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PlayStation (Games) Entertainment Games

Gran Turismo 4 Demo Quietly Released In U.S. 57

Posted by simoniker from the well-i-never dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Sony has seen fit to release Gran Turismo 4: Prologue in both Europe and Japan, but the U.S. arm of the company chose not to ship it in the States. The result? Only importers and select members of the media have been able to play the game. Thankfully a limited U.S. demo has turned up from a very non-gaming source, according to GamePro.com, who explain how to navigate through the Toyota web site and request a Toyota Prius-specific two track demo of Gran Turismo 4, completely free of charge. The demo is playable on a standard U.S. PlayStation 2 console. I wonder if Toyota made enough copies of the demo to satisfy every PS2 owner in America?" We previously reported on the Japanese version of this disc, released last September.
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Gran Turismo 4 Demo Quietly Released In U.S. More

Gran Turismo 4 Demo Quietly Released In U.S.

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  • America is handed the shaft again! When will those companies realize that as a culture, americans are much more prone to throw money at something? Give away a million copies of the demo, you'll sell 2 million copies of the game. Thank God for Bit-Torrent and PS2 hacks.... Anyway, the game still looks Awesome, and I hope to have a copy of it opening day - Set up a temt outside the EB in the mall, make a campfire, sing some songs till a guard tries to run me off... Good times, good times.

    • Re:Aieee!!! (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Acidic_Diarrhea ( 641390 )

      "When will those companies realize that as a culture, americans are much more prone to throw money at something?"

      Funny, I didn't know this had been established. In your in-depth cultural studies of various countries/regions around the world, what culture did you find was second most likely to "throw money at something?" [By the way, your assertion is foolish, at best - judgemental, xenophobic, and prejudiced at worst.]

      With that being said, I ordered the G4 demo disc from the Toyota site and while it confi

      • They may be providing the G4 demo with every request, because I selected two vehicles, and it listed the G4 DVD twice, with the second occurrence supressed as a duplicate.
    • Thats what I did. I bought GT:Prologue months ago. I also have GT:Concept Tokyo and many other cool games months before the US gets them ;)
    • "looks awesome"

      Yeah I'm pretty amazed by the screens I've seen. It's the first game I've seen with depth of field effects, very impressive.

  • Aw... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Syuveil ( 449108 )
    Doesn't appear Canadians can get it :(

  • Success! (Score:4, Informative)

    by lambent ( 234167 ) on Wednesday June 02, 2004 @11:19PM (#9322377)
    Your request was submitted successfully. We appreciate the opportunity to serve you.

    ITEMS ORDERED STATUS
    2004 Prius Brochure - Valid to Fulfill
    2004 Matrix Brochure - Valid to Fulfill
    Gran Tourismo 4 DVD - Valid to Fulfill
    2004 Prius Accessory Brochure - Out of Stock
    Gran Tourismo 4 DVD - Suppressed Duplicate Rule
    2004 Matrix Accessory Brochure - Valid to Fulfill
    College Graduate Rebate Flyer - Valid to Fulfill

    Looks like you get the Gran Tourismo demo with the Matrix, too. Unfortunately, they appear too clever to send me two copies.

    I find it humourous that they have more copies of the game than of certain parts of the literature brochure (which i'm actually interested in ... however, it shouldn't surprise me as the local toyota dealership told me that there's at least a 4 month waiting list for the prius in this area)
    • Strange that the ordering length is so long on a prius, its been like that for a while now. You'd think they'd catch on to demand and schedule more production time for it. Its in their benefit, after all.

    • Re:Success! (Score:1, Redundant)

      by startled ( 144833 )
      Aye, another success here-- just hit up for Matrix, and it automatically sent Gran Tourismo DVD. Cool.
    • ITEMS ORDERED STATUS 2004 MR2 Spyder Brochure Out of Stock 2004 Prius Brochure Valid to Fulfill Gran Tourismo 4 DVD Valid to Fulfill College Graduate Rebate Flyer Valid to Fulfill Gran Tourismo 4 DVD Suppressed Duplicate Rule 2004 Prius Accessory Brochure Out of Stock Dammit - the only other Interesting Toyota, the MR2, and Its out of stock? Who else thinks they were /.'ed?
    • ITEMS ORDERED STATUS

      2004 Prius Brochure Out of Stock
      Gran Tourismo 4 DVD Valid to Fulfill
      2004 Prius Accessory Brochure Out of Stock

      I'm extremely amused. I figured I'd be getting some Toyota propaganda with my game, and as it turns out, I'm ONLY getting what I wanted... Happy day!

  • I just hit the submit button and now I'm wondering how soon I can expect to get it (assuming supplies last)... any chance I'll get it before the game is released (I'm on the east coast)?

    • Re:How long to get it? (Score:5, Informative)

      by icannotpickone ( 605177 ) on Thursday June 03, 2004 @12:09AM (#9322614)
      Since I've been considering purchasing a Prius, I ordered it (the demo, not the car)about 2 or 3 weeks ago, and it arrived today. People really aren't missing much by not having this demo. There are 2 cars (one of which is the Prius, the other is the "Motor Triathlon Race Car") and 2 tracks. The second track can only be played with the Race Car. The worst part? The demo is limited to 2 minutes of drive time, then the race ends.
      • The demo is limited to 2 minutes of drive time, then the race ends.

        so they simulated the electric battery life too then?
        • Don't know much about the Prius, do you?

          Yes, I own one.
          • You don't know much about humour, do you?
            • Evidently more than you. That wasn't funny, it was just incorrect and stupid. Now, if the Prius actually *did* have a battery life limit, then it might have been funny.
              • So jokes are only amusing if they are factually correct? I think I missed that meeting.

                Well if you insist... given that recent Gran Turismo games can be set to simulate tyre degradation from new to unusable in around 50 miles, simulating the complete discharge of the battery power systems and therefore making Prius to unable to race competitively because only 1 of it's 2 power systems are able to run after 2 minutes is in fact an internally consistent scenario and a valid comparison. You may laugh now.
                • Jokes aren't amusing if they're stupid. They don't have to be true, but there has to be a basis in fact, or at least people's perceptions. For example:

                  How was copper wire invented?
                  Many years ago, two Jews found the same penny.

                  is funny (even though it's not true), because it plays off of the perception of Jews as streotypically stingy. If you told the same joke about, say, philanthropists, it wouldn't be funny at all.

            • Lad, humor doesn't workj if there isn't a basis in reality. That's what makes it funny. If the Prius has a poor battery life, then it would be funny... but considering the Prius is a hybrid and will switch between battery and gas, depending on driving conditions, then, no, it isn't funny and it isn't humor.
        • Well I thought it was funny...
      • I'm kinda bummed that a Prius video game exists and I don't have a PS2 to play it. Oh well. Good luck getting a Prius--waiting lists are at a year in some places, and dealers have figured out that they can charge premium prices...going up as far as US$12,000 higher than MSRP in some cases. I've had my new Prius for about two months, and I absolutely love it. It's the perfect geek car and it's a video game itself--you'll drive it with an eye on the consumption screen, trying to squeeze every bit of mileage

  • Wonder if Dealers Have the Discs Too (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Neon Spiral Injector ( 21234 ) on Wednesday June 02, 2004 @11:40PM (#9322478)
    I know in Japan they were giving the discs away with Prius test drives (that may have been mentioned in the previous /. article). I'll have to ask my brother who's a salesman at a local dealer. Maybe he can snag me a copy or two if they have them there.
  • We should try and /. Toyota's website.
  • 2004 Prius Accessory Brochure Out of Stock

  • Not missing too much (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I got this on Friday, when it came out in the UK. I can understand why US gamers are upset at the lack of a release, although I'm not too sympathetic, as it's more normal for us Euros to get shafted.

    However, you're not missing too much with this. GT4 Prologue has 5 tracks (plus two short-version tracks and an oval test-track) and about 60 cars. There is no car customisation, and the cars are overwhelmingly Japanese and not really the most inspiring bunch. You can only race against AI opponents on 3 of thos
  • I'm a bit miffed about the fact that GT4P doesn't support the Logitech Momo Force (the red one) steering wheel like GT3 did. Sure, it's originally a PC wheel and it just happened to work nicely with several PS2 games but the lack of support on GT4P is still a bit disappointing.

    Oh well, the new Driving Force Pro looks very tasty with it's 900 degree turn radius and rack&pinion mechanism so I'll probably have to get one of those to play GT4(P) and use the Momo for the rest..

  • I hardly think that a vehicle like the Prius is a good way to showcase a game like GT4.

    Unless the racing has been replaced by "fuel economy."

    Now give me a demo with just the new Subaru WRX variant, and we have something...
  • I did not see it posted so here is the link to the order form:
    https://gotoyota.programhq.com/activity/aspx/tybrp /toyota.aspx [programhq.com]

    All you need to do is request a Prius brochure and they will send you a brochure and the GT4 DVD.
  • Does anyone have a car list for GT4 final? I could really care less about the demo right now.

  • ITEMS ORDERED STATUS
    2004 Prius Brochure Out of Stock
    2004 Tundra Brochure Valid to Fulfill
    Gran Tourismo 4 DVD Out of Stock
    2004 Prius Accessory Brochure Out of Stock
    2004 Tundra Accessory Brochure Valid to Fulfill
  • ...but officially, the Gran Turismo 4: Prologue demo is not to be released over here in Europe; at least, not here in the UK. So, looks like you guys arent alone in missing out...

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