Sony has announced the new pre-order incentives for Gran Turismo 6 in the United States (see Europe’s similar offerings detailed here), along with the first details on the special “Gran Turismo 6 15th Anniversary Edition”.

Le Mans 2013 got off to a tragic start, as Aston Martin Racing driver Allan Simonsen was killed in an accident on the Tetre Rouge corner shortly after the start of the race. The thoughts and prayers of the GTPlanet community are with his family as we all mourn the loss of a very talented racing driver.

2013 marks a unique milestone in GT Academy. It’s the third successive year that gamers have taken to the track at the Le Mans 24 Hours, but this time they’re working together.

In addition to GTPlanet’s exclusive interview with Kazunori Yamauchi, where we discussed Gran Turismo 6 engine sounds and artificial intelligence, I also had the opportunity to attend a round-table discussion with him and a group of other journalists.

Nissan and GT Academy are making a big splash at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, with both Lucas Ordonez and Jann Mardenborough driving together in Greaves Motorsport’s LMP2 car. (We’ll have a post up tomorrow with links to all of the live coverage feeds you need to follow the race this weekend – stay tuned.)

The latest Seasonal Events are now available in Gran Turismo 5, featuring high power American sports cars. Five expert level challenges touring such locations as Daytona Road Course and Grand Valley Speedway await, and the rewards are just as high as they’ve come to be in these challenges.

A new “Complete Pack” of Gran Turismo 5 DLC content has been released in the European PlayStation Store.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QOdW1OuZ1U0

An interview with U.S. Gran Turismo producer Taku Imasaki recorded after last month’s GT6 reveal was just recently published by GamerHub.tv, and it contained a few interesting tidbits of information.

A new software update is now available to download for Gran Turismo 5. Weighing in at 17MB, version 2.13 brings with it only some “fixes for minor issues”, according to the official change log from Polyphony Digital.

Amid all the GT6 excitement at E3 last week, Polyphony Digital quietly announced a new online service maintenance notice for Gran Turismo 5, scheduled June 18, 2013, between the hours of 03:00 and 05:00 GMT/UTC (click here to convert this to your local time).

In case you missed the U.S. GT Academy Racer X competition final’s live broadcast from E3 last week, Sony has uploaded all of the day’s footage to their YouTube channel.

I had the special opportunity to spend time one-on-one with Kazunori Yamauchi at E3, where we were able to discuss a few of the most pressing questions Gran Turismo fans have about GT6. GTPlanet also had the opportunity to participate in a “round table” discussion with Kazunori which included other gaming journalists, the full transcript of which will be posted soon.

It only happens once a year and it’s often likened to the Super Bowl, as in “the Super Bowl for gamers”. It can likened to any major event that only happens once a year that has massive appeal but at the end of the day all that matters is it’s E3!

During the Racer X competition finals at E3, Sony revealed the release date for the highly anticipated Gran Turismo 6 demo which will host this year’s GT Academy: Tuesday, July 2, 2013.

The last stage of GT Academy 2013’s Racer X competition is about to take place at Sony’s booth inside E3, and it’s being streamed live on their Ustream channel.

Well this is certainly different, I can’t remember the last time the Red Bull X2010 was featured in a Seasonal Event, if ever. That’s not the only thing you’ll be taking out in this week’s newest events because the Mazda Roadster and race car action are also in the cards.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMMF4bt5kYU

http://youtu.be/ibNXf0UlADI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqmIAyn-72w