Now you can wreck your car like a pro in Gran Turismo 5's online races. The game's third patch was released last night, adding in support for mechanical damage when you're racing against other humans.
After you grab the 149MB patch, you'll be able to pick from three tiers of possible destruction, ranging from low to high. According to Ars, this heaviest damage setting still isn't as nasty as you might think it could be. Vicious wrecks into walls at high speeds won't crumple an engine or throw a wheel spinning into the air, but this damage modeling still does a good job of confirming that, yes, when you hit solid things in a car, stuff will break.
The catch here is that this patch adds damage exclusively to online play. It does not add a damage toggle to Arcade or GT Life modes. But yeah, here's your damage modeling you've been asking for. Try to play nice!