Thursday 21 September 2006
Sony will use Gran Turismo HD, the next-gen update to the realism-heavy racing series on PlayStation 3, to showcase its 'micro-transaction' system for the console. The game will appear in two versions - GT HD: Premium, with 30 cars and two tracks included, and GT HD: Classic, a cheaper, stripped-down offering that features no cars whatsoever.
To play the Classic version you'll have to download cars and tracks using Sony's online service. This is according to an article in Japanese gaming mag Famitsu, which claims that cars will be priced between 50 and 100 yen (roughly 20 to 45 pence) and new tracks will cost from 200 to 500 yen (roughly 90p to £2.25).
With around 750 cars and 50 tracks available for download, this adds up to a ridiculous amount. All 750 cars could cost you in the region of £200, while collecting all 50 tracks would require you splash out upwards of around £60. That's effectively nearly £300 for the full Gran Turismo HD package!
This sounds absolutely bonkers to us - especially as Gran Turismo HD is planned only as a stop-gap until a true next-gen sequel appears. Sony was unavailable for comment at the time of writing, but we'll be tracking down an official word on the crazy sounding Gran Turismo plans as soon as we can and hopefully the PlayStation maker will tell us that it's all been a big mistake...
