EA will be slowly trickling out the full car roster for the game over the next few weeks, and I definitely like what I see so far. Yeah, it's all cartoony, but some of us like cartoony. Some of us still maintain that Beetle Adventure Racing for the Nintendo 64 is one of the greatest racing games of all time. Some of us have issues.

With the October 27th launch of Forza 3 just around the corner, Turn 10 and Microsoft are gearing up to release the full list of cars and tracks for the game over at Forzamotorsport.net. Not content with the ridiculous number of rides included in the game, Turn 10 has hand-picked 10 classic cars, bundled them up with two new tracks, and created the Motorsports Legends Car Pack. The pack includes such vintage racers as the '60 Chevrolet Corvette, '71 Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R, and the '65 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, along with the Benchmark High Speed Ring and Sidewinder Proving Ground tracks.

The Motorsports Legends Car Pack will be available on launch day, with a special code inside every new copy of Forza 3 allowing the purchaser to pick up the pack for free. Check out the full list of included cars below.

· '65 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA
· '64 Aston Martin DB5 Vantage
· '81 BMW M1
· '60 Chevrolet Corvette
· '69 Dodge Charger
· '57 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa
· '80 Fiat 131 Abarth
· '67 Lamborghini Miura P400
· '71 Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R
· '65 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe

With some 800 licensed cars and over 35 tracks on which to race them, Gran Turismo for the PSP offers a broad driving simulation experience that focuses more on car collecting and driving technique than high speed thrills. It also offers local multiplayer, wireless car trading and an undeniably slick package.

The PSP game's spec sheet mostly matches the raw numbers of its PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 counterparts, minus a few concessions, but does it offer the same deep feature set of the games that have come before it?

Loved
Easy In, Easy Out: Gran Turismo for PSP feels more forgiving, more inviting than ever for new players. As someone who dabbled in the first three games and Gran Turismo HD, I typically consider myself a GT noob every time I dive in. The PSP version is generous with credits, initially friendly with its competitive AI drivers, ensuring that getting back into the swing of things is a breeze. It's ideal for a pick up and play session, more so than I'd expected.

Driving Challenges: Also kinder to the casual Gran Turismo fan (who might've had horrifying flashbacks to cruel license tests in previous games) are the PSP game's Driving Challenges. Most can be cleared at bronze level on the first go for easy in-game income, but others offer a serious and addictive challenge for the driving sim disinclined. The demonstration videos of each challenge, narrated by Jay Leno, are generally pretty helpful.

It Gets The Numbers Right: Gran Turismo PSP nails the numbers, with a rock solid frame rate and hundreds of cars to collect, giving the game a Pokemon-like that will have completionists returning for more. There may not be much variety in the gameplay modes, but you can't fault the game for a lack of incredibly diverse cars and trucks to drive.

Technically, It's Gran Turismo: It may not look as sharp as its forebears and some of the early screen shots released for Gran Turismo PSP, but the game's physics model, tracks, car models and general technical prowess impress. The number of cars that can compete in a race have been whittled down to just four, but the game still runs well enough to merit mention.

Hated
Directionless Grinding: After completing the game's Driving Challenge mode and tackling a handful of random time trials, single-player races, drift trials, you may start to wonder where the rest of the game is. There's no campaign mode, no career mode, no structure to the game that would give one much of a sense of accomplishment. This lack of things to do beyond finding things to do with your time gives Gran Turismo a barebones feeling, in spite of the wealth of vehicles to drive.

Limited Time Offers: Gran Turismo PSP curiously randomizes what cars will be available to the player when they're in the mood to do a little shopping. Only four car manufacturers are available at any given time—per day in the Gran Turismo calendar, which admittedly passes quicker than real-time—and up to ten cars per manufacturer are up for purchase. That makes car shopping somewhat of a crap shoot, sometimes limiting the appeal when ultra-expensive Audis or the meek Land Rover offerings pop up.

Personally (and curiously), I found the Driving Challenge aspects of the game—the deep list of driving technique tutorials—to offer the most appeal, helping to make me a better virtual driver. Perfecting some of those techniques was made a little more challenging by my distaste for the PSP's awkward analog nub, a control hang up that might be a turn off to GT fans downgrading to the portable version. But after burning through that portion of the game, buying a few overpriced rides and taking them out in the snow, I felt like I'd exhausted Gran Turismo PSP.

After all this waiting, it's somewhat surprising to see the limitations that Gran Turismo for the PSP comes with. The core essence of the driving game is intact, offering an enjoyable simulation on the go. And that may be all you require of the PlayStation Portable entry, a largely capable if not impressively feature rich driving sim, a portable copy of the Nürburgring on which to study its turns, chicanes and corners.

Gran Turismo was developed by Polyphony Digital and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PSP on September 29. Retails for $39.99 USD. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played 50 single player races, completed Driving Challenge mode and tested Ad Hoc multiplayer.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

"The last thirty minutes of the race," Yamauchi told Kotaku at a recent visit to his Polyphony studios, "I didn't even know what I was doing. It was as if my brain was directly connected to my hands. I wasn't thinking."

During the tail end of the four hour race, Yamauchi started experiencing a driving high. While Gran Turismo is renowned for its realistic physics, Yamauchi had never had the first hand experience of the sensation that race car drivers get during extended races. "During that last thirty minutes, I forgot I was driving. It's difficult to put that feeling into words — the way I was handling the vehicle."

The experience was eye-opening for the designer, who hopes to somehow convey that experience in future games. When asked he would go about that, Yamauchi simply replied, "Through a higher level of game making."

As talented as Yamauchi appears to be, the game designer is humble about his future racing prospects. Humble as ever, he calls his first place win an "unexpected result." According to Yamauchi, "What's interesting is that I am a game designer who occasionally races. I don't plan on racing full time or anything."

While at Nurburgring, Yamauchi said he was approached by countless GT fans, who asked him why he was adding damage to the series. "For many fans I spoke with," Yamauchi explained, "one reason they seemed to like Gran Turismo is that you cannot damage cars." The decision to include damage apparently was based on looking at what was missing from the franchise. Currently the development of car damage is at about 50 percent — work on it was begun two months ago.

The increasing number of driving simulators is not a bad thing. "I think it's great that the racing game market is getting bigger," said Yamauchi. "It's like if you are a rock fan, you'd like there to be more rock groups. Same idea. That being said, we don't view Gran Turismo as competing with those other titles. We are competing with ourselves."

[Pic]

Those who have played Grand Theft Auto over the years know that 2008's adventure of Niko Bellic was, relatively speaking, one of the calmer GTAs. Ballistic bank heists and motorcycle chases in subway tunnels notwithstanding, Niko didn't parachute from skyscrapers or drive military vehicles down Broadway. That, with style, is where the next GTA IV episode comes in.

I played and watched a few missions from Rockstar Games' next and final extension of Grand Theft Auto IV at the company's New York City headquarters yesterday. The new episode, which Rockstar says will be similar in size to the last one, offers a few notable game design tweaks but will most likely stand out to series fans as a modern way to reintroduce some of the eccentricities not seen in a console GTA since the PlayStation 2-era Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Bodyguard Luis Lopez, star of the Ballad of Gay Tony, is committed in this episode to help his friend and employer, the beleaguered nightclub owner, Tony Prince, resist the encroachment of some crooked gangsters. That's the set-up for a wild ride.

Rockstar is pitching this episode as an experience on the other side of Liberty City's velvet rope, an indulgence in the excesses of the super-rich and likely not-so-nice. So it was no surprise to hear that there's a champagne mini-game in Gay Tony, nor to witness a mission that involved stealing an attack helicopter from the back of a yacht before using said chopper's rockets to blow up some boats — nor to try a mission myself that had Luis walking along the top of a moving, elevated subway, using a shotgun with explosive shells to eliminate swarming police helicopters. That last mission's motivation? We're doing it to steal a subway car for a rich guy who wants to build a re-creation of Liberty City in the Middle East.

San Andreas would let you eat enough burgers to make its hero slovenly. It would hide a big purple sex toy for you to find and use to bludgeon people. There isn't any sign that Gay Tony is taking things quite that far. Instead, the new episode defines its colorfulness within the lines of Liberty City's demented wealthy. I witnessed one cut-scene that had Luis considering a job for a man with so much money that he has a super-hero costume, a TV running the end-credits of GTA IV and a big bird sculpture in his penthouse apartment… a man who has people upstairs making noises Luis mistakes for the filming of a pornographic movie... a man who delivers a life lesson that culminates with the instruction that an individual must always do what money dictates even if that dictation involves the loss of one's own legs.

For this eccentric cast Luis might machine-gun his way through the upper floors of the MeTV building, where, instead of my old MTV offices from my last job, we find on one high-rise floor the offices for the crooked owners of Liberty City's hockey team. Extra credit goes to the gamers who can shoot one of these no-good franchise owners in such a way that he crashes through a window and down many stories to the Liberty City version of the patio outside my old company's cafeteria. And more extra credit to the gamer who can follow that with a parachute jump out of the skyscraper and onto the back of a flatbed truck.

Rockstar's previous episodic expansion of GTA IV, The Lost and Damned, expanded the gameplay options of the base game by allowing and encouraging players to ride through the city and fight with a gang of other characters providing back-up. The twist in this episode is that Luis' missions will include optional goals — ideal completion times, ideal damage taken, bonus objectives like shooting that guy out of the window or landing on that truck. A mission can be completed without them, but Rockstar is enabling and encouraging gamers to re-launch the missions after having completed them, as players could in the DS' Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, and to strive for those goals. Rockstar reps couldn't tell me what the rewards for perfect completion might be.

I used to work with a guy who was almost depressed about the lack of access to a military tank in Grand Theft Auto IV. He liked the new game but missed the older games' wildness. It's for people like him that Rockstar is now promising in Gay Tony access to an armored personnel carrier with a 50-caliber gun, more advanced and devastating helicopters and even a more potent arsenal of firearms, which will be made available to Luis early in the episode. But I think the addition that will most excite my former co-worker is Luis Lopez' parachute. Find a high spot in Liberty City, equip the parachute and jump. Players can experiment with it freely, though be warned that it can't be used infinitely. You'll need to replenish your parachute supply. Gay Tony will also provide access to 15 parachute-jumping challenges, five of which involve trying to bullseye a target after leaping off a building, five of which involve leaping from helicopters and five of which involve leaping from motorcycles.

Rockstar estimates that this new episode will be similar in size to the previous one, The Lost And Damned, an episode that took me 12 hours to reach its narrative conclusion. The new game won't have any new multiplayer modes but will support existing ones. The radio stations will be beefed up once again, with more music, new DJs and new talk. There will be new in-game TV programming. Some missions will intersect with the previous GTA IV releases, allowing gamers to again encounter Niko Bellic and Lost and Damned protagonist Johnny Klebitz. Some side missions will be randomly generated, enabling Luis to do tasks for people who hang out in Tony's clubs. The story missions will have a more Algonquin/Manhattan focus than those of Lost and Damned.

Rockstar always keeps some secrets out of its GTA previews. That headline-grabbing full-frontal nudity in The Lost and Damned was not featured in any preview I got of that episode. Who knows what other eccentricities will be in this one. But what I've seen so far of what Rockstar says is this last-planned GTA IV episode is wild enough to wrap the saga of Grand Theft Auto in entertaining and eccentric fashion.

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony will be available on October 29 both as a $20 download through Xbox Live or on an $40 Xbox 360 standalone disc called Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City that also included The Lost and Damned and does not require ownership of GTA IV. As with the previous expansion to GTA IV, Rockstar has only announced this new episode for the Xbox 360 and gave no word that it is ever coming to the PlayStation 3.

As racing franchises continue down a diminishing road of more, with detailed engine tuning, real world physics, realistic damage modeling and road wear, they often leave all but the most devoted fans of their games and autophiles in the dust.

But not increasing the realism, not giving what car fanatics need to get the full experience of driving and driving fast, often leads to bland diversions stripped of any right to be considered a simulation.

With Forza 3, developers Turn 10 Studios hope to make something for everyone. Instead of trying to blend the best of both worlds, the game makers have added so many options, so many helping hands that a gamer can create their own experience.

But how can that translate to the diverse world of online gaming? How can Mario Kart fans play Forza 3 in a way that requires little more than gas and steering online with those who expect an intimate knowledge of gear ratios and part selections from their drivers?

The issue of balancing the experience for hardcore and casual gamers in the same environment is solving a problem created by the developers themselves, said Korey Krauskopf, producer for Forza 3.

That long-tail of niche game development is more about trying to differentiate yourself in a crowded genre, than trying to satisfy gamers, Krauskopf said.

"I think that's more about developers trying to be different, not an indictment of the user," he said. "I think it's that game companies are making their games more specialized.

"We want to serve those who already enjoy our games and invite more in."

The problem, he says, is that people hear that a game like Forza is a "hardcore game" and to many that simply means hard to play.

That's why in Forza 3 the developers layered on assists, like auto-braking and one-button driving, he said. And why the game includes plenty of help for auto-tuning a car, if a player doesn't want to do it themselves.

For online gaming, tells Kotaku, Forza 3 features an incredibly elaborate race rules editor.

While the game will ship with a dozen or so pre-created race modes, everything about them, from the number of laps to start delays and what sort of assists a player can be using, can be changed.

"We have a whole bunch of options that just cascade," Krauskopf said. "There are pages and pages of options they can set to make the race exactly how you want it to be."

Krauskopf likens it to the ability first-person shooter fans have to manipulate the online game rules for Halo 3, but with much more control.

For example, most racing games allow players to choose a track, the car classes and the number of laps. In Forza 3, a gamer can take that basic race and choose to change the rules of how a winner is determined.

Krauskopf explains:
*First they could section everyone into two teams, one team will win.

*They could then decide that a specific person from each team must cross the finish line to determine who wins (we'll call this person the "mouse"), the rest of the players are just there to provide interference to the other team, or protection for their own team (we'll call them "cats").

*Then they could create still deeper challenges by limiting teams to specific car classes, tunings, assists, or upgrades.

*If they want to make things more interesting they can stagger the roll-off times from the start line giving some a head start.

*If the players want to be super specific about their race, they can limit the mice to D-class, front wheel drive European hatchbacks and the cats to all wheel drive turbocharged V10s.

"This results in players running in packs on a track, trying to protect their team's "mouse" and see it safely across the finish line first while trying keep the other team's mouse away from the finish line," Krauskopf said. "A very different type of race!"

The game's online modes have more than 100 rule types to tweak giving players an almost limitless ability to customize the way they want to play, he said.

Krauskopf says that the team expects once the game ships and gets into the hands of enthusiastic gamers they will begin to see far more creative combinations of the rules used to create modes they've never imagined.

Since these personalized race modes can only be saved locally, Krauskopf expects that some gamers will make a name for themselves as popular hosts for their custom races. He added that they are considering one day perhaps allowing gamers to save modes online, but right now have no plans to include that option.

Forza 3 will still include all of the Live support Forza 2 had as well. Other new additions to online play include a new party system that allows gamers to hop into one room and then jump from race to race together.

The team has also worked to blur the line between the game's offline and online modes when it comes to a player's career.

"As people are playing online they are still earning experience points and getting rewarded for in-game credit," he said.

Finally, the game will feature a robust set of leaderboards that will take into account how assisted a driver is when racing, so those hardcore fans can steal easily identify "clean" and skilled drivers from those who win with the help of the game.

"We are going to certify score boards, showing you who use assists, and which are totally clean times," Krauskopf said. "Thats how we serve the people who are our real loyal fan base."

And what about all of those casual racers who might flood into Forza's online racing world when Forza 3 hits?

"If you have someone who really wants to race as realistic as you can get he is going to set up a lobby with restrictions, saying we're going to outlaw one button driving and stock car and only allow cars that have been tuned. "

The challenge, he says, is that the team wants to make sure that the detail and depth is there for those who want to dig into it, but obscured from those who may be put off by it.

"We face challenges," he said. "Educating users who think that Mario Kart is quick to use and fun to play and Forza is for hardcore people, so no you can't have a good time playing it."

Krauskopf respects what Nintendo is doing with demo mode, a mode Shigeru Miyamoto first confirmed to Kotaku at E3 was coming to New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which allows a game to essentially play itself.

"What Nintendo is doing with Demo Mode is interesting," he said. "You are building a feature that allows anyone to play the game, but you don't get that badge of honor if you use it."

It's, essentially, a more extreme version of what Turn 10 is doing with Forza 3 online play.

"We are giving everyone the ability to enjoy the game," he said. "But not taking anything away from our fan base."

"We've got this clean look based on the look of a car brochure," said Forza Motorsport 3 director Dan Greenawalt. "We call it car porn.

But Forza 3 is more than just 400 cars from 50 manufacturers and 100 tracks, it's developer Turn 10's attempt to bridge the gap between racing sim and arcade racer without leaving anyone behind.

"Our goal is to turn gamers into car lovers and car lovers into gamers," Greenawalt said. "To deliver approachable and thrilling gameplay."

That's a tricky proposition when you have one group of gamers that worry over the nuance of car physics and handling, dismissing any game that doesn't match the real world, and another group that feels lost in a game that is too real, instead opting for arcade fun.

Turn-10's solution is to have a robust selection of assists which can be turned on or off on the fly. At its easiest, Forza 3 even brakes for you, leaving the gamer to hold down the gas and keep the car on the green line which shows the best approach to every turn. At its hardest, Forza 3 mimics the behavior of every vehicle, given each it's own distinct physics and feel.

The Xbox 360 exclusive also features a new rewind button. At any point you can press the back button on your controller and go back in the race five seconds. There are no limits to when or how often you use this feature in a race. It's there, Greenawalt said, so perfectionists don't have to restart an entire race after one small mistake.

And for both the hardcore and arcade race fans there are the graphics and the spectacular damage modeling.

"Part of our perfectionism is how we capture the cars," Greenawalt said. "We are car freaks, we want to capture that, we want to show these cars off, we want to worship them."

Forza Motorsport 3 features ten times more polygons in each car model and four times the texture resolution than found in Forza 2 he said. The game delivers these astonishing realistic graphics while calculating physics at 360 frames per a second.

"Our new graphics engine pushes the 360 in new ways, ways it has never been pushed before," Greenawalt said.

To create the setting for the game's tracks, like the three set in Montserrat, Spain that were being shown at E3, Turn 10 take thousands of photographs at the scene, including aerial shots. The team also worked to meticulously capture the cockpit of every car included in the game.

Damage modeling for the cars, all of the cars, is also carefully detailed. And in Forza 3, all 400 cars now include the ability to completely roll over in a race, something no racing game has ever tried before, Greenawalt said.

Getting permission from the 50 manufacturers for this unheard of level of damage modeling was a matter of talking to each individually.

"We go to a manufacturer and say we're a sim and as a sim, cars roll over," Greenawalt said.

Greenawalt also mentioned that Forza Motorsport 3 has a "strategic partnership" with Audi.

"We saw the brands meshing really, really well," he said. "You will hear a lot more about that in three months."

Why the long wait? Kazunori Yamauchi, president of developer Polyphony Digital, says it was just a matter of priorities. Following the Spring 2004 announcement of the game once known as Gran Turismo 4 Mobile, Polyphony shipped four titles, Gran Turismo 4, the "real riding simulator" Tourist Trophy, Gran Turismo HD and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. Given how long it purportedly takes to render a car model at Polyphony standards—about a month for the PSP version and up to six months for the PlayStation 3 versions—one can see how five years quickly passes.

Yamauchi said that he wasn't interested in outsourcing development on Gran Turismo PSP to another developer. He considered the prospect of handing off the driving sim to someone else "unthinkable."

So Polyphony plowed ahead, creating a fleet of 800 cars for the PSP version, some of which are "reduced and streamlined" from their PS3 versions, with more than 30 real-world tracks on which to race those cars.

According to Yamauchi, the PSP version of Gran Turismo is a "fully specced" entry in the ten-year-old series, telling Kotaku that "no matter who plays it, they'll know immediately that it's a Gran Turismo game."

"I want to stress that it's not a subset to the series," Yamauchi said, despite there being "limitations" to the PSP's hardware specifications. In fact, it one-ups previous Gran Turismo games by letting players trade and share unlocked vehicles with other driving enthusiasts wirelessly over ad hoc mode.

One hurdle that Polyphony Digital is dealing with right now is designing the PSP iteration for two platforms: the original PSP and the recently announced PSPgo. While the internal hardware may be largely identical, the feel of Sony's new, smaller PlayStation Portable is noticeably different. On the PSPgo, the analog nub controller has been relocated and the buttons have been redesigned. The new hardware has a cross-pad controller and face buttons that feel more digital, with a tighter click to them than on the original.

"We're still have some difficulties [with the PSPgo]," Yamauchi said. "It's something we're very focused on, because that's very difficult to get right." The GT creator typically opts for digital, not analog control when playing his own game.

So, why not offer the option to play with a PlayStation 3 controller, I asked, and make use of the "PSP Plus" technology for more accurate control?

"If you want to play on a PS3 controller," Yamauchi responded, "you'll have to play Gran Turismo 5." That also means no support for Logitech's Driving Force GT wheel. It's PSP controls or nothing.

The PSP game will take advantage of the PlayStation 3 in another sense. Gran Turismo PSP one of the titles that will support Ad Hoc Party mode, letting gamers use the PS3 as an ad hoc server, taking the PSP experience online. Ad Hoc Party software is currently only available in Japan, but Sony Computer Entertainment America reps say a domestic release is in the works.

But what Kazunori Yamauchi and Polyphony Digital focused on was welcoming new players to the series—and sticking to a solid 60 frames-per-second presentation.

"We'd really like people to remember how fun it is to drive cars," he said, hoping that Gran Turismo fans will take advantage of the game's local wireless mode to get players together to talk about cars, to let them play whenever and wherever they can.

I'm not a big racing fan. I play racing sims, and occasionally enjoy them, but they're certainly not my bread and butter. The same holds true for real life cars.

But when Turn 10 Studios ended their presentation on stage by loading up a video they created using Forza Motorsport 3's in-game video editor I was blown away.

The fact that everything happening on screen had to be actually done in-game is unbelievable, never mind the graphics.

Later, when I cornered the Turn 10 guys at Microsoft's after party, I asked them just how long it took to put that together. About a month, they said.

Capcom says that the new, yet to be titled, MotoGP will take the series in a "totally new and exciting direction, whilst remaining faithful to the world's premier motorcycle championships." So I guess rocket launchers are right out.

"We're working very closely with Capcom to take the MotoGP franchise to new heights," said Rik Alexander, head of Monumental Games. "No-one would question the experience of our team - what's amazing is the sheer energy which they're bringing to the project. Like Capcom, they want this to surpass everything that's come before, and so far they're very much on track."

More details on the new game, developed under the exclusive, five-year agreement Capcom has with Doma Sports, is expected "shortly."

The game serves as the debut of the Glu Snax line of iPhone titles, which featured bite-sized snippets of game play for a low prince - in this case, only $.99. In this case you get what you pay for. Pilot the Batmobile from Batman's underground base across the rooftops using the touch screen to angle jumps, activate afterburners, and fire weapons. All in all it's pretty much a minute worth of gameplay. It's quite nicely done and well thought out, but only a minute long. Interesting though, in a very quick diversion sort of way. Check it out on an iPod Touch or iPhone near you to see for yourself.

But if you're still on the fence over whether it's worth shelling out 60% of the full game's asking price for what's probably less than 10% of its content, read on, dear readers, read on.

Loved

• Graphics - Still a little sterile as far as the tracks are concerned (London excepted), but gorgeous nonetheless. Between the cars, in-car view and HDR lighting tricks this is the game you'll want to use if you're the type who has friends over just to show off how important your PS3 is to you and your home entertainment setup.
• Difficulty Curve - GT5P's got a new, improved assist mode for beginners, and it's the best I've seen in a racing game. Not only do you get an indicator for where the racing line is and when you need to brake, it actually tells you how fast you need to be going when you hit the braking-point. Very handy.
• Car Handling - No surprises here, it's the series' strength. Cars feel reasonably real, there's a marked difference between cars, blah blah blah. It's GT, you know the score, and even feels a little more forgiving than GT4, especially in some of the shittier cars. Oh, unless you turn off the assists. Then it's brutal as hell.

Hated

• Collision Modelling - The prettier and more realistic this game gets, the more its poor collision modelling stands out. I don't need to see scratches and broken glass on my car. What I do need - and what I expect of a series that's striving so hard for realism - is that when I hit a wall or another car, I feel like I've hit a wall or car. Not a stack of fluffy pillows stuffed with marshmallows.
• Six Tracks? - There's only six tracks, and even then, you spend most of the singleplayer events on only three of them (you race on the beautiful London track once). Those are slim pickings.
• The GRIND - The game's short on singleplayer content (I finished every event in just over a day), so it resorts to grinding to pad things out. Example: many races force you to buy a specific vehicle. So you have to repeatedly complete earlier races to get the cash for it, then usually only use the thing once. Next time you run into a car-specific race, you'll need to grind out the cash all over again. In a full GT game, this is fine, as there's a wealth of races to enter to spread things out and give you a little variety. With only a handful of tracks here, though, the grind is noticeable, and it's boring as hell.
• Online Play - I entered 30 online races, and not a single one was without serious issues. Cars blinked in and out of existence, and poor net code resulted in opponents that zoomed off into the distance at lightspeed, only to then reappear right in front of you. Makes racing, especially on packed circuits, really, really hard.

Look, as a demo, it's a good one. What's already on offer looks great, and feels great, so GT fans should have little doubt that when the full game's released - with hundreds of cars and dozens of tracks - Gran Turismo 5 will be everything they want it to be. But now, as a retail product? With a limited singleplayer experience and unstable online play, I just don't think it's worth $40. Not until they add more content or fix the online multiplayer, anyways.

Gran Turismo 5 Prologue was developed by Polyphony Digital, published by Sony Computer Entertainment and is due to be released on April 17. Retails for $39.99. Available on PlayStation 3. Played singleplayer events to completion, completed 30 online races.

Compatible with Xbox LIVE and PSN, players can register starting April 15th to track all sorts of neat stuff they do in GTA IV when it's released April 29th. In addition to ranking players by time to single player completion, tracking the first to complete 100% of the game and singling out the best in a Hall of Fame, something called the LCPD Police Blotter will be a virtual map listing every single-player crime committed in Liberty City, ever. Oh, and additional lists will be aggregated of various "physical milestones" like miles walked and bullets fired.

For the full details, hit the jump for the press release.

On April 29th Rockstar Games will release the most anticipated game of 2008, Grand Theft Auto IV. In addition to the game, the company is launching the Rockstar Social Club, a new website that will extend your experience of Grand Theft Auto IV and all future Rockstar Games titles.

The Rockstar Social Club is more than just a standard gaming site. It features all of the statistical leaderboards that gamers have come to expect, and combines them with performance-based competitions and awards.

Registration for the Rockstar Social Club begins on April 15th and anyone can sign up with their Xbox Gamertag and/or a PlayStation Network ID.

GTA IV, the first game featured on the Rockstar Social Club, has exciting features beyond multiplayer leaderboards, including:

* LCPD Police Blotter — A virtual map and tracker of single-player criminal activity logged in Liberty City from the aggregated data of millions of connected players - showing the most dangerous areas of town, most commonly used weapons and more.

* The Story Gang — This special single-player leaderboard recognizes players who complete Niko Bellic's main story arc of Grand Theft Auto IV - The leaderboard ranks players according to the total amount of playing time it's taken to complete the story, as well as a historical rank by who has completed it first. Members of this club will receive special online widgets and merit badges marking all of their in-game accomplishments.

* The 100% Club — Watch to see who will be the first to complete 100% of the game. The first ten people to be identified on the Social Club as reaching 100% will be sent an ultra-rare commemorative 'key to the city' to mark their accomplishment. In the future, the 100% Club will then carry a historical leaderboard showing rankings of who has completed 100% of a game in the shortest span of playing hours.

* The Hall of Fame — This area will dynamically recognize those singularly elite players who have reached the top of the hill on various statistical leaderboards, and will also contain a personal awards display of special in-game landmarks and successes in Social Club competitions.

* The Liberty City Marathon — A ranking of special physical milestones achieved in the game - from the amount of miles walked, driven, or swam - to the number of bullets fired and stunt-jumps jumped. There will be additional special marathon-based competitions in the future from this area as well.

The Rockstar Social Club doesn't stop there. With special competitions, leaderboards and challenges rolling out regularly in the weeks and months following the game's release, this is just the beginning of an on-going Liberty City experience and is a small taste of what's to come from Rockstar Games for GTAIV and beyond...

Gran Turismo 5 Prologue hits stores in North America on April 17 for $40, it will also be sold as a digital download for the same price on the Playstation Store. If you buy the disc version it comes packed with an extra behind-the-scenes high-def video called "Beyond the Apex".

The precursor to GTA5 will include 60 vehicles, 16 car online races at 60 frames per second and 1080p HD support. The game also supports online racing events, an in-cockpit view with real-time gauges and human animation and support of the vibration Dualshock controller.

"Ten years following the introduction of Gran Turismo(TM) on PS one(R), Gran Turismo 5 Prologue delivers the most realistic and technologically advanced racing experience on any platform," said Jeff Reese, director, software marketing, SCEA. "With 1080p graphics, revolutionary online features like Gran Turismo(TM) TV and the new in-cockpit racing view, the world'sbest-selling racing franchise will once again set the standard for racing games."

The game will launch with Gran Turismo TV, a dedicated online channel on the Playstation Network that will include worldwide motorsport programming.

Is it just me or is everyone else getting confused with all of these demos and prologues? I'm not sure if this is the best way to roll out a triple-A title. Hit the jump for the official fact sheet and a batch of new screens.

Gran Turismo™5 Prologue
FACT SHEET

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. (SCEA)
Developer: Polyphony Digital, Inc.
Platform: PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™)
Genre: Racing
Release: Spring 2008
Rating: "RP" for Rating Pending

OVERVIEW
With more than 47 million units shipped worldwide, the award-winning Gran Turismo™ franchise has raced far beyond a driving simulator experience; it is a global lifestyle. Setting the bar to unprecedented heights of realism, quality of design and physics technology with every product release, famed developer Polyphony Digital, Inc. continues to obscure the line between simulation and reality with the newest iteration of its blockbuster franchise, Gran Turismo™ 5 Prologue, exclusively for PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™).

Available on Blu-ray Disc and as a download via PLAYSTATION®Network, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue showcases the automotive experience that is imminent with Gran Turismo 5. Featuring over 60 meticulously detailed cars — including vehicles by Ferrari, Audi and Nissan — for users to race on five beautifully rendered reversible tracks from around the globe, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue runs in stunning1080p High Definition. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue will also introduce to the franchise an in-cockpit view, providing a unique perspective for racers and featuring real-time gauges and human animations that accurately represent the true performance and handling of each vehicle. Additionally, in conjunction with a robust offline experience, for the first time in the history of the franchise Gran Turismo 5 Prologue will support up to 16 players racing head-to-head online, complete with community events and leaderboards, to quell any question of who is the best driver in the "World of GT."

Dedicated to expanding the user's immersion in automotive culture, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue will feature access to Gran Turismo™ TV, a dedicated online channel available exclusively from PLAYSTATION Network that delivers some of the greatest motorsport and manufacturer content that television has to offer.

KEY FEATURES
• A first for the franchise, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue supports online racing with up to 16 drivers racing simultaneously on a beautifully rendered race track.
• Race more than 60 high-performance and exhaustively detailed cars, including vehicles from Ferrari, Audi, Nissan and Mitsubishi.
• Race on five stunningly realistic tracks, including the Eiger Nordwand, the London City Track and Suzuka.
• A new physics engine delivers next-generation vehicle handling. True to the heritage of the Gran Turismo franshise, this new physics engine provides unprecedented realism and authentic handling specific to each car.
• A new in-cockpit view provides a unique perspective for racers and features a customized dashboard for each of the cars in Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. Real-time gauges and human animations accurately represent the true performance and handling of each vehicle.
• All-new and improved opponent AI for a nail-biting and more strategic race racing experience.
• Access to Gran Turismo TV: a clearinghouse of great motoring TV (video) programming (both HD and SD - all broadcast quality) online through PLAYSTATION Network.
• To extend the realistic driving experience, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is also compatible with the new DUALSHOCK®3 controller, which has vibration functionality.
• Quick Tune facility allows you to adjust power, tires, suspension and more.
• Gran Turismo 5 Prologue runs in stunning High Definition at 1080p (race: 1080p-60fps, replay: 1080p-30fps)

"We are so excited to be releasing Grand Theft Auto IV," said Sam Houser, Founder and Executive Producer of Rockstar Games. "We've pushed ourselves very hard to make something incredible and hope the game sets a new benchmark for interactive entertainment."

Rockstar Games Announces Release Date for Grand Theft Auto IV

Next-generation Console Debut of the Grand Theft Auto Franchise Set for April 29, 2008

New York, NY - January 24, 2008 - Rockstar Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), is proud to announce the release date for Grand Theft Auto IV, the new title in the genre-defining Grand Theft Auto franchise. Developed by Rockstar North, Grand Theft Auto IV will be simultaneously available for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and will be in stores worldwide on April 29, 2008.

"We are so excited to be releasing Grand Theft Auto IV," said Sam Houser, Founder and Executive Producer of Rockstar Games. "We've pushed ourselves very hard to make something incredible and hope the game sets a new benchmark for interactive entertainment."

For more information, log onto http://www.rockstargames.com/IV

"Best European Import" - Marcel Horn; 2007 Audi TT
"Best Domestic Automobile" - Gary Cheney; 2007 Factory Five GTM
"Best Hot Rod" - Jim and Mike Ring; 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback
"Best Japanese Import" - Michael Chung; 2007 Nissan 350Z
"Best Truck / SUV" - Mike DeFord; 2007 Dodge Ram

Russ Swift, UK's top stunt driver, was hired by Microsoft to burn a good luck message with skid marks onto the parking lot of Battersea Power Station for Formula One racer Lewis Hamilton.

Swift created the Project Gotham Racing 4 stunt with a sports car, a motorcycle and three sets of tires. The end result: a 50-foot Go Lewis, meant to cheer Hamilton on for this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix.

Hit the jump for the full press release and unfortunate Freudian Slip.

LONDON WISHES 'GOOD LUCK' TO LEWIS HAMILTON WITH GIANT MESSAGE MADE OF CAR SKID MARKS

October 18th 2007: Battersea Power Station was engulfed with engine noise and screeching tyre smoke this morning, as a special message of good luck was embezzled onto the ground for Lewis Hamilton ahead of this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix, which could see him walk away as Formula One World Champion.

As these pictures show, the message was created entirely by the skid marks of a sports car and a motorbike, using blistering wheelspins and breakneck handbrake turns to lay rubber onto the tarmac to produce the words 'Go Lewis!' in giant 50-foot lettering.

And while bemused onlookers assumed the stunt was related to the filming of the new Batman movie, currently taking place at the iconic Battersea landmark, it was in fact nothing to do with the the caped hero of Gotham City - but a very different type of Gotham. The message was created for the launch of the biggest racing game yet on the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft®, 'Project Gotham Racing 4™' (Bizarre Creations/Microsoft Games Studio), a high-adrenalin arcade racing title which rewards players with death-defying slides and sideways driving. The concept of 'Skid Art' is also the theme of the Project Gotham Racing 4 TV advertisement currently being aired.

Driving the Caterham sports car in the pictures was the UK's top stunt driver, Russ Swift, who got through three sets of tyres to create the image.

Xbox wishes Lewis Hamilton the very best of luck in Brazil this weekend!

With short shorts and body paint in full force, cars may look like they're underrepresented at the Leipzig Messe. Wrong! They're everywhere. And there are a lot of Volkswagens.

Lexus brings Virtual Open to Rockefeller Center New Yorkers can participate in ultimate tennis experience for chance to win a one-year lease on a new Lexus IS F NEW YORK —As the world's professional tennis players vie for greatness at the US Open, New Yorkers will have the opportunity to share the experience at the Lexus Virtual Open at Rockefeller Center during the second week of the tournament. Participants can compete on a scaled down version of a tennis court for the chance to win a one-year lease on a new Lexus IS F and tickets to the US Open finals.

Tennis and gaming enthusiasts will take to the virtual courts at Rockefeller Center, in the heart of New York City, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sept. 4-6. Professional tennis player and ESPN on-court analyst Luke Jensen will instruct participants and provide commentary as they compete on Nintendo's Wii console. For each serve hit during the virtual tournament, Lexus will donate $1 to the Andy Roddick Foundation (up to $30,000).

"As a sponsor of the US Open we created this event to bring the excitement of Flushing Meadows to Manhattan," said Steve Jett, Lexus national marketing communications manager. "There's nothing like the thrill of competing in the US Open, and while tennis enthusiasts may never experience the roar of the crowd and feel the courts beneath their feet, the Lexus Virtual Open at Rockefeller Center gives them the opportunity to get a taste of it—and win a one-year lease on a new IS F performance sedan, the same vehicle Lexus is awarding to the Men's Singles Champion."

The top two scorers will compete on Sept. 6 for the chance to win the grand prize, a one- year lease on a Lexus IS F and two tickets to watch the US Open finals in the Lexus Luxury Suite on Sunday, Sept. 9. The runner up will receive two tickets to watch the US Open semi-finals on Sept. 8 in the Lexus Luxury Suite.
The event is open to the public. For more information about the Lexus Virtual Open at Rockefeller Center, participants can log on to myownpursuit.com.