In what seems the never ending saga of the release of Gran Turismo 5 for the PlayStation 3, word has reached us that once again Sony has delayed the release of the title. While GT5 was slated for release in Japan in March with a release in other territories to follow, Sony has announced that the date has been moved to TBD (to be determined) status with no additional release details available at this time.

The delay comes as little surprise to many who are now joking that the popular racing title is becoming the “Duke Nukem” of current titles. GT5 is rumored to have cost Sony over $60+ million to develop; and when it is finally released it is believed that it will offer over 1,000 different cars and 20 different tracks to drive.

Recently, the game was playable in 3D version at CES, causing some to whisper that the delay could be partly due to additional work that is necessary for the title to offer full 3D support at release, although this is unconfirmed by Sony. Some others are theorizing that the title was never as close to release as Sony was suggesting, and the overly optimistic release targets were announced to combat the release of Forza Motorsport 3 for the Xbox 360 and take advantage of the press that this competing title was generating on the rival platform.

Our sources tell us that they have no idea on the actual impact of the latest delay; it is likely that the game is still on track for release in Japan later this year, but the original projection of a summer release in North America is out the window. Sony can’t be happy with the latest delay and the thought of having to spend more money to get GT5 out the door, but despite this recent delay our sources do think that the title will be released at some point this year. No matter, when GT5 finally does arrive they are going to have to sell a lot of copies to recoup the significant development cost associated with the development of the title.