Leave it to the makers of Gran Turismo 5 to take all the "cute" out of kart racing. At Gamescom this week, Polyphony Digital is showing off the two newest features of the ever-expanding sim racer: incredibly realistic go-karts and a track editor (which were unceremoniously revealed a few months ago). The track editor, dubbed "Course Maker," is described by the EU PlayStation Blog as featuring "a dizzying array of settings to tweak" -- no surprise there! Actually, Yamauchi and company appear to have connected with reality just long enough to pare down the editor to four selectable themes for custom tracks.

Of course, by not sinking resources into a more full-featured track editor, Polyphony Digital came up with plenty of time to expand GT5 in other directions. Did you know the Photo Travel mode you'll never use now supports 3D images through the use of technology you don't own? Don't worry -- you won't miss out on the complete "racing simulator RPG" that's been added. At least, that's how Yamauchi described the enhanced B-Spec race manager mode, which has you coaching up to six racers and their varying personalities throughout a simulated lifetime.

"In GT5 we have been able to create what I originally intended," Yamauchi said of the updated B-Spec mode during his Gamescom presentation. The team's even created what was originally intended for GT6: kart racing. And why not? Gran Turismo 6 could be a while.