14 DAY TRIAL // At the pre Gamescom press conference in Cologne publisher Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has announced that the long awaited and delayed Gran Turismo 5 would be launched in all the markets it controls on November 3.
The racing title is one of the games that Sony hopes will fuel the growth of the PlayStation 3 home gaming console during the final months of this year.
The November 3 launch date in Europe for Gran Turismo 5 comes just one day after the official date for North America.
The game has been repeatedly delayed, with the executive producer recently commenting that work still had to be done before it could be shipped.
Gran Turismo 5 is set to simulate no less than 1,000 cars, ranging from some all electric and hybrid vehicles to experimental and limited edition supercars.
About 200 of the cars have received special attention from the developers, with full damage modeling depending on a variety of physical factors and with the entire interior of the vehicle perfectly simulated.
The other 800 cars will get less details, with interchangeable interiors and limited damage model.
The amount of tracks that Gran Turismo 5 will include will not be as mind boggling but thanks to variants there will be more than 70 circuits that the player will need to master.
This autumn Sony is preparing for two big launches that will likely shape the future of the PlayStation 3.
The PlayStation Move is a motion tracking system that will arrive in September and will allow the Sony console to directly compete with the Nintendo Wii, attracting a pottentially wider array of players and buyers.
The company is also talking about the way three dimensional gaming will revolutionize the way video games are played and enjoyed, with the PlayStation 3 set to get full three dimensional capabilities via a firmware update at some point in the near future.