New cars and B Spec seasonal events in GT5
The latest season events in Gran Turismo 5 are now live and feature B Spec racing with the following challenges:
- 400PP Circuito de Madrid Mini. 5 Laps, Credits 117,500
- 500PP Fuji Speedway F. 5 laps. Credits 200,000.
- 650PP Nurburgring 24H. 2 Laps. Credits 420,000
And in addition there is a new selection of vehicles in the GT5 Online Car Dealership. The list is:
- Toyota CELICA TRD Sports M (ZZT231) ’00 – 22,500 Cr
- Toyota Tacoma X-Runner ’04 – 24,520 Cr
- Mitsubishi GTO Twin Turbo ’95 – 43,150 Cr
- Nismo 270R ’94 – 45,000 Cr
- TOM’S X540 CHASER ’00 – 50,000 Cr
- Mugen MUGEN S2000 ’00 – 50,000 Cr
- Alfa Romeo Spider 3.0i V6 24V ’01 – 51,190 Cr
- TVR Griffith 500 ’94 – 58,730 Cr
- Opera Performance 350Z ’04 – 75,000 Cr
- Spoon S2000 ’00 – 85,000 Cr
- Nismo Skyline GT-R S-tune (R32) ’00 – 90,000 Cr
- Nismo 400R ’96 – 120,000 Cr
- Nismo Skyline GT-R R-tune (R34) ’99 – 125,000 Cr
- Trial CELICA SS-II (ZZT231) ’03 – 125,000 Cr
- Nismo Fairlady Z Z-tune (Z33) ’03 – 150,000 Cr
- Callaway C12 ’03 – 175,880 Cr
- Nissan OPTION Stream Z ’04 – 200,000 Cr
- Amuse Carbon R (R34) ’04 – 250,000 Cr
- Pagani Zonda LM Race Car – 1,000,000 Cr
- Nissan Fairlady Z Concept LM Race Car – 1,000,000 Cr
- Vauxhall Calibra Super Touring Car ’94 – 1,500,000 Cr
- Gran Turismo Formula Gran Turismo -5,000,000 Cr
Don’t forget, there’s also a maintenance outage on Tuesday, February 7th, followed by an update release for patch 2.04.
Platinum Range Gran Turismo 5 out in October?
Could Gran Turismo 5 be joining the Playstation 3 ‘Platinum Range’ in less than a year? That’s the suggestion offered by a new product listing on the Amazon France website.
Although heading for a budget price in the Platinum Range less than 12 months after finally being released might come as a bit of a surprise to Gran Turismo fans, there is some logic in the idea, even if Amazon details and dates can’t be taken as an official sign it’s on the way.
For starters, it’s unlikely that anyone who was thinking about buying the full retail release of Gran Turismo 5 hasn’t already taken the plunge, so a reduction in October might boost sales nicely, particularly pre-Christmas. And should the timing be right, it means that a bargain Platinum Gran Turismo 5 will arrive just 6 days before the launch of Forza Motorsport 4 on October 15. Given that one is a PS3 exclusive and the other belongs to the Xbox 360, there’s not likely to be a massive crossover, but it’ll at least generate a bit of extra publicity off the back of the Microsoft/Turn 10 game.
Nurgburgring 24 Hours puts Kazunori Yamuachi vs Team Need for Speed
Ever seen the world of videogames spill over into real-life racing? Well it will this weekend, as both Gran Turismo 5 creator Kazunori Yamuachi, and two Team Need for Speed cars are competing in the Nurburgring 24 Hours race.
In 2010 Yamauchi finished fourth in the SP-8 class with the Team World Car Awards outfit in a Lexus IS-F, and Yamauchi himself posted the second-fastest lap within the team, a lap of 9 minutes 48 seconds. This year he’s again in the SP-8 class, but this time he’s running in a Nissan GT-R with team-mates Tobias Schulze, Michael Schulze and Yasuyoshi Yamamoto.
But that’s not the only videogame representation, with Team Need for Speed fielding two teams. The first features drivers Edward Sandstrom, Tommy Milner, Fredrik Larsson and Claudia Hurtgen, whilst the second Need for Speed Team Schubert outfit includes Anders Buchardt, Peter Posovac, John Mayes and Stian Sorlie. Both teams will race a BMW Z4 GT3 in the SP9 GT3 class.
We’ll be cheering for all three teams, although we have to admit to being slightly more biased towards Yamauchi, as he’s an actual game developer who is also fast enough to race, rather than a team of professional drivers involved with a game and sponsored by them.
Gran Turismo 5 reaches 6.3 million copies worldwide
Gran Turismo 5 has reached 6.3 million units worldwide in figures released by developers Polyphony Digital (it’s not clear whether those figures are for units sent to shops, or actually sold to customers). The figures cover December 2010, following the launch in November…
Interestingly, there is a geographic breakdown, which shows how big GT5 is for European gamers, with 3.9 million units recorded, whereas the U.S is much smaller (1.5 million), and Japan and Asia combined reached 830,000. That means around half of the copies of GT5 have gone to Europe, but it’s obviously not yet clear whether that is down to retailers ordering larger numbers due to perceived demand, or European gamers actually buying more copies.
Either way, it raises the question of the undeniable Japanese focus of GT5, especially when compared to Forza, Need for Speed, iRacing etc – should they be cramming in so many variations of Japanese cars into the game, or boosting the European models? Either way, it raises total numbers for the entire Gran Turismo series up to 63 million.
Do racing games make us bad drivers?
Apparently games like Gran Turismo and Grand Theft Auto make us more likely to crash, run red lights, try risky overtakes and suffer from road rage, according to research by Continental Tyres.
The research was quoted in UK free newspaper Metro, and unfortunately there’s no sign of the article, or any further information, on either the Metro or Continental Tyres website, but Continental Tyres ‘Safety Expert’ Tim Bailey was quoted as saying:
“Gamers take more risks than non gamers, possibly due to the lack of real consequences in the game,”
Obviously without more details, it’s impossible to say whether this is an important contribution to road safety, or a complete load of old cobblers. Certainly gaming has been known to have both positive and negative effects on gamers, but there has been a lot of debate about the exact nature of these effects, usually in regard to violence in videogames.
Car Crash by roolrool on Flickr (CC Licence)
In addition, there’s no seperation apparent between Grand Theft Auto, which features arcade-style handling as part of the portrayal of the gangster lifestyle, and the racing simulator genre such as Gran Turismo, Forza Motorsport and iRacing.
Not only would this mean a massive amount of the world’s population are crappier drivers due to the huge sales of the likes of Gran Turismo and GTA, but it might also have some pretty big implications for racers who unwind and learn new tracks in videogames, the amount spent by teams, training organisations and individuals on access to simulators, and the fact that pilots also use training simulators.
Probably the safest response is to stay indoors and ignore the fact so many accidents occur at home by only driving virtual vehicles.
Gran Turismo 5 – the best key cars to own
Like Jungle, Gran Turismo 5 is massive.
Because it’s so big and there are over a thousand cars to choose from, it’s pretty easy to waste valuable time and effort buying and tuning cars that aren’t quite up to scratch. There are many specific cars that must be bought and won along the way to GT5 glory, but these are the five that I think are the most useful, how much they cost, how you can get hold of them and why they are so great. First up…
1. Mitsubishi Lancer Evo / Subaru Impreza
Cost: 30,000
Ok, they’re not everyone’s cup of tea but a good Evo or Scooby will see you right for a long time. Whack some dirt and snow tires on them, add the torque-adjusting 4WD attachments, and hey presto – you’ve got yourself a multi-purpose road/rally car that drives like a dream and doesn’t cost the earth. Also, pick the Lancer Evolution IX GSR ’05 RM or Impreza Sedan WRX STI Spec C Type RA ’05 and you can race-modify them in the ‘GT Auto’ garage, making them look extra-cool and saving you a bundle of credits in terms of tuning upgrades.
Cost: 77,700
The GTR ’07 is one of far too many Nissans in the game and is thus easy to overlook. But what the GTR ’07 has over the others is its wonderful stability, even after ridiculous tuning upgrades which can double horsepower levels to over 800. The GTR ’07 also has some very funky alloys available for it, which makes it a good-looking sound buy early on that will continue to reap benefits throughout the game, especially as a overpowered easy-handling car for your fledgling B-Spec drivers to cope with.
Cost: 185,000
We’re stepping up a gear now. Not the best-looking car in the game, but the ZR1 can be race-modified in the ‘GT Auto’ garage and, rather like a superhero, transforms itself from an oversteering, dodgy-looking American muscle car to a rather more finely balanced, slightly-better-looking racing monster. Not the outright fastest car in the game by an means, but it’s more than quick enough to win all the important oval races and muscle car championships that can otherwise be a struggle in the ‘Professional’ and ‘Expert’ series. A must-have.
Cost: N/A
The Toyota 88C is a rogue in this list because of it is generally unavailable to buy. It’s not in the dealership, and it won’t pop up in the used car section either. You can only obtain it by winning the A-Spec ‘Like the Wind’ series (level 21 – which you will win using the Corvette ZR1 mentioned above) but once you do obtain one, it opens up the proper ‘GT’ sections of the game. Without the Minolta, you’d have to save up around 5,000,000 credits to buy yourself a proper ‘Le Mans’ car and the 88-CV can be used to win many, many A-Spec and B-Spec races without too much hassle.
Cost: 5,000,000
The FGT is a fictional car, but one essential for progression in GT5. Essentially a Formula One car in all but name, the FGT will outperform every other car in the game with the exception of the equally-fictional Red Bull X2010. It is only required specifically for the FGT series at level 23, but this supercar will win you any event you stick it in and is a godsend for B-Spec when you just want to leave it running in the background while you pop off and do something more interesting. It’s expensive, but will pay for itself in the long run.
I hope that’s been useful. It’s also worth telling you that ‘garbuckle’ over has created a rather brilliant Gran Turismo ‘Matrix’ PDF file (which you can find here) detailing all of the game’s events, cars, trophies and their related credit and experience values. It’s a bit of a spreadsheet but is the most comprehensive guide to the game and its content that I’ve seen to date.
Bargain racing games in Blockbuster pre-owned sale
The Blockbuster video rental chain is currently holding a sale on pre-owned games in the UK, both in-store, and apparently online, although the Blockbuster website doesn’t let you filter just games in the pre-owned selection. So if you’re looking to pick up some racing games for some pretty low prices, here’s what you can search for:
- Need for Speed Hot Pursuit – £24.95
- GT5 – £24.95
- F1 2010 – £24.95
- Modnation Racers – £14.95
- DiRT 2 – £8.95
- Motorstorm – £3.95
- Forza 2 – £1.95
- GT5 Prologue – £5.95
- FUEL – £5.95
Blockbuster doesn’t seem to ever carry PC games, so it’ll be the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 versions of the games you’ll be able to pick up from today.
OnlineRaceDriver.com celebrates it’s first birthday
Having been a gamer for roughly 28 years, and a journalist for over 10, I’d thought about starting videogame sites for a long time – in fact my first paid freelance work was for the Official Dreamcast Magazine a long time ago. But it was just over a year ago I finally put some of my ideas into practice and got together with a few people to launch OnlineRaceDriver.com.
The basic philosophy behind the site (and the more recent launch of FPSPrestige.com) is that videogames are a huge part of daily life for many people, and a large number of those people are very passionate about particular games or genres. So why is it that sports magazines generally focus on one particular sport such as football or basketball, with in-depth knowledge and coverage, but gaming magazines and websites attempted to combine coverage of everything, even when journalists and writers admitted they weren’t particular fans of certain types of game? Why shouldn’t gamers who love racing games read news, articles and features by people who live and breathe racing games, or have experience of racing in real life, to give the kind of insight needed for a really in-depth and valid opinion?
Birthday Cake image by Will Clayton on Flickr (CC Licence)
Hence why I spoke to people like GTDon, whois incredibly experienced in the Forza world, having started the Forza World Championship many years ago. And TomBowker, who combines an obsessive passion for Formula One with an obsessive passion for F1 games, and also asks questions like ‘Where’s the safety car in racing games?’
And luckily enough, a surprisingly large number of people seem to agree with our plan, considering in our first year, with no money for promotion, advertising, or celebrity endorsements (At this point I have to credit Jigowatt for helping out with our logo), and just enough to secure hosting and a blog template from StudioPress), we’ve achieved:
- 46,831 Page Views.
- 30,705 Visitors.
- 59 Fans and growing on Facebook. (We haven’t really promoted our Twitter account yet!)
- Over 1,100 views of our videos on Youtube.
- We’ve been credited on sites such as Wikipedia.
- We’ve started going racing
Not bad for a few guys who have only ever talked and raced online. And over the last year, we’ve had some great articles. The most popular so far have been:
- Where is the safety car?
- Is iRacing enough to buy racing?
- Cars missing from racing games: #1 The Metro 6R4 (I really need to update that series!)
- The Non-Racing Dept – Hands on with Kinect Sports
- The Demise of Two-Player Split Screen
So what’s next for 2011?
I have a slight confession to make, in that we actually officially launched the site on January 3rd, but the excuse is that we’re all busy working on new stuff.
For example, the current OnlineRaceDriver shop on Cafepress has been updated to rectify our initial logo/colour problems, and we’ll be expanding the range soon.
And if you’re a smartphone user, you should find that the site automatically transforms itself into a smartphone-friendly version when you visit us. It should work with most handsets, but let us know if anything is broken…
Plus the track directory and various other areas for the site will be overhauled to make them way more useful. Plus there’s some new stuff on the way.
But most importantly of all…
We now have an OnlineRaceDriver forum.
So if you want to chat with other racers, get tips on a particular game, track or corner, swap set-ups, ask about getting liveries painted, or anything else to do with online racing, sign up now! There’s also a section for chatting about real world racing, as so many of us are fans of all motorsport, and a For Sale/Bargain area if you’re looking to offload a game or accessory, or you’ve spotted a racing game on sale for a bargain price.
We’re expanding our coverage, with more games, more information and more racing than ever, plus we’ve got a couple of new regular writers and some additional guests. We’re lining up more features, getting involved in more race series and generally going all out in 2011.
But we need you!
It’s you that makes this worthwhile and makes it work by reading and hopefully enjoying what we do – so let us know in the comments (or on the forum) if you’ve got ideas, suggestions, contributions etc. Sign up for the forum, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube, and share our content if you use Stumbleupon, Reddit, Digg etc. It’s all free for you and much appreciated by us.
And if you do happen to be in the market for a new game or accessory, if you plan on buying from one of our linked retailers anyway, why not use our links? It won’t cost you anything extra, but does mean that we might get a few pence towards hosting costs and improving the site.
Time to party?
Now if you’ll excuse me, rather than celebrating with a few beers and a cake, I need to get back to practising for the next IFCA ALMS race at Mugello on Saturday, and there are some stories to update first…
Thanks again for making ORD so great over the last year
Dan
Gran Turismo Surpasses 60 Million Sales
Gran Turismo 5 finally arrived with a worldwide release last month after a long wait, and the most recent delays led ‘games analysts’ to predict sales could suffer – particularly after the release of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit just before GT5.
But no racing fan will be surprised to know GT5 is selling faster than a Sebastien Vettel qualifying lap, and that’s been highlighted by the fact the series has now passed 60 million units, with Gran Turismo 5 contributing 5.5 million sales in the first 12 days of release. That 60 million figure comes after 13 years, 5 full games, 4 prologues, and the prospect that work on Gran Turismo 6 is already underway.
Gran Turismo 5 is also topping charts around the world – including Japan and Australia. In the UK it held the top spot for a couple of weeks, but Call of Duty: Black Ops has just recovered (For Call of Duty and similar games, check out the new FPSPrestige website – from the people that bring your OnlineRaceDriver!).
Gran Turismo 5 launches with great sales figures…
It seems that the numerous delays haven’t affected the ability for Gran Turismo 5 to rack up great sales figures.
The estimates put sales at 1.8 million in the first couple of days, and around 2.5 million for the first week – that’s in the same ballpark as Call of Duty: Black Ops, which recently became the best selling videogame of all time.
As a result, Gran Turismo 5 is topping the UK sales charts – the first time the top position has changed since the aforementioned Black Ops launched for both the PS3 and Xbox 360.
Have you picked up a copy yet? If not, then why not take a look at Game, Play.com, Amazon or Gamestop, and support ORD at the same time!
