Toyota Gets Special Gran Turismo 4 Version

Thanks to GamesAsylum for the news that Toyota have commissioned a special car-specific version of Gran Turismo 4, to encourage Japanese consumers to buy its latest hybrid car. In this Toyota Prius-featuring deal, "Toyota have installed GT Force Pro steering wheel equipped PlayStation 2 booths running the game in their Japanese showrooms, so customers can have a virtual test drive." The Magic Box has some more screenshots of the special Gran Turismo 4 Prius Trial Version, which will be available to play next month, ahead of the game's release, and is "not for resale".

Awesome screenshots

[Sevn]

They actually make the car not look half bad. The only problem I have with most modern cars is this insistance on front wheel drive. I simply can not stand front wheel drive. Right now my project car is a 1991 Galant VR4. AWD is very cool. Put AWD in a car with 4 doors, comfortable seats, and a stick. Make sure that car only weighs 3200 pounds and I'm mighty happy. I have the engine yanked and I'm going to rebore and put forged pistons in it so I can increase boost significantly. I like a comfortable 4 door that handles.

Re:Awesome screenshots

[innosent]

Yeah, the only question I have is: Is the game realistic enough to show you getting passed by all the other models?

But yeah, it's another crappy econobox FWD. But people buy econoboxen because they can't afford better cars, and the company they buy from has some cool marketing gimmick. Cheap cars don't have to be built well, handle well, or perform well. They just have to get good gas mileage and either look good or be cheaper than the competition. Not all FWD cars are bad, just the cheap ones. The major problem is the open diffs. A good FWD car with a good suspension and a Limited Slip Differential (Integra Type R, Sentra SE-R SpecV, GTI, etc.) will handle as well as a RWD car, just look at BTCC (British Touring Car Champ...) as an example.

Either that, or they're like me, and have to buy something cheap and quick because they just blew the engine in their car (91 Mazda RX-7, now rebuilt with a 480HP built Chevy 350, and therefore REALLY expensive to drive around for fun at $1.60/gal. [~8-10mpg])

I remember

[the Man in Black]

I remember something like this at the North American Internation Auto Show in Detroit several years back. PSX machines running GT2 (if memory serves) hooked up to big screens with cushy seats so people could "virtual test drive" some Big Three cars. Pretty nifty, given Gran Turismo's notoriety for simulation level physics. I say take it a step farther and release a version of GT with actual local city streets, traffic, etc. for this type of demonstration.

This could get pretty cool with the GT4 engine. Imagine driving a virtual Viper past Cobo Hall complete with NAIAS lights and signs on it.

OK, I'm babbling. Being a computer dork and a car dork at the same time is difficult, so bear with me.

Hrmmmm

[The-Bus]

Why do I want to drive a Prius in Gran Turismo? I play Gran Turismo so I can drive S4s and Ruf CTR-2s, not cars my mom would own.

Re:Awesome screenshots

[Sevn]

Money.

It really comes down to that. I picked up the galant vr4 in bad shape for 3000. I've stripped the body to the frame and had it repainted black. I located a new creme leather interior. I picked the springs, shocks, and porsche big brake kit I wanted. I've got all the stainless steel lines and everything else I wanted. I've got the superturismo's I wanted. The tires I wanted. The 3 inch aluminum exhaust I wanted. Now I'm concentrating on the engine/turbo. I'm aiming for 20 pounds of street boost with a push to 40-45 on a dash switch using an electronic boost controller. I should see 10's with little effort. I'd also like to steal the fastest Galant VR4 title. I think the current fastest galant vr4 is 11.2. I'm going to try to do it non-nitrous and leaving the weight pretty much stock at around 3200. I'll probably have to add a roll cage and a fuel cell though. I'm going the DSM/Galant route because it's been done before. I've never really seen a 10 or even 11 second Subaru AWD. I'll let someone else figure that out. :) The end goal is a street car that isn't all lamed out like those hondas with huge tail spoilers that do NOTHING but look stupid. No gay neon. No gay stickers. Just a very well engineered sophisticated car that is comfortable and can obliterate a viper without really trying on normal boost, then go to the track and keep up with the rest of the insanely fast DSM's there. It has been done before with the Galante, so it's a safe way to proceed. I'm currently under budget and liking that.

Why not sell or give away these special versions?

[Mattb90]

Polyphony have now gone through quite a few special one car/manufacturer versions of GT3/4, but every one has never been released to the public. Instead they remain only in showrooms - but this in itself presents the problem of limitation; after all, they need PS2 pods and steering wheels at each showroom, and thus only a limited amount of people get to see it (especially as only a few showrooms will carry the pods and game).

Therefore I believe the best thing SCEI/Polyphony and the companies involve can do is get these demos into the public domain. Getting the demos out to the mainstream audience through things like magazine CDs (read: OPS2M) allows people to sit at home and admire both the game and the car(s) involved. Playing again and again will let people become convince to buy a car, rather than a short play with a sales person watching over you.

Sure, the current method allows the companies to convince the almost converted to purchase the car, but if the people at home who hadn't even thought about the car see a demo version and like it, then they may go out and purchase both the car and GT4 - a success for both companies involved.