Steve is right on the money and was correct in agreeing with my initial assessment.
There won't be a GT7. Not gonna happen. The Gran Turismo series is a dinosaur and now they're jumping the shark, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle one last time. To be honest, I question if we'll see GT6. Actually, I've been wondering about that for a while.
They saw an opportunity with the new Corvette. And realize, it's not just a new model year Corvette, it's a new freaking generation of Corvette. The car has been around for 60 years, and to date, there have only been 6 previous generations...this is big in the car world. PD has jumped on GM's coat tails to help push their dying product.
Hey guys. Sorry I've been a way for a while and I'm thrilled that this discussion is continuing:D
about the comment above... I have heard from a GM management relative of mine that GM was ecstatic at the opportunity and buzz was huge on their abillity to share this car with the public in GT5. That doesn't mean PD wasn't the one to approach them. Who knows? The fact that it mutually benefits PD is not insignificant for a point, but I don't think GT5 is begging GM for cars, mind you.
Croonah mentioned that it is an advertising ploy...
It should be remembered that to the execs who make these decisions, on the game side and the manufacturer side, it is ALWAYS about money... so yea it's an advertising ploy.
But the reason it works as an advertising ploy is because games are about fun and so are sports cars. They knkow we like fun, cars, and games, so it's a perfect fit. The fact that something is a "ploy" doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing or done for the wrong reasons.
For now I'm just happy that because of PD's success at making a good physics engine (for its time, and certainly being surpassed by others now) that they have garnered enough respect from manufacturers to be able to faithfully reproduce their cars digitally.