Gran Turismo 6 announcement hits Internet early

Due to an unfortunate turn of events, the official announcement press release for Gran Turismo 6 has hit the Internet ahead of its press embargo. The news initially broke via iAfrica: Gran Turismo 6 announced

Gran Turismo 6 is to be officially unveiled at 17:00 SAST today (15 May 2013). The full details of the game were to be published at 18.00 SAST.

The details we have from the iAfrica news are as follows:

Gran Turismo 6 will be released in the holiday season, 2013.
GT6 will add new tracks and cars and a revised user interface.
GT6 will have a new “compact game engine [which] will improve operation and increase the flexibility to expand it with downloadable content.”
GT6 will add support for devices such as smartphones and tablets for social and community functions.
All of the cars and tracks from Gran Turismo 5 will be retained in GT6.
Additions to the car list makes for 1200 vehicles at launch. New cars are to be continually added online.
Several thousand aerodynamic parts and custom wheels will be available for almost all cars, and players can personalise their own custom cars in-game as well.
The UK’s Silverstone Circuit will be one of seven new locations in Gran Turismo 6, taking the total to 33, with 71 different layouts available, 19 of them being new.
New tracks are also set to be made available online, while the course maker has also seen improvements.
Nissan GT Academy will be returning.
Other partnerships in the development of GT6 are tyre manufacturer Yokohama Rubber and suspension company KW Automotive.

“It is amazing to think that it is 15 years since we first released Gran Turismo,” said Kazunori Yamauchi, during the announcement at Silverstone Circuit.

“Things have changed a lot since then and now Gran Turismo 6 is a further evolution of my dream. We’re pleased to deliver GT6 to PlayStation 3 as we have a very loyal community on that platform.”

iAfrica’s gaming editor notes that “We were informed of an embargo a few minutes after the story was published. The initial press release contained no such warning.”