For better or for worse, Gran Turismo 5->ke3689 has dominated the headlines for 2010. From all the delays that haunted the game at the start of the year all the way to the hotly anticipated game finally being released, Gran Turismo 5 has been in the news for pretty much the whole year.

And seeing as we’re on the last days of 2010, it only seems appropriate that GT5 would once again capture the headlines, although this time, it’s about a much more different reason. One that, unfortunately for all of us, will only concern gamers over in Europe.

On December 27th, GT5’s ‘Signature Edition Challenge’ officially went live, signaling the start of the competition among European gamers for the chance to win a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. Not a die-cast model of any kind. It’s the real deal.

The grand-prize of the SLS AMG is a testament to the strong partnership forged by the GT5 creator Kazunori Yamauchi with the German automaker. “We have enjoyed a brilliant working relationship with Mercedes-Benz throughout the production of Gran Turismo 5 and the stunning prize that they have offered for this competition is a testament to that.”

Details after the jump.

European owners of the Signature Edition GT5 game pack are the only ones eligible to play in the challenge, making for a pretty select group of entrants. The challenge begins in the game’s B-Spec mode where players will get to dish out their best Ross Brawn impersonations and become team director for their drivers in a series of five, 5-lap races held on different circuits. This part of the competition will go on until January 31, 2011 at 23:59 GMT. The moment February 1st rolls on, 15 regional winners from 22 countries will move on to the next stage: the Mercedes-Benz Driving Event.

In this competition, the remaining players will compete against each other in a series of real-life driving challenges with points being awarded depending on their performance. Whoever scores the most points at the end of the event will not only win the title of best in the biz, but more importantly, will be handed the keys to a brand-spankin’-new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG.