Jordan Greer

A new Gran Turismo 5 Seasonal Event has just gone live, featuring European “hot hatches” tuned to a maximum of 470PP. Here’s the races:

An extremely valuable piece of Gran Turismo memorabilia has gone up for auction on eBay: Lucas Ordoñez’s red couch. As of writing, bids for the stylish red sofa are already well over £400, and the auction doesn’t end until Monday!

After more than a year without any mention of Gran Turismo 5’s real-world visualization capabilities, the novel feature has suddenly returned to the spotlight with the debut of the Scion FR-S/Toyota 86.

One of the most ambitious online races ever organized is currently taking shape right here in GTPlanet’s forums. It’s a 24-hour, online endurance challenge at the famed Nurburgring, complete with every possible real-world challenge, including tire wear, fuel-consumption, damage, weather, and time change.

The new Toyota 86/Scion FR-S was announced yesterday with a new GT5 trailer at the Tokyo Auto Show, though there was still no actual confirmation the car would actually be featured in the game.

New Time and Drift trials are now available in Gran Turismo 5, and one – at Monza – features the game’s original hyper-car, the X2010. The Online Car Dealership has also been updated. Here’s a complete look at what’s new:

Gran Turismo 5 will be getting a new cover featuring the Red Bull X2011, along with a refreshed disc that includes GT5 Spec II – in Japan, at least. According to the announcement posted on Polyphony Digital’s Japanese website, the new package will be available starting February 2, 2012 in the country.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju7RVw-IRO4

Remember Gran Turismo 5’s “data logger visualization” tech demo?

GTPlanet’s Online Events forum is home to hundreds of Gran Turismo 5 race series, clubs, and leagues, where the world’s best GT players come to participate in clean, fair, and competitive online races.

While thanking fans for their Twitter messages celebrating GT5’s one-year-anniversary, Kazunori Yamauchi shared some information about the game’s next update:

Exactly one year ago today – after much speculation, rumor-mongering, winds, and two official delays – Gran Turismo 5 was finally released to the world with a massive launch party in Madrid, Spain.

Polyphony Digital knows many of you in the U.S. will be out shopping this Thanksgiving weekend (though they’d likely prefer you passed on those $28 copies of Forza Motorsport 4), so this week’s Seasonal Events take place within GT5’s B-Spec mode.

European winner of the 2011 GT Academy, Jann Mardenborough, and his American counterpart Bryan Heitkotter, completed the final race of their intensive five-month ‘Driver Development Programme’ on Saturday 19 November. Competing in the Britcar MSA British Endurance Championship race at Brands Hatch, the pair recorded a notable first-in-class finish (fifth place overall) in their RJN Motorsport run Nissan 370Z GT4 race car. The result moves them ever closer to achieving their main goal of competing in the Dubai International 24 Hour race in January, 2012.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6pf6ueK-Is

Polyphony Digital has announced a new special Time Trial Challenge Seasonal Event, which will go live on Monday, November 21 at 12:01 PST.

A new batch of Time and Drift trial events are now live in Gran Turismo 5, featuring the following cars and tracks:

GT Academy winner Lucas Ordoñez and his Signatech Nissan team may have clinched the ILMC LMP2 championship last month at Road Atlanta, but a class victory has remained just out of reach the entire season – until now!

IGN has published their most recent interview with Kazunori Yamauchi, where he provides fairly detailed responses to some familiar questions. Notably, he offers a rough timeline of how often we can expect new content to be introduced in Gran Turismo 5:

A new Seasonal Event has just gone live in Gran Turismo 5, featuring classic (pre-1979) Japanese cars in the following events. Tuning is allowed up to 450PP with unlimited tire selection.