OFFICIAL: Gran Turismo 5 dated

After half a decade of development and weeks of torturous speculation, Sony has finally dated perhaps the most anticipated PlayStation 3 game of all time - Gran Turismo 5.

Kazunori Yamauchi's racing opus will roar into life on Wednesday, 24th November, Sony has confirmed.

Christmas is back on - and for real this time.

So Sony wasn't having us on by clinging to a "before Christmas" release dream; Sony isn't the Sherriff of Nottingham after all.

"Gran Turismo 5 is an ambitious project," said creator Kazunori Yamauchi, "with challenges and complexities that have made it our version of the Apollo Space Programme!"

"When we created the original Gran Turismo back in 1997, we wanted to set a completely new precedent for the racing genre. With the technological leap onto PlayStation 3, our objective with GT5 was to create another great revolution which would not only satisfy our own high expectations, but would meet or even exceed the anticipation of the fans.

"Satisfying the loyal Gran Turismo followers is at the heart of all of our efforts," he added, "which is why it was such a difficult decision to delay the release of the game, and one which we did not take lightly. I can only apologise to everyone for making you wait so long, and I hope that when you try out the wealth of driving experiences available in Gran Turismo 5, you will not be disappointed."

In October, Sony stirred the hornets' nest by delaying Gran Turismo 5 from 3rd November to "before Christmas". There's been plenty to talk about since then: Yamauchi popped up talking about Gran Turismo 6 again, and then gabbled on about how the PS3 is "still not enough" for Gran Turismo.

We've even had a nose at the full Gran Turismo 5 Trophy list. Will you try for the Platinum Trophy? It only requires that you earn every single other Trophy in the game.