Kyle Patrick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTSUgXkfooA

It’s Monday morning, and that means the big two are about to unleash their press conferences for this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo. Microsoft is up first at 9:30 AM PST (click here to convert to your timezone), with their presentation being broadcast on the official Xbox Twitch channel, which you can watch up top. Xbox owners can also follow along on their consoles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6V0mi0TW_4

With E3 kicking off this week, and GT Sport events already taking place in London, Nürburg, and Tokyo, fans of the franchise are itching to get a chance for a test drive before the game arrives on PS4 in mid-November. We’ve got good news, at least for UK residents: GTPlanet has teamed up with Sony Computer Entertainment UK to give you the chance to win free admission to GT Sport’s second appearance in the country, at the prestigious Goodwood Festival of Speed!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55D_kttJUys

In a slightly unexpected move, Sony has unveiled the latest Gran Turismo Sport trailer mere days before the year’s biggest gaming event. The title confirms this is indeed the footage intended for E3 next week, and while it contains a lot of familiar content for those who’ve kept track of our GT Sport coverage the last month, it does hold some welcome surprises.

GT Sport was shown off in its home country last weekend, where Polyphony continued to court the media with numerous interviews. Speaking with Famitsu magazine, Kazunori expanded on the subject of post-release support for the title.

2016 marks the 100th anniversary – but only the 94th running – of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado. Gran Turismo became a platinum sponsor of the event last year, and will expand that relationship by having Polyphony Digital president Kazunori Yamauchi not only attend the event, but drive one of the three Acura pace cars.

The first Tuesday of each month is traditionally ‘New Car Pack’ day for Forza fans. With the Season Pass complete, and E3 just around the corner, players are unsure of whether a new car pack will be arriving soon or not. Ford UK has let slip that, regardless of a car pack’s arrival, all Forza Motorsport 6 players will be receiving a free treat today, in the form of the Ford GT LM.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12_HWpwLrRA

Easily one of the most surprising features unveiled for GT Sport last month, a livery editor has finally arrived in the franchise. As a highly-requested feature, players were eager to dive into the editor at the Copper Box, but found everything bar the basic top menu locked out for public use. While we got a quick peak at the feature in action in the latest trailer, it raised as many questions as it answered. When asked about the level of control players will have in the livery editor, Kazunori Yamauchi had this to say:

What a difference a month makes. When we last caught up with the Pirelli World Challenge after Round 7 (here), Johnny O’Connell and Michael Cooper were leading the points tally in their pair of Cadillac ATS-V.R’s, followed closely by Alvaro Parente in a McLaren 650S GT3. A significant gap existed between Parente and the two Porsche drivers that rounded out the top five – Michael Lewis and Patrick Long. 2011 GT Academy winner Bryan Heitkotter sat in ninth, while his teammate JD Davison slotted in directly behind Patrick Long.

We often hear of people transitioning to professional racing thanks to video games. The GT Academy initiative is perhaps the most obvious example, but it’s hardly the only one. Slightly Mad Studios, the studio behind Project CARS, has released a documentary focusing on the inspiring story of Nicolas Hamilton’s career progression.

For many fans, GT Sport is still largely a mystery. With the public beta officially cancelled, the chances of playing the game before its November release are limited. There are exceptions, like the Nürburgring 24H race this past weekend, and of course the big event in downtown London that wrapped up the week before.

Rally racing enthusiasts have suddenly become spoiled for choice in terms of console games. The mud-and-jumps sport has had two dedicated titles released thus far in 2016 – Sébastien Loeb Rally Evo and DiRT Rally – while October 2015 saw the release of WRC 5, the official franchise for the World Rally Championship. We now have word from the game’s producers that the sequel will be available on all major platforms this fall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J1ovMtB04c

The details that came out during last week’s London event were a veritable wave of information for Gran Turismo fans. GT Sport’s full retail release date was announced (November 15, 16, or 18, depending on region), but one date absent from the event was the public beta’s availability, which was announced at the original GT Sport unveiling last year. We’ve now got confirmation that it won’t be happening, from Kazunori Yamauchi himself.

Last week’s NASCAR expansion for Forza Motorsport 6 brought the biggest automotive series in America to the game. Those that purchased the add-on received a host of car’s from this season as well as a new track. In addition, numerous new gameplay features including rolling starts and new car spotting HUD elements were rolled out across the game’s community, even for those that hadn’t bought the pack.

Time is ticking down on the 2016 Electronic Entertainment Expo. With less than a month until E3 takes place at the Los Angeles Convention Centre, the big gaming companies are starting to tip their hands. First up is Microsoft, with the return of their FanFest initiative.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjhivx90AsQ