In addition to the all-GT Academy team campaigning in the Dubai 24hrs this month, Signatech Nissan team boss Philippe Sinault has announced his intended driver line-up for the 2012 World Endurance Championship:

U.S. GT Academy winner Bryan Heitkotter recently sat down for an in-depth one-on-one video interview with InsideSimRacing‘s Darin Gangi. Bryan discusses his background, what it was really like to come up through the ranks of GT Academy USA, and how he’s making the most out of his time with Nissan in preparations for the 24 Hours of Dubai.

2011 has been yet another rollercoaster year for Gran Turismo and its fans, and our first full year of GT5. The year has been dominated by game updates, GT Academy successes and significant events affecting the infrastructure of both the PlayStation Network and the people of Japan. Just as with the last two years, GTPlanet is taking a look back over the last 12 months before we head on into 2012…

Amongst the listed changes for GT5’s v2.02 update earlier this month was an adjustment to the tire wear speed. Up until this point players had been used to the three tyre compounds within each grade – Racing, Sports and Comfort – wearing at relatively similar rates while offering different outright grip levels. The soft tires were the racers’ obvious choice for grip without a tire life penalty.

Work on the third issue of the popular grass-roots “GTlife” magazine (the first two issues received over 230,000 collective downloads) is now complete!

In a Christmas Day surprise, Newegg, Amazon, and Buy.com have revealed a mysterious new game: Gran Turismo 5 XL Edition. Both Amazon and Newegg list a release date of January 17, 2012 and a price of $39.99 USD, but offer no further details on what this “XL Edition” will actually contain.

It’s that time of year again, where the GTPlanet community comes together for the greater good!

Are you an eager Gran Turismo collector? Do you have a spare  €120,000/$155,000 (plus sales tax)? Then you can own and drive a real piece of GT5!

The latest batch of new downloadable content in Gran Turismo 5 is slowly becoming available in the PlayStation Store around the world. “Car Pack 2” contains the following new cars and can be purchased for $3.99 in the United States (check your local PSN Store for specific pricing information):

Corresponding with the release of Gran Turismo 5 2.02, a new Seasonal Event has also been made available. Here’s a closer look at the events, featuring American cars with no more than 600PP:

In a substantial update, Polyphony Digital has brought a wide range of tweaks, changes, and new features to GT5 with update v2.02. It’s available as a free download for all versions of the game, weighing in at 246MB.

Polyphony Digital has updated their title sales list, and the new numbers are impressive. Between January and September of 2011, Gran Turismo 5 moved an additional 1 million copies. This brings the game’s total sales up to 7.3 million, and helped push the entire series past 64.7 million sold.

Nissan and PlayStation are aiming to demonstrate the success of their  GT Academy programme with a ground-breaking driver line-up at the prestigious Dubai 24 Hours (January 12-14, 2012). All four winners of the innovative virtual-to-reality competition will tackle the demanding endurance race as a team sharing the wheel of a 410bhp Nissan 370Z.

New Time and Drift trials have just gone live in Gran Turismo 5.  Here’s a look at the new events, which feature the game’s karts and a double-feature of the Nurburgring GP/F circuit. The Online Car Dealership has also been updated – here’s a complete list of what’s available.

Kazunori Yamauchi has announced Gran Turismo 5’s next software update and new downloadable content will be coming on December 20, 2011. Via Twitter:

To put the finishing touch on an already incredible year, SPEED.com has announced original GT Academy winner Lucas Ordoñez as the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup “Rookie of the Year”.