Microsoft announced today that their Gran Turismo killer, Forza Motorsport 3, will be arriving in stores on October 27, far earlier than the previous release estimate of Christmas, 2009.  In addition, they also released the details of the game’s limited edition Collector’s Edition.

The Collector’s Edition will include the awesome packaging seen above, as well as a VIP membership in the Forza online community, a Forza 3 keychain, a 2GB flash drive, and 10 exclusive cars, (five exclusive to VIP members, five “personally hand-picked, tuned and painted by the team at Turn 10”).

As if that weren’t enough bonus stuff for an as-of-yet unspecified price, pre-ordering the game will unlock Justin Van Dusen II’s winning entry in the Forza 3 community design competition; a thunderstorm-themed Audi R8 V10.  

The Collector’s Edition isn’t what did it for me, but I’m firm in my decision to go with Forza 3 instead of Gran Turismo 5.  GT upped the ante with vehicle damage, but Forza went one further and added vehicle roll-over.  Once again, Forza has the more realistic racing sim, and once again, it’ll be Microsoft’s racing game that gets my hard-earned money.

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