Gran Turismo Awards

Kazunori Yamauchi toured the show floor at SEMA in Las Vegas today, visiting all of the individual category winners in this year’s Gran Turismo Awards. They are:

The Gran Turismo Awards have become a popular staple of SEMA 2012, the massive modified car show that takes place in Las Vegas each fall.

The 2011 Gran Turismo Awards were held last Thursday night in Las Vegas, and Kazunori Yamauchi himself selected this year’s “Best in Show” winner: a 1971 Chevrolet Camaro, customized and tuned by Mary Pozzi of Salinas, California.

The 2011 SEMA show kicks off this week in Las Vegas, and the Gran Turismo Awards – where a custom car from the show is awarded immortality in a Gran Turismo game – are almost here!

Each year at SEMA in Las Vegas, Sony hosts the “Gran Turismo Awards” – a competition with one very important judge (Kazunori Yamauchi), who selects a car on display at the show for inclusion in a GT game.

The 8th annual GT Awards were held in Las Vegas last night, and Kazunori Yamauchi gave top honors to Mark Stielow for his custom 1969 Chevrolet Camaro. Check out the complete press release and the first pictures from the event below. Expect a lot more media, video, and interviews to start popping up from SEMA in the next few days.

Gran Turismo 5 and the Red Bull X1 Prototype have both been featured in the latest issue of Top Gear magazine, and the dramatic screenshot above introduces several important new cars to the game. Most notably, you’ll find the new McLaren MP4-12C, a Lamborghini Murcielago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce, the 1965 Alfa Romeo TZ2 (2009 winner of the Polyphony Digital Trophy at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance), the Lexus LF-A, and Philip Koenen’s 1970 Ford “Trans-Cammer” Mustang.

The 2010 GT Awards are right around the corner, and Sony is taking applications from all SEMA attendees who want a shot at getting their car featured in Gran Turismo 5.

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.

A few more pictures Philip Koenen’s 1970 Ford Mustang were snapped by AutoBlog, providing a much closer look at the latest addition to Gran Turismo 5’s roster. We’re still, collectively, waiting on video footage from the new SEMA demo, which supposedly features previous GT Award winners, so if you see anything floating around on the web, please let me know!

It’s taken a surprisingly long amount of time for word on the latest GT Awards winner to get out, but IGN is first to break cover and confirm the winner: a 1970 Ford Mustang with a 427 SOHC “Cammer” engine. The car is a mean-yet-classy addition to Gran Turismo, carefully pieced together by Philip Koenen and Grand Touring Garage in Oregon for a “Hong Kong client” after a long search for the right body and engine. The powerplant is particularly special: considered one of the best Ford has ever built, it produces 616 hp at 7000 rpm and 515 lbs/ft of torque at 3800 rpm.

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…

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: