Sony Axes Release of Gran Turismo HD

Demo to be made available as a free download while Polyphony turns to Gran Turismo 5.

With the PlayStation 3 launch not going as well as it would have wanted and critics and the public acting with indifference to several of the launch games, Sony could use some good news. The cancellation of the Gran Turismo game it has been showing off is not it.

Sony said this week that it would no longer release Gran Turismo HD as a standalone game. Rather, it will be renamed Gran Turismo HD Concept and will be released as a free download on the PlayStation 3 online store on 24 December - in Japan, at least. This will let Kazunori Yamauchi and the rest of his team at Polyphony Digital get to work on the next proper instalment in the series, Gran Turismo 5.

"GT-HD Concept features 10 cars, 1 course with 2 layouts, Time Attack and Drift Trial modes," says Yamauchi, as translated by Next Generation. "It also delivers a full HD visual experience reinforced with the new engine being developed for GT5. It has no online support other than a network ranking. The online experience will come with GT5."

Sony has used Gran Turismo HD as a demonstration of the PlayStation 3's abilities at trade shows throughout the year. However, its fate as a boxed product has been a matter of discussion internally at Sony for months already, a Sony representatives told Kikizo earlier this year.

Polyphony Digital has not proven reliable in sticking to its release dates. The company was one of the first to announce work on the PSP, in the form of Gran Turismo 4 Mobile, but that too has yet to materialize.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo