While the Gran Turismo games have always taken themselves pretty seriously, becoming famed for providing one of the most authentic virtual driving experiences out there, Gran Turismo 6, releasing this December on the PS3, looks set to take the series to a whole other world. Literally.
The latest trailer for the game, which you can see for yourself below, is pretty much what you'd expect from a trailer for Gran Turismo game - lots of very, very shiny cars speeding around a variety of tracks, some dusty, some icy, some green, and some in the middle of a city. Part Turtle Wax infomerical, part documentary, and part petrol head's dream, in all, it's a pretty accurate representation of what the game's all about - but then in the last few seconds, things get a little weird.
What we see is a shot of the moon from a distance, then a shot of the moon's surface, where a lunar rover is casually, well, roving the surface. It turns out that in Gran Turismo 6, in amongst the game's somewhat stunning 1197 vehicles, nestled between Fiat 500s, Jaguars, and nigh on 50 different variations of the Nissan Skyline is a car named "Lunar Roving Vehicle LRV-001 '71". And if the trailer's anything to go by, you won't be driving it around a test track - you'll be driving it on the moon.
Set for release on the 6th December, Gran Turismo 6 will likely be one of the last big name games released on the PS3. Despite promising even more realism, with a revamped physics engine, and (as shown in the trailer), a rather fancy day/night cycle that even takes into account a course's longitude/latitude to simulate the stars in the sky, we can't help but hope the inclusion of something as daft as a Moon Buggy may be a sign that a traditionally stiff and serious game may be starting to liven itself up, even if only slightly.
Offering an interesting look into the kind of work that goes into making a game like Gran Turismo - and the huge variety of cars waiting to be driven, complete with a pretty cool track tying everything together, the trailer's definitely worth a watch. If you have a big petrol head in your life, this could be one to keep an eye on this Christmas.
