The GT community has been eagerly awaiting news of the next significant update following last month’s announcement hinting at new content and features for us this fall. According to a very rare English-language tweet from Kazunori Yamauchi this morning, that new content and features will be a “Spec 2.0” update to the game in October and downloadable content shortly after:

Two months away from the big one-year anniversary of GT5’s official release, the Photomode sub-forum continues to draw new members each week, as more players begin to explore the in-game mode, and even more excitingly, share their works with the community. The competitions heated up too, seeing old veterans bumped by new members in the polls. The Tournament continues, so coverage of that comes first, followed by our usual weekly competitions. Let’s see here…

Following up from the announcement last week, the leader boards for the Mercedes Live Race Seasonal Event have now been reset, and a few minor changes have been made to the Top Gear Test Track via the latest Gran Turismo 5 update.

Another week, another batch of outstanding photos from various members, involving various cars flying through (or sitting in) various locations. It’s all about variety, in case you didn’t guess. Even more so this week, with our Official competitions touching on history, the golden era of rally cars, a shiny new McLaren in Monaco, and even… promotional material?! But first off, this month’s main event: the Photomode Tournament.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qaTfP1RWSM

Each year at SEMA in Las Vegas, Sony hosts the “Gran Turismo Awards” – a competition with one very important judge (Kazunori Yamauchi), who selects a car on display at the show for inclusion in a GT game.

Since the Red Bull X2010’s existence was announced nearly one year ago, there’s been surprisingly little promotion of the vehicle in the form of real-world merchandise. A scale-modeler in the UK has decided to change that by taking matters into his own hands, building a 1/43 diorama of the car and putting it up for sale on eBay. Needless to say, it would be the perfect addition to any Gran Turismo collection.

If you’ve taken a look at the Mercedes’ Live Race Seasonal Event, you’ve probably noticed that many players atop the leaderboards scored their times by exploiting “shortcuts” around the track.

The latest GT5 Seasonal Event has just gone live, featuring one of the world’s favorite cars: the Mini! Races take place at the following locations, with no tire restrictions and are open to Minis with a maximum of 450PP:

UPDATE: Episode 1 is now available online! Thanks to Taboaamassa for the tip.

What do we have in store this week? Quite a lot, actually! The Tournament has stopped taking entries, PMC has a very colourful poll, 2.0’s theme is already bringing in quality entries for both sides, CCCL car/track combos being able to even double for 2.0 (more on that later), and the potential for hilarity in this week’s Photoshop theme. Onward!

The GT Academy 2011 driver development programme shifted up a gear last weekend when European winner Jann Mardenborough had his first competitive outing in a 420bhp Nissan 370Z GT4 race car. Racing in the Welsh Sports and GT Championship at Pembrey, Wales, the gamer-turned-racing driver recorded two strong third place finishes and a fourth in the weekend’s three races.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_le496-npM8

A batch of new Time and Drift Trials have gone live in Gran Turismo 5, along with a revised Online Car Dealership that highlights Mercedes-Benz.

Back to school, back to school – the days are getting shorter and the mercury’s dropping, but things are heating up in the Photomode sub-forum this month, as the Photomode Tournament makes its return. That means every week for these little overviews, coverage of the Tournament will take the top spot, and then the usual weekly competitions will be found directly underneath it. Here we go…

When it was first announced that GT Academy would be coming to the United States, it was also mentioned that the competition would air as a reality show on SPEED TV in the fall of 2011, with host Kristen Adams. Now, we finally have air dates for the program according to SPEED TV’s website:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVgBFBNyxS0

The Mercedes-Benz Live Race is almost here, and GTPlanet is proud to be an official streaming video partner for the event! The live broadcast begins at 3:00PM in the UK and will be hosted by popular F1 television commentator Martin Brundle.

In a surprise move, Polyphony Digital has released a new GT5 update less than one week after 1.11 brought a batch of bug fixes and a Jeff Gordon driving suit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibkOX0w7SoY