With the launch of Gran Turismo 5, the steering wheel market is really heating up. Now, however, the bar has apparently been raised with the new Fanatec Porsche 911 GT2. The wheel is receiving high marks from users in our steering wheels forum, and there’s even more kind words from the hosts at InsideSimRacing, who called it part of the “best package” to play the game. Keep an eye on the wheel segment of InsideSimRacing’s Gran Turismo 5 review in the video above (you’ll find the wheel discussion begins at 24:45) for more, or watch Darin’s mini-feature on the GT2 here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8D5BcFJPiI

Gran Turismo 5 has been found to significantly benefit from the installation of a solid-state drive (SSD) into the PlayStation 3 console, according to several reports from around the web over the past few days. One of the most organized and extensive tests was conducted by GTPlanet user padadiso. Click through his collection of graphs below, or head over to his forum topic for more discussion and analysis.

The Red Bull X1 prototype in Gran Turismo 5 made the jump from pixels to (partial) reality when it was unveiled to the world at the game’s international launch party in Madrid. I had a chance to personally inspect the model at the event, and its construction was very impressive (take a look at my up-close-and-personal photos from the event below, including partial disassembly of the model after the party was over). It was built by prototyping specialists IDC Models, and they’ve shared an interesting behind-the-scenes look at the X1’s construction along with their official press release. Nice work, guys – let’s hope this inspires Red Bull to take another step forward in development of the car!

In a new press release, Sony Computer Entertainment has announced the official sales data for Gran Turismo 5. As of December 6, 2010, GT5 sales exceeded 5.5 million units worldwide – or 423,000 copies sold per day for 13 days. That’s half a million more copies than what GT5: Prologue managed to sell in nearly two and a half years, and more than double what Gran Turismo PSP has sold since last October. GT5 is also now halfway along to GT1, GT2, and GT4’s total sales (approximately 10 million per title), but still has a ways to go to match GT3’s 14.8 million.

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