Just want to remind everyone that GTPlanet’s Facebook Page officially launched last week – if you’re on Facebook, please become a fan!  Much like our Twitter feed, you’ll find more interesting links, forum threads, and videos that didn’t make their way onto the main news blog here.  When you become a Facebook fan, some of our updates will appear on your main “news feed” for the site, just like those from your friends so you won’t miss a single bit of GT news.  As you can see, our Wall is also open, so feel free to use it to spread the word about your latest forum topic or competition.

The Logitech G25 was one of the first steering wheels to introduce a clutch pedal and gated 6-speed shifter.  It’s success has prompted other wheel manufacturers like Fanatec to jump in the game, fueling competition in this niche market to new heights.  Now, with the G25 pushing 3 years old, everyone is watching Logitech to make a move.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO26tmL-_gE

In a short but sweet interview with AutoWeek magazine which must have fallen through the cracks with all the other E3 news, GT series creator Kazunori Yamauchi stated that “We will give the release date of Gran Turismo 5 soon.”  The question remains, though – just how soon is “soon”?  Speculation is mounting in our forums, with many pointing towards the upcoming Tokyo Game Show this September 24-27.  Aside from taking place on Polyphony Digital’s home turf (their offices are located in Tokyo), the 2007 TGS show is where they announced the release date for GT5 Prologue.  While this is just speculation, you can see the pieces of the puzzle would fit together quite nicely.

Since E3 earlier this month, the entire GT community has been looking forward to the release of July’s PlayStation Official Magazine, after last month’s issue promised a major Gran Turismo 5 feature article.  Early this morning, the new French edition started hitting newsstands, and it didn’t take long for scans to hit the web – for all the wrong reasons.  No new information could be found, and the screenshots were simply lifted from the official E3 trailer.  Some are still holding out hope that the UK or US editions will contain fresh content, but that’s extremely unlikely.  We’ll keep an eye out just in case…

This little game just keeps looking better!  Take a closer look at the Ferrari Enzo and the Nissan GTR V-Spec in these impressive new screenshots.  For the skeptics, take a look at this gameplay video footage.

Polyphony Digital’s Citroen GT concept car has been busier than ever – first appearing at the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring, hitting up the 24 Hours of Le Mans a few weeks ago, and now stopping traffic as it drives the London street circuit from GT5 Prologue.  Of course, this made for some pretty impressive photo ops, which you can see below.  The car is slowly making its way to the Goodwood Festival of Speed, taking place July 3-5.  Full press release after the jump…

The Gran Turismo brand once again made a strong showing last weekend at the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans.  Trackside banners could be seen all around Circuit de La Sarthe – most notably at the chicanes down the  Mulsanne straight.  Sony also continued their strong support of the Pescarolo Sport racing team’s Peugeot 908 LMP car, in the quickly-becoming-classic light blue/green/white livery that you probably remember from GT4.  Polyphony Digital’s Citroen GT also made the rounds this year, (supposedly) doing a honorary lap around the circuit (still waiting on pictures of that) and appearing in a local driver’s parade.

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.

If you’ve been holding off on GT5 Prologue because you don’t want to pay for a “demo”, you are quickly running out of excuses – especially if you’re in the United States.  As has been reported around the web, Target has dropped their in-store price on the game to $9.98.  That’s an incredible $30 less than the old MSRP for the game (and what’s still listed on their website), and $20 less than it’s new Greatest Hits price.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZw3ObYN6uE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep0vcFE7Ezg

Not long after the dust settled at E3, people started to ask when we could expect the next batch of news from Yamauchi and his team at Polyphony Digital.  It didn’t take much time to find out: the PlayStation Official Magazine is expected to preview Gran Turismo 5 in next month’s issue.  Of course, there are no guarantees as to what this “preview” will contain – indeed, it may simply be a re-hashing of what we already learned at E3.  With that said, it makes sense for Sony to drive “official” magazine sales by using its own media property to announce new information.  Keep a close eye on those newsstands!

Some people were quick to lament that no “hard facts” regarding Gran Turismo 5 were released at last week’s E3 show, but now that we’ve had some time to carefully pick through the HD trailer, you can see we’ve actually learned quite a bit.  Much like we did with Gran Turismo PSP: What You Need to Know, let’s put the pieces of the puzzle together and find out exactly what Kazunori Yamauchi and Polyphony Digital told us…

Since the big announcement at Sony’s E3 press conference, two things have happened: lots of journalists got their hands on the demo at the show, and Kazunori Yamauchi has released more tidbits of information in a flurry of interviews.  It’s difficult to keep up with everything, and all the excitement around the Gran Turismo 5 trailer hasn’t helped, but we should be able to clear up a lot of the confusion by aggregating the pieces of the puzzle right here.  Keep reading to find out what we know, what we don’t know, and what everyone else actually thinks about this long-anticipated title…

Thanks to an excellent new interview with Kazunori Yamauchi, we’ve just learned a lot about the progress of Gran Turismo 5 – and it sounds like it is further along than anyone may have imagined.  When asked about “how development’s going”, Yamauchi-san responded:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn5rBftQ1b0

We knew it wouldn’t be long before more detailed information begins trickling out of Los Angeles – and sure enough – the first interview with Kazunori Yamauchi from E3 does just that!  He sat down with automotive news site Edmunds.com shortly after Sony’s E3 press conference and shared a few interesting things about GT Mobile and Gran Turismo 5.  Here’s a quick summary of what we learn:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2uQ2ayvvWY

Here’s our first “real” look at the Gran Turismo PSP, including gameplay and menu screenshots!