The car-racing video game “Gran Turismo (GT) Sport” will be officially unveiled by game developer Polyphony Digital and game publisher Sony Computer Entertainment in London this week.
According to reports, Polyphony and Sony shall be bringing the “GT Sport” to London in a huge event for journalists and fans alike. It will be a two-day event to be held at the East London’s Copper Box Arena from May 19 to May 20, cites Alphr.
The event shall also be the first time that the public can play the game. The event will also display nine full-scale Vision Gran Turismo concept cars, plus two quarter-scale models on display.
The event can also be seen live via the official Gran Turismo YouTube channel and the official PlayStation YouTube channel on both days.
A “GT Sport” championship contest shall ensue with a pre-season test for two of the new FIA-approved Gran Turismo Championship Cups – the Manufacturer Fan Cup Pre-Season Test and the Nations Cup Pre-Season Test.
While the launching of “GT Sport” is already confirmed, Sony and Polyphony have yet to give a release date of the game exclusively on the PlayStation 4. Critics believe that the game can come out either late this year or early in 2017.
‘GT Sport’ is not ‘Gran Turismo 7’
Sony Computer Entertainment and Polyphony Digital have already made it clear that “GT Sport” is not “Gran Turismo 7” and that the former is not a prologue of the latter.
But there are rumors saying that “Gran Turismo 7” could come out as a proper sequel to “GT Sport.
What seems clear at this point is that once Polyphony Digital launches the “GT Sport” later this week, it can actually focus its efforts on the development of “Gran Turismo 7.” With the timeline of the release date of “GT Sport,” it is likely that “Gran Turismo 7” might exclusively come out of the PlayStation 4 either in 2018 or 2019.
While there have been rumors saying that the development of “GT Sport” has been delayed after it reportedly missed its supposed March deadline, Sony Europe Vice President Phillipe Cardon confirmed that the game will be among the game titles that will come out in 2016, reports iDigital Times.
Shattering the hopes of ‘Gran Turismo 7’ fans
While much of the gamers of the “Gran Turismo” car racing video game franchise were pinning their hopes that “Gran Turismo 7” will officially come out of the PlayStation 4 this year, their hopes and optimism were shattered to pieces by game developer Polyphony Digital when it announced that it would instead be rolling out “GT Sport.”
During the Paris Games Week held in late October last year, Polyphony launched “GT Sport” although it did not disclose the game’s official roll out date to the PlayStation 4.
What the developer said back then was that a beta version of “GT Sport” shall be released this year before its full version comes out exclusively on the Sony gaming console.
Fans thought back then that “GT Sport” is actually “Gran Turismo 7” but no less than Jim Ryan, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe debunked those notions.
He also quashed perceptions that “GT Sport” is to be the prologue of “Gran Turismo 7,” saying that the two are completely different car racing video games but obviously from the same DNA.
Kazunori Yamauchi, the game director of the “Gran Turismo” video game franchise confirmed that “Gran Turismo 7” is a completely different game from “GT Sport” but he admitted that only a fine line distinguishes one from the other.
He explained that back in the old days when the games were basically played offline, the experience was defined by what’s on the disc so gamers can easily differentiate between a prologue and a full GT, describing the difference as very stark.
However, he added that when the game became more of an online connected experience, the distinction also becomes blurry.