GTPlanet

If there’s one thing the “general” gaming press knows about Gran Turismo, it’s that big news about the series can drive lots of traffic.  Unfortunately, that’s exactly what is happening right now in the Internet rumor mill, and it’s getting fans everywhere stirred up for no good reason.  It all started when Play.com – an online games retailer with of no particular authority – listed Gran Turismo 5 as “due for release on 27/11/2009″.  This isn’t anything new or exciting, as pretty much everyone who has waited on a game to be released is well aware how retailers wrecklessly throw release dates around.  Until an official date comes along, it’s little more than someone’s best guess.

That didn’t stop TheSixthAxis from picking up the random date (via a NeoGAF forum post) and running with it, further sensationalizing the story with the matter-of-fact title, “Gran Turismo 5 Gets UK Release Date”.  Of course, the link was promptly posted to gaming news aggregation site N4G, and has since spread to VG247 and PSXExtreme.  It’s almost funny to see the authors slipping down the slippery slope of quoting retailer release dates, as they are suddenly forced to acknowledge (and link to) a seemingly endless sea of nonsense.

Indeed, it would be funny, if it wasn’t taken seriously by so many people.  Casual fans won’t read this article, nor will they pay much attention to the source of TheSixthAxis’ date.  When the official date is then released by Sony (say, March of 2010), people will become very upset, claiming the game has been further “delayed”.  In reality, though, no date was ever moved, nor was the game ever “pushed back” from anything other than their own personal expectations.  Be wary of the internet rumor mill surrounding GT5 – I hope you’ll continue to rely on GTPlanet for accurate, cited news about your favorite series.

UPDATE:  A Dutch PS3 site claims to have contacted Play.com, who said the release date was given to them by the publisher. If that’s true, not only is Sony releasing 5 of their biggest titles on the same day (according to other games on Play.com with the same November 27th release date…), but one of Sony’s own representatives lied when directly responding to all of this drama.