You know, I’m sat here scoffing a pizza and drinking an extra strong Margarita and wondering what the flip just happened. Gran Turismo 5 was weeks away – weeks – and it’s suddenly been knocked back to ‘before Christmas’, dashing the hopes of Sony fans worldwide and simultaneously giving Microsoft and their decidedly iffy Forza 3 Extra Mega Stig Edition some breathing space.
There’s a reason, of course, for the delay. We’ve asked, politely even, but we’re thinking that if the delay was something Sony wanted to talk about, they would have. I’m confused though – surely they’ve had a meeting (or ten) about this delay over the last few days and weeks and, thus, surely Polyphony could have told them how long the delay is going to be for – a vague ‘holiday season’ just doesn’t ring true.
And then there’s the notion, a not unfounded one even if I’m admittedly ignorant of the exact process, that the disks are probably already pressed, packed and ready to go, sat in a warehouse somewhere – it’s not unreasonable to think that the game was pretty much done, meaning whatever’s holding it back is game-breaking and can’t be fixed in a patch.
As they do, analysts have spoken out already, saying that (in the whole) the delay doesn’t really matter to sales and that Sony will do just fine out of this. “I don’t believe a GT5 delay impacts Sony’s current momentum,” Capital Research’s Jesse Divnich told Eurogamer. “GT5 is such an anticipated title that delays are unlikely to impact consumer’s purchase intent. Whether released a week later or the last week of December, sales will be astronomical.”
He’s missing the other elephant in the corner, though – the one shaped like Need For Speed, and EA, apparently reeling (again, according to analysts) about Medal of Honor, will be lapping up this news as it potentially frees more pounds for Hot Pursuit – depending of course, on when Gran Turismo 5 finally rolls out of the stables. It’s that unknown again – why don’t we have a date yet?
It’s all just zeroes and ones, of course, but days have been booked off, wheels have been bought, assembled and screwed to expensive coffee tables – hell, I was even expecting review code soonish, but I’m guessing that’s out of the window too. So, whilst we wait for Sony to give us a) a date and b) a reason, I’ll go back to my dinner and dream about the 5th of November we could have had.
Still, at least my pizza came on time.
This blog does not necessarily reflect the views of TheSixthAxis.
Dan Lee
Need for Speed gets my money now.
baska
i agree and test drive. its only because its GT5 hv we given it so much patients, if it was any other gavame then peoples loyalty would e left a long time ago!!
cc_star
Anything Criterion does, gets my money
Hot Pursuit looks awesome, really properly awesome
Mickey2010
Totally agree with CC i love the burnout franchise,i loved black,i even liked suzuki racing on the dreamcast..
3shirts
Both are getting mine. Very different and very good (it seems) games
Rising Force
A flawed zombie game or two non EA games hmmm?
forevermacin
Enough is enough now. I’m not putting up with this any more. So I’m out. Its a very very small protest on my part but I’m never going to buy GT5. I as everyone who has waited and been patient time and time again with the release being put back time and time again, I will not stand for Sony messing me about. I would have been happy to wait for the 5th not the 3rd as was previously stated. I am certainly very annoyed. If I had the time and money I would smash my ps3 up in front of Sony offices london just to demonstrate how angry I am. Would it be too much to ask for all fellow angry TSA members to spend the money we would have spend on the 5th Nov release of GT5 on hiring someone / people to kidnap some of the family members of prominent individuals in charge at sony and send them back the body parts of their loved ones until they give us what we all deserve. Seriously ( I feel like swearing my mouth of right now but this is TSA so I won’t ) I am just a very sad panda !
3shirts
I think the problem is, like I said in the other thread, we could all boycott but at the end of the day, not enough would join in for it to make any difference to Sony or Polyphony and the only ones that actually suffer are us, not getting to play what is clearly an awesome game.
Jas-n
Maybe there’s a day 1 patch and a disc was detected, only to find out that the patching code within the game doesn’t work properly.
StevenHibs
Ah well, least its still coming this year i guess, imagine the reaction to, now scheduled to Q2 2011
bajere
It should be before Xmas as it will shift consoles,I always thought it would be end of November,so I was chuffed with the 5th.but this news seems odd,as a few weeks can’t make much difference
AJ
Who gives a shit if it “impacts Sony’s momentum”, they could sell five copies for all I care. I just know that I want to play the damn game!
Damn American drinking laws. I need a cold brew… nevermind that, I need a few shots of some 151.
duncanuaz
I really feel sorry for whoever gets the reviewing job. Even if it gets a 9 it’s going to be seen as a massive failure.
Stitch
Yeah, expectations are quite high for this game. At least we all have fairly realistic expectations of what gameplay will be like though, having played previous iterations of the game and it fitting into a defined genre.
solidsteven
I think there might be a civil war on here about over who has to review GT5.
AJ
I think they should have multiple reviews then. I can’t get enough of it!
3shirts
This is, at least, the one site you can trust to give an honest review that won’t be swayed by expectation or hype either by rating too high OR too low.
duncanuaz
That’s true, and that’s one of the things I love about TSA but I can still imagine some of the comments that will be submitted either way.
AJ
Oh man, did you see nof’s reaction to the pissies about MOH?
I’m glad he stands by what he does though, and I’ve forgiven him for giving Forza 3 a 10 and Uncharted 2 a 9… ;)
andytorr
I booked the 5th – 12th off work. That’s set in stone, as the others around me have booked the other days off. What the bloody hell am I going to do for a week now?! That means GT5 is going to mix with going to work in the week. GAWWDDDDDDDDDDDDDD. Kaz, you complete and utter puddle of piss! I swear to god, if I don’t have that disk in my PS3 by Christmas –
I hate editing, but that’s a bit off… ~n
solidsteven
Careful you might end up getting banned.
3shirts
Blimey, I wonder what he said!
I am pretty annoyed too but fortunately I can simply rearrange my hoidays easily.
Jas-n
Something about executing puppies I’m guessing.
Baxteros
Also had the week off, I can cancel it but I was looking forward to not working but now I don’t know what to do with myself. I feel numb, I could be in shock.
3shirts
I had the Friday and Monday booked off. I hate cancelling holiday once it’s booked (not to mention that getting it in the first place is tricky as I am the ONLY IT person in the company). I might just have this and book more if needed for GT
iiekka
i booked a couple of days off too, cancelled it now, but the closer to xmas it comes out the less likely i am to get the time off, if i wasnt such a massive gt fan id cancel my preorder as well tbh…
iiekka
another thing, cant they now release the demo seen in the american stores to tide us over??
TheRook21
Including firmware 3.5? To stop hackers/ps jailbreak (if they have figured out how to get it working on current firmware?) this would be the title that most would want to play/keep for free…
Peter Rushton
we surely must get compensation for this… SURELY!?
moshi
and how would that work
Jumping Monks
Like “iiekka” said… In the form of an up-to-date demo.