Sony off to races with "Gran Turismo"

By Scott Hillis

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Sony's PlayStation 3 is off to the races with a teaser installment of its iconic "Gran Turismo" franchise, starting this year's high-octane video game lineup with a wave of the checkered flag.

"Gran Turismo 5 Prologue", which rumbled onto store shelves last week, gives PS3 owners a taste of what is in store when the full version of the highly anticipated driving simulator comes out in 2009.

When it comes to racing games, Microsoft's rival Xbox 360 system has left the PS3 in the dust with exclusive titles such as "Project Gotham Racing 4" and the "Gran Turismo"-inspired "Forza Motorsport 2".

"There are very, very few brands -- a handful or so -- that are directly responsible for moving hardware in volume over a 12-month period, and 'Gran Turismo' has without doubt been that kind of title for PlayStation," Scott Steinberg, vice president of marketing for Sony Computer Entertainment America, said in an interview.

"'Prologue' really opens up the spring for us."

Indeed, the game finally gets some rubber on the road for Sony, putting fans behind the wheels of more than 70 sweet rides, from a Ferrari F430 to the Nissan Skyline GT-R, all lovingly rendered in glorious high-definition.

Polyphony Digital, the Sony game studio behind the series, boasts that a single headlight in the new game packs as much graphical detail as an entire car in "Gran Turismo 4", which debuted on the PlayStation 2 in the final days of 2004.

"Our franchise has always been about pushing the hardware limits and concentrating on beauty and reality, so there's a real attention to detail and craftsmanship," said Taku Imasaki, the U.S. senior producer on the game.