Get ready petrol heads, as earlier today, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe confirmed the release date for the hotly anticipated racing game Gran Turismo 5 Prologue.

March 27th will be the release of the PSN version for download while March 28th will be the release of the Blu-Ray version. Both versions are retailing at £24.99, which comes a bit of a shock, as we all hoped that the PSN version would be slightly cheaper than the Blu-Ray version as was with Warhawk. The new 40GB bundle will also be out on the 28th March including the game for £299.99.

More good news is that the European version will be far superior to its Japanese counterpart, packing new modes that include an offline two player split screen option, Drift Mode as featured in the original GT HD demo, 30 additional cars to choose from, a driving line feature, a manual AI difficulty setting and a new intro video to boot.

If that’s not enough then check this out, the classic High Speed Ring course from past GT games has been added. More in depth car tuning will allow you to “adjust the vehicle’s performance, including power, tires, suspension and the ability for quick tuning whilst racing.” To finish it off in style, the European version will have all the new race events for the online mode, including a new set of scheduled events and time trails.

It seems the wait for this has been justified with Sony throwing in this extra content.

Stay tuned for thegamereviews.com review at the end of the month.