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Since our own insider Amar212 first hinted that a track editor would be included in Gran Turismo 5, it’s something that many people, including myself, have approached with too-good-to-be-true trepidation. As we’ve learned more about the game, both Yamauchi and Polyphony Digital’s quickly-pulled web site posting have neglected to mention anything about what would be an incredible new feature. As a result, it’s dropped off the radar for most fans.

That’s all started to change over the weekend, however, as the Tokyo Game Show demo of Gran Turismo 5 was shown at DigiExpo in Finland. In a video interview with Finnish website Iltalehti, Sony Marketing Manager Suman Rath casually mentioned that “you can make your own tracks” (around 2:25). First picked up by GTPlanet user Timppaq yesterday, further discussion and analysis from other Finnish members have been able to confirm the true meaning of his words. Read their posts here, and please share your own impressions if you speak the language!

As with most off-hand, translated interview comments, we may not be getting completely accurate information, but it is still quite promising. Proceed with caution!

It’s time for the 7th annual Gran Turismo Awards at the SEMA show in Las Vegas! As you may recall, this unique event is a big deal for GT fans and car tuners alike, as Yamauchi picks his favorite car from the show to be featured in the next GT game. Award winners from previous years have brought us some of the series’ most memorable and cars, including the 1962 Buick Special (’03 winner) in Gran Turismo 4 and the 1960 Art Morrison Chevrolet Corvette (’06 winner) in GT5 Prologue.

This year will be a little different, though, as Sony has just announced that the 2007 and 2008 award winners (HPA Motorsport’s Audi TT and JR Rocha’s Infiniti G37) will be playable in a fresh new Gran Turismo 5 demo on the show floor. Kazunori Yamauchi himself will, of course, be on hand to personally select the 2009 winner, so we should also expect several new interviews popping up in the coming week.

On a considerably more somber note, it has just come to my attention (via Chronos in the forums), that JR Rocha, the personal owner of the 2008 award-winning Infiniti G37, passed away just last month from a heart attack. Presumably, SEMA 2009 would have been his first chance to play his own car in the game, making this turn of events all the more tragic. We’ve lost a great automotive enthusiast and car designer – may he rest in peace, and may his creation live on forever in GT5.

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Kazunori Yamauchi’s latest interview with ComputerBild.de may not drop any bombshells, but it definitely warrants a closer look. Google’s automated translation is a bit rough, so I’ve picked out the high points for you:

- When asked why GT5 is taking so long, Yamauchi reiterates the game is “difficult to develop”, and “the dimensions of the game are huge, it is simply too great. It is so complex, so vast in its scale”.

- There is pressure from Sony to deliver a high quality game, and the team at Polyphony Digital understand the implications of their work – it has potential to move many PlayStation 3 consoles for the company.

- Physics, sound, and online-features will be Gran Turismo 5’s greatest contributions to the evolution of the GT series.

- Once again, damage which has been seen so far is not indicative of the “final product”. He admits the game will not be able to portray more severe accidents, but they’re still working to make it as “realistic as possible”.

Yamauchi’s most interesting responses come when the interviewer inquires (and continues to press) on dynamic weather and time-of-day functionality…

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Mercedes-Benz is running a special blog, hosted by “Matthew”, covering the launch of the company’s new SLS AMG at various events around the world. Of course, he was on hand at the Tokyo Game Show, and shared the experience with the video above. While there’s little that we haven’t already seen, things get a little more interesting when Polyphony Digital employees show up to take a second look at the SLS on display.

Presumably, they’re looking to refine the model in the game, and seemed particularly curious about the functionality of the headlights. They also observe the opening of the fuel door cover – something which will need to be simulated thanks to the new, fully animated pit crews who attach a fueling rig to the car. As we slowly learn more and more about the game, it will be interesting to see how Yamauchi’s team choose to implement these small details.

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With so many of you making plans to attend the PlayStation House tour after we noticed that Gran Turismo 5 would be making an appearance, I felt this latest turn of events has warranted its own blog post. Unfortunately, in a statement to VG247, SCEE has announced that GT5’s listing on the site was a “mistake”. Sure enough, Sony has just updated the PlayStation House website, removing the racing title from the description (the old version lives on in Google’s cache, for now).

Anyone interested in cooking up a conspiracy theory should keep in mind that several of our readers, after talking with Sony employees running the “House” confirmed that GT5 would be arriving at the display “soon”. Was it an honest mistake, then, or was the game pulled after its appearance started getting publicity? It would be interesting to hear what those workers have to say about all of this, so be sure and ask them if you still decide to go (just be nice about it – remember, it’s not their fault).

Alas, it might not be all bad news: as pointed out by several readers in the comments to my previous post, Gran Turismo 5 is on schedule to be shown at DigiExpo in Helsinki, Finland on October 30 – but can we really believe you this time, Sony?

Gran Turismo 5 is about to make its public debut in UK shopping malls as it joins Sony’s ongoing “PlayStation House Tour“. As you can see in the description, the “touring games extravaganza” will give you “the chance to test out all the best titles and newest releases [...] including [...] GT5″. Sure enough, when GTPlanet forum user Kyaw checked out the “House” in the Birmingham Bullring, the staff on-hand confirmed a demo of the racing title will be there “soon”. Before you get too excited, keep in mind this version of the game will almost certainly be similar (if not identical) to what was playable in France last month. (Though the latest demo running at the Tokyo Motor Show including the Toyota FT-86 would certainly make for a pleasant surprise.)

Regardless, with so many GT fans in the UK, this will be a great opportunity for many of you to see what the gaming press has been enjoying for some time now. The “House Tour” will be in Birmingham until November 1st, before moving to Manchester and beyond.

*UPDATE*: Sony has now removed the game from the list of playable titles at this event – see here for more information.

After the Tokyo Game Show, many in our forums speculated that we’d see Gran Turismo 5’s next appearance at the Tokyo Motor Show, and it turned out they were correct! Unfortunately, though, the only thing new is the Toyota FT-86, which is now playable in the demo alongside the Mercedes SLS-AMG and Ferrari 458 Italia. The show is just getting started, so the only impressions we have so far are via Japanese sites Gigazine and Inside-Games. One interesting thing to note: Sony will gift you 100 free cars in Gran Turismo PSP if you bring your copy of the game to the booth. Keep reading for more pictures and the first gameplay footage of the Toyota FT-86.

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