An ESPN interview with Gran Turismo series creator Kazunori Yamauchi from SEMA last month slipped under the radar (thanks for the heads-up, Patrik), probably due to the lack of any news or interesting information.  The interviewer is actually a writer for ESPN’s motorsports division and is not part of the games industry, so we can cut him slack for not asking deeper questions about the future of the series.  Still, he managed to get some good quotes from Yamauchi-san:

Sure, we’ve seen plenty of cars from the real world introduced into the Gran Turismo games – it happens at SEMA each year.  We’ve even got the GTbyCitroen, a real world concept crafted by Polyphony Digital themselves.  What we haven’t seen, until now, is a car coming out of the game into real life.  According to early rumors, that’s exactly what is about to happen with the Tuned Nissan Skyline Coupe (V36) that we all know from Gran Turismo 5 Prologue.  The car will apparently be crafted by high-end Japanese tuning shop Zele Performance, to be introduced at the 2009 Tokyo Auto Salon in January.  We’ll keep an eye on this and post more details as they emerge…

When we got our ‘virtual’ hands on the GTbyCitroën last October, most assumed that would be it for the concept supercar.  It should be sitting in a museum or Polyphony Digital’s headquarters by now, right?  Wrong!  Surprisingly, Citroën has handed the keys (or whatever this thing uses…) over to the AutoExpress Magazine editors for some time behind the wheel!  In real life, the car features a 580bhp V8 engine, with an estimated 0-60 time of four seconds and a top speed of 180 MPH.

GTPlanet prompted a flurry of media reports after we first discovered an SCEE executive’s comments on a Christmas 2009 Gran Turismo 5 release date.  Unsuprisingly, the story has rapidly spread across the web, making its way right back to Sony where it originated.  From a statement to VideoGamer.com today:

From a very surprising yet highly reliable source, we’ve got the most likely and realistic Gran Turismo 5 release date!  Sony’s chief executive in southern Europe, James Armstrong, revealed in a statement to Spanish newspaper El Financiero that we can expect the game to arrive (in Europe, at least) Christmas 2009.  Here’s the full translated quote:

Christmas is just around the corner, and with ‘Black Friday’ already behind us, the shopping season is in full swing.  But what do you get for that discerning GT fanatic in your life who already has everything?  Have no fear – GTPlanet is here to help, with a list of unusual, inexpensive, and unique Gran Turismo gear from eBay that they would never expect under the tree.  If you’re the fan in question, email your friends and family a link to this post to make your not-so-subtle suggestion…

As we reported a few days ago, a GT5 Prologue “booth” was available in PlayStation Home to Japanese account holders.  Marky264 gave us plenty of great screen shots, but many people have been curious to see how the game “works” from inside the Home environment.  Our own chief online racing organizer, Sphinx, delivered the goods and posted this video that walks through the entire process.  Enjoy!

If you’ve played Gran Turismo 5 Prologue online in the United States recently, you probably remember the Tanner Foust Competition event.  It was a time trial around London in a Nissan 350Z, and the fastest driver as of November 2 won a trip to the Red Bull Drifting World Championship competition with Tanner himself.  The winner turned out to be Gregory Russell of Maryland with a time of 1’00.711.  Check out these pictures from the event, and read Gregory’s write-up of the whole experience right here.  Congratulations!

Those of you who have received invitations to Sony’s PlayStation Home service – listen up!  GTPlanet user Marky264 discovered that if you create a Japanese profile on your PS3 (learn how to do that here), the Tokyo Game Show 2008 “booth” becomes available.  Once inside, you’ll find the Gran Turismo 5 Prologue ‘racing pods’ that we first saw early last month.  Once aquired, they can be placed in your virtual ‘home’, and will surely play an integral role in private online race events in the future.  Learn more about how to find the racing pods and the TGS booth in Marky’s forum thread.

Gaming site IGN was at SEMA this year for the unveiling of the 2008 Gran Turismo Awards, and they caught up with GT series creator Kazunori Yamauchi for a few questions.  Like most ‘mainstream press’ interviews (and nothing like Ahmed’s), the questions are not very pressing, and very little is revealed.  Still, it’s worth checking out.  Video after the jump…

Attendees to last month’s Downshift Session 2008 were treated to a spectacular sight: Gran Turismo 5 Prologue running at 3840 x 2160 pixels (that’s 4 times normal HD resolution) via a Sony SRX-110 projector fed by 4 separate PlayStation 3 consoles!

Jeff Staple recently spent some time at Polyphony Digital, and snapped some interesting shots of things going on around the company’s headquarters.  The images give us a peak at the new Mercedes-Benz C63 in development, virtually confirming it for the next game.  We’ve also got our first look at Gran Turismo 5’s Tsukuba circuit through the windshield of the new BMW Z4 M Coupe, a wireframe model of the Nissan 370Z‘s guage cluster, a Maserati Spyder undergoing sound testing, and two other currently unknown vehicles.  Less revealing images documented the hard-working and seemingly cluttered atmosphere of the offices, providing an intimate look at what it’s like to work on the GT series.  Join the discussion in our forums, and stop by Jeff’s blog to see all of the pictures!

GTPlanet member Ahmed Al Azmi’s interview with Kazunori Yamauchi has really been making the international press rounds.  Just yesterday, Ahmed was cited in the latest episode of Inside Sim Racing, where they discussed his experience and the important bits of information that were gleamed from his time at Polyphony Digital.  ISR broadcasts weekly shows dealing with the sim racing world, although they typically focus on the PC market.  Regardless, thanks for the shout out, guys, and keep up the good work!  If you want to see more, check out their website at InsideSimRacing.tv.

We’ve finally got some official photos from the 2008 Gran Turismo Awards held at SEMA last week.  Apparently, the JR Rocha’s winning G37 was painted black since he posted pictures of the vehicle on his blog.  We also have the winners from the other categories – all of which were in the running to be included in the next game.  Here’s how the awards break down:

GTPlanet user seizure originally discovered the official country abbreviations found in Gran Turismo 5 Prologue‘s online mode.  However, they were tucked away in Polyphony Digital’s Japan website and written in Japanese – not very useful to most GTPlanet users.  Now, GTPlanet has translated that official list, and converted it into a printer-friendly PDF file and we’ve made it free to download at the link below.  Print it out, and know in exactly what language to yell when that guy passes you…

Each year at the SEMA Auto Show in Las Vegas, Sony and Polyphony Digital hold the Gran Turismo Awards to recognize the event’s best cars and exhibitors.  The awards include several categories, from “Best Domestic”, “Best European Import”, “Best Hot Rod”, to “Best Truck/SUV”.  The most coveted award, however, is “Best in Show”, handed out by GT series creator Kazunori Yamauchi himself.  The winning vehicle is digitized by Polyphony’s team and immortalized forever in the next version of the game.  This competition has proven very popular with both exhibitors and gamers alike, having provided us with some of the series’ more interesting cars.

Finally, we get to see what happens when a real player of the Gran Turismo series sits down with its creator, Kazunori Yamauchi.  As winner of the GT5 Prologue Middle East Challenge, Ahmed Al Azmi was invited to Polyphony Digital’s studios in Japan to check out where the game is made.  He also got one-on-one time with Yamauchi, and asked him real questions that your average gaming journalist wouldn’t even understand.  Of course, he doesn’t drop any bombshells, but it’s still a fascinating and revealing discussion.  Read Ahmed’s full interview for all the pictures and impressions.  We’ve gathered some of the most important facts and other tidbits below:

Ever wonder what happens to the cars that appear in Gran Turismo livery at those posh launch parties?  Here’s one of them: a 2008 Lotus Exige S has remained untouched since Sony’s marketing department had their hands on it.  Apparently, it’s been serving in Manhattan Motorcars‘ “demonstration fleet”, making a bright statement in their showroom alongside a collection of 5 Rolls-Royce Phantoms.  Now, it can be part of your demonstration fleet for $59,900 via eBay Motors.  Described as the only “Gran Turismo 5 Edition” Exige S in existence, it includes special graphics work by Staple Design, metallic paint, Track and Touring packages, and 4,280 miles on the odometer.  However, the auction ends October 31, 2008, so you’d better hurry if you want to pick this up.

Ask anyone who has played Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, and they will tell you what it needs the most: private online races.  We can’t implement that feature in the game, but as the largest GT site, we can help facilitate online meetings between dedicated, serious, and highly competitive players.  So, today we are officially launching our very own Live Racing Chat to make it easier than ever to meet and compete with your friends.

GTPlanet member Ahmed Al Azmi got a lot of attention when he won the GT5 Prologue Middle East Challenge and brought home the “ultimate racing cockpit“.  That was just the first part of his prize, though – earlier this month, he was flown to Japan for a trip to the Tokyo Game Show and a chance to take a new Nissan GT-R around Nissan’s Oppama test track.