Polyphony Digital chief Kazunori Yamauchi has confirmed that the planned beta for Gran Turismo Sport has been shelved.
Speaking with VideoGamer during an event in London yesterday evening, Yamauchi-san confirmed that the beta was ditched as it would have meant the racing title would have been pushed into 2017.
"That’s something that I’m very, very sorry about," said Yamauchi-san. "In order to do a beta test we have to make a gold master of the beta test code, and for us it actually takes as much effort as to finish the real master code of the actual game.
"Just because it’s beta we can’t just throw it out there. It’s required that in order to do an open beta we have to create a proper master for it, and considering the release timing that we announced, we decided that we just don’t have enough time to do two gold masters for the game. By omitting that it saves us about three months of time."
Asked to clarify if this meant the beta is no longer happening, he added: "Most likely I don’t think it would be possible. I’m very sorry but that’s just how it turned out."
Gran Turismo Sport is scheduled for release on PlayStation 4 in November 2016. Check out the latest gameplay footage of the title here.
The game is the latest entry in the Sony-exclusive racing franchise that has become synonymous with the PlayStation brand since its debut on PSOne in 1997. As of December 2015, the Gran Turismo series has sold over 76.5 million units worldwide.