It was announced yesterday that Gran Turismo: High Definition will not be a retail product, but simply a game downloadable on the PS3, and will be titled Gran Turismo: High Definition Concept. Bit of a mouthful, but it means they can now focus more of their attention on a proper sequel to GT4.

Gran Turismo HD was originally set to be released in Japan somewhere in December. Sony was planning to release the title at a low cost, like they did on the PS2 with their other Concept game. Players would have to download cars and tracks through micro transactions, since there would be little included in the retail version.

Whilst the retail version has now been scrapped, the game itself has not. Concept is going to be released free on Christmas Eve (24th of December) in Japan on the Playstation Store, with future content released over a period of time which hasn’t yet been specified.

This will be just the first of multiple “Concept” downloads. While specifics on the content to be included in the downloads were not announced today, producer Kazunori Yamauchi did provide some hints at a message posted on the official Gran Turismo site. According to Yamauchi, the download available on Christmas Eve will give a first look at the high definition graphics provided by the PlayStation 3. The next Concept download will include Polyphony’s next generation driving engine.

From the sounds of it, the game will be continually updated and you will, in theory, download a different game every time. Presumably, since the first download doesn’t sound like the “next generation driving engine” is included, it will use GT4’s engine. I’m guessing, but that is most likely. Then, when the new engine is ready, they release the game again. Sounds like a good idea, however pricing was not mentioned, so you may or may not have to pay for future downloads.

Also worthy of note is IGN’s last paragraph:

Polyphony seems to have quite a bit in the works for GT5. The Gran Turismo official site lists the genre for Gran Turismo HD Concept as “Real Driving Simulator,” the same genre that’s been used for the series since the original PlayStation version. For Gran Turismo 5, the genre is listed as “Online Car Life Simulator.”

Simple mistake, or a new direction for the Grand Turismo series? Could it be that GT5 may go down the same path as Test Drive: Unlimited on the 360? It would be an interesting move, but I can’t see faithful fans of the series appreciating that one. Only time will tell.