Gran Turismo for Christmas 2009?

Sony Europe speaker James Armstrong expects Gran Turismo 5 to be out by next Christmas.

He spilled the beans to Spanish financial site El Financiero (spotted by Kotaku). Unfortunately Sony UK was unavailable to add anything further.

Armstrong's comments fall in line with Sony US chatter from March, when we heard that Gran Turismo 5 was "about a year away".

Most recently, Polyphony Digital boss Kazunori Yamauchi said both Gran Turismo 5 and Gran Turismo PSP were "moving forward", although he couldn't mention any specific plans.

He could, however, tell us that Gran Turismo 5 cars had reached a "target level" of detail, and that work would now spread to environments and crowds.

Yamauchi has said roughly 150 people have so far worked on Gran Turismo 5 for four years, and that the fifth game has cost 50 times that of the 1997 PSone original.

Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, a precursor to Gran Turismo 5, was released back in March, and features some of the shiniest - if indestructible - cars ever in a videogame.

Head over to our Gran Turismo 5 Prologue review to find out more.