Look at what we have here, the Weekly Rewind is back! What a time for it’s return as there’s been nothing but news left, right and center regarding Gran Turismo 6 and best of all it has a release date, December 6th of this very year.
The weary among us will be cautious of such a thing as Gran Turismo 5 was originally slated to release much sooner than it’s November 24th release in 2010, and as justified as such a caution would be I can’t help but think—optimistically so perhaps–that things are going to be different this time around. There has been so much news since the last Rewind and while I’ve been able to keep up with most of it while I was on vacation, some of it has still caught me by surprise.
There’s so much to go through that we better get started if we’re to cram it all into one article. I should mention beforehand that this is something of a special edition Rewind which means some of the content is going to be omitted in the interest of a singular topic. Enough of my yammering prelude, let’s get on with the Rewind’s glorious return.
Kudos to the individual(s) who are able to get both of the references in this week’s title. There are two, and one of them obviously refers to a recent development relating to GT6.
GTPlanet Picture of the Week
Quite the angle, wouldn’t you agree? This week’s featured image, recommended to us by Kalax3 and courtesy of HaerBev features the V10-howling Audi R8 5.2 FSI Quattro running down the bridge straight at one of GT’s longest standing fantasy locations, Grand Valley Speedway.
As good as this picture is, it’s spot here in no way justifies its beauty so you’re greatly encouraged to go for the full-size which is a fantastic whopper of a panaroamic HD image, standing in at 8021 x 2008.
Have a suggestion for next week’s featured image? Drop me a private message, entitle it “GTPlanet Picture of the Week” and fill it out with your two choices and they’ll be featured in upcoming Rewinds. NOTE: You cannot elect your own work.
Gran Turismo 6 Cover Car – And The Winner Is…
How many of us saw this one coming? Some of us, myself included given the evidence at the time, were certain it would be the next generation Nissan Z Coupe, no, it’s actually the C7 Corvette Stingray that was under the tarp. Or is it? It stands to reason the “concept” cover art was more symbolic in nature than anything else. Oh, the possibilities.
Thrown for an even larger loop was a different vehicle on the 15th Anniversary Edition cover, a race car I’m ecstatic to see make its way in to a GT title, the Renault Megane Trophy V6.
Speaking of the 15th Anniversary Edition, we’ve been able to revel in the fact it will include 25 cars with special 15th Anniversary commemorative liveries and performance upgrades, and that long list is as follows:
Alpine A110 1600S 15th Anniversary Edition 1972
Audi R8 LMS ultra 15th Anniversary Edition 2012
Chevrolet Corvette Stingray (C7) 15th Anniversary Edition 2014
Ford Focus ST 15th Anniversary Edition 2013
Ford Ford Shelby GT500 15th Anniversary Edition 2013
Honda HSV-010 GT 15th Anniversary Edition 2011
KTM X-BOW R 15th Anniversary Edition 2012
Lexus IS F Racing Concept 15th Anniversary Edition 2008
Lotus Europa S.2 15th Anniversary Edition 1968
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 15th Anniversary Edition 2011
Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 15th Anniversary Edition 2013
Renault Sport Megane Trophy V6 15th Anniversary Edition 2011
SRT Viper GTS 15th Anniversary Edition 2013
Tesla Motors Model S Signature Performance 15th Anniversary Edition 2012
Volkswagen Scirocco GT24 15th Anniversary Edition 2008
Audi R18 TDI 15th Anniversary Edition 2011
BMW BMW Z8 15th Anniversary Edition 2001
Cizeta V16T 15th Anniversary Edition 1994
Lancia STRATOS 15th Anniversary Edition 1973
Ford GT40 Mark I 15th Anniversary Edition 1966
Chevrolet Corvette Coupe (C2) 15th Anniversary Edition 1963
Pagani Huayra 15th Anniversary Edition 2011
Shelby Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe 15th Anniversary Edition 1964
Toyota TOYOTA 86 GT 15th Anniversary Edition 2012
Audi Audi Sport quattro S1 Rally Car 15th Anniversary Edition 1986
Within that list you will undoubtedly notice cars such as the Pagani Huayra, Audi R18 TDi, and the BMW Z8 as newcomers to the series, however, also within this list are two gems: the Cizeta V16T, which is now a Premium model, and the return of the Mark 1 GT40 road car not seen since Gran Turismo 3, if memory serves me correctly.
No More Experience Points
The introduction of experience points or “XP” was one of the more unique inclusions in Gran Turismo and never really found it’s stride within the confines of the games natural pacing; not to mention it rendered the license tests, the usual means of eligibility into varying racing events, redundant… and then there was the grinding for XP in order of magnitude to advance to the next level. Whatever your individual gripe may have been with the system it’s all gone now, confirmed by the man himself in an interview with GameInformer:
GI: “Will progress online carry over to your single-player campaign in any way?”
KY: “The experience system doesn’t exist in GT6, but that system where you still receive some sort of reward for online racing is probably still going to be there.”
You can read all of that and more right here.
Vision Gran Turismo
Announced at Gamescom just this past Tuesday, PD has announced an incredible collaborative effort “leading automotive manufacturers, design houses, and other leading global brands”, the likes of which include Alfa Romeo, Bertone, BMW, Zagato, and Italdesign Giugiaro – to name a few. The creations will be “gifted” as DLC in Gran Turismo 6 throughout the year following it’s initial release.
DLC format and pricing has yet to be announced but with the standing possibility that some of these cars will be debuted as actual concepts, the implications of these collaborations can only take GT above and beyond in the long run.
GTPlanet Vehicle of the Week
New to the Gran Turismo series, Pagani’s Huayra is only the company’s second effort following their successful Zonda supercar. Like the Zonda, it uses a Mercedes-source V12 engine and takes advantage of Pagani’s unique in-house carbon fiber expertise.
Speaking more of the Huayra’s powerplant, the V12 engine sourced by Mercedes-Benz was developed specifically for Pagani. The M158 is a bi-turbo unit built not only to meet the necessary technical applications and the strictest quality aspects. With an immense 700 horsepower powering the rear wheels the Huayra is not a vehicle to be taken lightly under any circumstance.
The styling of the Huayra has been perfected over five years and combines the art of automotive interpretation of the past, present, and future in order to give each line on the car a clear beginning and an equally clear view.
Many of the techniques developed for the Zonda R track-day supercar were utilized in the Huayra’s construction, and this is evident in the design of the vehicle itself such as the Huayra’s bi-xenon headlights, which are a prestigious heritage of the Zonda R itself. Coupled with LED daytime running lights seamlessly integrated into the elliptical shape of the fascia.
Plans For “Quantum Leap” With Gran Turismo 6 DLC
There’s no real mystery that we all wanted just a bit more from GT5′s DLC offerings and things are once again looking to change for the better when GT6 hits the shelves later this year.
We recently had the opportunity to have something of a panel/roundtable discussion with SCEE President and CEO, Jim Ryan and were able to discover Sony as well as PD wants to improve those offerings.
Regarding the DLC, it’s obviously going to be a big feature of GT6. How do you see it progressing and growing in the future beyond what it already is in GT5?
“I think that we very much cut our teeth on DLC with GT5, and I think there’s a real desire to make a quantum leap with GT6. Plans are not yet disclosed so I can’t talk in detail about what they are but there is a real desire to make a step change and take it to a whole different level.
“And, you know, other games in different genre have demonstrated what’s possible in terms of providing a much longer and deeper consumer engagement and monetization, so our ambitions are to make a big jump.”
We are already aware of one method of improving expansive content offered in the game, as well as the plans for monthly DLC. What else could possibly be planned?
New Cars, New Tracks… Improved Everything
The news keeps on flowing and GT6 is progressively looking better by the second. We now know Brands Hatch will make it’s debut, as well as the return of an old-time favorite in Apricot Hill Raceway; a track not seen since Gran Turismo 4 which will feature a dynamic day/night cycle – what a way to return. All it needs now is weather and it probably be the perfect way to return to the series.
EDIT: Credit to 05XR8 for the tip as the official website does in fact state Apricot Hill Raceway will return to the series with a dynamic day/night cycle and weather. Welcome back, old friend.
The Course Maker returns in GT6 and is “fundamentally different” than the one introduced in GT5. Users will be able to lay out their tracks freely among an area of 100 square kilometers, but this is where it becomes slightly confusing as the exact quote, as noted in our article here, states the area to be 100 kilometers by 100 kilometers which would actually be 10,000 square kilometers. Was this a slight mistranslation or has the Course Maker undergone such a drastic that it has become, in and of itself, a meta-game?
The online system introduced in GT5 is yet another feature that has undergone a major evolution for it’s inclusion in GT6, but before we get into that is it just me or has PD gone back to the online presentation used in GT5: Prologue and improved it further? I’ve always preferred that particular UI to the one used in GT5.
Onto the improvements, the online system in GT6 has been greatly improved after having analyzed how fans played online in GT5 and the various forms of feedback received throughout the years. What does this mean? For one it means online championships are a confirmed possibility as revealed in a previously cited article:
“…we [Polyphony Digital] are going to start online championships, and some of those will be official championships and some of those will be the championships organized by community managers.”
This will undoubtedly make GTPlanet’s own WRS capable of seamlessly binding in with the online community and could potentially lead to bigger and better things regarding our collective online community as an entity.
Then there’s the new aerodynamics processing model cited in a very interesting manner on the official website’s “Technology” page:
“The down force, lift and air resistance – which continually changes according to the shape of the car – changes in vehicle attitude and its relationship with the ground surface, have all been recreated to a level of precision never seen before. Keen players will probably start to feel the airflow around the car as they drive.”
You can read about that and more of the online features right here.
Closing Thoughts
What a way for the Rewind to return, if this article were any longer it would have become “GTPlanet Weekly Rewind: Quantum Leap, Part 1 of 2″ and no one wants to be left in a week-long suspenseful ride of emotion, bad enough some of our favorite television programs employs this torturous tactic.
Everything should return to normal in next week’s Rewind once I’m settled in and back home, and with the Belgium Grand Prix this weekend I’ll definitely have something to talk about whatever becomes of the situation once next week has arrived. I have a few tricks up my sleeve to make the Rewind bigger and better than it was before but I’ll have to work out a few kinks in order to implement them because as it stands now the Rewind is pretty feature-packed as it is, so maybe the best course of action would be to create more “Community Spotlight” feature articles. We’ll see what becomes of what and when.
While you’re salivating at the very thought of Gran Turismo 6 finding itself into your PlayStation 3 this coming December why not take the time to become a full-fledged member of our wonderful community. It’s free and we have cake! Okay, we don’t have cake (the cake is and always will be a lie, remember this!) but we do have a strong community and we’re always talking about something interesting. If you aren’t already a member you should join today and maybe you can work out a patented antidote for “Lying Cake Syndrome”. Seriously, it’s been years since I’ve had cake.
My shameless Twitter plug has also returned!
Once again I forgot to mention that I’m on Twitter now. What was once going to be a bit of parody account (because I don’t use Facebook or Twitter for any reason whatsoever) has quickly turned into me using Twitter rather effectively. So, follow me and suggest all things Rewind-worthy from the comfort of your tablets, phones, or Skynet-linked computers. Remember, when the machines finally rise you’ll need someone to write pieces regarding the matter littered with Armageddon-y undertones and I can be just that guy! What were we talking about? Right, Twitter, so if you’ll follow me here the Rewind can be delivered to you in a timely fashion not seen since snail mail. Wait, that’s not the right thing to say!
You will be showered in Rewind, Seasonal Event and future article goodness courtesy of yours truly, so there’s that worth looking forward to once I’ve bothered to get the thing up and running. It can also be used to suggest things for upcoming Rewinds, so that’s now two ways you all can keep me on my toes.
With all of that said and done it’s now time to bring the Rewind to a close. Until next week keep racing!
GT5 Photomode images by Giulietta73.