Just four more days until Gran Turismo 4 ships in the US market. I can barely contain my
enthusiasm! Though, sadly, my own personal internal hype machine for
GT4 died about two weeks ago. I'm now merely excited, rather than moist with anticipation.
To tide you over, here's your chance to see the absolutely gorgeous intro movie from the game. Say what you will about
Polyphony, they know how to create a gorgeous, captivating intro to their releases. Even Prologue's intro rocked, and
that was a joke of a game.
No word yet on if we're getting the special European features of the game in the US market. You see, the fine folk in
Europe, who have to wait until next month, are getting 12 extra cars. Now I don't especially care about that (though
the Volkswagen is nice). What I DO care about is the feature to switch from driving (A-Spec) to management (B-Spec)
during pitstops. That would make the endurance races far more realistic as you could simulate the mandatory driver
changes that are required under the rules in all endurance races that I know of.
Of course, given how SCEA have treated the US market before with GT, my guess is we'll just get the plain Japanese
version, meaning it's all or nothing in the endurance races. And there are three 24 hour races. And no, you can't save
the game midrace. Ridiculous design decision.
Engadget
TUAW