Gran Turismo 5 ships 5.5 million units worldwide

The bumpy road to release for Gran Turismo 5 came to a head November 24, when Polyphony Digital's hotly hyped racing simulator finally made its way to the PlayStation 3 behind rave reviews. Now, two weeks later, Sony has announced how well the title has fared commercially.

Sony today announced that Gran Turismo 5 has "sold" 5.5 million units worldwide. The "sold" figure is actually a sell-in number, meaning Sony has shipped that many copies to retailers, not consumers.

Geographically speaking, Gran Turismo 5 was most popular in Europe, where it shipped 3.56 million units. The racer moved 1.25 million copies in North America, 550,000 units in Japan, and 160,000 copies in Asia.

Additionally, Sony announced that the Gran Turismo series has shipped 61.41 million units since zooming onto the racing scene in 1998 with the original Gran Turismo.

Gran Turismo 5 features close to 1,000 vehicles on more than 70 tracks in 20-plus locations. With a massive budget of $60 million, it is also an official licensee of several major racing circuits, such as NASCAR and the World Rally Championship.

For more on the racing simulator, check out GameSpot's review.