Gran Turismo 5 expected to release next week

START YOUR ENGINES: Gran Turismo 5 is due out very soon.

The long-awaited hi-spec racing game Gran Turismo 5 is due out in Europe and the United States on Nov 24, and on Nov 25 in Japan, according to the official press releases from Sony Computer Entertainment.

The new date comes shortly after Kaz Yamauchi, president of the Polyphoy Digital studio, used his Twitter account a few hours beforehand to let fans know that a new release date for the title was likely to be announced "shortly."

GT5 has been in development for at least five years, and will be the fifteenth release in a series that has become known for its ambitiously perfectionist approach.

As part of the press release, Yamauchi said "I can only apologise to everyone for making you wait so long, and I hope that when you try out the wealth of driving experiences available in GT5, you will not be disappointed."

The PlayStation3 game will feature over 1,000 cars, 70 race courses both real-world and fictional, day and night racing, weather effects such as rain and snow, go-karting, and compatibility with 3D TVs.

It was first revealed during the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo, just weeks after Microsoft launched its rival Forza Motorsport series for Xbox consoles.

Sony delays the release date of its "Gran Turismo 5"

PUSHED BACK: Sony delays the release of Gran Turismo 5 again.

Sony expected to delay the global release of the latest version of its popular Gran Turismo car-racing game, which was due early next month, to later this year.

Gran Turismo 5 for the PlayStation3 videogame console was to hit US and European markets on Nov 2 and Japan the following day, but the release will now be "this holiday season," said Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

The delay is due to "production reasons," said Makiko Noda, a spokesman for the electronics giant's game unit, without elaborating.

She said it was not clear whether the release would be in time for "Black Friday," the day after US Thanksgiving in late November, and considered the biggest shopping day in the United States, the largest market for the game industry.

The Gran Turismo series is one of the biggest money makers for Sony's game business, having sold more than 56 million copies worldwide since making its debut in 1997.

The release of Gran Turismo 5 had already been delayed from March this year.

Japanese videogame rival Nintendo last month said that its hugely anticipated handheld 3DS console would miss the key Christmas season - a factor in the company sharply reducing its profit forecast for the year.