How can a game be six years in development and only five months away, yet we still know next to nothing about it? The icy wall of silence on Gran Turismo 5 is lifting at last, and now we're finally getting solid intel on all those intriguing rumours, which astonishingly, seem to be largely correct. The full feature list now includes go-karts, a track editor, night racing as well as day-night transitions, damage and weather effects, and online multiplayer.

Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida confirmed and re-confirmed all the above in an admirably succinct comment:
"Not only will Gran Turismo 5 deliver an even more comprehensive set of cars and courses than gamers saw with previous iterations, it will also feature new game-enhancing graphical effects such as damage, night racing and weather.

These innovations are twinned with the option to join millions of like-minded individuals globally within the Gran Turismo community and to find a driving experience to suit, whether that is taking on the Top Gear test track, chucking cars around stunt arenas, go-karting, creating and sharing your own track or intense head-to-head races."
If you would like to discover just how shiny Gran Turismo 5 is, don't forget we have a special hi-res screenshot package available.