Gran Turismo HD Concept (グランツーリスモHDコンセプト, guran tsūrisumo HD konseputo) was the first installment of the Gran Turismo racing series to be released on the PlayStation 3. It was made available as a free download which was released on the PlayStation Store on December 24th, 2006.
A Blu-ray Disc version, called "Install Disc", was released in Japan in limited quantities in September 2007. This game was intended to be a sneak preview, in the likes of Gran Turismo Concept, preceding the release of a full version title but the Gran Turismo HD project was canceled and replaced by Gran Turismo 5 Prologue.
History[]
Official advertising for Gran Turismo HD Concept in boxes of German PS3 launch titles. The text reads: "Sign in to PlayStation Network on your PlayStation 3 system today and download Gran Turismo HD Concept for free."
Gran Turismo HD project[]
The original Gran Turismo HD project was announced as Vision Gran Turismo (not to be confused with the later Vision Gran Turismo concept car program) at the 2005 E3 show. A crossover trailer with the Spider-Man 2 film, released the year prior, was also shown during the show. Both trailers primarily featured assets from Gran Turismo 4.
The following year, at E3 2006, the Gran Turismo HD name was used for the first time, which appeared to be an extended, high-resolution port of GT4, with motorcycles from Tourist Trophy and number of vehicles on the track expanded to twelve.[1]
On opening of 2006 Tokyo Game Show (September 22), Polyphony Digital announced, in a presentation, that Gran Turismo HD was to be split into two games, the Blu-ray Disc based "GTHD Premium" (GTHDプレミアム) and the PlayStation Store downloadable "GTHD Classic" (GTHDクラシック).
The teaser during the show featured HD renders of five cars: NISMO Skyline GT-R R-tune (R34) '99, Honda S2000 '99, Toyota Castrol TOM'S SUPRA '00, Ford GT '05 and the Ferrari 599 '06. The first four cars were available in Gran Turismo 4 but didn't appear in late GTHD trailers, though the Ferrari was featured in Gran Turismo HD Concept. During the show, Kazunori Yamauchi planned that the fulll release of Gran Turismo HD in December 2007 in Japan. While Gran Turismo HD Premium focused on higher-definition graphics and cars, Gran Turismo HD Classic would feature in-game purchases for contents (derived from GT4), all of which being compatible with then in-development Gran Turismo 5.
Project cancellation[]
In late November 2006, Polyphony Digital director Kazunori Yamauchi officially announced a revision in the product strategy where "Gran Turismo 5 will be given priority". As a result, the full release of the Gran Turismo HD was cancelled, and in the ensuing product shift Gran Turismo 5 Prologue replaced GTHD, envisioning GT5P as experiment on online play in the series.
True to the plan, the GT5P demo replaced the GTHD Classic when the latter was delisted on the Japanese PlayStation Store in October 2007.
Updates[]
The initial release of the demo (version 1.1) was released on the Japanese, Southeast Asian, and North American PlayStation Stores on December 27, 2006. The initial version includes force feedback support with Logitech Driving Force steering wheels. This version was also later released in South Korea on June 15, 2007, to coincide with the local PlayStation 3 launch.
They were followed by the 1.2 update, which was first released in North America on April 5, 2007, and was also adding support for the Logitech GT Force steering wheels line. A later European version, replacing NTSC SD output (480i/p) to PAL (576i/p), was available for download on the PAL region PlayStation 3 launch date on March 23, 2007.
Discontinuation[]
Following an official message from Sony Computer Entertainment Japan, the Japanese demo (version 1.1) was delisted from the local PlayStation Store on September 30, 2007. It was replaced on October 20, 2007 by an exclusive demo for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, which was discontinued itself on November 11 and was replaced by the full version on December 13, 2007.
Despite this, the demo continues to be downloadable for users who already obtained the demo when it was available; additionally, the online leaderboards are still operational.
Install Disc[]
A free Gran Turismo HD Concept Blu-ray Disc including the Japanese language version 1.1 plus the July 17, 2007 Gran Turismo 5 Prologue PlayStation Premiere 2007 HD video trailer ("Concept Movie Type B") was released in Japan in September 2007, before the game was delisted from the PlayStation Store. A PlayStation Store Guide ("PlayStation Storeガイド映像 収録") manual was included in the BD package.
Overview[]
Gameplay[]
Gran Turismo HD Concept includes external view (or rear view) and bumper view, the latter introduces left and right view as seen from the driver's helmet. Left and right views are available with both Sixaxis and steering wheel peripherals although they are not assigned in the wireless controller's default configuration.
Cars[]
- Main article: Gran Turismo HD Concept/Car List
As a short title, the Concept version only features ten cars ranging from the Suzuki Cappuccino to the Ferrari 599, available in both stock and tuned version, once unlocked. The game's opening movie focuses on Didier Auriol's 1995 Toyota Celica GT-FOUR WRC and the Lotus Elise 111R.
The introduction of Ferrari models in the Gran Turismo series was officially announced by the series producer Kazunori Yamauchi and Giulio Zambeletti from Ferrari on September 28, 2006 at the Paris Motor Show. It was soon followed by a special trailer "Gran Turismo HD featuring Ferrari GT cars". The first models were supposed to be the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano and the Ferrari F430. While the former was available in Gran Turismo HD Concept, the latter was not, but was included in the Gran Turismo 5 Prologue free playable demo among the non selectable NPC cars.
Course[]
The game features only a single track, The Eiger Nordwand (Eiger north face) which is a newly created mountain pass track based on the Kleine Scheidegg and featuring the Swiss Alps' famous Mönch and Jungfrau peaks. The track is also available in reverse mode once unlocked.
Official track data are as following:
- Course length: ~2435.7m
- Elevation difference: ~75m
- Longest straight: ~250m
Game modes[]
Two play modes are available, Time Trial and Drift Trial once unlocked. Both modes feature an Internet ranking chart for each continent. Gran Turismo HD Concept is the first game in the franchise to support online ranking. Japanese area ranking ended on September 30, 2007 with the removal of Gran Turismo HD Concept from the local PlayStation Store.
The Replay mode is also available, each course's best 5 records per car in both Time and Drift Trial can be downloaded by users under the form of a replay file.
Audiovisual[]
The game outputs analog two sound to the AV Multi out but allows Dolby Digital 5.1 channel with the S/PDIF out and LPCM 5.1ch with the HDMI out.In terms of visual quality, the game options allow the selection of 720p and 1080p HD resolutions as well as "system settings default". Version 1.0~1.2 allows 480i/p NTSC resolution, while the 2.0 version is made for 576i/p PAL resolution.
Notes[]
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