Live at the E3 Expo, Kazunori Yamauchi released two new puzzle pieces to his highly-polished Gran Turismo series. The first? Gran Turismo 5 for the PS3, a direct competitor to Turn 10 Studios just-released Forza Motorsport 3. Packed with active weather effects, night racing and damage modeling, Yamauchi promises GT5 will be the most realistic Gran Turismo game yet. The addition of both NASCAR and WRC licenses is an interesting surprise and will likely bring fans of those racing series games to a unified GT racing platform. A release date will be announced later today.

But the biggest surprise was Yamauchi and Polyphony Digital finally releasing the long-awaited Gran Turismo Mobile for the Sony PSP portable system. Packed with 800 semi-customizable cars and 35 tracks as well as the ability to trade and race with others over the PSP's ad-hoc connectivity. GT Mobile looks to be the overall winner of the two by offering true portable Gran Turismo gameplay and will be released in October. [gtplanet]

Something Strange in the Neighborhood
As a tribute to the upcoming 25th Anniversary of the original theatrical release of the blockbuster film “Ghostbusters,” the original ECTO-1 vehicle used in the 1984 movie will be on display.

Recently restored at Cinema Vehicle Services in North Hollywood, Calif., the ECTO-1 has been fully upgraded with Sony Xplod gear. The “ectomobile” features Sony’s slim series subwoofers, a DVD A/V system, iPod adapter, and Sony marine amps and speakers. It also has a Sony MP3 player, 10-disc CD changer and NV-U83T navigation system installed.

“A classic piece of film history, the ECTO-1 is truly one of a kind,” Kahn said. “The vehicle is perfect for showcasing all that we have to offer in mobile A/V, as no other manufacturer can bring the excitement of new technology and a blockbuster film to SEMA like Sony can.”

The ECTO-1, Sony’s Hip Hop Live tour truck and nine additional custom models can all be found at the company’s outdoor feature car booth #72005.

[Source: Sony]

To get to the 24-hour race it begins with elimination tournaments for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. This will eventually whittle down to two winners who will then partake in four months worth of racing lessons eventually leading to the opportunity to take Godzilla around the track, for 24 hours of Dubai racing action. Sony will also be filming the bulk of the academy and will be made available for download on the PlayStation Network.

That only means it's time to get practicing. [Via Kotaku]

Sony brought in Ferraris, a yellow Lotus and Godzilla himself to an underground car park in London decorated like a real pit lane. The party included a live DJ, bars and, of course, arcade-style simulators running the demo of the highly anticipated game. A competition was also held looking for the top driver. Drew Forster took home the prize that included a trophy and two tickets to the Le Mans 24-hour race this summer. We're great at games, so we're sad we missed it. [Reuters]

Prior to this relationship, Ford and Sony had a limited relationship that included factory-installed Sony Xplode speakers in a variety of Ford Focus models.

The big kicker with this release is that the first 150 people to check out the Ford Flex with Sony equipment will receive digital download samplers, or in other words, free MP3s. The Flex will be on display today from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. eastern.

FORD FLEX WITH SONY AUDIO SYSTEMS MAKES ITS DEBUT IN NEW YORK AT THE SONY STYLE STORE

* Ford reveals first Sony-branded audio system in the new Ford Flex being shown at the Sony Style store on Madison Avenue today from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m.
* Sony Music will be handing out 150 Sony digital download samplers to customers coming to see the Ford Flex
* Ford has signed a long-term agreement with Sony Electronics for Sony-branded audio systems in Ford and Mercury vehicles in North America

New York, March 18 - Ford Motor Company [NYSE: F] and Sony Electronics are showing the first fruits of their new relationship in North America in the form of the new Ford Flex with Sony audio. The Flex appears at the flagship Sony Style store on Madison Avenue between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. today, where the first 150 customers will have the chance to get their hands on a Sony BMG MusicPass digital download card sampler.

This will be the first time the Sony audio system has been featured in the innovative new Ford Flex full-size utility.

Set to launch in summer, Flex is a daring new vehicle in the full-size crossover segment and will further build momentum for Ford crossovers, which already include Ford Escape and Edge.

Flex will feature a host of new technologies in addition to the Sony audio system. These include SIRIUS Satellite Radio with Travel Link™ as well as the award-winning SYNC system, which has been further enhanced for the Ford Flex.

"We have enjoyed a very successful partnership at Ford of Europe with Sony-branded audio," said Derrick Kuzak, Ford group vice president of Global Product Development. "Customers tell us that good audio systems are high on their list of priorities. Sony-branded audio and a host of other signature technologies will help differentiate Ford products in the marketplace."

"Ford and Sony are two of the world's most well-known brands," said Don Courvisier, vice president and general manager for the Automotive Entertainment Solutions Group at Sony Electronics in the United States and Europe. "This arrangement is a natural fit given our success together in Europe."

This is the third collaboration between Sony and Ford in North America. Ford and Sony offered a limited-edition Focus Sedan in 2000, outfitted with Sony Xplod® audio equipment. More recently, Ford offered "Sound Designed by Sony" in the Ford Focus in North America.

In Europe, Sony-branded audio systems are offered in the Mondeo, Focus, C-Max, S-Max and Galaxy models.

Once-dominant Sony has signed a long-term deal with red-ink-swamped Ford to provide Sony-branded audio systems for Ford cars, with the hope of defibrillating the hearts of both companies. No word on iPod compatibility for such systems yet, but since Sony makes their own portable music player... Hey, maybe they'll bring back a beloved Ford of decades past for the occasion: the Sony Xplod Edition Pinto! – Murilee Martin

Ford, Sony Sign Long-Term Deal For Car Audio Systems [CNN]

Related:
Microsoft And Ford Get N'Sync At The Detroit Auto Show And CES, We Get First Exclusive Hands-On: Part 1 [internal]

3400 hours of work and three years is a long time. That's about how long it took Art Morrison Enterprises to take what was essentially a basket case 1960 Chevrolet Corvette and turn it into a machine worthy not only of Art and Craig Morrison's high standards of finish and performance, but also of the Next Edition Gran Turismo HD.

With nearly a 1000 of the 3400 hours sunk into the project during the weeks preceding SEMA, the 1960 Corvette was completed just in time to take Best in Show at the 4th Annual Grand Turismo Awards ceremony at the 2006 Las Vegas show. As part of this achievement the Corvette would be forever immortalized in digital form in the upcoming Next Edition Gran Turismo, also known as GTHD. Witnessing the first stages of this process occur at their shop was a source of wonder for father Art and son Craig of the Art Morrison Enterprises operation.

Art Morrison Enterprises got going in 1971 as a full service, turn-key drag race chassis manufacturer. Over its 36-year history, AME has focused on high performance, innovative chassis designs. As quarter mile mayhem started working its way back off the track with the Pro Street movement so did Morrison chassis. With the end of the eighties, custom racecar fabrication was won over by more hot rod and road going custom car pursuits. Today Art Morrison Enterprises chassis can be found under everything from 55-57 Chevys that turn .94G on the skid pad to V-8 powered Citroen street rods.

The Corvette itself moves well beyond 1960 Chevrolet technology, yet visually holds onto its original looks. At the heart of the Corvette is a Bill Mitchell 427 cubic inch mill that belts out 538 hp and 517 foot pounds of torque. A T-56 six-speed out of a Viper and modified by Rockland Standard Gear handles putting the power down. Modifications are subtle enough to maintain original Corvette styling but innovative enough to push the car into modernity. The seats were reskinned to look like the originals yet rebuilt to sit lower and further back in the car for more room in the cockpit. The original gauge cluster was split down the middle and skinned with carbon fiber. The headlamps are actually a Bavarian projector beam units off a 5-Series BMW.

It is the unseen that sets the Vette far apart from the antiquated performance of the original 1960 version. Under the worked over exterior and interior is a top of the line Morrison chassis riding on some meaty R-compound Michelin Pilot Sport Cups. A 265 series handles the front of the car while a 295 keeps the rear in line. With Art Morrison himself in the driver's seat the Vette scales in at 3080 pounds with a 49% front to 51% rear weight ratio. Corner weights are all within 40 lbs of each other. Even with a heap of the 3400 hours of work hidden under the reworked skin, the crew that came to scan the car for Gran Turismo would miss no detail.

The key to the binary reproduction of the Corvette came in a box with a crew of two. In a darkened room a thin red beam of light shot from the box across the up on the rack Corvette, and relayed data through a three-quarter inch data cable snaking from the back of the black box on a tripod. Art and son Craig Morrison were both amazed.

"The first scan they did was the underside of the car. They did a pan of the chassis. As they were scanning it, in real time, there was a 3-D wireframe model being built of the car on the screen. You could actually see the relationship between the body mounts and the floor. You could see the exhaust and the clearance that the exhaust had. You could see the tread pattern on the tires, the horns, and all the fasteners holding those in place, the whole chassis, the headers, the oil pan - everything", said Craig.

After the bottom half of the car was scanned in the rack was dropped and the interior transferred into binary for a complete 3-D model.

"It was bizzare. A red line swept across the interior. It was sort of a spacey type of a deal. The room was somewhat dimly lit, and you would see this red line sweep across - bzzzzzzzzt. As soon as it finished it was producing a 3d wireframe model to scale on the screen", said Art.

When the scan was complete a full 3d model of the car was soon rotating around on the computer screen. With a click or two of the mouse the entire car began unfolding in three dimensions on a screen in front of Art and Craig's eyes. To fill in the wireframe back at GTHD central a four-person crew took video and still imagery of the car.

"They took video of me going through the gears, and the starting sequence of the car. Turning the wheel. Setting the e-brake. Pulling the hood release. Hi-beam Lo-beam. Everything." said Craig.

While the binary crew is likely to come along for some more work when the Vette goes out for track testing in April of 2007, the method in which actual car handling translates into accurate gameplay remains mysterious. Art Morrison asked the digital crew a question from an analog chassis builder perspective. "Obviously an F1 car handles better than a Toyota Corolla, but how do you make it handle better on the screen"?

The answer will remain a secret, but as the Gran Tursimo faithful know the cars on the screen really do handle like their genuine counterparts. To insure the car handles as it should the Project Manager on hand promised an advance digital copy of the Corvette to Art and Craig for an in-game handling test. Astounding is that it will likely take more hours to reproduce the digital version of the Corvette for Gran Turismo than did building the analog nuts and bolts version.

"They have a crew of 40 people that are going to spend the next six months building our car for the game. That's the amount of detail", said Craig.

The Art Morrison Enterprises Corvette will be available to everyone else as part of the "Next Edition" of the Grand Turismo franchise. We suspect that you'll have to earn it by winning a few races. When this right will be available is anyone's guess. Art and Craig are excited to be involved in the production of Gran Turismo, even though the exact release date remains a source of great mystery and speculation. The fact that the car will be immortalized in binary form is a source of pride for the father and son team.

"What's cool is that it's a real American car, and for us it's a real dream" said Art. – Mike Bumbeck [All imagery courtesy of Art Morrision Enterprises]

Art Morrison Enterprises [artmorrison.com]

Related:
Gran Turismo 5 to be 100 Times Better? [Internal]

• Haven't we always said that Alabama legislators are childish and petty when it comes to their parking spots? Well check out this guy, cause he's really a douche. [AP]
• China's top car race occurs in a 200,000 seat venue. Only 2,000 seats were filled. Best line of the story: "'I regret buying a ticket to come'...said one car sports fan surnamed Wang." And really that's the difference, here in the USA we have Wangs who drive cars. In China, Wangs watch the cars. [People's Daily Online]
• And speaking of extreme sports, the conservative coalition is crying foul on Ford for backing off on its pledge to stop advertising to the not-straight. [Detroit News]
• Only in Europe would it be cheaper to rent a car than to use your Eurailpass. [Tripso]
• Sony is all about giving head units to cars. This one is really big, with 1 GB of memory. Nice try but I still don't think Apple is shaking in their boots. [Smarthouse]
• Most. Obvious Headline. Ever. — "Driver ticked off over ticket." [WTNH]
• Buy a house, get a free car. Works for me. [Detroit News]
• Yesterday we were all about the extreme sport of collecting license plates , well, we have one more encore. It looks like Michigan's "Big Blue" license may be getting a facelift. [Freep]

According to IGN, who got the news from Gameindustry.biz, who heard it from Croat mag Auto Klub, which pulled news of Gran Turismo Five right outta the mouth of the horse himself, game guru Kaz Yamauchi, the PS3 version of the venerated driving simulator will be "100 times more detailed" than the previous version. Scheduled for release in 2007, there are no other tidbits available besides Yamauchi's cryptic quote. Here's to hoping that there's an option to throw ham sandwiches slathered in mayonnaise and pitchers of warm Carlsberg at opposing drivers.

GT5 on PS3 in 2007? [IGN]

Related:
Gran Turismo 4 Launches [Internal]