#GranTurismo5

The excitement is starting to build leading up to the launch of the new Chevy Corvette, and now, players of the Playstation game Gran Turismo 5 are being offered an opportunity to be the first to get behind the wheel of the car, in virtual form of course.

Regional competition wrapped up for the Nissan Playstation GT Academy in the U.K., solidifying the date when a new pro race car driver will be chosen.

Can video games really become a reality? Absolutely and if you’re one of our regular readers you probably know how that can happen: the Nissan GT Academy.

The team of racers assembled from the Nissan Playstation GT Academy earned themselves a remarkable honor at the Dubai 24 Hour race this weekend, finishing third in their class and 26th overall. All four drivers, Lucas Ordoñez, Jordan Tresson, Bryan Heitkotter and Jann Mardenborough, are GT Academy grads, having started out behind the wheel of virtual race cars to win the opportunity to attend the GT Academy racing program.

Apparently the regular-sized edition of Gran Turismo 5 wasn’t good enough for public consumption anymore. Polyphony Digital and Sony have decided to super-size the popular racing simulator, releasing a new XL Edition that’s set to hit store shelves on January 17th.

Gran Turismo 5 will be getting an update (version 2.02) on December 20th and with it will come the addition of Toyota‘s GT 86 to the game for free. A new downloadable content (DLC) Car Pack 2 will also be available for just $3.99 adding four new cars to your collection.

After a half a decade of waiting, Gran Turismo 5 failed to really live up to the hype. But at the driving simulator’s launch the game’s creator Kazunori Yamauchi promised that this was just the beginning; and now we have a clear idea of what he meant.

Happening right now out in Cologne, Germany is Gamescom, the world’s largest trade fair and event for video games and entertainment. And with all the passionate automotive enthusiasts in Germany, it’s no surprise that Sony wanted to make a statement in their booth by teaming up with Audi to show off a whole new way to play Gran Turismo 5. Custom built by quattro GmbH in Neckarsulm, the PlayStation Racing Simulator that’s currently setup at the booth is a full-on carbon-black Audi R8 LMS imitation race car.

The famed creator of Gran Turismo, Kazunori Yamauchi, has returned to racing on the track with a Nissan GT-R that has clearly been inspired by the GT500 “Stealth” GT from Gran Turismo 5. His team recently participated in the four-hour Nurburgring VLN race and looks poised to compete in the 24 Hours of Nurburgring.

It can be pretty boring picking out furniture for your house. But how about it was much more than just furniture… what if it pulled double duty as something really cool and fun? How does a coffee table that turns into a virtual car that hooks up to your favorite racing game sound? It sounds pretty sweet, and now, it’s a reality.

Thanks to Austrian company Race-Star, the two come together without looking like an eye-sore in the ConverTTable.

In its basic box table design, you’ll find a special gaming secret. Just unfold the ConverTTable to reveal a driving wheel, adjustable pedals and a track mounted racing bucket. When it’s time to play Gran Turismo 5, just move the flower arrangement and coffee-table books to a safe spot and tear up the asphalt. When company comes over, just  fold the table back up for a respectable looking living room.

You can buy the Race-Star ConverTTable setup for €4,999 (that’s about $6,605 US). If the price doesn’t deter you, the long argument with your wife to convince her you really need it could.  Watch the video after the jump to see it in action.

[Source: Autoblog]

AutoGuide.com is giving you the chance to own THE driving simulation game. That’s right, with GT5 having just launched, AutoGuide has obtained two copies and we’ve giving them away to our fans on Facebook.

After having been delayed more times than the second coming, Sony recently announced the o fficial launch date for Gran Turismo 5 as November 24th. But with that many delays there are still skeptics and so Sony has now rolled out its adds in an effort to drum up interest in what will no doubt be the most popular gift this holiday season.

The spot features PlayStation 3 front-man and “VP of Add More Awesome” Kevin Butler, who has made us laugh in pretty much all of PS3’s earlier commercials and this one is no different.

See the commercial, plus an extra Japanese-market ad after the jump:

The time has come for automotive enthusiasts and gamers alike. Gran Turismo 5 has been given an official release date for the umpteenth time this year, with November 24th as the official date.

Red Bull’s much hyped X1 prototype, designed to be the ultimate expression of a race car, no longer exists within the digital confines of Gran Turismo 5.

While we’ve seen many e-retailers do this before, both Target and Amazon have updated the release date of Gran Turismo 5 to show January 1st, 2011 and December 31st, 2010 respectively. It sounds as if they plan on releasing the game at midnight on New Years Day, or this could just be Target and Amazon’s way of playing it safe since Sony did somewhat promise us that GT5 will be released around the holiday season and before year’s end.