As part of the annual SEMA Convention in Las Vegas, the Gran Turismo Awards recognize the best vehicles shown at SEMA in five different categories. The culmination of the awards is the Best in Show vehicle, which is personally selected from the category winners by none other than Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi and announced at the highly anticipated Gran Turismo Awards ceremony. The winning Best in Show vehicle will join a prestigious group of previous winners that have been enshrined in digital form in the world’s best driving simulator as a playable vehicle in a future Gran Turismo release. This year the Gran Turismo Awards will be held on November 4 at the Rain Nightclub at the trendy Palms hotel, with doors opening at 9PM.

Leading into SEMA and the GT Awards, exhibitors are invited to submit their car for consideration by a panel of five judges, each handling a category including Best Hot Rod, Best Asian Import, Best European Import, Best Domestic Automobile, and Best Truck/SUV. The judges all represent leading automotive media, and each one will judge vehicles based on those entrants that exhibit the strongest balance of performance and style, worthy of the GT franchise.

When the five category winners are selected, it then falls to Kazunori Yamauchi to select the overall GT Awards “Best in Show.” Walking the show floor, Kazunori-san views all category winners and selects the vehicle that best represents the Gran Turismo brand, and one that will be immortalized as a fully playable part of the Gran Turismo franchise for millions of fans around the world. The culmination of the event is the GT Awards ceremony where each category winner is announced and the overall winner is presented with the trophy for Best in Show and the honor of having their vehicle included in a future release of Gran Turismo. Following the awards ceremony is a celebration for all attendees, including participation from top music acts and a chance to check out the latest gameplay in the Gran Turismo franchise.

Check here for a recap of the 2008 Gran Turismo Awards, and here for a video recap of the event. Go here for a video of the 2007 Gran Turismo Awards. Both of the winners from these two events, the 2007 HPA Motorsports FT565 twin turbo Audi TT from the 2007 awards, and the 2007 Infiniti high end performance G37 from the 2008 awards, will be playable in Gran Turismo 5.