Still it SEEMS to ME that the GT franchise is not as big as it once was. Same goes for the whole Racing genre.

2.7 million people played the Halo Reach beta in 2 weeks. And compared to a full Halo, there was "almost" no content as well. I think Halo or other shooter are more popular than racing these days.

Well, I can't say if today the racing genre is as big as it was 7-8 years ago, but you could be right.

And with GT5 Prologue it's the same as Halo: ODST. ODST haven't sold nearly the amount of units that Halo 3 had. But Reach is another thing, just like GT5.

You are not the only one. My opinion is that the racing genre and Gran Turismo is overrated when it comes to assertions of GT5 pushing 1 million plus PS3s.

On a connected note, many infer the popularity of the Gran Turismo series as a European phenomenon. Well, Europe ain't looking so well with Greece in default and potentially Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy defaulting on their government debt. Anyone of these happening would push the Euro down in comparison to the dollar making video games cost more in Europe during a time when the average European video game consumer's Euro is deflating causing them to have less disposable income purchasing power after the necessity goods (food, housing, transportation, and clothing) are purchased.

MS recently said that the new Slim Xbox was beeing released in the middle of the total Lifespan and that the Xbox360 still has 5 years time. (Hopefully this will end this 10 year plan joke since MS is on the same plan as Sony)

PS3 is still at 299. And I doubt this was the last PS3 Slim. 5 Mln (or 6 if it goes really well for MS next months) is not that much if we are in the middle (like MS and Sony said) of this gen.

The Industry cant afford the high development cost increase which is coming with a new platform yet. So they most certainly are going to support PS3 and Xbox360 a while longer. Like Sony said its a Marathon and not a Sprint. Nothing is set in Stone yet.

Have you ever been to Japan? Do you know any Japanese people? I worked there for 6 months after i left uni, i have many Japanese friends. People who know me on here will remember i did some Japanese analysis for sales last year  on here.

The Japanese are not against foreign products, they are not racist/discriminitive........

They have a deep view in their culture that a lot of foreign products are inferiour to their own products. This has meant they largely produce their own goods if they can before importing. If you have been to Japan you would notice this in many different places such as the supermarket, the vehicles, the music, films and electronics. This does not mean you will not find foreign food, cars, music, films and electronics in Japan because you will.  It is a natural cultural difference to each region.

The game industry is a big big thing there. If you look at data of sales there your see that for the top selling 50 games of all time not one comes from abroad. If you look at the top selling PS2 games your see of the top 50 only 1 comes from abroad. If you look at each console of this gen you will see in the top 50 maybe 10 foreign games max.

I guess you find that a coincidence right?

Someone also mentioned "Iphone has sold loads in japan, it prooves Japan buy's foreign products" etc etc

Iphone has sold 3m units in Japan. Which is less then 3% of the Mobile share. http://wirelesswatch.jp/2010/06/23/iphone-in-japan-sales-estimate/  What is the % in US i wonder?

My point was that if Japan buy's things based on how everyone else does (i.e i buy without thinking if it is imported or not) then sales of 360 would be higher. Does anyone seriously believe 360 sales in Japan are what they are because people there think it is crap? I mean really?

In America NO

Worldwide is always a possibility

How is it more casual friendly than the Wii and you gotta first buy a 360 for $250.  Then dish out another $150 for the Kinect??  Casual gamers are not spending that kind of money on a console.

MS has been concerned with making money for a while now, hence why the last 11 financials have been profit bar 3 (IIRC) they're on track to post $1 billion profits for the E&D division this financial year.

I thought that before the Slim 360 was out, coming third is not so bad for Sony as long as they continue to sell decent numbers. Do they generate profit on PS3 yet?

Incorrect, that's only counting retail copies, and not downloads.

Real numbers should be close to this: http://www.polyphony.co.jp/english/list.html

Edit: Also, comparing Halo 3: ODST to GT5:P is a little difficult, though I understand where you're coming from. GT5P features ALL will be available in the final version of GT5. Now Halo 3: ODST, on the other hand, had its own campaign and online mode (firefight). Do you really think Halo 3: ODST sales would be the same if Halo 3: ODST's campaign and firefight mode were included in the Halo: Reach disc? I highly doubt it.