Car Culture

Remember the custom-built 1970 Mustang that won top honors at the 2009 GT Awards during SEMA last November? It’s quite an impressive machine, and PS Forums user SWERV_GRIFFIN was on hand when a Polyphony Digital team visited by Grand Touring Garage to collect data about the car. He’s shared his impressions and hundreds of pictures of the car (here, here, here, and here) so we can see it before, during, and after its extensive makeover.

In what appears to be the exceedingly awesome Studie store in Japan, you can get behind the “wheel” of a classic BMW E30 M3 and play Gran Turismo 4. The store, which looks to be a specialist in all things Bavarian, has fitted a Logitech Driving Force Pro (yes, it’s begging for a G25) in front of the drivers seat and mounted a Sony Bravia flat-screen right onto the hood. While I admit that it does feel a bit superfluous to see such a revered race car converted into a gaming rig, it’s bringing a lot more fun and enjoyment to people than if it was sitting there locked up – even if it doesn’t move like that Audi TT at GamesCom. Check out all the pictures of the store at Gawa, and thanks to “Enzo” for sending this in!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year (or just not reading the car magazines/blogs…), you probably know about the new Mercedes SLS AMG – the company’s replacement for the SLR McLaren and the spiritual successor to the classic 300SL Gullwing. It was only recently announced by Mercedes, but that didn’t stop Kazunori Yamauchi from getting the chance to slip behind the wheel. As you can see in these two apparently leaked videos (see the other one here), Yamauchi-san saw the car both with and without camouflage, outside and in.

You might remember last year when Kazunori Yamauchi handed out the “Polyphony Digital Trophy” at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.  At the time, his selection of a Lamborghini raised eyebrows in our forums, and it did turn out to be a pleasant case of foreshadowing!  This year, the award goes to a 1965 Alfa Romeo TZ2 – the company’s “last purpose-built GT racer”, of which only 12 were produced.  Before you get too excited, though, we should mention that there is no indication this car will be included in any GT game. It would be great, however, to see Polyphony Digital Trophy recipients included, much like the annual winners of the SEMA Gran Turismo Award…

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.

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…

Polyphony Digital’s Citroen GT concept car has been busier than ever – first appearing at the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring, hitting up the 24 Hours of Le Mans a few weeks ago, and now stopping traffic as it drives the London street circuit from GT5 Prologue.  Of course, this made for some pretty impressive photo ops, which you can see below.  The car is slowly making its way to the Goodwood Festival of Speed, taking place July 3-5.  Full press release after the jump…

If you’ve spent any amount of time playing GT5 Prologue, you’ve surely noticed the “Tuned Nissan Skyline Coupe (V36)”.  It offers just enough modification to the standard car’s shape without going overboard, and the result is beautiful.  Of course, much like the GTbyCitroen, it was designed entirely by Polyphony Digital, and it was not until last year at SEMA that we learned this car will be brought to the “real world” by Japanese tuning shop Zele Performance. We’ve now got the full details – Zele is actually offering up the official body kit for Skyline Coupe/Infiniti G37 owners everywhere, but it doesn’t come cheap.  For the rest of us, though, it provides an interesting look at yet another car that made the jump from our TV screens.  Take a look at the photos below or visit Zele’s website for all the details.

Polyphony Digital teamed up with RC car company HPI Racing to bring the Ford GT LM Spec II to life.  We know the Ford GT is one of Kazunori Yamauchi’s favorite cars (he actually owns two of them), which is probably the reason it was featured prominently in Gran Turismo 4’s box art and the game’s epic video intro.  The 1:10 scale car looks to be very well put together, and much more powerful than anything you will find at your local Wal-Mart.  Pricing has yet to be announced – check with your nearest HPI distributor (Europe/North America) for local availability.

In something that probably won’t come as a surprise to most Gran Turismo fans, a recent study has shown that driving a vehicle of a particular make in a video game makes the player “50% more likely” to consider purchasing a car from that company in the future.  The study, conducted by Dr. Kyle Murray and Robin Ritchie, placed one person in a room with Project Gotham Racing and another in a room with a video feed of the game.  The result:

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:

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.

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.