At one point during the presentation, while showing off close-ups of engines, wheels, and grilles that compared real photos to GT5 screenshots (almost impossible to distinguish between the two), Yamauchi conceded that his team has "actually gone too far in modeling some of this detail" and even went so far as to suggest that it might be "more suited to the next generation of PlayStation." The most impressive of these shots--even more impressive than the Audi wheels and ceramic brakes, or the Ferrari engine underneath a glass hood--was undoubtedly the one that showed the interior of a race car, possibly a Nascar. The interior was absolutely packed with minute details, including a carbon fiber panel of switches and buttons, safety wires, and of course the driver's harness.
Speaking of Nascar, nine different models of Nascar have been confirmed for inclusion in Gran Turismo 5, and Yamauchi is hopeful that additional models will be added either prior to or after the game's release. All of the Nascar rules will be in full effect, and we got to see some great-looking screenshots of pit crews working on cars. At the request of Nascar, you'll be able to use their cars on tracks other than those that they're normally raced on, and according to Yamauchi they're extremely quick even on circuits like the Nurburgring.
Germany's Nurburgring is one of six previously unconfirmed tracks for GT5 being shown at this year's E3. The other five are Circuit de la Sarthe, Rome, Madrid, Tuscany, and the test track from BBC's Top Gear TV show. All of them are, predictably, incredibly detailed, and Yamauchi revealed that the city circuits of Madrid and Rome (the latter of which incorporates the incredible-looking coliseum) each took two years to finish. The Tuscany track, on the other hand, will see you racing through a wide-open environment comprised largely of fields. The most impressive track, though, was the Nurburgring, not only because it's so huge, but also because of the ridiculous amount of work that has gone into recreating it. For example, when racing in a 24-hour event at the track (which you will have the option to do in real time), you'll not only get to see the day-night transition but, because it's such a long event, you'll notice that many of the spectators have tents or camper vans that aren't there during normal races. Polyphony Digital has photographed every inch of the famously graffiti-daubed track in order to make the sure that it's as accurate and as up-to-date as possible in the game. Some of the offensive stuff has been removed, but if you've written something family-friendly on the track in the past year or two, there's a good chance it's made it into the game. And hey, you can even take a photo of it as proof.
Next up was a look at Gran Turismo 5's online suite which, if it works as intended, has the potential to be something very special. Every player will have his or her own "lounge" area where they can meet with friends to chat or to arrange, spectate, and compete in races. Friends will have access to your lounge even when you're not online if they wish to use it as a meeting place, though you will of course have the option to password protect it if necessary. When you initiate a race from a lounge, any spectator text comments will be visible to you in-game. Comments included in the E3 screenshots all came courtesy of players named after Star Trek: The Next Generation characters, and one of them piqued our interest because it mentioned watching the BBC show Top Gear on GTTV--a feature confirmed back in 2007 that, to be perfectly honest, this writer had forgotten about. Another, which came from a "G. L. Forge" mentioned that he'd love to see motorcycles in the game in future. We'll keep our fingers crossed that the U.S.S. Enterprise's chief engineer gets his wish, though it seems highly unlikely even as DLC at this point.
Getting the head-tracking working correctly, especially in a busy tradeshow environment, appears to be something of an undertaking. There were a dozen or so different variables being changed with sliders onscreen as we waited, and while the camera was clearly able to recognize and track the movement of a player's head, the way the game and steering wheel were setup ultimately resulted in the camera being a bit closer to the player than it's ever likely to be in your living room. Regardless, with some exaggerated head movements, we were indeed able to look left and right from inside the cockpit of the Dodge Challenger that we'd opted to take for a spin around the new Rome street circuit. Unsurprisingly, particularly given that we were using a force feedback steering wheel to play, the car handled very believably and, unsurprisingly, it took us a couple of corners (and a couple of spins/collisions) before we felt completely comfortable with it. The effect of the 3D was also quite impressive, and while it won't add to the game the same way that the head-tracking will, it's as good a reason as any to invest in 3D-capable hardware if you're still in need of a good excuse to do so.
