As you might expect, the Gran Turismo team was on site at the SEMA car show in Vegas to promote the game. Creative director Kazunori Yamauchi was there running demos and talking to the press. He dropped a big bomb on a small audience when he estimated the cost of Gran Turismo 5 development at $60 million.

The massive price tag mostly came from the need to develop a new engine for the game. “We threw away the legacy code from GT4 and started from scratch … It’s been five years [since the release of] GT4, and that’s the same amount of time it took to develop the first GT4,” he said. Yamauchi also deferred the issue of release dates outside Japan to Sony marketing, claiming it’s their decision when the game will get a date. Most people, myself included, are anticipating a first half (though probably second quarter) 2010 release.

Source: VGChartz

According to Koku Gamer, Forza 3 has been leaked in its entirety to P2P sites across the web. The two disc download comes in at 13GB, supposedly granting access to the full game. The game is definitely one of the most hotly anticipated of the year, likely in part, as Koku mentions, to the excellent critical reception for Forza 2.

There’s really not much to be said about the leak. Sure, Turn 10 will claim that it’s part of the reason for high game prices, though we know it’s not nearly as big a factor as profits. Pirates will claim their right to download content if the developer is dumb enough to let it leak. And publishers will continue mashing together bundles with the hopes of deterring would-be pirates. None of it is very interesting, if you ask me.

Image: GameShadow