This past Wednesday night, the Gran Turismo Awards put on its 11th annual award ceremony at the Haze Nightclub inside the Aria in Las Vegas, Nevada. Held during the SEMA Show, the 2013 GT Awards sought to find the best cars from five different categories (Best Truck or SUV, Hot Rod, Domestic Automobile, Asian Import, and European Import) by calling on experts from the automotive media and industry tastemakers.
In addition to the five categories, a People’s Choice award was introduced for the first time this year where fans had the opportunity to vote on their favorite car by liking posts on Gran Turismo’s Facebook page.
Hosted by C.J. Wilson, the All-Star pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and owner of a Mazda race team and dealership, the MLB athlete/car guy revealed all six category winners, as well as the overall Best in Show.
For Best Truck or SUV, Matt Farah from the Drive channel on YouTube and Smoking Tire selected the 1965 Ford Econoline back-up pickup truck owned by Dave Shuten. It’s called a back-up pickup because it’s a truck with its driveline turned around. It will do a wheelie, going backwards.
Alexander Stoklosa and Michael Simari from Car and Driver teamed up as judges for Best Domestic Automobile and picked the Factory Five 818R. The 818R is a track-purpose kit car that uses a turbocharged Subaru motor.
For Best Asian Import, Jonathan Wong from Super Street magazine picked a 2014 Scion FR-S with a 2JZ engine swapped in from a Supra turbo. Built by the aftermarket company Greddy, the small Scion now makes 750 wheel horsepower.
Alex Bernstein from European Car was on deck for Best European Import. Alex chose a 2001 VW GTI-RS from 034 Motorsport that’s been converted to rear wheel drive and makes 900 wheel horsepower.
Ryan Friedlinghaus from the car customization shop West Coast Customs picked a 1967 Chevrolet Nova owned by Chris Holstrom for Best Hot Rod. The Nova is equipped with a supercharged LS9 engine out of a 2012 Corvette ZR1 that makes 700 horsepower. The overall clean execution of modern engine in a classic chassis, helped the Nova take the Best in Show honors as well. Look for it as a playable vehicle in an upcoming GT.
As for the People’s Choice, the fans picked a 2014 Chevy Corvette Stingray owned by Octavio Villafana. The C7 Vette features a custom widebody painted in a brilliant blue.
Go to www.gran-turismo.com/us for more info.
Good Afternoon Sony or GT people,
I have been asking this same question in all GT6 thread with no one answering. Will GT6 have a Day 1 digital release? I need to know asap. If not, I will have to order a physical copy. Though, I would prefer a digital copy. Thanks.
I wish they made this game for the PS4
Please promote this game, give it plenty of tv commercials and youtube presence.
I’m pretty sure that’s the Batmobile.
I wish they’d put a car like this in the game. I have one in real life and would love to see how it competed with some other cars in the game.
Yawn, like I do not get enough of watching mile after mile of boring road.
The only thing exciting about this is possibly the two ladies on the left.
Wow, that Nova will be a complete monster in a GT game.
For the girls in the picture.. I would like their phone number
So i take it that this car will be among the others cars to be in the game.
Less than a month away from the best racing game franchise returns for another go-around.
Time to start planning out my path of conquest to obtain my second GT platinum. :)
GT all the way, baby!
can you report more about the game i pre ordered it its interesting to me to see how customization of parts and cars and tracks works gt5 was using a system that been in place since gt 1 same tires and part addon”s for every car and how new ui works. also how the offline game play works years past they created random events for you to make money some were enjoyable ,but it felt like a job to go through each one rather than a game that’s fun to go fast and win races.