When playing car racing video games, do you find yourself choosing vehicles or brands that you've owned in the past? We are definitely guilty as charged on this count, but it seems that this sort of logic works the other way too. People that play popular games like Gran Turismo and Project Gotham Racing have shown an affinity towards real-life vehicles that they used in the gaming realm. Subaru WRX or Mitsubishi Evolution anyone?

Financial Post researchers recently conducted a brief study that put people in front of gaming consoles running car racing simulators. Other people were placed in separate rooms where the games were being broadcast, but not played. Afterward, both groups were surveyed, and the results were eye opening. Those that played the video games responded that they were 50% more likely to purchase vehicles that they used in the video games than those that just watched.

Sure, these results don't necessarily prove anything, but automakers and advertisers have certainly taken notice. Current estimates put the in-game advertising market at $1.8 billion within the next few years.


[Source: Financial Post]

Polyphony's Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is about to get a pretty substantial upgrade. The next time you boot up your Playstation 3, an update will be available for GT5 that will add the GT by Citroen, Ferrari's new California and the Lotus Evora. Lotus fans got a sneak peek into the Evora's GT5 inclusion at the British Motor Show a few weeks back, and now everybody gets to join in on the aluminum-intensive fun. It's always a pleasure to strap yourself in a Ferrari, in real-life or virtually, and the California is the latest Italian Stallion around, so its addition was a foregone conclusion. The biggest news, though, is the new French GT, which its maker says was "a partnership between Citroën and Polyphony." In the game-realm, the new GT concept will be powered by electrons generated from a hydrogen fuel cell. Even if the technology isn't quite ready for prime time in your driveway, it can always make waves in digital form, running around various race tracks while emitting nothing but water.


[Source: PlayStation Blog via Joystiq]

In a move more "Um, yeah..." than "Oh yeah!", Citroen has released the sixth teaser image of the car that will, one of these days, be revealed entirely to the world, all at once, front and back. We aren't even sure if this qualifies as a tease, since getting a glimpse at a front end we've already seen doesn't really ring the bell. What we can say is that one of our commenters appears to be right: the car does look like it's only 10 inches high. Relive the magic of the slowest reveal ever in the gallery of high-res photos below.


[Source: 4 Wheels News]

Citroen has let slip another drip in the GT by Citroen reveal, and this time it's a video showing off the dramatic shapes of "The Drive of Your Life." Dig those mirrors, and the glasshouse swept back in monumental fashion. Whatever is pushing the car's massive rims apparently needs a lot of air, with two raked scoops behind the canopy and two more on the sides ahead of the rear wheels. And the rear end of the car looks like -- dare we say it -- a tail... It's Mach 5 if the car comes together like we expect, or platypus if it doesn't. The Paris Motor Show reveal is in but a few days, and you can mark us down as officially excited. Check out the video after the jump and more teaser pics in the gallery below. Thanks for the tip, Nick!


[Source: Gran Turismo]

It's time for your next dose of the GT by Citroen concept. To the commenter who wrote that the front of the car looks like a catfish -- well, in a victory for symmetry, the back of the car looks like a catfish, too, and a couple of other gilled sea creatures. No matter its fishy similarities, it also look like it will be a lot of fun to throw this baby around Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. The tease can't go on much longer -- the Paris Motor Show begins in a week. We'll be there with cameras and bait, just in case.


[Source: Zer Customs]

The cloak on the GT by Citroen has been pulled back again to reveal a little more sheetmetal. Call us crazy, but we have the feeling this car is going to put the "Whoa, that's wild..." back into concept cars. This little corner shows off two vastly different personalities: look at the center structure and it could be any pleasant Frenchmobile -- a 2CV even; scan out to the sides, and it's got the kind of vicious appendages of a predator. Then there's that diffuser hanging out there like an arctic steppe, mirrors that are 18 inches long, and a tapered rear end that can't possibly stay planted without some aero aid on scaffolding. For all we know, the car could be hiding nine or ten other personalities, as well. We can't wait to see it.


[Source: ZerCustoms]

Day three in the Citroen Gran Turismo car reveal, and this time we do have the front of the car again. We thought the second pic was the front as well, but apparently that's not the case. The tiny bit front overhang on the car is taken up entirely by intakes and a dual element splitter that looks large enough to double as a hydrofoil. Combined with the leviathan rear diffuser, massive tires, and minimal ride height, the car looks like a straight up racer as opposed to a GT... but if you'll notice, there's a space on the front bumper for a European license plate. All we can say is come on, Paris Motor Show.


[Source: ZerCustoms]

This is either the stupidest idea ever or the most brilliant co-promotion for two brands in the history of mankind. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, the distributor of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue across the pond, and Nissan are joining forces to host a competition that could place a really good gamer behind the seat of a real Nissan 350Z at a very real 24-hour endurance race in Dubai. The competition is called GT Academy, and the first round will be an online GT5 Prologue tournament hosted on the PLAYSTATION Network (for Europeans only, we presume). Based on the picture provided, it appears that entrants will be racing a Nissan GT-R in a special livery when the competition begins later this month. The rest of the competition will span some eight months, at the end of which the winner will receive a four-month training program to earn actual racing licenses. With his or her newfound knowledge of real physics and how actual damage occurs, the winner will then be given a stint behind the wheel of a Nissan 350Z in the 24-hour endurance race in Dubai.

Based on the press release after the jump, we're a little unclear exactly how GT Academy will whittle down all of these entrants over eight months or how much driving the winner will actually be doing in Dubai. Having raced GT5 Prologue online using the PLAYSTATION Network, we can't imagine qualifying is going to be a pretty sight. There are always plenty of jerks willing to brake late in a corner and buddy bump you into the wall regardless of the game's imposed penalties, especially if they know that seat time in a real 350Z is beyond their own reach.

[Source: Nissan, SCEE]

With things like cheap gas and the value of a dollar slowly being taken from us, it's good to see that somebody wants to give us something. For the US release of the Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Polyphony has thrown in features the Japanese version didn't get.

There's a drift mode that judges drivers on three parameters, there's two-player, split-screen racing and there are new events and challenges for racers online and offline that can support up to 16 racers simultaneously. Plus, there's a new track, bringing the total to six. And for us, that means there's a new list of excuses we're going to need to come up with when people start asking "Where have you been?" and "You look tired -- were you up late last night?"

In case the cars, tracks and gameplay aren't enough, Winding Road has a new trailer video of the GT5 Prologue featuring a fair bit of Ferrari action -- and that's never a bad way to start the week. Follow the jump to see the complete list of tracks, and check out our updated hi-res photo gallery of the prologue below.


[Source: PS3 Fanboy]

click above for more high-res screen shots from GT 5 Prologue

I got a PlayStation 3 this Christmas from Santa who must've mistaken me on his list for a much more deserving child. Yippy for me, though. The PS3 is the most powerful game console in the world, yet it sits idle in my entertainment center as the loud hum of my XBox 360 (I know, two consoles, I'm truly blessed) drones on. All that will change on April 17, which is the confirmed date that Gran Turismo 5 Prologue will go on sale for the PS3.

GT 5 Prologue, unfortunately, is just a preview of what we'll get when the full version of this fifth installment is released sometime in the future. But what a preview it is with 60 cars and five full tracks on which to race in high-def glory. You'll be able to buy GT 5 Prologue on April 17th either as a downloadable game from the PlayStation Network on your console or on disc at any games retailer, both for $40. Gran Turismo games were always my favorite on both the PlayStation 1 and 2, and I'm hoping GT5 Prologue will finally get me interested in the PS3 that's been suffering some serious neglect (no, you can't have it) since Christmas.

[Source: Joystiq]