Gran Turismo 5: Why Waiting Is Good

Alex Garland’s The Beach is a stunning novel, one that deals with human self destruction just as much as it does with backpacking and adventure; but there’s a side to the story that has always piqued my interest – that of parallel universes.  Although the setup (with Richard and Françoise opening discussing the notion under the stars) is played upon in dialog and far less subtle than it is in something like Donnie Darko, the concept that from that point on the travellers are experiencing an ‘alternate’ reality intrigues me considerably, even though I’m probably in the minority that have ever thought this way.  In my mind at least, the movie adaptation pushes this idea further, with the story’s descent into darkness encapsulated by a slightly different version of the group photograph than was taken at the very end of the film.

What does this have to do with Gran Turismo 5?  Well, in a parallel universe, the game is already out.  Last week, Gran Turismo 5 was released to a baying crowd, eager for the game that many people actually bought a PlayStation 3 for.  The Trophy lists were leaked a week prior when reviewers got their hands on early code, and the full list of tracks, cars and sponsors was dumped, unceremoniously, here at TheSixthAxis.  The whole ride was a PR wet dream, there were no delays, no hiccups at the factory and no hackers to spoil the party.  Some people have already unlocked the X1.

Of course, this didn’t happen.  Not only is the game not out but we’re still without a revised release date, even though some people claim to have the game, legally or otherwise.  You’d think all this, from the slipping of the schedules to the mentioning of GT6, would be a disaster for Sony – it’s not, in my opinion, and I’ll tell you why.  Since the 13th of October, when it was first circulating that the game would be delayed, we’ve written (including this blog) twenty stories about the game.  Twenty, in less than a month.  Sure, not all of them have been entirely positive, but we’ve given the game more press and hype than probably anything else in such a short period.  Why?  Because the game is hot news, it’s at the forefront of people’s minds, and you can’t go anywhere without hearing about it.

And, you guys want to talk about it, too: we’ve had over a thousand comments on the game since it was delayed (1085 at the time of writing this, to be exact) – for a multiformat site that isn’t focused on Gran Turismo I reckon that’s a substantial amount of discussion. And, naturally, it’s not just us.  Every site, forum and blog with half a nod towards the PlayStation brand (or motor racing in general) is covering everything that Polyphony Digital say and do, and we’re all desperate for Sony to give us a release date so we can all rejoice in the knowledge that we’re getting the game before Christmas.  Think about that for a second, the game’s already delayed but as soon as Sony say “it’s out on…” we’ll be deliriously happy and thankful.  Days will be booked off, holidays cancelled and the supply of pizzas into the country will triple.

Any other game and we’d probably be sick of it by now, but this is Gran Turismo 5’s greatest trick – by the game being delayed, we’ve really not thought about anything else, and it’s probably safe to say that any cash reserved for Sony’s big hope for 2010 is still very much reserved.  Of course, I’m not suggesting that the delay was intentional (it clearly wasn’t) but if Sony can pull off a release date announcement this week it’s going to put a spanner in the works for Microsoft’s European launch for Kinect, for example – once again taking the gaming press’ eyes off the rest of the industry and pointing them right back towards GT5.  Will we get a new date this week?  I’d hope so, and part of me desperately wants it to be very soon indeed.

Which parallel universe would Sony prefer – the one with the game already out and on the shelves or the one that means you can’t load up a gaming website without some mention of Gran Turismo 5 on it?  And rest assured the game will sell regardless of this delay – Gran Turismo 5 Prologue shifted at least four million copies.  We’d all like the game in our hands, but perhaps the waiting just makes the whole thing just that little bit more exciting…

This blog is the personal opinion of the author as does not represent the opinions of TheSixthAxis or Sony.