Gran Turismo 5 Production Kicks Off?

   The SEMA Trade Show kicked off yesterday in Las Vegas and runs until November 5. At the show, Kazunori Yamauchi stated that Gran Turismo 5 (retail) discs are being manufactured and stamped NOW. Really Kaz? You're not pulling anyone's leg are you?

   If the discs are really being stamped now, why hasn't Sony finalized the ship date in Japan after last month's delay announcement? Why haven't retailers gotten an inkling of the new date? WHY? Well, then again, aggregators like Rakuten still list the ship date as November 3. Feh.

   If Gran Turismo 5 only ships in Japan this year, I'm good with that. Importers will get to play the game before anyone else (legitimately). The early release in Japan also allows the Japanese gamers to basically road-test and bug-test the game for the other regions so that USA and Europe will get a bug-tested build that's been pored over by millions of Japanese gamers when it's time to release the game in the West.