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

In addition to being granted full access to GT Academy 2011 winners Jann Mardenborough and Bryan Heitkotter, GTPlanet also had the pleasure of interviewing RJN Motorsport team principal Bob Neville on the team’s prospects for the Dubai 24 Hour race, the development of this year’s winners and the GT Academy programme as a whole.

Following in the footsteps of GT Academy champions Lucas Ordoñez and Jordan Tresson, European GT Academy 2011 winner Jann Mardenborough and his US counterpart champion Bryan Heitkotter would conclude their intense driver development programme at the Britcar “Into The Night” 3-hour endurance race around Brands Hatch circuit. This race would signify the last segment of the pair’s development campaign and their last competitive race before the GT Academy 2011 grand prize, the chance to compete at the prestigious Dubai 24 hour race.

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.

That’s right, today the 24th marks GT5’s year anniversary (we’re sliding in just under the wire). As such, there’s a lot of celebrations going on this week, especially in the Photomode section, where prizes are flying left and right! Read on to get all the details…

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.

There’s some more interesting themes this week (as well as an extension on one from last week), so I’ll cut right to the chase!

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:

After a short hiatus, we’re back on the front page, just in time for the big five-oh! Now that every region has access to the DLC, we’re all enjoying the intensity of Spa, and the incredible lighting Kart Space provides for photo shoots. Not to mention all those new paints! Why not join us and take part in some of the competitions this week? You can’t win if you don’t get involved…

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.