2007 Audi TT is Gran Turismo Awards' "Best in Show"

Sony Computer Entertainment America recently hosted the fifth annual Gran Turismo Awards in conjunction with the 2007 Specialty Equipment Market Association auto show in Las Vegas.

The title of "Best in Show" was given to Marcel Horn's 2007 Audi TT, which will now be a featured vehicle in a future version of the Gran Turismo racing franchise.

Last year's "Best in Show" winner, a 1960 silver Chevrolet Corvette, will be included in the upcoming Gran Turismo 5 Prologue launching in 2008. Prologue was demonstrated at four PS3 kiosks in Sony's booth on the SEMA show floor.

"The 2007 Gran Turismo Awards showcases the collaboration between the automotive culture and the gaming industry," said Kazunori Yamauchi, president of Gran Turismo developer Polyphony Digital.

"We are proud to honor auto enthusiasts for their passion of cars, and to celebrate the automotive lifestyle that Gran Turismo embodies."

"SEMA is one of the largest auto shows in the world and because the GT brand represents an automotive lifestyle, it's a very good fit for us to be very involved," said Stephanie Yoshimoto, SCEA's senior manager, product marketing.

"We go out to exhibitors that are attending and building custom cars for the show and we ask them if they have what it takes to build a car to be featured in the game. It's a bit of a hefty load for the judges to check out all of those cars but at the end of the day we end up with what we feel is the hottest car of the show and it becomes immortalized in the Gran Turismo franchise."

Polyphony Digital recently announced that forty episodes of the BBC racing show Top Gear will be made available via the PlayStation Network. The show's famous test track will be incorporated into Gran Turismo 5.