Gran Turismo 5 Delayed, Now Coming This ‘Holiday Season’

I bet you thought that Polyphony Digital was going to stick to the release date for Gran Turismo 5 unveiled at E3 earlier this year? Boy, were you wrong.

Sony confirmed this morning that the storied racing game will not be available on November 2. This is a global delay.

Writing on the official PlayStation Blog, SCEA producer Taku Imasaki had this to say about the date change:

We sincerely apologize to GT fans for the delay, however, creator Kazunori Yamauchi and the team at Polyphony Digital want to make certain they are creating the perfect racing experience, and we are confident that this ambitious game will exceed expectations when it launches.

We’ll have more information for you in the near future, but said that it will be coming this “holiday season.”

Unveiled at E3 in 2006, one can’t help but wonder what could have caused the developer to stall the game’s launch so close to the release date. We’re checking in with Sony to see if we can get more details.

Although there is no mention of a delay in other regions for the game, I suspect that this is a worldwide push, since the game was initially slated to hit around the world within the same day or two.

Update: SCEA tells Kotaku that the delay is indeed global, adding that they can’t elaborate on whether “holiday season” could mean early 2011. When asked for specifics about the cause of the delay they only said that “Polyphony is optimising ever aspect to provide the best racing experience”.

While SCEA won’t confirm a 2010 release, the Europe arm of Sony Computer Entertainment says the game will be out by Christmas.

Gran Turismo 5 Release Update [PlayStation Blog]