Gran Turismo Sport is not Gran Turismo 7
And Sony's confident people will be playing Gran Turismo on PS4 next year.
Gran Turismo Sport, the newly announced PlayStation 4 driving simulation from Polyphony Digital, is not Gran Turismo 7, Sony has confirmed - though Sony insists it'll be more substantial than the Prologue games that have prefaced mainline Gran Turismo games in the past.
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's president and CEO Jim Ryan provided some clarity in the wake of Sony's conference at Paris Games Week.
"We're not announcing Gran Turismo 7 at this stage," he told Eurogamer.
"Fair to say [series director Kazunori Yamauchi] has been making these games for some considerable time now. I think it's reasonable to assume that something else might come down the road. Is it a Prologue? No, I think it'll be more than that.
"The old days, when the games were offline, the experience was defined by what's on the disc. You had a distinction between a Prologue and a full GT, it was very stark. When the game becomes more of an online connected experience, that distinction blurs. This will be much more than a Prologue type experience."
Details on Gran Turismo Sport were thin during the announcement last night, with Yamauchi choosing to focus on the partnership with the FIA that was announced last year.
Some more tidbits have emerged since, with dedicated Gran Turismo site GTPlanet revealing that Gran Turismo Sport will have three separate modes, with 'Campaign', 'Sports Mode' and 'Arcade Mode' all featuring. There'll be a focus on online racing, with virtual championships that will be officially recognised by motorsport's governing body the FIA.
Yamauchi also revealed there would be a beta early next year, which would suggest people will be playing it sooner rather than later. Given Yamauchi's past of making promises he can't quite hold to, is Sony confident people will be playing Gran Turismo on PS4 next year?
"Yeah, we're confident," said Ryan. "There's nothing at this stage to suggest that he won't deliver on what was said. He's obviously been working on this for a while now, it's been a while since GT6 released, so we're confident."
