Gran turismo 5 is coming this christmas?

Once upon a time, eagerly awaited Playstation 3 racer Gran Turismo 5 was due to release this week.

As fans will doubtless have noticed, it didn't. In fact, three weeks ago it was delayed until some vague point "later this holiday season" -- and Sony Europe later clarified gamers could expect the game "before Christmas." Typically, release dates need to be nailed down several weeks in advance to allow publishers time for advertising, manufacturing, and distribution, meaning a November release looks increasingly unlikely.
Or does it? GT creator Kazunori Yamauchi, speaking at the SEMA car show in Las Vegas this week, told auto enthusiast blog Jalopnik that not only is Gran Turismo 5 finished, its discs are "being stamped as we speak." Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that those discs are destined for U.S. shores; previous GT games have launched in Japan some months before Western territories received the game. Adding fuel to the fire, an assortment of U.S. retailers have been showing doubts that the game will make it out this year at all. Amazon.com customers with GT5 preorders received an email earlier this week stating that they should expect delivery around December 31. Other retailers -- including Gamestop and Target -- are predicting January dates.
Sony, for its part, is still sticking to its holiday-season guns -- and a recent update on a Sony sales site specifies an "on or about 11/30/2010" release. But with every day that goes by without a definite date, our skepticism ratchets up a notch or two. If there's a Gran Turismo 5-shaped space in your holiday gift-giving (or receiving) plans, it might be prudent to start pondering a backup plan.