Gran Turismo 4

Online functionality gets pushed back in order for the title to see a holiday release.

After more than three years of development, Gran Turismo 4 (GT4), which goes on sale next month, has more cars, more tracks, and better graphics. But gamers will have to wait until 2005 until the world's premier racing simulation game can be played online, Kazunori Yamauchi, president of Polyphony Digital Inc. and GT4 architect, said at the 2004 Tokyo Game Show.

A new feature has been revealed named GT Director Mode, also called B-Spec, allowing players to take the role of a race team manager and instruct their drivers when to drive more aggressively and try to overtake, and when to take pit stops.

"I wanted to develop Director Mode for Gran Turismo 3, but we couldn't do it," said Yamauchi.

In B-Spec, players no longer have a second-to-second control of the car, but 'direct' the race--potentially attracting a new audience of players who are not hard-core arcade drivers, but who want to take a more relaxed approach to the game.

Developers have been working hard to bring GT4 online, he said, but infrastructure difficulties that he did not specify have held up the launch of the online version, which will be available next year.

"As we speak, the game is being worked on, and every day we are developing new features ... and most of the work for the online version has already been done," he said.

He declined to name a date for the online version release.

GT4 is the first major upgrade of the Gran Turismo franchise since GT3 went on sale in July 2001. The original GT1 sold more than 3.9 million copies in the North American market since its release in May 1998. Its predecessor, GT2, released in December 1999, went on to sell 3.8 million copies in the same market. GT3, however, has sold more than 6 million copies in North America, according to a statement released by Polyphony.

Nevertheless, GT4 has significantly improved features over GT3, he said. First, the game has more than 650 models of car from 80 manufacturers. Cars have new driver assist functions, including anti-lock brakes, traction control systems, and active stability control, according to statements released by Polyphony Digital.

New cars include concept cars such as the BMW 1 series and popular cars from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s and even a three-wheeled car from 1896, Yamauchi said.

"This one was really difficult to develop," he said.

Player garages have also been expanded to 1,000 cars, due to demand.

"We thought that having a garage for something over 200 cars would be enough, but when we got feedback, we found 200 was not nearly enough," he said.

The number of tracks has been increased to up to 100 courses, many of which have upgraded scenery. New courses include the El Capitan in Yosemite National Park in California, and the Infineon Raceway in Sonoma County near San Francisco, he said.

Closed circuit courses include Fuji Speedway '80, Fuji Speedway '90, Tsukuba Circuit 2000, Twin Ring Motegi, Suzuka Circuit, Laguna Seca Raceway and Nurburgring Nordschleife. City courses include Tokyo R246, Seattle, New York City, Hong Kong, Las Vegas Drag Strip, and George V, Paris.

The game's GT Photo Mode, which allows players to take photographs of their cars during races, can be used in 15 locations ranging from Kyoto, Japan, to Brooklyn, New York. Players can take up to 50 photos at one time and can save them to memory cards or print copies from printers via USB.

GT4 has more than 5,000 polygons per vehicle that yield much more detail--players are now even able to see disc brakes behind wheels. Engine sound has also been improved so that players can hear engines unwind all the way to full-throttle, a first for the series.

The GT4 will be on sale in Japan and Asia on Dec. 3 and in Europe and the U.S. on Dec. 14. Prices were not disclosed.

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