Prerelease:Gran Turismo HD Concept

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Gran Turismo HD Concept.

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

The Gran Turismo HD project was announced at E3 2005, and what intended as PlayStation 3's launch and first Gran Turismo title ended up setting up the development journey for the series' PlayStation 3 era.

Timeline

2005

• E3 2005 (May 18-20, 2005): The Vision Gran Turismo trailer, and the Gran Turismo/Spider-Man 2 crossover trailer, was shown for the first time.
• Tokyo Game Show 2005 (September 16-18, 2005): The TGS version of the Vision Gran Turismo trailer was shown, also showcasing what appears to be premium versions of a Mazda RX-7 (FD) and Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX.

2006

• E3 2006 (May 10–12, 2006): Gran Turismo HD was revealed, at the time essentially a high-resolution, extended port of Gran Turismo 4 that also featured motorcycles from Tourist Trophy. A build was made playable for attendees.
• June 2006: Additional screenshots from the pre-split GTHD builds were posted on the Japanese Gran Turismo website.
• Tokyo Game Show 2006 (September 22–24, 2006): A presentation reveals Gran Turismo HD being split into two games, Gran Turismo HD Premium, which features smaller number of high-definition cars and tracks, and Gran Turismo HD Classic, a HD port of Gran Turismo 4 where most content would have required purchase from the PlayStation Network. The Ferrari 599 was also teased at the show, while motorcycles were dropped from the HD Classic side. GTHD Premium builds would make appearance on game and car shows from this point.
• Paris Motor Show 2006 (September 28, 2006): A trailer announcing Ferrari's arrival to Gran Turismo with their then-new 599 model was shown.
• December 1, 2006: Gran Turismo HD as originally planned was officially cancelled, with Gran Turismo HD Concept being slated for Christmas release on Japanese PlayStation Store instead. Work would begin on Gran Turismo 5 Prologue around this time.
• December 27, 2006: Gran Turismo HD Concept was released on Japanese and North American PlayStation Store.

2007

• March 23, 2007: Gran Turismo HD Concept was released on the European PlayStation Store, following the European launch of the console.
• June 15, 2007: Gran Turismo HD Concept was released on the South Korean PlayStation Store, following the Korean launch of the console.
• September 2007: The physical Gran Turismo HD Concept Install Disc was released in Japan.
• September 30, 2007: The Gran Turismo HD Concept demo was delisted from PlayStation Store, replaced by the GT5P demo the following month (in Japan only).

Vision Gran Turismo

E3 Trailer

The seeds for PlayStation 3 era of the series were first planted with the Vision Gran Turismo (not to be confused with the concept car project that began with Gran Turismo 6) trailer, shown at E3 2005. While still mostly made out of assets from Gran Turismo 4, the trailer features more cars on the track than usually possible in GT4 (six cars), as well as multiple pit crews working with different cars, in a show of force of PS3's processing power. The trailer's tagline was "From partial reality to complete reality."

Several screenshots were also posted with the original announcement.

• 
• 
• 

Spider-Man 2 Cross-Over Trailer

At E3 2005, another trailer for the Vision Gran Turismo was also shown, in a crossover with Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2. In it, a race at New York street circuit featuring JGTC cars (and one lone Super Taikyu car, the Spoon S2000 Race Car '00) is mixed with this early scene from the film involving Spider-Man rescuing two children from an oncoming truck, except with the truck replaced with a spinning out Nissan XANAVI NISMO GT-R '03.

True to the state of the game at this point, the in-game segments feature the exact HUD as those used in Gran Turismo 4.

TGS 2005 Trailer

There is a third trailer shown at TGS in 2005 as reported on the IGN page. The video in question shows for the first time the Audi R8 (Audi France Team) Race Car '05 and the Pescarolo C60 Hybride - Judd Race Car '05 previously never shown, as well as other unique animations in the photographic scenarios and of the crew on the track. It should be noted that in the trailer there are "premium" cars present for the first time with the Mazda RX-7 and the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, a year before the real revelation of this new category.

• 

(Discovery: Hdbdp4)

Gran Turismo HD 1920x1080p

E3 2006

At E3 2006, the name Gran Turismo HD first appeared, billed as an extended, high-resolution PlayStation 3 port of Gran Turismo 4, described as running at a 13.5 times higher resolution compared to GT4 according to the official announcement. Extended features in GTHD included more cars on the grid (twelve on the track) as well as the ability for cars from GT4 and motorcycles from Tourist Trophy to race together, as shown in the images and parts of this video.

• 
• 

Four tracks (Tokyo R246, Nürburgring Nordschleife, Circuit de la Sarthe, and Grand Canyon) and ten vehicles were made playable in the demo, with some other non-playable cars also present as opponents. The playable vehicles are:

• Nissan MOTUL PITWORK Z (JGTC) '04
• Bentley Speed ​​8 Race Car '03
• Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Super Rally Car '03
• Nissan SKYLINE GT-R V-spec II Nur '02
• Shelby Cobra 427 '67
• Ginetta G4 '64
• Polyphony Digital Formula GRAN TURISMO '04
• Honda CBR 1000 RR '05
• Yamaha YZF-R1 RM '05
• Suzuki Skywave 250 SS '05

The images below are dated May 9, 2006, a few days before E3:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Images released during E3 (May 11-12):

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

These are dated May 31, 2006:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Just two days after the previous release on June 1, 2006, additional images were released. Note that these are the same images from E3 but with the watermark; from this point on every GTHD related image will have the GTHD logo watermark.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

The last images published on June 8, 2006, from which the rest of the official site, are the last ones published before the name change:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Gran Turismo HD Premium/Classic

At a presentation at the 2006 Tokyo Game Show, the GT HD project was announced to be divided into two versions called "Classic" and "Premium". The Classic version was essentially to a "port" of Gran Turismo 4 in HD based on an online experience with the need to download most of the additions from the PlayStation Store and with the addition of new features that only arrived in subsequent titles. The Premium version, on the other hand, was designed to exploit the potential of the console for higher graphic quality but with less content at launch, initially with only 30 cars, and two tracks. Additional details regarding the presentation can be found on the GTPlanet forums.

The presentation also featured introduction of Ferrari to Gran Turismo, featuring the Ferrari 599. A second video announcing that was later shown at the 2006 Paris Motor Show. While never made playable in any GTHD build, the Ferrari F430 was also teased at the presentation and announced at the 2006 Paris Motor Show.

Gran Turismo HD Classic

There are also images relating to this version, recognizable from the previous ones due to the different watermark. Some of these screenshots feature the Mazda MX-5 '05 from the Mazda MX-5 Edition demo, which would be replaced with the 2007 model in GT5P, and until the demo disc was discovered, was thought to be created only for GTHD Classic. On the other hand, motorcycles would make no further appearance in screenshots from around this period.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Gran Turismo HD Premium

As announced at TGS, Gran Turismo HD Premium was intended to showcase the full graphical power of the PlayStation 3, and with it, new assets. These screenshots below first appeared following the show on September 22, 2006.

These first images are dedicated to the Ferrari 599 (note the primitive state of the Eiger Nordwand circuit):

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

In the following images there are various renderings of the cars:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

And some shots of the route have been published (in these the Eiger route is the same as the one seen at the TGS and in the other conventions):

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Other screenshots relating to this version were then published over time as can be seen at the time from the pages of the official website. The screenshots from Eiger Nordwand below, dated October 20, 2006, features slightly more trackside objects:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

The subsequent ones published a few days later (October 27, 2006, except for "Eiger 22" and "Eiger 23", whose precise date is unknown) show a greater focus on the models of the cars and the drivers.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

  "Eiger 22"

• 

  "Eiger 23"

The last are other images with focus on the new pilots, with the data of the other and last six images dated November 24, 2006:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Prerelease content

The Eiger Nordwand

The original version of Eiger Nordwand from HD Premium featured a different naming ("The Eiger Nordwand", complete with an article) and a narrower track layout. The first version of the track, which appeared in the images of the Ferrari 599 (as well as in the video presentation), has a decidedly sparse aesthetic outside the track, while the second version added more trackside objects such as crowds and trees.

Ferrari 599 version	TGS version

"Premium" Subaru Impreza Rally Car '99

• 
• 

Screenshots of Premium builds from this period are also notable for including a premium version of the Subaru Impreza Rally Car '99, which was not carried over into any subsequent games; Gran Turismo 5 continued to use the standard car model from the PlayStation 2 era games. While Gran Turismo 7 does eventually include an updated Premium model of the car in the July 2024 update, GT7 uses the 1998-spec car.

Several kiosk/show builds include the car, such as an kiosk build used in Hong Kong, during the 2006 SEMA show in Las Vegas, and in this video of unknown origin.

Notably, while all real-life Impreza WRC99 chassis appear to have the exhaust exit on the right side of the car, the GTHD car has its exhaust exit on the left, similar to roadgoing Imprezas. This suggests the car scanned by Polyphony Digital was in fact not a real WRC Impreza, which may explain its removal from future games.

"Premium" Subaru Impreza Sedan WRX STI spec C Type RA '05

• 
• 

The Subaru Impreza Sedan WRX STI spec C Type RA '05 also made an appearance in the HD Premium kiosk/demo builds, before being removed in the HD Concept demo.