Take a look at the first two video clips of the Gran Turismo 5 demo running track-side at this past weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. Thanks to our friends at French GT5rs.com for the footage!

With the announcements and interviews expected to begin pouring out of E3 2010 on Tuesday, next week could be the most exciting ever for GT fans around the world. To kick things off, I’m proud to launch the first major revision to GTPlanet in more than two years. Over the past 6 months, I’ve personally crafted this custom set of templates for our news blog, forum, and guides, and I hope you’re as happy with the finished product as I am. As you look around, watch for these new features on the blog:

The official PlayStation Blog is hyping up a broadcast of Spike TV’s hour-long E3 preview special, which they claim will show off “video debuts of Killzone 3, SOCOM 4, and Gran Turismo 5.” With Sony’s big prime-time press conference now a mere 4 days away, I’m highly suspicious that Polyphony Digital would use such a comparatively low-profile event to show off anything new about the game, but you never know.

Since we first learned that the company’s new SLS-AMG would grace GT5‘s cover, the company has been increasingly open about their affiliation with the game. First it was the showcased GT5 demo at their headquarter’s museum and dealers across Europe, but now they’re expanding use of the game as they integrate it with their international marketing efforts, as seen in Mercedes’ new Facebook game “Behind the Speed”. This simple game comes with a lucrative prize: a free copy of Gran Turismo 5 and your very own VisionRacer VR3 driving rig.

Gaming business news site MCV is claiming to have received word from a “source close to Sony” that Gran Turismo 5’s implementation of 3D technology and support for the new PlayStation Move controller are the reasons for the game’s extended development time. While 3D support has already been confirmed, until now PS Move rumors had been fueled by nothing more than some extremely vague statements by Kazunori Yamauchi early last month to gaming magazine PSM3:

There’s some good news confirmed in a new article from Auto Express – a “secret” demo was apparently at last weekend’s 24-hour race, which showed the Green Hell at night. They were also able to confirm that the race-spec Lexus IS-F which Yamauchi drove in the event will be included in the game:

You’ve probably seen Sony’s recent marketing campaigns featuring “vice president” Kevin Butler (played by actor Jerry Lambert) talking about the company’s latest first-party titles. His most recent clip focuses on Sony’s latest kart racing game Mod Nation Racers, but at the end he mentions his “next project – let’s just say it’s a little racing game that rhymes with ‘man furismo jive'” with a knowing look – understandably raising quite a few eyebrows in our forums and around the web.