Sources are whispering to us that Microsoft has already commissioned work on a Project Gotham Racing 5 title. The company is apparently planning to take the wraps off this 5th entry in the franchise at E3 in June.

This is all the more surprising, as the studio best associated with the Project Gotham Racing franchise is Bizarre Creations;  once it was spun off from Microsoft it was shut down by Activision after the first title after PGR (which was called Blur) pretty much tanked. Now, we are hearing that none other than Turn 10 is the studio handling the development of PGR 5. Turn 10, of course, is best known for the Forza franchise.

What also caught our attention is the news that Microsoft might be preparing PGR 5 as a showcase title for the release of the next Xbox, according to sources who claim to be in the know. That PGR 5 would be used to launch the next Xbox console isn’t a stretch, as Microsoft used the PGR 3 as part of the launch titles for the Xbox 360.

We think it is more likely that PGR 5 will be launched as an Xbox 360 exclusive. In addition to PGR 5 we are again starting to hear rumblings that the Codies might be finally ready to announce Grid 2, which means that the release of PGR 5 might have some competition.

Right now, we would take all of this with a gain of salt, but it does seem that something is happening with the PGR franchise.  We are just not sure what that something is yet.