The Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong bought 13 Rolls-Royce Phantoms for shuttling guests around the city. The Peninsula Hotel in Tokyo has purchased just one car, and will leave the guest to drive himself. That car is an R8, finished in the hotel's trademark Brewster Green, with a gold Peninsula logo outside, and cognac leather inside. To avail yourself of it -- once you've gotten to Tokyo -- you'll need to book the Peninsula Suite, which goes for the ho-hum figure of ¥850,000 per night. That $8,000 U.S. every day to burble at single-digit speeds in Tokyo traffic, although you are allowed to take it outside of Tokyo. Come to think of it, the speeds probably don't matter -- if you have that kind of money, there's a good chance you've got an R8 or better in your own garage already...

HSV's ClubSport R8 Tourer has officially arrived, giving our friends from Down Under the means to haul stuff, ass and any combination thereof as long as they part with $65K AUD. The super-duper Commodore SportWagon has got LS3 V8 power with 425 horses and 405 lb-ft of torque ready to transfer its rear tires to the ozone layer. To further underscore the undeniable awesomeness of this package, the standard gearbox is a six-speed manual. An automatic is available as an option, as are 20-inch wheels and a full-leather interior. Chances of us seeing this here? Essentially zero, since Pontiac is getting the Ute (G8 ST) instead of the wagon. That's just a shame. Sure, it's no Wagon Queen Family Truckster, but a hypothetical Pontiac G8 Safari GXP would deliver raucous fun for the whole family.

The courtship between Audi and GT3-class racing teams has officially begun with the automaker's announcement that it has developed a GT3 version of the R8 sports car dubbed "R16" internally by its project overlords at Audi Sport . The rear-drive racer (GT3 regulations prohibit AWD) features a six-speed sequential gearbox, mostly production-spec suspension components, plus an updated front end and a large rear wing designed to keep it planted to the tarmac. No additional tech specs have been revealed at this time. Factory driver Frank Biela was at the wheel for the prototype's roll-out, and customer deliveries are expected to take place next fall. Look for the car to see wheel-to-wheel action against the likes of the Aston Martin DBRS9 and Jaguar XKR GT3 during the 2009 European racing season. We patiently await its inclusion in a future Gran Turismo update so that we can try it out, too.