital has now begun work of the complete next instalment of the series, Gran Turismo 5.No time frame has been put on the release of the title, though Polyphony CEO Kazunori Yamaouchi’s claim that further concept demos might be on the way suggests the wait might be a lengthy one.

He also claimed that the decision was taken as response to the lacklustre response to the game at E3.

Source: MCVUK.

[Some1]

Let me see if I read this right.

There's no GT HD now? But just a demo?

[Nitrous]

Yes... oddly I know but the earlier plan was to release a striped out version of GT on a disk that had little content but due to time this has been ditched. It will now appear as a demo with 10 cars and 2 tracks.

[Cid Highwind]

Way better, the idea of letting people pay for the locked things is just absurd

[Some1]

True Cid.

[Nitrous]

Details of the Gran Turismo HD Concept demo have emerged from the latest issue of Famitsu.

Free for Japanese PS3 owners to download from the PlayStation Store on 24th December, the game will feature ten suitably flashy cars, and the all-new Eiger Nordwand course.

Famitsu, in an article partly translated by IGN, offers a tantalising account of mostly Japanese-manufactured cars that appear in the demo:

* Suzuki Cappuccino '95
* Mazda Eunos Roadster '89
* Honda Integra Type R'04
* Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV GSR'96
* Infinity G35 Coupe
* Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX GSR'05
* Lotus Elise 111R'04
* Nissan Sky Liner GT-R V Spec II '94
* Toyota Celica GT-FOUR Rally Car '95
* Ferrari 599'06

The free download won't feature online play, series producer Kazunori Yamauchi told Famitsu, but it will offer network rankings based on times achieved in different cars. He also revealed that the demo will include Polyphony's next-gen driving-simulation engine, which aims to fix areas like drift control and drift angle.

Earlier this month, Sony and Polyphony announced they were scrapping plans for a full version of GTHD and focusing on GT5 instead. The result of which is this 'concept' demo, one of many downloads that will be released before GT5's 2008 release. Yamauchi has also promised an official announcement for Gran Turismo 5 before the next Tokyo Motor Show, which takes place in October 2007.