A special addendum to our book, GTPEDIA: GTPlanet’s Guide to the World of Gran Turismo, is now available.

A new update to Gran Turismo 5 is now available, version 2.12. At just 24MB in size, the update appears to primarily address the “hacked” or “hybrid” cars in the game.

Late last week, Polyphony Digital announced two upcoming maintenance periods for Gran Turismo 5’s online services, each of which will last for approximately two hours:

This has been an eventful week for me if I do say so myself: picked up a new keyboard (more on that later) and I’m on the cusp of upgrading, or should I say, overhauling my current PC rig. In what way you ask? Well that’s the quandary in itself because I don’t know what I’m going to upgrade, or when for that matter. I’ll be keeping my usual close eye on things as they develop over the next couple of weeks and judge from there when the time is indeed necessary. Although I will say that I’ve been eyeing the GeForce GTX 690 since it was launched last year, and with plans having fallen through to obtain one I’d almost regret not getting something I had my sights on for close to a year now.

The latest Seasonal Events are now available in GT5, featuring a variety of high performance, rear-wheel drive fun. There are no restrictions on the tuning used in this week’s time and drift events, and no vehicle or tuning restrictions in the Spa Francorchamps drift event. However, tires are limited to Sports/Hard and Comfort/Soft compounds or less, respectively.

Polyphony Digital launched a new look for the official Gran Turismo website today in Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan.

NewEgg, one of the largest electronics retailers, has made the jump as the first major online store to add Gran Turismo 6 to their catalog. As first picked up by PlayStation Lifestyle, they have listed the game as a PlayStation 3 title with an estimated release date of November 2013.

Images courtesy of Nissan & European F3.

Here you are, rushing in to see the Rewind this week and I’m willing to bet the title is what attracted you, isn’t it? Perhaps it did but you don’t have the slightest clue as to what it means, or why I’ve chosen it to represent this week’s Rewind. Well to make things relatively simple for those of you who are but a bit confused, “Danger Zone” is a title easily recognized for it’s Top Gun fame, or if you’re simply a Kenny Loggins fan you’ll recognize it due to that as well Another interesting tidbit is the “Danger Zone” has also become a pop-culture joke reference in the animated series Archer – thus the title is an homage to both.

The latest Seasonal Events are now available in GT5, featuring supercars built on or before 1979. Five expert level events touring some of the most widely used locations available in the game, and the rewards are high.

Race Camp image courtesy of GT Academy.

First off the title: no, GTPlanet is not concocting some devious master plan that involves an indefinite lunar eclipse or anything of that nature. This week’s title is a direct reference to heavy metal band “Sevendust” and their newly-released album bearing the same name. If any of you GTPlanet Faithful out there are fans of the genre or are always looking out for a new band to listen to, I can’t recommend these guys enough as every album is jam-packed with variety and all of the great things associated with heavy metal.

We have recently confirmed usage of illicitly modified game data in the online services of Gran Turismo 5, and the relevant accounts have now been banned from the service.

The latest Seasonal Events are now available in GT5, featuring a variety of high performance fun. There are no restrictions on the vehicle or tuning used in this week’s drift events but tires are limited to Comfort/Soft compounds or less. The challenges are as follows:

I was going to make this the third Rewind with a title referencing the hit classic (yes, I just said that) “Friday” by Rebecca Black, but I figured it’d be better not to simply for the sake of all of you – you’re welcome. I say that now but I assure you it’s going to happen sooner or later because it’s fun and the feedback has been just as fun.

The latest Seasonal Events are now available in Gran Turismo 5, featuring five expert level challenges touring a selection of the game’s most scenic locations in the stylish and crafty Mini Cooper. Cars are limited to a maximum of 450PP and Sports/Hard tires or less.

For those of you scratching your heads, wondering where you recognize this week’s title or why there’s this strange sense of familiarity coming into this week’s Rewind after having read just the title, then I’ll tell you: Gran Turismo 2. “Now Is The Time”, performed by The Crystal Method was one of the many tracks featured in the game and was perhaps one of the most fluid music tracks in the game. It could mesh in with any track, with any car, under any circumstance and it would seemingly make the moment that much more intense.

This week’s Seasonal Events are accompanied by the introduction of the new “Overtake Challenge”, which places you in three different vehicles with the objective being to overtake as many vehicles as possible on a specific section of the track. Caution is advised in these new challenges as crashing or running off of the track will result in immediate disqualification.