Gran Turismo 5

Gran Turismo 5 (commonly abbreviated as GT5) is the fifth edition of the successful Gran Turismo racing video game series, release in March 2010 in Japan, and later in 2010 for North America and Europe. It expands on the cars and systems featured in Gran Turismo 5: Prologue.

For the first time in the main series, an online mode will be available in the game, with 16 player capability. Both mechanical and external damage have been confirmed. In an interview with Official PlayStation Magazine UK, series producer Kazunori Yamauchi confirmed that night racing will appear in GT5, but dynamic weather is still an undecided feature, "the functionality is not a problem – we've got the weather system done – but if we are not sure about the quality of it, and how it improves the driving experience, we are not going to have it in the game." A track editor has been hinted at but has also yet to be confirmed. The FIA World Rally Championship, NASCAR, Indy Racing League and Super GT licenses will be featured for the first time in the Gran Turismo franchise.

The last update for Gran Turismo 5 will be on May 31, 2014.

Development
The game was first revealed at E3 2006 under the name Vision Gran Turismo. In an April 2008 interview, Yamauchi revealed that 150 people had worked on Gran Turismo 5 for three years, with all of Polyphony Digital's 120 employees working on GT5, and the game costing 50 times more to develop than 1997's Gran Turismo, with Yamauchi later disclosing that Gran Turismo 5 had cost $60 million to develop. At Sony's E3 2009 Press Conference, a trailer for Gran Turismo 5 was shown, revealing both the inclusion of NASCAR and WRC but no release date was revealed. In an interview with Eurogamer, Yamauchi said that "We've actually reached a point where we can probably release [GT5] anytime, except that you can also keep working as long as you want to as well, it's just a matter of timing." According to the official magazine at Tokyo Game Show 09, Gran Turismo 5 is 65% complete.

The GT5 Time Trial Demo was released on December 17, 2009 on the PlayStation Network, and is only playable while online. It features stock and tuned versions of the Nissan 370Z. The track featured in the demo is the Indianapolis GP circuit and is new to the Gran Turismo series. It has recently been announced that users will be able to output HD replays onto YouTube.

Cars and tracks
Gran Turismo 5 is set to feature around 1000 cars and over 20 total track locations, with variations bringing the number of unique circuits to 70. Yamauchi has explained that he aims to achieve the 1000 car milestone but actual details on the number of cars in the game is still unclear, with the number ranging between 950 and 1000. Dunsfold Park, located in the United Kingdom – the test track of the British automotive television show Top Gear – will be included in the game.

The playable demo of Gran Turismo 5 at Gamescom '09 featured the Tokyo Route 246 track, seen in previous incarnations of the game. Other tracks shown to be in the final game are Daytona International Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Nürburgring Nordschleife. All tracks will have the options for weather and also night or day racing.

Lamborghini, Ferrari and Bugatti make their first appearance in the game, following on from their introduction in Gran Turismo PSP, and it has been confirmed the new "gullwing" Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG will appear, along with Ferrari's recently unveiled 458 Italia. In an article briefly posted on Polyphony Digital's website, the introduction of electric cars was confirmed; this includes the latest Tesla Motors vehicle, the Tesla Roadster. Hybrids were previously included in Gran Turismo 4 with the Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight. At the 2009 Tokyo Game Show, Yamauchi mentioned that the latest hybrid and electric cars will be included.

Yamauchi said in an interview with Edge Magazine that Gran Turismo 5 could have some compatibility with the PlayStation Portable version. He said, in an interview with G4, that "we’re going to make it so that you can actually export the cars for the PSP version into Gran Turismo 5, so you can export your garage." Cars from Gran Turismo 5 Prologue will also be transferrable to GT5.

The game also features head tracking using the PlayStation Eye, allowing the player to move his or her head around the 3D cockpit instead of using buttons.

Damage
Gran Turismo 5 will be the first game in the Gran Turismo franchise to include both mechanical and external damage modeling, including a real-time deformation engine that will process model deformation according to the speed and angle of impact. Yamauchi confirmed that all vehicles will receive damage of some sort, with racing cars set to feature more advanced damage, while production cars will only receive scratches and mechanical damage. It was revealed at the Tokyo Game Show 2009 that it will also be possible to overturn cars. Damage is a feature that Yamauchi has said can be turned on or off. Gran Turismo 2 previously included damage, but was limited to mechanical damage only.