Comments

• Bob Caswell on March 27th, 2008 9:25 am

  I’m fine with the Half-Life 2 model. That is, real game released FIRST and then add-ons at an affordable price later: $40 for the original game followed by $20 per add-on. It’s reasonable and keeps a great game/story going.

  But what Sony is doing is releasing a lite version first for full price! It definitely should be cheaper if it’s not the full game.

• Paul Ellis on March 27th, 2008 9:31 am

  Initially I thought the same thing about HL2. When you think about it though, there really isn’t that much content in each HL2 episode. It is entirely possible (maybe not likely) that the full GT5 could have the equivalent of 2 or 3 car and track packs. I enjoyed Episode 1 and 2 of HL2 in Orange Box (~$50 total used) for Xbox 360, but I don’t know how happy I would have been to pay $20 for either episode (especially episode 1).

• pwnsause on March 27th, 2008 9:45 am

  “is this a new business model for delayed games or just Sony trying to satiate the rabid Gran Turismo fans?”

  No its just another example of a game looking for perfection. seriously, dont you remember when the devs said that it takes about 6 months to build a car in GT5? lmao, get some reserch done.

• Bob Caswell on March 27th, 2008 10:26 am

  Paul,

  But for me, at least, the two big differences are 1) the price of $20 instead of $40 and 2) the fact that the full length game came first. If Gran Turismo followed this model then I’d be way more likely to buy.

  pwnsause,

  Games look for perfection all the time without this pricing model (think of anything by Blizzard). So that’s not necessarily the reasoning here.

• HOLY BATMANS on March 27th, 2008 10:34 am

  Don’t buy it then, knob.

  Prologue is for hardcore GT fans. I have ABSOLUTELY NO PROBLEM with paying an extra $40 to pay part of GT5 early. And this isn’t anything “new” there was a GT4: Prologue and so on.

  If you’re not that into GT, wait for the full release.

• Paul Ellis on March 27th, 2008 10:34 am

  A lot of the big time AAA games all look for perfection (CoD4, Halo 1-3, or GTA3-4). It isn’t really an excuse for long development cycles. As a gamer, I don’t think I should really have to wait that long for the next installment of a game, or care why I have to wait. If I had bought a PS3 at launch I would be pretty annoyed that one of the best PS3 titles out there won’t be out for two and a half years.

  Again, this post is really about the pricing model though. I wouldn’t want to pay an additional $60 for the full game. There should be some trade-in/upgrade/special price (<= $40) if you have Prologue, IMO.

• Haylonix on March 27th, 2008 10:39 am

  Well after playing GT5 Prologue today for the first time. All I can say is WOW. I can safely say I would gladly pay full price for Prologue and have 6 Tracks, and only 30 cars that play great and look amazingly polished, then have 25 tracks and 400 cars and have another average product rushed out the door.

  As pwnsause said above:
  “No it’s just another example of a game looking for perfection. Seriously, don’t you remember when the devs said that it takes about 6 months to build a car in GT5? lmao, get some research done”

• david k on March 27th, 2008 10:42 am

  Your an idoit. Prologue isnt just a game its also a beta. wow 40 for a 1/3 game. plus online. get a real job you cheap ass. and who reads techconsumer, the only reason im on the lame site is because of dig. all i learned is ppl are so f*uckin stupid nowa days

• Paul Ellis on March 27th, 2008 10:43 am

  For me it really isn’t if Prologue is worth $40, I’d bet it is. It is whether the full version will be worth $60 more.

• Jase on March 27th, 2008 10:45 am

  You want free. Get Gran Turismo HD Demo. You want a taste of the game now. Get Prologue for 39.99. You want the game finished. Wait a year and buy it for full price. Stop whining. Thanks.

• C on March 27th, 2008 10:55 am

  You want free. Sell your PS3. I don’t have PS3. I don’t have to worry about this. Buy NDSL. More fun. Cheap games.

• driverdiver on March 27th, 2008 10:55 am

  Any longtime GT fan is used to the long delays and missing features. But now there are lots of other good driving games so I will play them instead and will wait for the full GT5 with real damage and all the tracks. Now if I were wiping my hynie with twenties I would certainly drop two of them for Prologue but that’s not the case.

• Henning on March 27th, 2008 10:57 am

  Whatever.

  Like Batman says, you don’t have to buy it if you don’t want to. You don’t have to pay $100 if you don’t want to. You could, but you could also just pay $40 for a preview or just $60 for the full experience.

  I don’t understand what the big deal is.

  As far as I can tell, the only REAL issue here is the long wait for the full version. Paul – you complain that “As a gamer, I don’t think I should really have to wait that long for the next installment of a game”. Sheesh. Would you like a little cheese with that? You’re saying that you’re entitled to get a game when you want it. You’re not entitled to ANYTHING OF THE SORT. As a developer, they can put out a game whenever they want. Did they promise that it’d be a launch game? No? Did they promise it a year later? No. No promises have been broken – they’re not dealing in bad faith here. There are lots of other good games out there – go play those.

• Paul Ellis on March 27th, 2008 11:04 am

  Henning, I never said I was entitled to anything. If Polyphony Digital really thinks that GT’s fans are just lucky to even get to play GT5 then they have a problem. I feel like any developer (or anyone who makes anything) is lucky to get my cash. Personally I found the three year wait for Halo 3 to be long, and the Metal Gear 4 wait is killing me.

  If Polyphony Digital keeps up this pace GT5 may be the only Gran Turismo title to appear on the PS3 (GT5 is 2.5 years after PS3 launch, another 4 years puts it at 6.5).

• Coffee Jones on March 27th, 2008 11:13 am

  >No its just another example of a game looking for perfection. >seriously, dont you remember when the devs said that it takes >about 6 months to build a car in GT5? lmao, get some research done.

  This is definitely the case.
  The GTs are top sellers for Sony’s systems.
  And if anything, they are REALLY FUCKING AMBITIOUS.
  When simulation racers for the PS1 featured 5 – 10 cars with a few licenses, GT had a hundred.

  Delays:
  It was like a year and a half after the PS2 was released in Japan when GT3 came out. GT5 is just still more.
  These aren’t simple, small games.

  Price:
  “$100″ is just whining. But I think it’d still sell even if they actually did release the game at $100
  What kind of game has this kind of following:
  http://www.gamechairs.com/asp/show_detail.asp?sku=HOT1007&PiID=1915865&refid=FR114-HOT1007_1915865

  Anyhow, I think the game engine is done, and they’re working on tracks and cars. Though I could do without the 600cc kei cars, and goofy concepts.

• Brian on March 27th, 2008 11:18 am

  This is a really stupid opinion. GT5 Prologue is a great GT game. It has more features than most racing games. Do you write the same thing about John Madden football games being released every year? I doubt it. But look at how much people spend on that game. GT5 Prologue will be its own game. But it will give Polyphony a year to work on GT5. The online part will especially be helped by using what they learn from Prologue.

  Besides, some people will spend $150 for the Logitech steering wheel. That’s even more money. I know a lot of car nuts who buy a gaming console just to play these games. I’m sure they won’t mind spending the extra $40 to get a game earlier.

• Henning on March 27th, 2008 11:20 am

  Paul: you didn’t use the word “entitled”, but you sure sound like you meant to.

• Paul Ellis on March 27th, 2008 11:26 am

  @Brian

  Don’t even get me started on John Madden Football. :) Ever since EA got the exclusive NFL license for games they have been releasing nothing but updated rosters (more or less). I haven’t bought an NFL game since NFL 2K5. NBA 2K8 was terrible this year too. Worse graphics (go figure) than 2K7, and an updated roster. I didn’t buy that one either.

  @Henning

  There is a difference between actually saying something, and someone else implying that you said something. If anyone is entitled anything in the gamer/developer relationship though, it isn’t the developer being entitled to the gamer’s cash.

• Olivier on March 27th, 2008 11:29 am

  So what? They already did it with GT4 prologue and GT3-the Japanese autoshow preview game. They are cheaper then full games, and atleast have us play this game already. Many are anticipating this full release game, but we don’t want to wait ’till 09.

• Def on March 27th, 2008 11:38 am

  This is a crap article.

  GT5p has got 70+ cars, 6 tracks that can be raced in reverse (thus 12), 16 cars on track for each race, online play. That is more than most games give you today. And I can assure you that GT5 will have over 200+ cars and over 20 tracks. More than worth the asking price.

  These days, people just want to bitch about everything.

• Alan on March 27th, 2008 11:45 am

  There have obviously been GT Prologue games released elsewhere but not in the US. Finally having an option to buy a Prologue game in the US is a GOOD THING. In order for this to be a “$100 game,” you would need to be required to buy GT 5 Prologue in order to play the full game. This is not the case at all. If you don’t want to pay $40 for GT 5 Prologue, just don’t buy it. Or just rent it. No need to whine endlessly about the fact that we’re getting a release that we never had the opportunity to play in the past. Racing fans like myself are glad we get to play this game now rather than wait for another year to play a GT game. The London track looks sensational, and this game finally features online play, a GT first. Why so negative and cynical about finally having the opportunity to play the best racing series? I feel sorry for you, really. Even good things seem to make you miserable.

• FC Squire on March 27th, 2008 11:56 am

  What’s with all the insults? Paul did nothing but state his opinion and people are jumping on him as if he was beating a dog.
  Man, people, relax, all he did was type what he was thinking.
  I happen to agree with him, this is just a way for Sony to make even more money before the real release, but you don’t have to throw insults at him because of it.
  Just like my mom used to say, if you have nothing nice to say, then don’t say anything.
  Opinions are just that, opinions.
  Relax!!

• Paul Ellis on March 27th, 2008 12:16 pm

  @Def

  FYI, Forza 2 on Xbox 360 has 60 tracks and 300 cars and retails for $30 new with free shipping. That is quite a bit more than 70 cars and 6 tracks. So you statement of “That is more than most games give you today.” is factually incorrect. PGR4 has more cars and tracks too.

  @FC Squire

  Thanks for the defense, although I’m used to it. Fanboys (of any sort; see my Firefox 3 beta vs IE beta post) don’t like dissenting view points. It would have been the same if I said something negative (but valid) about the Wii, Xbox 360, Blu-ray, Apple, Linux, Windows XP (basically in favor of Vista), PC gamers, console gamers, vinyl records, etc. Gotta love how differing viewpoints are treated on the interweb.

• Mike on March 27th, 2008 1:04 pm

  Here’s a concept: don’t buy it. Bitch solved.

• david k on March 27th, 2008 3:45 pm

  paul, i rather not read your Firefox 3 beta vs IE beta post. Your an idoit in my eyes. Yes down with sony for giving us a CHANCE at a sneak peak. i wish there was no OPTION to try the game out.

• Bob Caswell on March 27th, 2008 3:58 pm

  Enough with the ad hominem attacks, already. If anyone has anything to say about this from either side, please try to do it without the name calling or insults. You’ll gain quite a bit more credibility, even if people disagree with you.

  david k,

  When I hear the term “sneak peak,” I don’t think of full priced games. If Sony were to give me a “sneak peak” of a movie, I’d be pissed if I had to pay the price for a full movie. Same goes for “trying out.” I don’t like paying full price for things I “try out.”

• Tony Scarboni on March 27th, 2008 5:25 pm

  The Halo series is nowhere near the quality of GT. Halo has never truly innovated the gameplay since the first one. Halo3 is a joke in my opinion. It’s a glorified xbox1 game on 360.

  GT on the other hand is arguably the best racer out there. Plenty of people would be willing to pay a paltry 40$ to get their hands on a taste. I know a number of people who already bought the japanese version.

  When you consider how much game content hits the cutting room floor in order for dev to meet their release date I would actually prefer more prologue instead of premature and underwhelming sequel(heres lookin at you halo)

• Paul Ellis on March 27th, 2008 5:34 pm

  @Tony

  Are you telling me that Gran Turismo has really innovated since GT1 or GT2? The cars still don’t even take damage. GT and Halo actually have a lot in common, they both basically refine their core concepts in each version, update the graphics, and have new maps/tracks weapons/cars. That isn’t to say that each game plays the same, Halo 3 actually plays very different than Halo 2 IMO (and I have played them both more than I’d like to admit). I can’t even go back and forth between the versions without playing like a total noob.

• Stuart on March 27th, 2008 10:41 pm

  First I have to say that I would much rather just have the full game and not go down the Prologue track. But…

  I think the amount of time that GT5 is taking is simply a matter of man hours to make the car models. Let’s say that Polyphony have 20 people making 3 cars each per year, that’s only 60 cars per year. Now I don’t know of any developer that uses 20 people just to make models for their game and Polyphony probably don’t either.

  The amount of money it would cost in man hours is enormous. On top of car modelers they also have all the other personel developing other aspects of the game to pay a wage to. Maybe they release the Prologue to help pay for the development costs. Pouring cash into a game development for 3 or 4 years without any return can’t be an easy task.

  They are also giving the fans something to let them know that it will be worth the wait and show them why they have to wait. The cars in this Prologue look absolutely amazing in their detail.

  At the end of the day they are in it to make money like every other business in the world.

• Stuart on March 27th, 2008 10:44 pm

  Oh and if they introduced damage into GT5 it would probably add another 5 – 10 years to development, due to the complexity of the car models.

• LazyGamer .:: South African Gaming News ::. » Blog Archive » The R1000 PS3 Game: Gran Turismo 5 on March 28th, 2008 2:03 am

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• Gar on March 28th, 2008 2:13 am

  @ Paul: “FYI, Forza 2 on Xbox 360 has 60 tracks and 300 cars and retails for $30 new with free shipping. That is quite a bit more than 70 cars and 6 tracks. So you statement of “That is more than most games give you today.” is factually incorrect. PGR4 has more cars and tracks too.”

  I wouldn’t say Forza has 60 tracks, 300 cars, and retails for $30 new w/ free shipping if I were you. The game really only has 14 tracks (2 DLC). Majority of the game makes you run various routes of the tracks and are either just forward/reverse modes. About 30-50 of those 300 cars are from DLC. The initial retail price of Forza 2 was roughly $49-59.99 and adding in the price of the DLC back in those days, the game would’ve been close to $70-80 for a Forza fan that picked up the game and its DLC from the beginning to the end.

  Sure your statement holds true for $30 now, but why wouldn’t it cost $30 for a game that’s fairly old at this point of its life?

• BunnySan on March 28th, 2008 6:41 am

  Whining on a very high level… stop it, please. Just don’t buy the Prologue and wait ’till the end of 2009 to get the complete experience. But you will miss the many, many events in this game… fun for more than a month and I did’nt even touch the online modus…

• Paul Ellis on March 28th, 2008 8:51 am

  @Gar

  I stand corrected on the track number. I guess the source (which I wish I had written down; it was some online stores description) I used was incorrect on the track number. There are 12 tracks with 45 (this number seems to vary around the web) variations. I don’t own the game so I haven’t played ever track but I know that Nürburgring’s variants really do feel a lot like different tracks.

  There are just over 300 cars however (wikipedia, but also verified elsewhere).

  Even if there are only 12 (plus 2 DLC) actual tracks, that is still twice GT5:P’s track count. And the car list is still more than 4x as many as GT5:P. So Def’s comment is still factually incorrect.

  As for the retail price, you can go back to when it came out, but you couldn’t even get GT5:P then. I prefer to deal in the actual consumer choices people could make. Only now could you actually choose to buy either Forza 2 or GT5:P. That is assuming you have both systems. If you have a PS3 there aren’t really any options for racing games.

  FYI, the numbers I’m citing for cars and tracks are all without DLC.

• panaGT on April 19th, 2008 1:30 am

  WELL worth the 40 dollars. for this mega beta, I have no problem buying this game, supporting sony, so they can build the ultimate GT5. The detail in this BETA are unreal NOW. can you imagine a year later with more time with the ps3 development tools under their belts? simply amazing. 5 hours into it, and theres still so much to do.

• LordMetzen on April 23rd, 2008 12:04 am

  It seems most people haven’t played the game…
  Just F&&$/ PLAY IT , after that, 40 bucks for it
  and a copy of Forza will look like dog crap to you….

• Luke on May 23rd, 2008 4:38 am

  For those of you that are whining about the price ofgt5 then grow up. it costs bugger all in the long run for the amount of enjoyment and time that you will get out of it. in terms of bang for buck nothing else on the market can compete with it so stop being tight asses and just wait, buy the full game, sit back and enjoy!

• The $100 PS3 Game: Gran Turismo 5 | TechConsumer on August 22nd, 2008 3:47 am

  [...] Note: This article is cross-posted at PseudoSavant. [...]

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