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.

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?

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.

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.

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)

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.”

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.

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.