At a behind-closed-doors event at E3, Gran Turismo 5 producer Kazunori Yamauchi showed off his game with an almost fatherly pride. As he talked about how the cars would be arranged, and the level of attention given to even the smallest detail of the track, it became clear why the game has been pushed back so many times; this is a man who is never satisfied.

The game will feature over 1,000 cars, split into two categories. The Standard cars will be made up of vehicles from the past games, and will have a lower level of detail. There will be around 200 cars in the Premium category, with deformable panels, fully modeled interiors, and fully modeled undercarriages for when the cars flip during a race.

Showing off pictures of the Premium cars next to the real thing, Yamauchi mournfully noted that they've almost worked too hard, and their level of precision in making these virtual cars is more suited to the next PlayStation system. He pointed out that the graffiti on the Nürburgring track is faithfully reproduced in the game, although the more profane statements had to edited out. They keep updating the messages scrawled on the track's surface, just to make sure they have an up-to-date representation of the real thing.

It's a hopeless task. The second the game ships someone is going to write something on the track, and suddenly the textures will be out of date. One gets a sense that Yamauchi is keenly aware of this.