Why does Gran Turismo 5 need heavy marketing and promotion?

[Grimes]

richardhutnik said:

I am wondering about the question in the subject header.  Is there anyone who is a Playstation 3 owner who doesn't know about Gran Turismo 5?  Same with anyone else out there who may be buying a PS3 to play it, who doesn't have a PS3 yet.  And also, anyone in general who is into videogames for whom the Gran Turismo franchise isn't a know commodity either? 

So, in light of this, exactly what is heavy marketing and promotion of Gran Turismo 5 going to do for sales?  There would be ONE thing I see Sony needs to get word out about, which is that it is set to be available the Wednesday of Black Friday week.  So, in light of this, why wouldn't signs up in stores where people go shopping letting them know it is out, be enough?  Exactly what would running a lot of ads do?  Are ads with Kevin Butler suddenly going to convert people over who had no interest in Gran Turismo to suddenly become interested?  Or that it will suddenly let a number of people know the game exists when they didn't before?

I am asking this because I don't see Gran Turismo 5 really having any competition, and the genre of driving sim, either is or isn't of interest to people.  Halo and God of War happened to get a boost, because they have competitors.  But what does Gran Turismo 5 have, Mario Kart or Forza?

 

Black Ops. That's what marketing can do combined with a strong brand name.