From Joystiq.

A newly announced collaboration between Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., Polyphony Digital and BBC Worldwide will see the broadcaster's popular motoring show, Top Gear, distributed through Gran Turismo TV. The online channel, expected to launch on the PlayStation Network during 2008, will host 40 downloadable episodes of the Jeremy Clarkson vehicle snobbery-fest.

An added bonus resulting from the agreement is an in-game replica of the Top Gear Test Track, bound for the PS3 installment of Sony's driving sim, Gran Turismo 5. You'll be able to experience "every white knuckle, hairpin turn," whether or not you're rambling into a camera about how the unnervingly attractive car makes you feel. If you haven't done so already, you can coax the Japanese PSN into giving you the GT5 Prologue demo while you await the final game's release.

 

And I bet the Japanese get this 6 months before Europe

BBC sorry BBC NEWS | Technology | BBC Top Gear goes virtual on PS3

 

Sweet

Thank god i already own a PS3 because if i did not own a PS3 this news would sure as hell make me buy one.

Mate of mine playing GT5 Prolougue at the Tokyo Motorshow yesterday
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...300/001162.jpg

First hand report from him says simply "I had a play on GT5 today at the Tokyo motorshow, i had a blast around Suzuka in the GTR.................great game!!". Ironic thing is Polophony Digital are designing the graphic display for the new Skyline GTR, so hes playing a Polophony game simulating the interior of a GTR that incorparates a Polophony display unit

This is the game that will make the PS3

This is the game that will show Forza what a console sim should be like.

One in the eye for the 360/Forza fanboys i reckon

 

When is it due to be released, I have a 360 but am not a fanboy, will buy a PS3 if there is anything on it that cannot be done on the 360.

 

Release is 2008, so reckon on late 2009

Got both consoles so dont care but this feature looks awesome

Imagine watching the Stig do a lap time is some fancy Hypercar then you go online to try and beat his times or somebeating the times of some Z list celeb in the Liana.

Think this is a masterstroke by Sony for the UK and, judging by the shows popularity Stateside, the US. To tie in the GT franchise with the Top Gear is a marriage made in heaven. Should boost sales by a factor of 100 on this deal alone

 

gran tourismo was stale a very long time ago nothing they can do would make me go out and buy a PS3 because it will be a crap rehash will fluffy filler add on's that you wont ever use/

PS i am not a fanboy i have a 360 and dislike it as its a unrealiable piece of ****.

 

Whatever, I'll go and buy one when this game is released to positive reviews in 2009 - 2 years away.

By then the PS3 will be £99-£149.

 

I'll probably do the same. I just don't see the point of getting a PS3 just now.

 

You can't deny the fact GT5 looks fantastic, i just didn't like the driving style, loved GT2 played 4 not so long ago and i don't know if it changed or my taste did, but just didn't get on with it.

 

Well having played PGR4 after Forza the no damage in that makes it feel so fake it's untrue. This may look great and it may be fun to pretend to be the stig but any online racing will be bumper cars unless the PS3 users are totally different to the 360 users.

I think it's strength will be in the single player game.

 

About the same time as Forza 3 is released

 

sounds like a good idea, i remember somebody "making" the top gear track with cones on the LFS autocross car park and it was pretty crap

 

More news is that the PSP's version of GT has been held back so it links in with GT5 - there's rumours going about that if you start a B-Spec race, like the 24hr ones in GT4 - you can keep an eye on your driver while away from home over the PSP if you're in a wireless hotspot.

Not the first time TG have linked up with Gran Turismo - all the descriptions for the cars used in GT2 were done by TG Magazine.

One thing thats been mentioned on another forum is that the TG test track has a cross-over which could/will cause problems in races...

 

The DFP works just fine on the PS3

 

Have you set up a jap account and downloaded the new prologue demo yet?

going to do it today, its suzuka plus about 6 or 7 cars.

 

Let me get this straight....you will be able to download 40 previous episodes of Top Gear..............wow !!! have you people not heard of UK TV Gold (or DAVE now)

And the Top Gear track....thats the clincher, thats the one that going to make me go out and buy a PS3 (in a couple of years time once the game has actually been made and released)



I used to be a big fan of GT, even bought a PS2 just for GT3 when it first came out, but was disappointed, then even more so with GT4. Crossed over to Xbox and PGR but it was an arcade game, then Forza which was much more like the original GT. Once the 360 came out PGR3 was still arcade (as is PGR4) and Forza 2 is a good handling sim, couple this with Live! and you have a great game with plenty of longivity and great racing.

 

I loved PGR3 but hate PGR4, it'll be getting chopped in for COD4 soon.

Everyone goes on about Forza 2 and its damage, and to me the damage was the biggest problem with it - too many arseholes online to make "damage on" worthwhile, all it did was generate arguments after 1 corner, all it did was cause a lot of ill-feeling between my clan-mates which spilled over onto forums - best thing I did was getting rid of it.

Whatever your thoughts about the GT series - its still the driving game that all others are compared to - its the benchmark.