The digital world and reality will meet on Monday when the former F1 driver, David Coulthard, and GT5 gamers on the PS3 meet for a race. The event is hosted by Mercedes, and will see Coulthard driving the SLS AMG in real life with all the risks involved, while PS3 gamers can relax in the safer place of a sofa and big screen television. This has to be one of the biggest races to take place this year, especially where the PS3 is concerned and will show just how “real” the Gran Turismo game is to real life.

You can find the Mercedes live stream below this article, so make sure you bookmark this page. The same track and cars will be used in real time, will the GT5 gamers beat David Coulthard?

The gamers will be the best GT5 players in the world and they know how to get the best out of the game and the problems associated with Gran Turismo, although their competition is an F1 driver (former) who really knows the car well and how to get the most from real life racing, which he hopes 26 years of racing is enough.

The result may depend on just how lifelike the game is, and we wonder if the gamers have any advantage or disadvantage when it comes to realism, although DC has a reputation and his life that are more at risk than the gamer.

Do you think you can beat the real thing? The live stream starts at 3pm BST time, so give us your thoughts in the comments until then. You can read a full preview of this landmark race over on the Telegraph.

More About: David Coulthard, GT5

For more Product-Reviews.net coverage:

• Follow Product Reviews on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to PR
• Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Penrose Tackie of the PlayStation Blog is reporting that the game can now continue to be developed and updated. The update adds new features and improvements to welcome players back to online racing. A few minor bugs have been ironed out, and it now has online event prizes.

Parts are now easier to purchase, and there is an improved AI algorithm for the opponent cars. In Championship mode players now have an easier way to pause and save their progress, and new music and racing gear has been added.

The latest version of the game should start downloading the next time the PS3 is connected to the internet. But if you are unsure if you have the update, go to the menu screen and press the Manual button which is found at the bottom of the menu screen.

At the top left of the index page you should see Ver. 1.10 which is the number for the update. If you do not see this number quit the game, and it will then be updated when you restart the game with the PS3 connected to the internet.

Have you seen the new features of the game yet?

More About: Gran Turismo 5, GT5, PlayStation Network

For more Product-Reviews.net coverage:

• Follow Product Reviews on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to PR
• Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Being able to change different aspects of a vehicle is always considered the holy grail of racing sims, imagine having any car and then having the ability to change the engine and transmission? GTPlantet points out that this is not a new thing, as it has been done on previous version of the GT series.

GTPlantet has made a very good point about having hybriding on GT5, it did not matter on previous versions of the game, but having a high powered engine in a small car will not be unfair while playing online against other players. How you would feel if you had a Veyron, only to be beat by a small little Honda?

Where do you stand on the subject on hybriding? Would you be upset if you had worked hard to get yourself an expensive supercar, only to be creamed round a race track by a small hatchback that has a 1500BHP engine in?

More About: Gran Turismo 5, GT5, Polyphony Digital

For more Product-Reviews.net coverage:

• Follow Product Reviews on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to PR
• Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

As reported from VG247, the Thrustmaster T500RS unboxing video comes to you courtesy of the guys over at Inside Sim Racing, who are claiming to have one of the first US versions of the wheel.

In case you are unaware, the wheel is available to buy now in the US priced at $600, but UK gamers will not be able to get their hands on it until January 14th, for when it will be priced at a staggering £450. If you want to pre-order one, you can get one from Amazon UK here.

As for the video, its over 10 minutes long and also serves as a nice tutorial for US gamers who are having trouble setting it up. Inside Sim Racing think it is the best racing wheel ever, so you’ll be pleased to know that you really are getting the best product on the market for that price.

Check out the video below and let us know your thoughts on it. Are you planning to buy one?

More About: Gran Turismo 5, GT5, Thrustmaster T500RS

For more Product-Reviews.net coverage:

• Follow Product Reviews on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to PR
• Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Vehicle damage is no doubt one of the biggest features in the game, and it’s a feature which received a lot of attention prior to the game’s release. Having seen it in game, are you satisfied with the way it works or are there some elements which you’re disappointed with?

If you haven’t seen it, we have a series of videos to show you now, videos which were uploaded on PlayStation Informer. The videos show some test drives in the game, attempting to show you how mechanical damage operates in the game.

The results are pretty impressive – nothing spectacular like Burnout, but enough damage on the vehicles to add that extra bit of realism to the game. Check out one of the videos below and let us know your thoughts on mechanical damage.

More About: Gran Turismo 5, GT5, Polyphony Digital

For more Product-Reviews.net coverage:

• Follow Product Reviews on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to PR
• Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

As reported from VG247, details on the T500RS are pretty sparse at the moment, although the complete package for Gran Turismo 5 has already been leaked via some pictures here over at GTPlanet.

VG247 mentions that a full reveal on the T500RS is due at CES 2011 in January, but one of the main factors of the wheel will be it’s asking price – and that has already been disclosed.

According to reports, gamers in the US looking to pick one up may have to fork out a huge $500 to take one home, which will obviously put it out of reach for the average GT5 owner. However, for the hardcore following out there, are you still willing to pay this much for one?

Polyphony Digital’s Kazunori Yamauchi has already thrown his support behind the T500RS, but what about you? Do you feel a bit frustrated that it’s going to cost this much to own the ‘official’ steering wheel for the game?

More About: Gran Turismo 5, GT5, Thrustmaster T500RS

For more Product-Reviews.net coverage:

• Follow Product Reviews on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to PR
• Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Reading the reviews is fine to get an idea of how good a game is, but come on – nothing beats seeing the true performances of a game Thankfully Kotaku thinks the same as us, and has provided a number of videos for you to study. So lets take a look.

The first video we have provided for you below is called ‘GT5 TGS 2010 Visual Effects’. Once you start playing the video you will know that it looks more closely at the dynamic weather system built into the game. Not certain if this is real life game play graphics though.

The next is ‘Karting Racing Video’, which has the caption “Mario Kart, this ain’t.” If you ever want to see how F1 drivers start their career, then this is it. This mode I like the idea of, as you get a true sense of speed being closer to the ground.

There has been a lot of talk about the damage on GT5, the ‘Gran Turismo 5 advanced damage’ video aims to show you just how great this feature is. This one has no sound, but it is just a visual aid. Read our recent post looking at how damage works.

The final video that we have for you below is a ‘Snow Race’, which you can see will not take long before you become snow-blind. I even struggle driving at 20mph in the snow, let alone up to 100mph.

There are more videos for you to see over at Kotaku. I know that seeing these videos makes me want to go and buy the game, but I have been told not to, as Christmas is coming up – people need to get me something.

More About: Gran Turismo 5, GT5, Polyphony Digital

For more Product-Reviews.net coverage:

• Follow Product Reviews on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to PR
• Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

As reported from AndriaSang, the GT5 bossman has been responding to a few user questions on Twitter, and although it’s all in Japanese, AndriaSang states that details regarding an update for GT5 in December were mentioned.

Details are pretty scarse at the moment, but we’re hearing that the update will add some sort of ‘configuration option’ for mechanical damage, and the update will also add support for backing up saved game data to other storage devices.

We’re not sure when the update will arrive, but we’ll be sure to let you know once Sony make it official. Let us know your thoughts on the upcoming patch. In your opinion, what other things need to be fixed? Don’t forget about our GT5 Vs Forza 3 debate here.

More About: Gran Turismo 5, GT5, Polyphony Digital

For more Product-Reviews.net coverage:

• Follow Product Reviews on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to PR
• Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

To help you with your decision, G4TV has posted a very useful video comparison on the two games, letting you see what both titles look like on similar tracks, side by side.

If you are talking about which is the best racing ‘simulator’, then you would probably agree that GT5 gets one up on Forza, since the gameplay on Forza 3 is best described as more of a ‘arcade’ experience, whereas GT5 tends to focus in detail on certain elements.

If you don’t own both consoles though, you probably haven’t had the chance of playing both titles yet, so we’re saving this debate for the hardcore followers out there who enjoyed Forza 3, but are now spending their time on GT5.

Take a look at G4′s video below, and then let us know which game you think is best overall, with reasons to explain your decision.

More About: Forza 3, Gran Turismo 5 Vs Forza 3, GT5

For more Product-Reviews.net coverage:

• Follow Product Reviews on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to PR
• Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

The reason why gamers have been coming to the assumption that the Thrustmaster T500 RS is the official steering wheel is because it now shows in the game’s setting, that’s according to a GTPlanet forum member. Some of features of this new wheel include built-in H.E.A.R.T (HallEffect AccuRate Technology).

Not much else is known about the new wheel, but one would assume that Logitech will be baffled if this did turn out to be true. The reason for this is because the Logitech Driving Force GT has had the GT logo on the device since 2008 – this would be a stab in the back for the device then.

I have never been one for these steering wheels, not unless it is a complete set-up with seat and TV mount as well – much like those I saw at Euro Gamer 2010.

More About: Gran Turismo 5, GT5, Steering Wheel

For more Product-Reviews.net coverage:

• Follow Product Reviews on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to PR
• Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad