First official screenshots of Gran Turismo 5 released to giddy masses

Psst...PlayStation fans: Bet you've been getting a little irked about all these screen shots and details about Forza 3 for the xBox 360, haven't you? Well we've got something for you: the first batch of screen shots of the new Gran Turismo 5 for PS3. So far, it's just five shots of the Japanese Super GT-spec Nismo GT-R, but it looks good.

The long awaited and highly anticipated fifth installment from the iconic racing simulator franchise packs some 1000 different vehicles to choose from – according to Sony, more than twice as many as its "closest racing competitor" (wonder who they're talking about) – brought to life in unprecedented quality with state-of-the-art damage rendering, rollover crashes and the whole nine yards. There's even a sweet little feature worked in to allow gamers to export their favorite replay footage straight to YouTube. Alright, enough hype. Check out the screen shots in the high-resolution image gallery below.

[Source: Sony]