Top Gear coming to Gran Turismo TV in 2008

by Jem Alexander { Oct 24th 2007 at 8:30AM }

A partnership has been announced today between the BBC and Sony, in collaboration with Polyphony Digital. The partnership will allow Polyphony Digital to distribute forty episodes of the hit UK car show Top Gear as part of the Gran Turismo TV service. GT TV will launch on the PlayStation Network in 2008 as an online car television channel for motor enthusiasts.

Not only that, but a new level based on the Top Gear test track will also be included in Gran Turismo 5. Certainly, car enthusiasts should be excited by this announcement. Top Gear is a great piece of entertainment, even if you're not a huge fan of motoring. Having free downloadable episodes for the PS3 sounds great to us.

Gallery: Top Gear on GT TV

Tags: bbc, gran-turismo, gran-turismo-5, top-gear

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

JamesF @ Oct 24th 2007 8:47AM

Nice :)
Top Gear is a cult show with a strong following. Being able to set your own times on the Top Gear track will be great fun.

Lee @ Oct 24th 2007 8:48AM

Excellent news. Now we can all have a go at the infamous Gambon corner!

elephant_stone @ Oct 24th 2007 8:51AM

Haha Amazing!

I wonder if you can reenact the Hamster's crash!

Will you have to own GT5 in order to download these?

Pete @ Oct 24th 2007 9:04AM

How much will the episodes cost?

Higgyfella @ Oct 24th 2007 9:14AM

@4, it says they will be free

I hope they're not free for everyone... only us british tv license payers... bah humbug

HAAS599 @ Oct 24th 2007 9:17AM

@3 yes

@4 To my knowledge they will be free. I havent heard anything about fee for GT:TV yet.

GT5 is going to be amazing

speedjello @ Oct 24th 2007 9:44AM

in 1080p HD goodness?

jason @ Oct 24th 2007 9:58AM

great i love top gear

now i am going to get gt5 for sure

Popfrogs @ Oct 24th 2007 10:14AM

Sweet, I've always wanted to watch the old floppy-faced British dudes getting pelted with rocks in Alabama on my PS3. ;)

chris.westermann @ Oct 24th 2007 10:25AM

Honestly, as a Canadian, I never expected that a show about reviewing cars could be considered entertainment, but Top Gear is very enjoyable to watch. I found the episode where the gang goes to Miami to see if they could buy a car and drive it to New Orleans cheaper then renting one to be hillarious and good fun. Being run out of Alabama by the angry locals was a particular highlight. While there are reasons to get GT5 without this incentive, it will be a welcome bonus for any North Americans not familiar with the series and hopefully will not be limited to the EU version of the game.

P @ Oct 24th 2007 10:30AM

@6 There has been somewhere, whether its on wiki, gtplanet(news) or on here im not sure, but it was either commented on being $1 or £1.. it was 1 unit of someones currency, but that doesnt mean all content will be charged, just some will.
Again, wouldnt mark it as fact, ive definately read it somewhere, though whether it was pure speculation by the author or insider knowledge it wasnt made clear that much im sure of.

P @ Oct 24th 2007 10:40AM

Had a hunt round, cant find a specified price for the content, however there are a few references made on wikipedia about paying for the full video content, however the links to the original announcements dont use any terminology suggesting a fee, however i doubt it will all be free to be honest.
"They will cost though, but they will not be too expensive either. On 24 October, a press release confirmed that Top Gear will be featured in Gran Turismo 5 Prologue[2]"
I find it a little naive to think anything but samples of the episodes will come free for all content, i'd bet 75% of full length content will come at a fee. But thats just me, i have nothing to back that up nor claim its fact.