Occasionally, I just need to rant about something in the racing game community, and this month, the flood of false rumours about Gran Turismo 5 being delayed till 2010 just got me mad this week. Also, Jordan’s article over at GTPlanet has spured me on even more to write this.

A few days ago, Import Tuner posted one of their older interviews with the Kazunori Yamauchi, CEO of Polyphony Digital (makers of Gran Turismo 5), on their website. The big question is, why did they post this so long after it was published in their printed magazine. This interview basically quoted  Yamauchi saying that GT5 would be out in some time 2010. This article was published sometime before August 2008. Later in October and November of 2008, 3 instances came up where GT5 was expected to be released some time in mid to late 2009. The first one was the interview betwenn Ahmed Al Azmi (winner of the Middle Eastern GT5 contest) and Yamauchi, where Polyphony’s main man laughed of the talk to GT5 coming out in 2010 and went on to tell him to expect a 2009 release. The second instance occurred when a rumour on a car magazine site listed the game being released in Spring of 2009. Even though Spring was clearly too early, it still left some hope for a 09 date. Finally, a tip off at GTPlanet highlighted that an SCEE executive pointed towards a Christmas release in 2009, as was written in a Spanish finance periodical.

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Over at the Forza Central forums, Badned the moderator posted some information about Forza Motorsport 3. It seems that a while back, Kaarbo Design, the people who designed the graphic menus for the original Forza game, posted 4 poster shots promoting different features of the game. Also noted was the fixture of the Forza 3 logo at the top of each picture. Currently these graphics are still available here, and Forza 3 is also listed in their games list over here. Some people claim this to be an accidental spill, but I think it’s just that no one saw it, since the post date on the poster page was October 16th 2008. I took a screen capture also of the two pages, just in case they pull it (which I highly doubt they would anyway).

**Update**

It seems that Kaarbo has pulled the screen shots and removed Forza 3 from their listings. So they are paying some attention I guess.

Here are 8 screen shots from Kart Attack, which is being developed by Blimey! Games and is set for release in 2009 for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. It’s a kart racing game which features lots of fantasy race circuits. The game is destined to go directly to the Playstation Network, Windows Live Arcade and Xbox Live Arcade. Screen below.

Trucking fans are in for a second treat as SCS Software has announced another truck racing title, German Truck Simulator. The same people who brought you Euro Truck Simulator in 2008, are hard at work on the German-based version. This one promises more detailed scenery of the German cities and countrysides, with special focus on replicating some of the bigger town areas, to make it look like the real life counterparts.

Dirk Ohler commented that this version will bring much more detailed environments and trucks than the preceeding version. He also stated that lots more features will be added to the title. This is certainly one to look forward, considering that we were very satisfied when we tested Euro Truck Simulator.

Gran Turismo 5 is expected to be one of the best racing titles of 2009. Judging by the standards of GT5: Prologue, the combination of graphics and realistic handling, makes it one of the best titles out there. However, what other games can we expect to be of good quality in 2009. In my opinion, none really can compare to GT5, but there are some still very good contenders. Below are some of my picks of worthy racing titles to get in 09. You tell me what you think.

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To bring a close to 2008, the folks at InsideSimRacing.tv produce their final episode of the year covering the latest in Live For Speed, review Turismo Carretera and ear buds by Razer. Also they have racing news from ARCA and also discuss lots of cool mods. Check it out below.