The wait has been a long one and whilst Polyphony Digital’s Gran Turismo 5 should be with us by the spring, boss Kazunori Yamauchi has claimed that his studio could in theory release the game at any moment should it choose to.

“The scale of this title is just dizzying, so daily progress is slow, but it's still going forward at a steady clip,” he told Famitsu, as translated by 1UP. “All the basic stuff is complete, but we're trying to give everything that little bit extra at present.

“We could release it any time we want, really, but I want to have that classic GT-style 'did we really have to go this far?' feel going. I want to go way beyond gamer expectations.”

Yamauchi goes on to explain the reason behind his choice to put the Corvette ZR-1 on the cover of the game.

“When I think about what car to put on the cover, I have to figure out which car is considered the coolest at this exact moment in time. The auto industry is going through a transition period right now, and it's a dangerous time for a lot of companies.

“It's a major support of the entire world economy, and the vast amount of talent and output it produces is one reason why GT is what it is. I wanted to go back to the roots with what makes a car cool, so I chose GM's Corvette ZR-1 to try and cheer the auto industry up a little.”