The GT5 expectation thread (including preview titles)*

[gokickrocks]

would they disable head tracking if 3D was on?

i dont see how it would work well unless you get the glassless 3D TV's which arent out yet since if you were look to the side you would be seeing the arms of the frames of the glasses (depending on the glasses though i suppose as some may wrap around more) and part of the blurred mess from the TV from the corner of the eye

 

[Antan]

Also, GT Planet have some new off screen shots from one of the GUI screens!!!

 

[patsu]

would they disable head tracking if 3D was on?

i dont see how it would work well unless you get the glassless 3D TV's which arent out yet since if you were look to the side you would be seeing the arms of the frames of the glasses (depending on the glasses though i suppose as some may wrap around more) and part of the blurred mess from the TV from the corner of the eye

3D is only a tech demo as far as I know. grandmaster saw it, so he may be able to elaborate. Heading tracking is the feature that they promised.

 

[patsu]

Apparently the addition of Indy cars is no more!! Misinformation published in OPM I think. What do you all think?

May be canned by marketing ? I'd think they need to focus on the core experiences this time round. The Indy cars module can be added later once it's completed.

 

[patsu]

GT sale list:
http://www.polyphony.co.jp/english/list.html

Gran Turismo 5 “Prologue” 4.650 mil
Gran Turismo PSP 1.8 mil

... until 2009 Dec.

 

[JPT]

GT sale list:
http://www.polyphony.co.jp/english/list.html



... until 2009 Dec.

I think GT5 has been ready for a loooong time and that they are just milking the GT5P
The cost of GT5 is 60M USD and they have sold 4.650M copies of the preview?

If we assume the claim that EA makes 13 USD per game is true and just pretend Sony does the same, thats 60450000 there already ie the dev cost. I know its probably not correct since the game sold for quite a low price. Ie 35 -45 USD here Norway, but it must make a decent profit for Sony on the whole.

 

[Arwin]

Let's say that at 4.6 million, the average price payed was $30 ... (reasonable, if considering the value of the Euro and that it's launch price was 40 euro). That would mean about $140,000,000 ... If dev costs so far are $60,000,000 then there's already a healthy profit of $80,000,000 right there and it's understandable they don't have to hurry with GT5 proper.

On the other hand, they may have factored this in already and in that case the total cost could be $200,000,000, but they counted GT5 Prologue income against that figure to come up with the $60,000,000 development cost mentioned for GT5. In that case, they need just one million sales for GT5 at full price to break even, and from there on can start making a profit.

Whichever way you look at it, for now Polyphony seems to be at least financially healthy for the time being and can afford to take it easy with GT5. It's not unlikely they made a good profit on GT PSP as well, as even with GT PSP being given away for free with the PSP Go!, that sold so abysmally they can't have lost a lot of sales because of it.

 

[Neb]

Lol but what about material costs, royalty, shipment handling, selling stores part etc which means devs dont get back as much money for development as game was sold for. And then the insane promotion and events adding a much higher price tag for the GT5 affair or is that included in the 60m figure?

 

[JPT]

Lol but what about material costs, royalty, shipment handling, selling stores part etc which means devs dont get back as much money for development as game was sold for. And then the insane promotion and events adding a much higher price tag for the GT5 affair or is that included in the 60m figure?

You are probably right about what is not included in the 60M dev cost, but still, the 60M probably includes cost of development done after the GT5P was released. And anyway you look at it, this ain't bad before the "proper" game has been released. And if GT5 sells in the same vein as Prologue, then it must be considered a profitable game.

 

[Antan]

http://www.gtplanet.net/

Full lap around the Nordscheife with a semi decent driver.

 

[patsu]

PD has other side jobs like designing Nissan GTR's display, and that Citroen's nextgen car. Do they get $$$ for those fun jobs ?

 

[Rotmm]

http://www.gtplanet.net/

Full lap around the Nordscheife with a semi decent driver.

Love the in-car view! Seriously though, PD need to look at the tire screech.

 

[Antan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpUoo-9ddKc&feature=channel

Footage from the recent Aussie academy grand final. Notice during the race icons appear on screen, indicating a positional change in the race......seems a bit ott at the moment...................just needs to be smaller and less obtrusive, but its a neat idea..............obviously it should be optional.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-FuNX_u7QQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8nQie03nvs

German finals.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=384853&page=13

Not sure if these GUI pics had been shown before?

 

[Arwin]

Nice, thanks. The spectator/online race control options look good and fun to me, seems to include features to record and upload to youtube, just as I hoped. I think when GT5 is finally out, I will return to having LAN parties with my German friends.

Also, I like that we now get notifications about who is overtaking who, that's sort of what I wanted. Although even better would be an integrated system that shows who is at what distance from each other as well, kind of like F1GP race reporting did decades ago. An overlay at the bottom of the screen might be better, but as with most options here I'm sure you can customise just about anything (or at least turn everything off ).

 

[Acert93]

On the other hand, they may have factored this in already and in that case the total cost could be $200,000,000, but they counted GT5 Prologue income against that figure to come up with the $60,000,000 development cost mentioned for GT5. In that case, they need just one million sales for GT5 at full price to break even, and from there on can start making a profit.

Sony won't make $60 per retail copy sold. Factor in Retail cut, distribution (pressing, packaging, shipping), localization, marketing, server networks, and developer funding beyond the launch PD / Sony will need a lot more than 1M copies sold to cover $60M development (if there is any truth to that; With licensing costs/dev cycle GT5 isn't cheap, but I haven't followed dev estimates for this title). Marketing often costs as much as development, if not more (but if it continues to sell that ratio decreases; although profits also get cut as price reduces). Since Sony is the publisher and developer for all practical purposes they get a bigger cut, but it seems reasonable: $60 - retail ($12-15) - distributions / localization ($5) - marketing ($10-20) and monies into Sony's pocked are between $33-$20 for each copy sold.

In which case 2M-3M copies sold to break even on a $60M developer budget.

Not a fun way to run a publishing house when the "big" titles are to cover the costs for innovative/risk titles that never get close to breaking even. But then again the 1st parties need the megamammoth AAA titles for branding and general platform prestige.

Edit: One thing Sony could look at is seasonal DLC: NASCAR 2011, Indy, etc every year. This could extend the franchise revenues.

 

[patsu]

May be the Indy stuff they talk about will be a chargeable download.

 

[ShadowRunner]

In which case 2M-3M copies sold to break even on a $60M developer budget.

Depends. If that $60mil development budget includes GT5 then they may not have to sell much at all to break even. Assuming say $10 for every copy of GT5 sold thats around $46mil recouped already leaving GT5 having to sell say ~500k to break even

 

[Crossbar]

Depends. If that $60mil development budget includes GT5 then they may not have to sell much at all to break even. Assuming say $10 for every copy of GT5 sold thats around $46mil recouped already leaving GT5 having to sell say ~500k to break even

Would be interesting to now how many copies of GT5 Prologue were sold via the PSN store. Those copies would give some really good margins.

I bought mine via PSN at release, the price was basically the same as the BD version. I will miss the convenience of not having to shift disk once I get the GT5 BD.

 

[Antan]

http://www.playstationuniversity.com/new-gt5-footage-shows-improved-detail-and-textures-2483/

Well well..................

 

[Arwin]

Interesting, that's quite a difference actually.