Patience. Not a common virtue among those with a taste for speed, but a necessary one for those waiting to play Gran Turismo 5. As we wait, the evil wizards behind the game continue to torment us with tantalizing shots of the cars, tracks and action that we can't access yet. Case in point: these highly detailed in-game images of the Nurburgring.

The images show everything including trackside features like the stands, boxes, tent city, and of course, cars like the McLaren F1, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, the inimitable Mercedes-McLaren SLR and several series' worth of race cars.

Released along with this past weekend's running of the 2010 24 Hours of the Nurburgring race, the images give those of us that weren't at the race a taste of what those that were got to sample: all three courses of the Nurburgring within the game were available for play in a special demo station, including the Grand Prix course, the Nordschleife, and the 24-hour course.

[Gran Turismo 5]