You may be right, it may be just a standard GOTY release.  

But you act like Microsoft doesn't care about GT5 at all.  This simply isn't true.  This is a competitive business and MS definitely wants to compete with GT5 in any way possible.  It's smart business that keeps this industry thriving.  

If GT5 wasn't coming out this year would MS still release a new special edition of Forza?  Probably, because they want to make money.  Would they spend extra money to secure Top Gear content? Probably not.  

Think about it.

"The graphics proved to be impressive, on the whole, if not quite photo-realistically breathtaking" and ". It almost feels like you're driving some kind of magic carpet, hovering just above the track itself" - Top Gear on Forza 3.

:'(

Top Gear are Gran Turismo fanboys. But not so much so that they'd turn down Microsoft's bags of money it seems. I think it's lame to have this feature in both games. I wish Turn 10 would try to be original instead of just aping unique features in GT5. Forza 4 kart racing confirmed!

The way I recall, Forza3 and GT5 were both playable at E3-2009. Forza3's features such as modelled cockpits and comparatively realistic physics resulted in Sony cancelling the March release and going back to development, which included remodelling for cockpit assets.

LoL?!

The 2010 FIFA World Cup was expected to be the most-watched television event in history.^[117] Hundreds of broadcasters, representing about 70 countries, transmitted the Cup to a TV audience that FIFA officials expect to exceed a cumulative 26 billion people, an average of approximately 400 million viewers per match. FIFA estimated that around 700 million viewers would watch the World Cup final.^[118]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_FIFA_World_Cup

GT5 Prologue, which released in 2007 in Japan, had fully modelled cockpits and interior view on all cars. And it did it better than Forza 3. And the other thing you said is just dumb. Nice try though.

Yes. It was rumored over 2 years ago with a 2010 date.

By Philip Kollar, 06/16/2008

"Imagine that a year after Forza 3 was released, a new update [sic] version of the game became available (for example, Forza 3 2010) that not only included all cars and tracks previously released over the past year, but also 30 of the coolest new 2010 cars and a new unreleased real-world track. It would further include the top 20 user-generated car skins and car tuning setup from the fastest track cars. In addition, all professional race cars would revised [sic] with their new 2010 liveries (paint schemes). The price of this updated 2010 version of Forza 3 would be $39.99.

Exactly, its a huge event despite people in North America not caring about.

I wish the BBC did not enter deals like this. They are meant to be impartial, non-commercial and publicly funded via the license fee. I know it's legally possible for them to sell DVDs and syndicate shows through the BBC Worldwide subsidiary but entering into a commercial partnership like this, showing off the game on the show and letting license-fee funded IP be used in game DLC... should not be part of their mandate.

Decisions can be made to spite a competitor.  This doesn't necessarily mean the spiting is out of fear.  The fanboy spin is that Microsoft is terrified by GT5 and needs to blunt it. 

I'm much more interested in the Stig's Challenge and Top Gear Test Track in GT5.  Forza's too arcadey for my tastes.