Don’t tell anyone, but GTPlanet has learned the tentative release date for Gran Turismo 5 through an unofficial but extremely reliable source.  Since the date has not been officially published and Sony could still change it at their leisure, we will not be saying anything specific to keep from eating an unhealthy dose of crow.  What we can say, however, is that a 2009 release is almost certain, and the much-publicized Amazon.com date of December 29, 2009 is incorrect.  As it stands at the moment, it is likely the official date will be announced at GamesCom Cologne during Sony’s August 18th press conference.  Stay tuned for more information, and remember: he’s making a list and checking it twice…

Here it is, folks: your first look at the official box art for Gran Turismo PSP.  As you can see, it features Chevrolet’s hottest Corvette ever, the ZR1.  Kazunori Yamauchi himself selects the car to appear on each game’s cover – what made him pick the ZR1 to receive such prestigious recognition?  As it turns out, he’s spent quite a bit of time hanging around the ‘Big 3’ in Detroit, taking a particular fondness for American muscle cars in the process.  His latest interview with Motor Trend revealed his new-found fascination with the culture of the U.S. automotive industry:

Here’s a few more Gran Turismo PSP screenshots, showing off the Saleen S7, Mercedes’ SLR McLaren, Ferrari Enzo, and Ford GT.  No doubt, the shots look exceptionally good for any game – but are they too good?  As with the previous batch, these will no doubt spark lots of debate as to their “legitimacy”.  You be the judge!

With the quickly falling price of GT5 Prologue continuing to drive sales of the little game, many folks who have been holding off are finally picking it up.  Despite its small size, however, it still manages in-depth gameplay – the intricacies of which can be daunting for even experienced players.  To help out, GTPlanet user Conquerer put together this impressive, comprehensive walkthrough that leaves no stone unturned.

It’s always kind of interesting to find out that a celebrity shares your hobby for sim racing – especially when that celebrity competes in the highest level of international motorsport!  Renault Formula 1 driver Nelson Piquet, Jr. gave lots of Gran Turismo fans something to smile about when he recently posted the above picture to Twitter from what appears to be his apartment in Monaco.  As you can see, he’s at Suzuka East with the “racing line” enabled – needless to say, that’s something that’s earned him some friedly jibes in our forums!  Regardless, Nelson embraces the web, and communicates frequently via Twitter about everything he’s doing – it’s worth following him at @NelsonPiquet_ (you can follow @GTPlanetNews, too!).

When the Nurburgring Nordschleife was first revealed in Gran Turismo 4, it was hard to complain about the missing GP circuit.  However, you’re lying to yourself if you haven’t wished to drive through those tire barriers separating the Nordschleife from the rest of the track, and everyone has been anxiously hoping for it to appear in Gran Turismo 5.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV4L5GZ_1B4

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

The Goodwood Festival of Speed is something that’s almost too good to be true – it’s the world’s largest gathering of the mostexotic, rare, and desirable cars you can imagine, and it takes place every summer in the beautiful English countryside.  Of course, it always attracts some of the biggest stars from motorsports, but Kazunori Yamauchi, GT Academy winner Lucas Ordonez, and the Citroen GT made this year’s show all the more special for GTPlanet members in attendance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hiczWWlsJw

In a dash of bittersweet news, we can all collectively stop hoping for an “Update Available” message to appear one day when we fire up Gran Turismo 5: Prologue.  The game’s “US Producers”, Chris Hinojosa Miranda and Taku Imasaki confirmed that the team is now completely focused on getting Gran Turismo PSP and GT5 out the door in this Q&A session on the official PlayStation Blog.

Now it’s time for something that’s strange, funny, and disturbing all at the same time!  In his weekly column for the Times Online, infamous Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has told a bizarre and hilarious tale on himself.  It all started when Clarkson’s wife purchased an offensive t-shirt for him, with a nasty word in big, bold letters on the front.  Of course, he couldn’t help but wear it to work for Top Gear rehearsals, providing lots of laughs until Kazunori Yamauchi and his team dropped in for a visit…

When we saw Gran Turismo 5 for the first time last month, there was quite a bit of discussion about the impressive graphics from the trailer.  It was certainly in Polyphony Digital’s visual style, but was it “real”, or had it been rendered independent from the game’s visual engine?  That’s what IGN editor Chris Roper got to ask Kazunori Yamauchi during a recent interview, to which he answered “of course it’s real”.  To verify that answer, Chris began a frame-by-frame analysis of the trailer to see what he could find for himself -discovering some interesting imperfections that support Yamauchi’s comments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrfTr6rBusk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h8GPApp1Cg

Just want to remind everyone that GTPlanet’s Facebook Page officially launched last week – if you’re on Facebook, please become a fan!  Much like our Twitter feed, you’ll find more interesting links, forum threads, and videos that didn’t make their way onto the main news blog here.  When you become a Facebook fan, some of our updates will appear on your main “news feed” for the site, just like those from your friends so you won’t miss a single bit of GT news.  As you can see, our Wall is also open, so feel free to use it to spread the word about your latest forum topic or competition.

The Logitech G25 was one of the first steering wheels to introduce a clutch pedal and gated 6-speed shifter.  It’s success has prompted other wheel manufacturers like Fanatec to jump in the game, fueling competition in this niche market to new heights.  Now, with the G25 pushing 3 years old, everyone is watching Logitech to make a move.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO26tmL-_gE

In a short but sweet interview with AutoWeek magazine which must have fallen through the cracks with all the other E3 news, GT series creator Kazunori Yamauchi stated that “We will give the release date of Gran Turismo 5 soon.”  The question remains, though – just how soon is “soon”?  Speculation is mounting in our forums, with many pointing towards the upcoming Tokyo Game Show this September 24-27.  Aside from taking place on Polyphony Digital’s home turf (their offices are located in Tokyo), the 2007 TGS show is where they announced the release date for GT5 Prologue.  While this is just speculation, you can see the pieces of the puzzle would fit together quite nicely.

Since E3 earlier this month, the entire GT community has been looking forward to the release of July’s PlayStation Official Magazine, after last month’s issue promised a major Gran Turismo 5 feature article.  Early this morning, the new French edition started hitting newsstands, and it didn’t take long for scans to hit the web – for all the wrong reasons.  No new information could be found, and the screenshots were simply lifted from the official E3 trailer.  Some are still holding out hope that the UK or US editions will contain fresh content, but that’s extremely unlikely.  We’ll keep an eye out just in case…