Don't worry, this video is totally safe for work. But we're saying revolting because we can remember back years ago we watched Clint Eastwood's Pink Cadillac with a friend's father who happened to restore muscle cars for a living. Anywho, as you might imagine the 1959 Cadillac gets pretty dinged up throughout the course of the film – fairly often, too. As such, my pal's dad was not only cringing at every dent, scrape and rumpled piece of metal, but actively screaming at the TV. Mostly stuff like this, "What not-nice-people! Why would they do such horrible things to such a wonderful, historic car?!?" More or less.
Now, we're not prudes. We like the destruction of cars. From the Jeremy Clarkson style (kill bad cars!) and the Ca$h For Clunker$ style (Kill ALL cars – hey, creative destruction is a valid economic theory) to 24 Hours of LeMons style (let's race dead cars! Er, kill that one car!). There's just something wonderful about smoking engines, twisted sheet metal and precious fluids spilled all over tarmac -- no matter what the car. That said, the video you're about to watch, well, it's a little hard to stomach. So, let's just call it mildly revolting. Also, we're supposed to mention something about damage rendering, or the lack there of, but, uh...
Gran Turismo 5. We've teased you in the past with constantly shifting debut dates and posted most every video we can find. But today is a new day, and this time we're going to show you... another video. GT5 creator Kazunori Yamauchi sat down with GT Planet to discuss how much work goes into the five-year project known as Gran Turismo 5, along with some speculation as to which vehicle will grace the game's cover.
It's no secret that the Mercedes Benz SLS AMG will be featured in GT5, and Yamauchi actually took the uber-exotic gull-winged supercar for a spin on the legendary Nürburgring to ensure that GT5 has the proper driving dynamics. Both the 'Ring and the SLS AMG were digitally rendered pixel by pixel, aided by the game's physics calculation model. Yamauchi calls the game a driving simulator because the calculation model adds exact information about every physical aspect of each vehicle, ensuring that each one behaves in the game exactly how it drives on the road because "that's something we can't actually touch. If the original car is made well, it'll drive well."
Yamouri likes the SLS AMG so much that the vehicle could hold the honored position of being the cover girl on the upcoming game's packaging. And speaking of the game's cover, the video also shows a few seconds of Yamauchi handing over what appears to be a GT5 box set to a co-worker. The glossy box contained what appears to be black, red and blue Blu-ray cases. We're thinking it's a special edition box set for the most rabid of fans, and we hope we're right
Each year at SEMA, a select group of editors and contributors from the world's largest automotive publications scour the show floor to hand out prizes for the best hot rod, Japanese import, European import, domestic automobile and SUV. But not the overall Best in Show award. That'll be handed out by a video game programmer.
Well, not just any video game programmer. The video game programmer: Kazunori Yamauchi, creator of the Gran Turismo racing game franchise. As part of the seventh annual Gran Turismo awards, Yamauchi will hand pick one custom ride at the SEMA show to be rendered by his team of electronic wizards in high-resolution splendor and featured in an upcoming edition of the game. Nominations are being accepted in advance of the November 4 awards ceremony at the Palms, so if you know a ride worthy of Gran Turismo.
We don't know if the marketing folks at Polyphony Digital are messing with us or if building one of the most impressive racing simulators of all time is just really, really hard. For some reason, the rumored release date of the hotly anticipated Gran Turismo 5 is jumping around like the rear axle of a gen one Cadillac CTS-V. We've heard December 29, 2009, late 2009 and even a March 2010 Japan release. Now comes word on the Amazon website that GT5 is going to be released on March 31, 2010. Frankly, we liked "late 2009" a lot more, but it appears we have little say in the matter.
Who knows, the constant date-shifting could be a heartless attempt by Kazunori Yamauchi and his minions to keep their perpetually forthcoming release in the news. We're thinking it's time to stop with the tomfoolery and get this thing launched. Five years and an all-new gaming console is long enough to wait for the answer to GT4.
No matter what you think of the new BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo wagonhatchbackcrossoverthing, if you want to get your hands on a brand-new Bimmer 5, that may be your only choice for the time being. Reports suggest that the Bavarian automaker has stopped taking orders for the E-60 5 Series sedan and wagon, with production tipped to end in December in preparation for the new model.
Dealers have reportedly been instructed only to take "special orders" for the outgoing 5 (whatever that means) with the new GT version scheduled to hit the streets by year's end. Of course, dealers stocked with extra sedans and wagons will be eager to offload their inventory, and we'll be keeping an eye out for hints of the new model coming around the bend.
There are a few things Maserati could do to make the GranTurismo look better than it does, but not many. One option is to surround it with unspeakably beautiful women. Another is to remove the roof. Thankfully, they opted for both here in Frankfurt, where the Trident marque took the wraps off the new GranCabrio.
The girls are a regular fixture for Maserati. But the convertible version of the GranTurismo coupe has been a long time coming. Details and the first batch of photos broke a few weeks ago, and we just got our first up-close-and-personal with what is, believe it or not, the only proper four-seat cabriolet currently on offer from Italy.
Psst...PlayStation fans: Bet you've been getting a little irked about all these screen shots and details about Forza 3 for the xBox 360, haven't you? Well we've got something for you: the first batch of screen shots of the new Gran Turismo 5 for PS3. So far, it's just five shots of the Japanese Super GT-spec Nismo GT-R, but it looks good.
The long awaited and highly anticipated fifth installment from the iconic racing simulator franchise packs some 1000 different vehicles to choose from – according to Sony, more than twice as many as its "closest racing competitor" (wonder who they're talking about) – brought to life in unprecedented quality with state-of-the-art damage rendering, rollover crashes and the whole nine yards. There's even a sweet little feature worked in to allow gamers to export their favorite replay footage straight to YouTube. Alright, enough hype.
After what seems like years of eager anticipation, and with the weeks ticking down until the Frankfurt Motor Show, Maserati has finally unveiled its long-awaited convertible model. With the Maserati GranCabrio, it looks like the Italian automaker has done a beautiful job of translating the Pininfarina-designed GranTurismo into an open-top machine.
The questions on all our minds as we saw an endless stream of heavily-disguised test mules were whether the new convertible would have a fabric or metal roof, retain its four seats or sacrifice the back row (like its predecessor, the Spyder), and which engine would be found under that long hood.
Now we've got our answers. Unlike the Ferrari California, the GranCabrio features a cloth roof that deploys over the four-place passenger compartment, saving both weight and space. In fact, it's the first four-seat convertible in the company's history, and boasts what Maserati says is the longest wheelbase on the market. The Trident marque has also chosen to fit the convertible with the 4.7-liter 433-hp V8 from the GranTurismo S, bypassing the base 4.2-liter unit and mating it to the highly-rated ZF six-speed automatic.
If you're a big fan of Polyphony Digital's Gran Turismo series like we are, you were probably bouncing off the walls when you heard the news that GT5 would finally have damage rendering. We're pretty pumped too, but at the same time we have to ask, what took so long? After all, Forza has had damage rendering since version 2 (Forza 3 is on the way) and damage rendering can already be had on the PS3 in GRID.
With GT5 coming to a store near you at some point in time for this year's holiday season, creator Polyphony is ramping up its marketing blitz to keep our interest piqued. Follow the jump to view actual video proof that shows just how good damage rendering is on GT5. The 1:27 clip features a Subaru STI getting absolutely pummeled by walls and other drivers. We know the driving is bad on purpose in order to demonstrate how destructive GT5's damage rendering is, but we're hoping Kazunori Yamauchi isn't at the controls anyway.
No, we can't answer for you what BMW is thinking when it introduces vehicles like this that defy classification. The X6 did it and now the Concept 5 Series Gran Turismo will do it again at the Geneva Motor Show next month. Dubbed the Progressive Activity Sedan during its development, the Concept 5 Series GT is part sedan and wagon, part luxury car and crossover, part BMW and an answer to a question no one asked. Answering unasked questions is BMW's thing these days, so perhaps these design sketches will shed light on what the Concept 5 Series GT is actually supposed to be. We've analyzed each one carefully, and we're still not sure what purpose such a big vehicle that only seats four people could serve. Needless to say, those four people will probably enjoy their time in BMW's latest segment-bending model. Click on over to carbodydesign to read their much more expert opinion of the vehicle's design. Judging by their lengthy analysis, there actually was some thought put into it.
