Gran Turismo 4 Finally Going Online
It's been a long time coming, but it appears that there's hope still for Gran Turismo fans wanting to battle online.
It was all the way back at the Tokyo Game Show in September 2004 that Gran Turismo developer Polyphony Digital dropped the bombshell that it was pulling the online modes from its then-latest racer. At the time, it said an online-enabled version would be coming along soon. So we waited. That wait may soon be over.
Gran Turismo 4 Online Edition, which will let you and up to five friends race online, will hit PlayStation 2 this spring, Eurogamer is reporting.
According to "marketing documentation" in Eurogamer's hands, the game will be focused on online play, but the bulk of the singleplayer game will make it to the new version intact. You can also expected around 700 cars this time.
When the online content was originally pulled, Polyphony's Kazunori Yamauchi said that the developer already had the game running online in its offices, but Sony made the decision to axe it because of infrastructure concerns. The growth of broadband Internet access around the world in the past 18 months could be part of the reason for the decision to finally get it out now.
Polyphony Digital is presumed to be working on a new Gran Turismo for the PlayStation 3. Sony showed off footage of what it hopes the game will ultimately look like at last year's E3 and it'll likely have more on show at this year's event.
Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games
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