Back for its 9th year, the Gran Turismo Awards is ready to crown a new performance vehicle with the honor of being digitally recreated in a future edition of the Gran Turismo franchise. The awards ceremony will be held this Thursday evening, November 3rd at 9:00pm (PST) at Marquee Nightclub, located in The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas hotel. In addition to the awards presentation, guests will be treated to a musical performance by Stone Temple Pilots to celebrate the evening in style.

The Gran Turismo Awards recognizes the best vehicles at the SEMA SHOW (Specialty Equipment Market Association) in five different categories: Best Hot Rod, Best Asian Import, Best European Import, Best Domestic Automobile, and Best Truck/SUV. After the five category winners are judged, one winner from each category is selected on performance and style by leading automotive media. From there, it falls to Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi to select the overall GT Awards “Best in Show” winner. Walking the show floor, Kazunori-san views each of the category winners and selects a vehicle that best represents the Gran Turismo brand; one that will be immortalized as a fully playable part of the Gran Turismo franchise for millions of fans around the world.

In addition to the music acts following the awards ceremony, guests will have a chance to check out the latest new features and content for Gran Turismo 5, including our recently released GT5 DLC.

For those who didn’t attend last year, here’s a look at our 2010 GT Awards “Best in Show” car, Mark Stielow’s red 1969 Chevy Camaro…

For those of you in town to attend SEMA this week, come on by with your badge to check out the awards event and a great concert. We look forward to seeing you on Thursday!