Should you get onJeopardy! here’s the likely question to the answer, “A very popular video game about racing”: What is Gran Turismo? Well, that’s one answer.

Gran turismo (or grand touring) is a term cooked up by car-crazy Italians ages ago to describe an automobile that could do it all. A GT combined the handling and high performance of a sports car with the ability to transport two grown-ups and their luggage in comfort across great distances. In the process, GTs also became synonymous with power and beauty, all the way back to the Alfa Romeo 8C-2900B coupes of the 1930s. Generally, GTs are front-engine because that way they have a usable trunk and good visibility. GTs are special, too, often the most glamorous cars their makers produce and among the most expensive. more below...

Which brings us to the two cars you see here, the Ferrari 599GTB Fiorano and the ­Aston Martin DBS, both of which embody the modern meaning of GT.

The Aston Martin is the newer of these two vehicles. It was introduced at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Élégance in August 2007 but didn’t go on sale in the U.S. until earlier this summer. The name pays homage to the crisply styled coupe from 1967, and it is, essentially, a more muscular, faster, and more expensive version of the DB9 that has been on sale since 2005.

[SOURCE: caranddriver.com READ THE FULL ARTICLE]