Gran Turismo series

As the best selling PlayStation game ever (10.85 million copies sold), Gran Turismo is a legend throughout both the masses of car simulation games, and PlayStation fans. The original Gran Turismo has 11 courses and 178 cars, and includes arcade and simulation modes.

Gran Turismo 2 has 28 courses and some 650 cars, making it one of the biggest games at the time; it was released as a double disc due to its sheer size. It went on to be the third best selling PlayStation title of all time, selling over 9.3 million copies.



The North American release had some severe bugs due to the fact that it was rushed into production before the 1999 Christmas season. This includes a bug that erases the player's garage, lack of restrictions on races, and a change in a listed car's horsepower after you buy it. These bugs were addressed in newer re-issues of the game.

The first installment of the Gran Turismo series on the PS2 came in 2001. GT3: A-Spec featured vastly improved graphics and new gameplay features, such as oil changes. The Gran Turismo Mode has a reorganized layout, with a more structured and progressive arrangement of races and challenges. To date, the game has sold almost 2 million copies in Japan, over 7 million in North America, and almost 6 million in Europe. This makes it the second best selling PS2 title, behind GTA: Vice City.

The 2001 Tokyo Concept version features Tokyo Motor Show 2001 concept cars including the Nissan GT-R Concept. It was released only in Japan and Southeast Asia on January 2nd, 2002. It went on to sell over 400,000 copies in Japan. A Korean version and European version followed, but for undisclosed reasons, this 'concept' series was never released in North America.

Released only in Korea on April 9, 2002, this game featured Korean cars from Hyundai for the very first time. This game was based on the Gran Turismo Concept: 2001 Tokyo Collection and served as a launch pad for Sony's PS2 debut in Korea. This title went on to sell 90,000 copies.

Released in only in PAL format in Europe, Australia and South East Asia in July 2002, this the most complete "Concept" version, giving all cars from others two previous versions adding a total of 65 new cars. This released sold over 1 million copies in Europe, and another 30,000 in SE Asia.

As Gran Turismo 4 was intended to be released in time for the worldwide 2003 Christmas release but was delayed, in consolation, Polyphony brought out Gran Turismo 4 Prologue as a sneak preview to the full experience of Gran Turismo 4. The number of cars and courses were limited, as well as only 50 cars were available. It was only released in Japan and in Europe.

Gran Turismo 4 was released in 2005 with 728 cars and 50+ racetracks, and the notable additions of installable spoilers, nitrous oxide, a photo mode, an auto-drive feature dubbed "B-spec", and HD capability. An online component, originally intended, was not included. Just like GT1, 2 and 3, the fourth full installement of the game has been a big hit for Sony, with this title selling 10 million copies.

Gran Turismo HD Concept was released in Christmas 2006 in Japan & North America, and in March 2007 in Europe, as a free download on the PlayStation Store for PS3. It was originally set for a retail release but Polyphony decided to scrap it and instead work on Gran Turismo 5. The free demo includes 20 cars and one track, but most importantly it gives 1080p 60fps graphics. Polyphony has stated that they will release additional free downloadable content for this demo.

Gran Turismo 5: Prologue is the most recent GT title released by Polyphony Digital for the PlayStation 3. First announced at E3 2007, the game was released in Japan on December 13th, 2007. It was released on March 28th, 2008 in Europe, and on April 17, 2008 in North America. Prologue features over 70 cars, 6 tracks, and 16-player online play.



The Prologue game is intended only to give an impression of the final game, Gran Turismo 5, which may not arrive until 2010.

On October 3, 2008 Polyphony Digital released an update of GT5 Prologue to coincide with the GT by Citroën concept car unveiling at the Paris Motor Show.

New Cars For Spec III
* GT by Citroën cost: 1,000,000 credits
* Ferrari California cost: 300,000 credits
* Lotus Evora cost: 100,000 credits.

Gran Turismo 4 Mobile is intended to be an exact port of Gran Turismo 4 for the PSP. Originally annound in 2004 and meant to be a PSP launch title, numerous delays keep pushing this release further back.

In April 2008, Yamauchi stated that developing Gran Turismo 5 on the PlayStation 3, "took much more time and effort than we had first imagined" and that it was unlikely GT4 Mobile would be released in by the end of 2008.

In an April 2008 interview, Kazunori Yamauchi revealed that 150 people had worked on Gran Turismo 5 for four years, and the game costing 50 times more to develop than the original Gran Turismo. He also confessed that GT5 might not be released until after 2009.

There will be a great increase to the number of cars available vs the Prologue edition, to over 900 vehicles.

In a July 2008 interview, Yamauchi mentioned that at the moment, Polyphony Digital is focused on updates for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and that Gran Turismo 5 may not be released until 2010.