The True Value of GT:5 Prologue; As Compared to GT4 and GT5

There are a lot of people out there who absolutely refuse to buy Polyphony Digital’s newest racing simulator Gran Turismo 5: Prologue. This has nothing to do with a better sim being available, although I’d be lying if I said Forza 2 wasn’t a main contender, and it has nothing to do with people being disenfranchised with the property. What many people are angry about is that Sony has decided to charge $40 for what essentially can be boiled down to be nothing more than a demo, or so many gamers claim.

So where is the real value in GT5: Prologue? Is it really worth $40? In order to figure this out I have decided to break down the value of GT5: Prologue based on what was offered in GT4 (for the PS2) and what we believe will be included in GT5 (to be released in one year plus). So let’s carry on shall we?

First I will give you what is offered in GT5: Prologue, GT5, and GT4:

Gran Turismo 5: Prologue – $39.99 download/Blu-ray – Released: April 15 2008

• 70 total cars (includes all tuning/racing cars)
• 6 Tracks
• 16 player online racing
• HD capabilities up to 1080p
• Documentary (included with BD purchase only)

Gran Turismo 5 – $59.99 (presumably) Blu-ray – Release date: TBA 2009

• Rumoured to have 900 cars (includes all tuning/racing cars)
• No official track list has been released, but one could assume that it will feature near the same amount as included in GT4
• Online multiplayer; at least 16 players… maybe more?
• HD capabilities up to 1080p
• Automobile damage (rumoured to be patched in at a later date for Prologue)

Gran Turismo 4 – 49.99 (upon release) DVD – Released: February 22 2005

• 700+ cars (includes all tuning/racing cars)
• 100 tracks (includes rally and real world racing circuits)
• No Online
• HD capable up to 1080i (no 720p)

So there you have it. Those are the main things that each game offers. Of course there are other minor things, but I decided to not include as the value really wouldn’t change very much. Next I will go about in listing what is the most valuable, down to the least. Don’t worry I will be explaining my reasonings for where I place each item. This is ordered in most valuable to least valuable:

1. Amount of automobiles; generally one of the first thing anybody will ask about a new GT or any racing SIM game is how many cars will be available. This is the “meat” of the game and it is what keeps people coming back for more and more.
2. Online multiplayer; with this new age in consoles it has become increasingly important to all next gen console owners that their games come with online multiplayer. Games with no online multiplayer have little replay value, and little overall value. Depending on the genre, of course…
3. HD capabilities; the main reason for buying the PS3 was not only as a Blu-ray player but also so you could play your games in HD as well. Graphics are a corner stone to the PS3 this generation and as such it has become extremely important to gamers to be able to race in the best visuals possible.
4. Amount of tracks; while this would have been more important in last generations it has generally become more and more acceptable to deliver quality over quantity. Basically this means that many gamers would rather have 20 extremely good looking tracks than 100 tracks that don’t live up to the rest of the game.
5. Car damage; while an important new addition it is not widely regarded as being a “must have” feature for the Gran Turismo games. In fact, some gamers are even angry about its addition to the series with GT5.
6. Documentary; not much value at all. For all gamers who get the BD version of Prologue, I imagine many will simply neglect it altogether. Actually, I’d be surprised if the majority of gamers even know that it comes with a documentary.

So there you have it. Now let’s truly compare GT5: Prologue to both GT4 and GT5:

Now, if we are to look at the cars that each game offers you’ll notice a stark contrast in what is offered with each. GT4 offered 700 cars, GT5 is rumoured to offer 900 cars, and GT5: prologue is offering 70 cars. That is precisely 1/10 the amount of cars in the $50 GT4, and about 7/100 (or .7/10) the amount of cars rumoured to be offered in GT5 which will presumably sell for $59.99. Already this isn’t looking good for GT:5 Prologue. While 70 cars may seem like a lot, when you compare it to the sheer amount offered in other versions it just can’t stack up, especially not for the $40 price tag.

Automobiles aside, let’s take a look at the online offerings of each. This is really where GT5: Prologue finds a lot of it’s value, but will it be enough to justify the $40 cost? If you take a look at the other GTs you’ll notice that GT4 has no online multiplayer whatsoever and that GT5s online multiplayer has yet to be announced. Despite the latter however one can really only assume that the multiplayer in GT5: Prologue will be carried over into GT5. Because of this the online offering in GT5: Prologue really stands out, but without a lot of cars you are bound to come across many of the same variations of cars as your own.

Of course, what would Gran Turismo really be without its graphics? Each game that has come out has blown us away in the graphics department beginning with Gran Turismo 1. So it really comes as no surprise that GT5: Prologue has amazingly realistic HD graphics, something that just isn’t seen as well in GT4. GT5, however, will have the same graphics with maybe even a few touch ups here and there. So if you are looking for some digital eye candy, you really can’t go wrong with GT5: Prologue. That said, the same thing could be said two years ago about GT4 and the same will be said about all future iterations of the franchise.

Then we have the tracks, while these used to be a major value factor in the GT games, the advent of day/night schemes along with HD graphics have definitely decreased the need for multiple tracks. However, that said, six tracks for $40 still seems a bit light when you compare it to the 100+ offered in GT4 for $50. Despite not being in HD you’ll probably still get more longevity out of the GT4 tracks than the GT5: Prologue tracks. Of course we have absolutely no idea how many tracks are going to be in GT5, but one could naturally assume that it will feature near the same amount that is in GT4.

Finally we have the automobile damage and documentary. Firstly, we really don’t know to what extent the car damage will be in GT5. Supposedly it’s going to look extremely good, but does that mean we can expect Burnout of DiRT good? Of course, this is generally a moot point as GT5: Prologue does not include any damage, with the possibility of a patch being introduced later this year. As for the documentary, this will only be available on GT5: Prologue. So if you really absolutely love the idea of checking out how the game was made this might be worth something to you…

Bottom line, despite GT5: Prologue offering some pretty nifty things it just can’t compare in terms of overall value. When you buy GT5: Prologue for $40 you are essentially getting about 1/15 the content of the others games. Granted it does come with things that GT4 does not, the only thing that will not be featured in GT5 is the documentary. For this reason I urge you to wait until the full game releases next year, or if you simply can’t wait then purchase GT4. Finally, for those who absolutely need to have a competent racing sim in HD with online and hundreds of automobiles the best place to find it is in Forza 2.

GT5: prologue is a demo. No amount of reviews, or opinions is going to change the actual amount of content provided on the disc. Don’t throw away your $40…