On July 11 and 12, The Signature Edition Driving Challenge event for purchasees of the Gran Turismo 5 Signature Edition, was held at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. A real life Mercedes Benz SLS AMG was presented to the 24 year old Spanish champion of the event, Marco Calvo.

The Gran Turismo 5 Signature Edition was a limited edition Gran Turismo 5 that was only sold in Europe. It was a deluxe special package with a special Gran Turismo edition SLS AMG die-cast scale model, leather wallet, photo book, and a special USB memory stick all packaged in a solid metallic box.

The other major attraction of this "Signature" edition was that purchasees of this package gained an exclusive entry ticket to the Signature Edition Driving Challenge. With the winner of the event to be presented with the flagship sportscar of Mercedes-Benz, a real life SLS-AMG, fans from all over Europe had waited eagerly for the start of the event.

The challengers who gathered at the Red Bull Ring on July 11, were the 15 finalists who fought their way through the national finals of the Gran Turismo 5 B-Spec events. From here they would partake in time trials and races within Gran Turismo 5, and go on to challenge circuit driving in real cars, to test whether they are worthy of owning an SLS AMG.

With top Mercedes drivers David Coulthard and Bernd Schneider watching over them as advisors, the participants took on demanding challenges that quickly whittled down their numbers. In the end, Marco Calvo maintained his cool from start to finish, showing great driving skill and winning the incredible supercar from Stuttgart. Mario will probably be busy for some time hereafter, with friends and acquaintances all asking for a lift!

Comment from the winner, Marco Calvo:
"I am really, really happy," said an ecstatic Marco. "These have been two fantastic days. To drive the SLS here has been amazing. It is so powerful and the handling is so good, but, of course, I knew that from GT5! Now I need to get onto my insurance company and start thinking about a garage, but I can certainly imagine myself driving around Madrid in the SLS! I think it is going to be black or silver."