Kazunori Yamauchi just posted on his personal twitter account that the next Gran Turismo 5 Update will come next week, on December the 20th,  alongside a new DLC package and a Christmas present.

We still don’t know what each of those things will entail. According to Yamauchi a press release should come tomorrow to give us more details.

The December 20 date may be relative to Japan only, since, as usual, Yamauchi tweeted both in Japanese and in English, and while in the Japanese tweet he mentioned the date, in the English one he said only “next week”. We’ll probably know more tomorrow.

Update: Turns out that the “Tomorrow” wasn’t exactly accurate. The Playstation Blog just posted an update specifying that the DLC Car Pack 2 will include the 2011 Mini Cooper S, 2010 Volkswagen Golf VI R, 2010 Volkswagen Scirocco R, and the new and improved 2012 Nissan GT-R Black edition R35. The DLC will cost $3.99.

Those that purchased any of the previous DLC package will receive the Gran Turismo Racing Kart 125 SP and five New Car Refresh cards in the game for free. The refresh cards will take any car back to factory conditions, while keeping any modifications or paint jobs you have given your motors.

A few examples of the improvements of  2.02 update have been provided:

• Users can now change wheels on Standard cars (oh yeah!)
• The settings sheets will include a new ‘copy’ feature
• In GT Auto, players will be able to see how the oil changes, aerodynamic parts, engine overhauls, and racing modifications will affect performance points and engine power, before and after their application
• Free coupons have been added that allow you to wash cars, change oil, overhaul your engine, or refresh the car body in GT Auto (10 coupons will be distributed for free to each of those who have downloaded the 2.02 update)
• Pressing the Square button in the car coupon selection screen of the Car Delivery will now allow you to exchange all car coupons at once, rather than doing one at a time
• In screens where the [Garage] and [Driver List] buttons are displayed in the A/B Spec events, Special Events, and Seasonal Events, pressing the Square button will now show the [Garage], and pressing the Triangle button will bring up the drivers list
• In My Lounge, the room settings will feature a new ‘Max. number of participants’ setting
• In the event selection screen of seasonal events, there are now ☆(star) marks that show the number of Gold Trophies attained in each event
• Improved racing sound effects
• Elements of the steering assist controls (used when using certain controllers on Racing Karts) have been tweaked

In addition to that, everyone that will download the update will receive the new 2012 Toyota FT-86.

Finally, those who purchased the course and/or vehicle DLC that was released in October will be able to download the Family Upgrade for free from the PSN store. The Family upgrade allows accounts on the same PS3 to use the content as well. The upgrade doesn’t apply to the Racing Gear Pack or Special Paint Pack.

You can see the new cars in the gallery below: