Top Gear: Coming to a Gran Turismo Near You
Sony inks a deal with the BBC to bring the best damn car show ever created straight to your PS3.
Published: October 24, 2007
There isn't a group of people on this planet more obsessed with cars that the folks at Polyphony Digital. The Sony development studio behind the Gran Turismo series probably has to eat bowls of cereal with motor oil instead of milk from radiators every morning for fear the PD head Kazunori Yamauchi will devour their souls, but it's paid off big time with the GT games' almost psychotically high attention to detail.
There is, however, another group that showers the modern (and often classic) automobile with nearly as much love: the fine folks at the BBC's Top Gear, a TV series has done everything from sent an old mini down a ski jump to raced the worlds fastest production car (the 1001hp Bugatti Veyron) at speeds well over that of even F1 cars. In short, they're a show by car nuts for car nuts, and there's enough love and adulation piled onto the profiles of these cars that even the causal appreciator of high-powered rides can get into the show.
And now comes the good news: the two worlds will be colliding as Sony Computer Entertainment and the BBC have hooked up to provide 40 full episodes of the show for download through Gran Turismo's GT TV feature -- most prominently and recently displayed in Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, though it will certainly make its way into the full game (in fact, it's likely that we probably won't see proper episodes until GT5 hits... well, whenever Yamauchi deems it properly finished.
The down side is that we'll have to wait to digest the sweet, sweet nectar of car freaks showing off their fancy rides, but the wait will be met with not only the Top Gear episodes, but also the show's test track, which will appear in the game, and allow for some fantastic performance runs. It sounds like everyone involved with the deal is all smiles and hugs about it, with both sides tossing complements at each other in a big ass love-in.
“We at Polyphony are great fans of the world’s best motoring programme, Top Gear, so we’re delighted to be collaborating with BBC Worldwide to deliver Top Gear content via Gran Turismo,” gushed Yamauchi. “We’re sure that players will be as thrilled as we are when they get the chance to put their own driving skills to the test on the Top Gear Test Track in GT5, as well as enjoying classic episodes of Top Gear via GT TV.”
Simon Danker, Director, Digital Media, BBC Worldwide and master of commas, reciprocated, “BBC Top Gear is the world’s number one motoring media brand and we’re thrilled to make it accessible to Gra Turismo gamers. We continue to explore different avenues to share our content with an expanding audience, and are delighted to participate with Polyphony Digital in the launch of this exciting new opportunity.”
Okay, so the praise was a little one-sided. Even still, we can't imagine a better pairing. Now if the game would just come out already...
There is, however, another group that showers the modern (and often classic) automobile with nearly as much love: the fine folks at the BBC's Top Gear, a TV series has done everything from sent an old mini down a ski jump to raced the worlds fastest production car (the 1001hp Bugatti Veyron) at speeds well over that of even F1 cars. In short, they're a show by car nuts for car nuts, and there's enough love and adulation piled onto the profiles of these cars that even the causal appreciator of high-powered rides can get into the show.
And now comes the good news: the two worlds will be colliding as Sony Computer Entertainment and the BBC have hooked up to provide 40 full episodes of the show for download through Gran Turismo's GT TV feature -- most prominently and recently displayed in Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, though it will certainly make its way into the full game (in fact, it's likely that we probably won't see proper episodes until GT5 hits... well, whenever Yamauchi deems it properly finished.
The down side is that we'll have to wait to digest the sweet, sweet nectar of car freaks showing off their fancy rides, but the wait will be met with not only the Top Gear episodes, but also the show's test track, which will appear in the game, and allow for some fantastic performance runs. It sounds like everyone involved with the deal is all smiles and hugs about it, with both sides tossing complements at each other in a big ass love-in.
“We at Polyphony are great fans of the world’s best motoring programme, Top Gear, so we’re delighted to be collaborating with BBC Worldwide to deliver Top Gear content via Gran Turismo,” gushed Yamauchi. “We’re sure that players will be as thrilled as we are when they get the chance to put their own driving skills to the test on the Top Gear Test Track in GT5, as well as enjoying classic episodes of Top Gear via GT TV.”
Simon Danker, Director, Digital Media, BBC Worldwide and master of commas, reciprocated, “BBC Top Gear is the world’s number one motoring media brand and we’re thrilled to make it accessible to Gra Turismo gamers. We continue to explore different avenues to share our content with an expanding audience, and are delighted to participate with Polyphony Digital in the launch of this exciting new opportunity.”
Okay, so the praise was a little one-sided. Even still, we can't imagine a better pairing. Now if the game would just come out already...