Gran Turismo 5 Downloadable in Japan in October
- Scribbled on July 17th, 2007 by Jonah Falcon
- Filed in Driving/Racing, Game Demos, Press Release, Release Date(s), Sony PlayStation 3
First the the PSP-2000, now this. 
Sony seems to be concentrating on recapturing Japan, maybe in response to Peter Moore’s statement than the PlayStation brand was beginning to fail there. According to Joystiq, the Gran Turismo 5 demo called “Prologue” will debut in October:
After making an impressive debut at E3 last week, it was revealed that the Gran Turismo Prologue download will be available on the Japanese PlayStation Network come October. (Hardcore GT fans have already created Japanese PSN accounts in preparation.) The cars that will be featured in the GT sampler will include some to be revealed at the Tokyo Auto Show.
In addition, this downloadable title will feature two things Gran Turismo HD did not: online multiplayer, and a price. Currently listed as “TBA,” Prologue may not be as free as last year’s gift from Sony.
Is Sony’s focus shifting away from the United States to Japan? Lord knows, Sony’s treated Europe and Australia like red-headed stepchildren…
July 17th, 2007 at 10:39 am
A japanese-developed game coming out first in Japan? That’s crazy talk. My FolkLore demo is from the Japanese PS Store as is my beloved copy of Everybody’s Golf. I’m still waiting for those two to show up state-side.
Regardless, the first PS3 GTHD demo was announced for release only for Japan but was later given a simultaneous US release date. Although, technically, it was released in Japan first due to the time zone difference.
This is a non-issue.
July 17th, 2007 at 10:41 am
Yeah man, if they don’t make it so North American’s can’t access the Japanese store, then this is nothing.
Still, I should make my Japanese account one of these days.
July 17th, 2007 at 10:45 am
MitchyD,
I’m telling you, Everybody’s Golf is a blast. A 3-hole demo of traditional Japanese weirdness. Sign up for the Japanese account.
July 17th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Well, why not have a simultaneous US/Japan release? It tells you that Sony is more concerned about Japan, even though the PS3 is having major problems in the US.
July 17th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
I don’t know, Jonah. I don’t run a multi-billion dollar corporation. It could mean any number of things, only one of which is the very conclusive, all-or-nothing opinion that if the date is different, then Sony’s more concerned with Japan than with the US.
We do know 2 things: 1) No date has been announced for the release in the US (no date does not mean a different date), and 2) based on the last release of GTHD, Sony is following the exact same course (see my original comment from this morning). So I don’t see why it should lead to a doom and gloom view now when nobody was drawing that conclusion last time.
Maybe it will again result in a simultaneous release, maybe not. But you’re drawing a pretty quick conclusion for something that looks no different than what happened 8 months ago. We’re simply at a wait and see stage now.
July 17th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
The last time the PS2 had 50M units and growing.
July 17th, 2007 at 4:15 pm
I’m not sure if you were responding to my comment, but I was referring to the PS3 release of the GTHD demo. Not the PS2 release of GT4.
July 18th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Of course they’re more concerned about Japan. Microsoft is more concerned with America, and rightfully so.