In shocking news, Sony have today announced that Gran Turismo's 4 online mode has been completely dropped from the game and that it will be released as an offline-only racer. However, a new GT title that will feature online driving is planned for 2005.

When we first played the game's online mode back at E3 in 2003, we reckoned that "the best aspect of the game is the network play, which allows you to race against up to seven other human opponents via broadband" - which makes this news hugely disappointing.

However, some problems were already apparent during the early playtest: "There's no way of communicating with other players so it's impossible to agree to pick the same vehicle in order to create a fair race," we wrote. "Perhaps more worrying, though, is just how jerky the movement of opposition cars is during network play - even when there are only two of you playing."

Meanwhile, at a press conference today at the Tokyo Game Show, Sony also revealed that the highly anticipated car-'em-up is now scheduled to be released in Japan on 3 December, followed by a North American and European release on 14 December.

Expect more new on GT4 - including details of the recently-announced B-Spec mode - over the coming days.