It was released on July 12, 2006 into Japanese arcades. Virtua Fighter 5 is due for release on PlayStation 3 on February 20, 2007, and will be a launch title for the European release in March. The Xbox 360 version is due in the summer of 2007, as confirmed by Sega on December 21, 2006 [1] It is rumoured that the Xbox 360 version will benefit from the additions and refinements that will be made to the 'Version C' arcade revision, while the PlayStation 3 version will be based around the imminent Version B.

Story
All of the sought after invitations for the Fifth World Fighting Tournament have been sent and now the 17 best fighters in the world begin their final phases of preparation. They must learn from their prior mistakes and perfect every aspect of their mind, body, and soul - for there is no room for mistakes in this competition. Little do they know that J6, the organization funding the tournament, has sinister ulteriour motives for the contest and the company's top secret Dural program is already well underway. In the organization's quest for world domination, the scientists at J6 are creating the ultimate fighting machine with human features. Their first model was defeated in the Fourth World Fighting Tournament, which drove them to kidnap Vanessa. She was able to escape with the help of an insider, but not before they captured her combat data and transferred it to the new advanced Dural model named V-Dural.

J6 is determined to find out who the inside traitor is that released Vanessa and more importantly, if V-Dural is indeed ready to defeat the world's best fighters. The Fifth World Fighting Tournament will reveal both - let it begin.