Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Sells More Than a Million

There are times when being a gamer and a games journalist seems a bit alien. Times when you think of the way to introduce a story and it seems that telling it straight as it is will not suffice because of the apparent madness contained in the news itself. The headline above is proof enough.

Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is a racing game produced by Polyphony Digital and distributed by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. The announcement that it went Platinum even before being officially released was made by Dave Hine and Paul Gunn of Sony Computer Entertainment of New Zealand while talking to the GeekPulp site. The game is expected to continue to attract sales in the time left till the March 26 PSN release date and then March 27 retail store release date. It is the first time a PS3 game reaches 1 million unit sales without being out yet.

What drives a gamer to buy a game that isn't even out? Yes, some will argue that the Gran Turismo series has been excellent in every way and, more importantly, in every game. It can be argued that GT4 is the best racing game on the market at the moment, with superior physics, and impressive array of cars (721 if anyone is counting) and great tracks.

Some will argue that the game already gathered positive reviews from some media outlets and that most buyers have judged that as proof enough that the game will be good. Some will point out that the series has already surpassed 48 million in sales and is set to break 50 million in a few weeks.

Yet to me, there's a certain insanity in the news that Gran Turismo 5 Prologue has been ordered 1 million times already, with more than a week remaining until it hits the PlayStation Network and then stores. Once the game ships and players get their hands on the controllers, we'll see if buying it in advance was a smart move or not.