Kazunori Yamauchi’s participation in the VLN’s BFGoodwrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft event on the Nurburgring Nordschleife last month is carefully documented in the latest issue of Auto Express. Editor Owen Mildenhall, who shared the car with Yamauchi and Peter Lyon during the 4 hour endurance race, has posted about the experience on the magazine’s website. Unfortunately, the differential on the team’s Lexus IS-F wasn’t up to the task, forcing Yamauchi to retire the car after just 40 minutes behind the wheel.

It wasn’t all for naught, though: Yamauchi still learned from the intense experience, which he hopes to be able to simulate in Gran Turismo 5:

“I feel like I am in a dream, driving as fast as I possibly can. The only time I get in this trance-like state is when I am racing a real car. I want to understand what makes me feel like that, and ultimately feed it back into Gran Turismo 5.”

Of course, this actually isn’t Yamauchi’s first event on the Nurburgring – he also competed in another VLN race in the IS-F last August, with the team finishing first in their class (Yamauchi blogged on preparations for the event here and here). His ultimate goal is to compete in the Nurburgring 24-hour Endurance race next May, and, hopefully, we’ll all be able to follow along at home with fresh copies of Gran Turismo 5!

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.

Logitech’s new steering wheel has finally arrived! They’re in stock right now at Amazon.com for $287.38, plus shipping. Reports in our forums also indicate the G27 is showing up on shelves at Best Buy in the United States. The obvious question, then -- should you pick this up? According to the reviews, here’s the simple answer: if you’ve already got a G25, you’ll appreciate the hardware upgrades, but you shouldn’t feel too pressured to pick up a G27. If you’re in the market for your first steering wheel (and don’t mind spending the extra cash over the discounted G25 prices), you’re going to get one of the best wheels on the market.

Ultimately, the Logitech G27 offers significantly refined internal technology, while eliminating some of the classic “pet peeves” that many have with the G25 (while introducing some new ones along the way). I’ll leave further explanation to this review by SimHQ, and this video review by InsideSimRacing…

Finally, we get to see the full car list for Gran Turismo PSP.  This doesn’t have all 850 vehicles- some of which will remain Polyphony Digital’s surprise – but at least it’s official. Take a look!

Remember, this Keynote Address is Sony’s first event of the day. They will be holding a second Press Conference at 1:30 PM (Tokyo time, check your local time table), when we will likely learn more about the future of the Gran Turismo series. Stay tuned, and get ready!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year (or just not reading the car magazines/blogs…), you probably know about the new Mercedes SLS AMG -- the company’s replacement for the SLR McLaren and the spiritual successor to the classic 300SL Gullwing. It was only recently announced by Mercedes, but that didn’t stop Kazunori Yamauchi from getting the chance to slip behind the wheel. As you can see in these two apparently leaked videos (see the other one here), Yamauchi-san saw the car both with and without camouflage, outside and in.

The obvious question: was he checking out the car while the Polyphony Digital team gathered the necessary data for Gran Turismo 5? We may never know for sure -- even if it doesn’t make it on to the Blu-Ray disc, it’s still an obvious candidate for download in the future. Time will tell! Thanks to SleepyK for digging this up!

You might remember last year when Kazunori Yamauchi handed out the “Polyphony Digital Trophy” at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.  At the time, his selection of a Lamborghini raised eyebrows in our forums, and it did turn out to be a pleasant case of foreshadowing!  This year, the award goes to a 1965 Alfa Romeo TZ2 – the company’s “last purpose-built GT racer”, of which only 12 were produced.  Before you get too excited, though, we should mention that there is no indication this car will be included in any GT game. It would be great, however, to see Polyphony Digital Trophy recipients included, much like the annual winners of the SEMA Gran Turismo Award…

If you’ve seen lots of pictures and videos from the show floor at last week’s GamesCom convention, you probably noticed this full-size, Audi TT motion simulator running what appears to be a special version of Gran Turismo 5: Prologue.  While this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a motion simulator hooked up to a copy of GT (indeed, this same Audi was brought to the Leipzig Games Convention last year), you can only imagine how badly manufactures of consumer-grade “motion seats” would love to interface their own products with future GT titles…

Did any GTPlanet readers at the show get to try this out?  What were your impressions?

When GTPlanet reviewed the VisionRacer VR3 earlier this year, we really loved what we saw. Anyone dedicated to their sim-racing hobby would be hard-pressed to find something to match the VisonRacer’s ergonomics, beauty, or quality of construction. Craftsmanship is not cheap, though, and the VR3 is still a significant investment for most gamers. To help out, the VisionRacer guys are offering a special price just for GTPlanet readers: $999 with free shipping to the U.S..

To take advantage of the offer, shoot them an email and let them know you’re coming from GTP. Shortly thereafter, you’ll have the perfect accessory for Gran Turismo 5 ready and waiting in your living room. I use a VR3 myself, and it has completely changed the way I view sim racing. If it’s something you’ve been considering, this promotion is a great opportunity to take your hobby to the next level for less money than ever before.

UPDATE: Just learned from the VisionRacer guys that, due to the incredible response from this promotion with free shipping for U.S. customers, the promotion will soon be coming to other countries as well.  If you’re in the UK, sit tight!