How realistic is Gran Turismo 5?
The answer is: quite realistic! For those who don’t know, Gran Turismo 5 will allow players to cruise through various real-life cities, one of which is Tokyo. There’s nothing new in that – Metropolis Street Racer did it almost a decade ago on the Dreamcast – but GT5 almost certainly boasts the most beautiful virtual Tokyo ever.
After the racer was shown off at the GamesCom convention last week, Japanese blogger Hatamaki posted a pile of screengrabs from the game in action, and compared them to shots from Google Maps. The side-by-side comparison shots reveal an impressive level of accuracy: no surprise, considering the team at Polyphony Digital snapped tens of thousands of pictures of the real-world locations.
The pictures above and below (see more here) are set in the Akasaka district of Tokyo. I also threw in a video of Gran Turismo 5‘s new car damage model for good measure. Strangely for a series that brags about its realistic depiction of racing, this will be the first GT game in which your car can be smashed up.
