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Also, a price drop for the racing title

Just in time to compete with Forza Motorsport, Polyphony Digital is releasing a free update and DLC that will give gamers a slew of new features.

The new downloadable content will add new cars, tracks and more. The update includes 11 new 2011 NASCAR vehicles, quicker load times when entering a race, more responsive menus, and new AI settings in Arcade mode. The biggest features though are the ability to pause and save your game in the middle of a race, and cockpit view for all of the cars in the game. Before only a few select cars had this ability.

Other new features are the ability to adjust weather conditions, customizable driver avatars in Photo mode, a more expansive shuffle race mode, more online races customization, bonuses for avid players, and Logitch G25 and G27 racing wheels support. There is no set release date for the update or DLC but 1up reports it should be out in the "coming week" or by the end of the month.

Gran Turismo 5 now retails for $39.99 so now may be the best time to pick this game up!