For those racing fans out there, it's likely the release of Gran Turismo 5 in the first half of next year is firmly marked on your radar.  There's been a few assets here and there released for the game, but nothing to really get fans revved up and salivating all over their controllers.  Things are about to change, however.

According to the PlayStation Blog, you'll be able to download a Time Trial Challenge from the PlayStation Store starting December 17, and participate in the Time Trial Challenge. It includes two time trial events on a single track and allows you to race both a stock and tuned version of the Nissan 370Z.  This whole mini-game, if you will, is provided not just to hype you up about the game, but to show off its revamped physics system.  They are providing both a stock and tuned version of the car because both versions handle so differently you should be able to get a pretty good idea of the work that went into making this one of the most realistic racing games around.

Now, to win a nice grand prize and be in the running for some other cool prizes, you'll have to practice with this new physics engine quite a lot.  Winning requires having the best of the best time in these time trial races.  Think you can handle that?

Here's some more details about the contest, from the blog post.

The winner will receive round trip airfare and hotel accommodations for two (winner and guest) to attend the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race, a.k.a. the Indy 500, on May 30, 2010. It doesn’t end there, because the winner and guest also get a VIP package which includes two (2) all-access passes for Carb Day – which includes the final Indy 500 practice, pit stop competition, special concert festivities, special event car rides in the 2010 Indy 500 event vehicle, as well as all-access passes to the garage, pit area, and Victory Lane for pre- and post-race celebrations for the race and two (2) VIP suite tickets to enjoy the race. This is the experience of a lifetime for true racing fans.

The contest is open to US and Canada residents, with an independent contest for each country. That means that there will actually be two grand prize winners: one for the US and one for Canada. And I’m sure there will be some friendly rivalry to see which country has the fastest racers, in true Gran Turismo spirit. You just have to be 18 years old or older to win because much of the cool VIP experience the winner will be treated to require the participants to be 18 for safety reasons.

In the event of a tie of combined Time Trial lap times, the player with the fastest stock non-tuned Time Trial lap will be deemed the winner. In addition, five runner-ups in the US and five in Canada will receive a voucher to download Gran Turismo for PSP.

As I mentioned, you can download this Time Trial Challenge starting December 17, and the contest runs through 5pm PST on January 25, 2010.  One other thing of note, this Time Trial Challenge isn't only for those who wish to compete - feel free to download it to get just a little glimpse of Gran Turismo 5 well before the game ships (we still don't have a solid date on that, however).  Just make sure you download it before the contest ends, or you won't be able to get your hands on it.

May the force be with you best racer win!