Ever since Gran Turismo 5 left the garage, you just know Kazunori Yamauchi and his team of mechanics at Polyphony Digital have been in the shop, tirelessly working away at the sixth ‘Real Driving Simulator’. However instead of making a huge splash by positioning Gran Turismo 6 as a PlayStation 4 launch title, or possibly even some epic cross-platform release across the family of PlayStation systems (still no GT Vita love? come on Sony!), Sony has unveiled GT6 for PlayStation 3.
But who knows, with E3 right around the corner don’t be surprised if Kaz has something to announce for the next generation of PlayStation console gaming. Today’s press release announcement does not mention exclusivity to PS3 any where in its many lines of text. At least not that I noticed.
For now, GT6 is due only for PS3 release this holiday season. Existing cars and tracks from GT5 will carry over, with new additions bringing the car roster up to 1,200, and the number of racing locales up to 33. The Polyphony pit crew has also rebuilt the game’s rendering and physics engines for maximum authenticity, in addition to making improvements to the UI and course maker feature.
But all that only scratches the surface of the work that’s gone into this racing game remodel. Take a look at this lengthy list of upgrades planned for Gran Turismo 6:
New Game Engine
– Refactoring
– Compact, nimble operation
– Flexible expandability
– A new rendering engine that pushes the limits of the PS3New Physics Engine
– New suspension and kinematics model
– New tire model
– New aerodynamics model
– Technical partnership with Yokohama Rubber and KW Automotive1,200 Cars, abundant custom parts, and on-going DLC
– From historic cars to the latest racing cars, the game contains a total of 1200 cars.
– Multiple aerodynamic parts and custom wheels will be available for almost all cars.
– Players can create their own personalized custom car in the game.
– Cars will be continually added online33 locations, 71 layouts
– 33 Locations and 71 layouts will be provided from day 1 (7 more locations and 19 more layouts than GT5)
– More new tracks will continue to be provided onlineNew Course Maker
– Massive scenery spanning several tens of square kilometers
– A new course generation algorithmCommunity/Club/Race Organizer
– Players can form their own communities
– Various community levels from local and domestic to global
– Players themselves can create and manage their own online eventsNew User Interface
– Balancing directional key operation and touch operation
– Quick response
– Shortening of loading timesMulti Device Compatibility
– PlayStation
– Smart Phone
– Tablet
– PCAt the same time as the PS3 version of GT6 the “Real Driving Simulator” launches, a mobile version and web application version of GT6, will be created to enjoy Gran Turismo’s massive community space.
Real/Virtual “Edge Effect” Activity
– A variety of “Edge Effects”, the chemical reactions between the real world and the virtual world for which the Gran Turismo series is famous, are also planned for GT6. Exciting collaborations between various automotive manufacturers and collaborations with brands crossing different industries will be revealed gradually across the next six months.
Whoa! That’s a lot of new stuff under the hood. As usual, the paint job sure is shiny, too.
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Matt Litten is the full-time editor and owner of VGBlogger.com. He is responsible for maintaining the day to day operation of the site, editing all staff content before it is published, and contributing regular news, reviews, previews and other articles.
Matt landed his first gig in the video game review business writing for the now-defunct website BonusStage.com. After the sad and untimely close of BonusStage, the former staff went on to found VGBlogger.com. After a short stint as US Site Manager for AceGamez, Matt assumed full ownership over VGBlogger, and to this day he is dedicated to making it one of the top video game blogs in all the blogosphere.
Matt is a fair-minded reviewer and lover of games of all platforms and types, big or small, hyped or niche, big-budget or indie. But that doesn't mean he will let poor games slide without a good thrashing when necessary! 
