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PlayStation (Games) Entertainment Games

Toyota Gets Special Gran Turismo 4 Version 49

Posted by simoniker from the special-mario-moustache-trimmer-version-due dept.
Thanks to GamesAsylum for the news that Toyota have commissioned a special car-specific version of Gran Turismo 4, to encourage Japanese consumers to buy its latest hybrid car. In this Toyota Prius-featuring deal, "Toyota have installed GT Force Pro steering wheel equipped PlayStation 2 booths running the game in their Japanese showrooms, so customers can have a virtual test drive." The Magic Box has some more screenshots of the special Gran Turismo 4 Prius Trial Version, which will be available to play next month, ahead of the game's release, and is "not for resale".
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Toyota Gets Special Gran Turismo 4 Version More

Toyota Gets Special Gran Turismo 4 Version

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  • well (Score:5, Funny)

    by toddhunter ( 659837 ) on Thursday September 25, 2003 @12:29AM (#7052064)
    Sounds like a pretty good idea. But then anything is good as long as car companies do something other than those annoying ads that have killed so many top songs lately.
    • It's a very good idea. Beats the hell out of pillaging the song archives, I agree with that!

      In fact, this is such a good idea I can't believe it's taken this long for a car company to come up with this.

      I hate advertising in it's many forms, but this is a form I'd actually accept. It's original and inventive.

      Of course they could go all out and have the Mitsubishi's etc... in it, but hamstring them so you can't possibly lose driving a Toyota:)

      • Re:well (Score:2, Interesting)

        by nelsonal ( 549144 )
        I've heard that Subaru was surprised by the demand for the first Impreza WRXs that they offered for sale over here, and buyers were citing the GT series as one of the major reasons for buying them.
        • Interesting. I know there was a rare Subaru available in the game. 22 something or other. (Been a while since I played it.) I managed to get two of them.

          If that IS true, that's pretty cool, since it will encourage more car makers to licence their cars for games.

  • fun to drive. (Score:1, Offtopic)

    by buttahead ( 266220 )
    at least we have something to do in the booths this year... besides show up the american competition.

  • Awesome screenshots (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Sevn ( 12012 ) on Thursday September 25, 2003 @01:07AM (#7052259) Homepage Journal
    They actually make the car not look half bad. The only problem I have with most modern cars is this insistance on front wheel drive. I simply can not stand front wheel drive. Right now my project car is a 1991 Galant VR4. AWD is very cool. Put AWD in a car with 4 doors, comfortable seats, and a stick. Make sure that car only weighs 3200 pounds and I'm mighty happy. I have the engine yanked and I'm going to rebore and put forged pistons in it so I can increase boost significantly. I like a comfortable 4 door that handles.
    • Yeah, the only question I have is: Is the game realistic enough to show you getting passed by all the other models?

      But yeah, it's another crappy econobox FWD. But people buy econoboxen because they can't afford better cars, and the company they buy from has some cool marketing gimmick. Cheap cars don't have to be built well, handle well, or perform well. They just have to get good gas mileage and either look good or be cheaper than the competition. Not all FWD cars are bad, just the cheap ones. The ma
      • Oh yeah, as a follow up: Anyone want to buy a 2002 Hyundai Accent base model with no A/C and factory dents (dealer hit it parking) on the driver's side? It's a sarcGREAT/sarc car!
      • They can handle just as well on paper, but they do not feel the same. I can't stand the way a FWD car feels. I love RWD but absolutely prefer a good AWD setup. I have owned an driven FWD cars when I need something cheap. And I completely agree with you on the open diff. The most fun I've ever had with a FWD car was with a friends souped up integra. But it STILL doesn't feel as good to me as a really good RWD car like an E36 or any of a handful of midship RWD cars do. There are great examples of good, cheap
        • The 4 door M3 is a sweet car. I can't stand something too heavy.

          the BMW M3 is a 2-door coupe/convertible [edmunds.com]. You're probably thinking of the M5 [edmunds.com].
          • Actually, no. I'm talking about a 1997-1999 4 door e36 BMW M3. You've probably never seen one before. [autoprotection.com] The M5 weights 3900 friggin pounds. Think before you post please.
            • I'm talking about a 1997-1999 4 door e36 BMW M3

              Oh, you mean the old M3 [edmunds.com]. I guess my unthinking self figured who wouldn't mind 700 additional pounds if it meant 160 extra horses and 130 ft./lbs. of torque [edmunds.com]. Not to mention the standard 6-speed stick getting you from 0-60 in 5 flat.

              When I see e36s on the highway, they're generally beat-up pieces of shit that some privileged teenager whined and complained to get.

              Glad you like them, though. Good on ya'.
              • What a way to defend being completely wrong about something and knowing not what you were talking about. Do you have any idea how easy it is to get 400hp out of an e36 m3? Granted, it's a little harder with ODBII, but you end up with a car that will absolutely smoke an M5 or the new M3 for considerably less money. Do some research into Active Autowerke. They have packages for around 16 grand that can push the superb 3.2 liter BMW v6 to 600hp. For that matter, it's ridiculously easy to obtain and install the
      • (91 Mazda RX-7, now rebuilt with a 480HP built Chevy 350, and therefore REALLY expensive to drive around for fun at $1.60/gal. [~8-10mpg])

        You shoehorned a General Motors small-block 350 cu. in. engine into a space where a Mazda rotary engine formerly lived. Outside of the sheer physical impossibility, the finances involved (replacing bottom end, custom making motor mounts, custom GM tranny magically made to fit a Mazda, new computer, etc. etc.) would be completely ridiculous. This makes me want to call
        • Granny's Speed Shop [grannysspeedshop.com] makes the motor and tranny mounts, it fits, and with the Richmond T10 I have, actually uses the stock driveshaft (with a TH400 front yoke). There are actually a lot of cars I've seen with this swap, but most are just a crate motor. I just took the time/money to build up the block (Steel Crank, Eagle 4340 H-beam rods, .030" over JE Lightweight Pistons, Dart Pro1 230cc heads). As for the computer, sometimes using the latest technology is just a headache, so a Holley 750cfm four-barrel c
          • Well, I retract my earlier nonsense then. I am a dumb monkey.

            I bet the 350 in that feather-weight RX-7 body really hauls.

            I'd be jealous if I wasn't so broke.
          • As for the computer, sometimes using the latest technology is just a headache, so a Holley 750cfm four-barrel carb works fine, thanks

            hence the 8-10 mpg on an engine that can get twice that with the same horsepower.
      • FYI, a GTI doesn't handle as well as you would think. My friend totaled his 2003 by overestimating the handling, it has way too much body roll from the factory. You really need a 1-2" drop and possibly some swaybars to make it handle like it should. Have you heard of the R32 though? 240hp 3.2L V6, AWD shoved into a kitted-out GTI IV body. Coming to the States sometime in the near future, probably around $30,000 at launch. It's a not-so-direct competitor to the Evo and WRX STi.
    • Amen to that. After having owned two Talon TSi AWDs (a 95 and a 93), I can honestly say I never want to buy a FWD car ever again. (Of course, that's not to say I won't drive one, but spend money on one, nah!)

      Btw- Mad props for the GVR4. DSMs rule :)
    • AWD, What about Subaru (Impreza and others) ?

      • Re:Awesome screenshots (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Sevn ( 12012 )
        Money.

        It really comes down to that. I picked up the galant vr4 in bad shape for 3000. I've stripped the body to the frame and had it repainted black. I located a new creme leather interior. I picked the springs, shocks, and porsche big brake kit I wanted. I've got all the stainless steel lines and everything else I wanted. I've got the superturismo's I wanted. The tires I wanted. The 3 inch aluminum exhaust I wanted. Now I'm concentrating on the engine/turbo. I'm aiming for 20 pounds of street boost with a
        • http://www.rigoliracing.com.au/bestets.htm Anything can be made to go fast. The reason you've probably never seen a 10 sec scoob is because the Subaru performance market is still pretty small in the US compared to Mitsubishi. Getting much larger though. There are however, many 11 sec WRX's in the states currently. And I haven't even touched on the STi's. Your Mitsu sounds pretty dern cool BTW. It's all about the AWD.
          • WOW. I actually like the WRX's a lot. It's one of very few "almost perfect cars from the factory". I had no idea people were getting them to go that fast. Here it's mostly pissed off mustang and camero and chevelle guys that have their panties in a bunch because they got smoked by a highly tuned honda (done right) or DSM. Given the proper budget to do it right, I'd get one and start ripping it apart. I'd be MORE interested in going nuts on an evo though. I love the lancer look. Of course, my wild wet dream
            • I can't leave my house without seeing at least 2 mustangs. I swear it's the most common boring car in America. A heavily modded EVO would be sweet, I prefer the EVO VI and VII over the new one though. But more then any of those, I would rather drop a USDM STi block into my 2000 RS. 300HP in a chassis significantly lighter than its intended host is a beautiful thing. And it's smog legal! That VR4 looks pretty cool, not exactly my cup o' tea but it does look impressive number wise. I prefer smaller cars. A

  • I remember (Score:3, Insightful)

    by the Man in Black ( 102634 ) <jasonrashaadNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Thursday September 25, 2003 @01:54AM (#7052486) Homepage
    I remember something like this at the North American Internation Auto Show in Detroit several years back. PSX machines running GT2 (if memory serves) hooked up to big screens with cushy seats so people could "virtual test drive" some Big Three cars. Pretty nifty, given Gran Turismo's notoriety for simulation level physics. I say take it a step farther and release a version of GT with actual local city streets, traffic, etc. for this type of demonstration.

    This could get pretty cool with the GT4 engine. Imagine driving a virtual Viper past Cobo Hall complete with NAIAS lights and signs on it.

    OK, I'm babbling. Being a computer dork and a car dork at the same time is difficult, so bear with me.
  • Anybody notice in the second to last screenshot how it looks like its driving in a pack of regular street cars (granted its on a track)?

    I've always wondered if it would be fun to have a game with the open-endedness of Grand Theft Auto, but the graphics of Gran Turismo (in w/e its current version is). And it wouldn't be on a track either.

    It would be a regular street, in fact, best would be realistically modelled cities that you could drive around in any number of types of cars. From the car you drive now t

  • Hrmmmm (Score:3, Insightful)

    by The-Bus ( 138060 ) on Thursday September 25, 2003 @06:33AM (#7053258)
    Why do I want to drive a Prius in Gran Turismo? I play Gran Turismo so I can drive S4s and Ruf CTR-2s, not cars my mom would own.
    • Why do I want to drive a Prius in Gran Turismo? I play Gran Turismo so I can drive S4s and Ruf CTR-2s, not cars my mom would own.

      D'oh! Perhaps the Toyota dealerships trying to sell Priuses to people interested in buying a car should have taken this into consideration!

      I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when hordes of non-Prius-buying gamers fail to flock to the simulators sitting on their showroom floors! Ha-hah!

    • I played gran Turismo so I could drive all the cars in the world. I was dissapointed that I couldn't drive a Model T. I would have liked to drive some old steam car. Where is the hourse and buggy. (I'd like to try a horse and buggy around that corkscrew that we spend weeks trying to get the Viper around)

      I can't afford to buy every car. Even if I could, many are too rare to get the most out of. If I owned a 1 of 10 made care, I would only drive it in parades, which doesn't get a car made for a tight

    • S4? The Audi? Or the Porsche 928 S4? Or the comet 1999 S4? I realise you're trying to be cool by not typing out the entire name of the car because it'll make you seem like a part of the elite crowd that automatically knows what's being talked about when a cryptic acronym or partial name is mentioned, but you *are* writing to an audience of half million people so relax, hit a few more keys to clear things up for people, we pass no judgments here.
  • When I was in tokyo last year I saw machines just like those described here, except running gt3, and obviously with a different model of car. This was in the main Toyota showroom, where there was lots of cool driving simulators and demo cars all over the 4 levels of the building. There were lines for the GT3 machines even in the middle of a weekday too.
  • Polyphony have now gone through quite a few special one car/manufacturer versions of GT3/4, but every one has never been released to the public. Instead they remain only in showrooms - but this in itself presents the problem of limitation; after all, they need PS2 pods and steering wheels at each showroom, and thus only a limited amount of people get to see it (especially as only a few showrooms will carry the pods and game).

    Therefore I believe the best thing SCEI/Polyphony and the companies involve can do
  • I used to work with Toyota UK, and in the rather lavish reception of their enormous new offices, they have had a continuously running demo of GT3 for about the last 2 years.

    Quite impressive, I might add, as it's running over 9 linked 42-inch plasma screens.

    The marketing department there absolutely loved GT3, and would often show off to customers, dealers, etc., by playing any one of a number of (really well driven) replays that they had saved.
  • My dad's a sales manager at a Toyota dealer. I've asked him a couple of times about how the Priuses are selling, but to my surprise he said BARELY anyone buys it. I've google-grouped it a bit last month and found lots of the same comments about the extremely high price of their replacement batteries, and their relatively slow acceleration rate. And now they think they can use a virtual-reality racing game to increase their sales? What kind of method is that??

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