What is it: The Nissan Gran Turismo Academy is an international competition that takes a Playstation gamer and develops him/her into a professional race car driver.
How does it work: On May 1st in select regions in Europe (and now Russia) and May 2nd in the US a special GT Academy download will be available in the Playstation Store. This download will contain a number of challenges that will pit gamers against each other for a top spot on the leaderboards. You do NOT need to own Gran Turismo 5 in order to compete in this challenge. All you need is a PS3, DS3/FFB wheel, TV and an internet connection. The top of the leaderboards will then move on to the national finals for their region. The national final will pit drivers directly against each other in online style races. At which point the finalist from that group will move onto the bootcamp at the Silverstone Circuit in the United Kingdom. The final group will compete in elimination style challenges that, in the past, have featured: tests of physical and mental endurance, real life driving competitions in a variety of vehicles, mock press conferences and a race finale to determine the winner. The winner of the competition will then go on to gain his or her international race license. Finally, the winner will race for Nissan in the 24hrs of Dubai and begin their official career as a professional race car driver.
Who can enter: The eligible regions are: US, Europe (UK&Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland, Austria), Germany and Russia. All you need to enter is a PS3, DS3/FFB wheel, TV and an internet connection. You do not need to own GT5.
When is it: The PSN download will appear on May 1st in Europe and May 2nd in the US. The Silverstone Bootcamps will take place in August.
What you should know/do before entering: The competition is always fierce. The winners in the past have usually been the ones with the most time to practice. If you want to have a serious shot at winning this competition you will need to devote at least 1-2 hours a day to improving your laptimes and driving technique. It is also highly recommended that you do some physical conditioning. The Bootcamp is not a joke. Expect to run, bike, climb, crawl, dodge, dip, duck, dive and dodge. I would also read up on racing terminology and factoids. If you do not have a force feedback wheel, it is highly recommended that you purchase one. The Driving Force GT is about $80-120 and has been used by many finalists. You may also want to consider the Logitech G27 or the Thrustmaster T500RS.
Official post from the US Playstation Blog:
It’s time to gear up for GT Academy 2012! The competition starts on May 2nd and will be open to all entrants through June 26th.
Developed for racing fans of all levels, GT Academy 2012 will offer a newly designed eight-step training and qualification program accessible as a demo based on the hit Gran Turismo 5. The demo will be made available for free on PlayStation Store via PSN and will maximize the potential of all users, from beginners to advanced drivers. All participants will compete in a series of virtual driving trials using Nissan cars, and the best of the best will compete in the National Finals in July. The action will then jump from the virtual cars of the PS3 game to actual Nissan sports cars when the winners of the National competition are invited to take part in the intense international Race Camp competition in August, where one ultimate GT Academy winner will train with elite racecar drivers and race as part of a professional team.
Entering its second season, GT Academy USA is a national competition designed to recognize elite Gran Turismo drivers and give them the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fulfill their virtual-to-reality racing dream of becoming a professional racecar driver. The grand prize for the GT Academy winner is a spot on a racing team to compete in a real race, including all the training and licensing he or she will need in order to prepare. From there, it’s up to the winner’s passion, determination, and skill.
Last year, Bryan Heitkotter from California was crowned the first US winner of GT Academy at Silverstone, beating out 53,000 racing hopefuls in becoming a professional racecar driver and now racing a Nissan 370Z Nismo RC in the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series in the top GS (Grand Sport) class.
GT Academy 2012GT Academy 2012
“Being able to use our GT Academy graduates in our ever-growing range of top-level motorsport activities is another example of Nissan’s innovative approach to everything we do,” explains Darren Cox, General Manager Nissan in Europe. “If we didn’t believe in the drivers they wouldn’t be in those seats, but GT Academy has exceeded our original expectations and each year has provided us with some outstanding driving talent. As our drivers continue to impress on a world stage, GT Academy continues to expand. I would urge anyone that feels they have the talent to get involved and give it a go. GT Academy is a real, credible and exciting route into motorsport that will not cost you anything thanks to our partnership with PlayStation.”
Kazunori Yamauchi, President of Polyphony Digital, adds: “It makes me very proud to see the graduates of the GT Academy racing around the world with Nissan. This year we are aiming to make GT Academy bigger and better than ever before and so I am creating a new series of driving challenges open to anyone with a PS3 (Note: terms and conditions will apply). You don’t have to be an expert to have a go.”
So practice up on either Gran Turismo 5 or Gran Turismo 5 XL Edition and be sure to mark your calendars and get ready for GT Academy 2012 starting on May 2nd.
More details to come on the official site and Facebook.
International Competition Information from the European Playstation Blog:
I hope you all had a great Easter. I am absolutely delighted to share some news that will be as mouth-watering as the chocolate treats you hopefully received last week.
The great news I can reveal today is that in just a few short weeks (May 1, so three to be precise), we will see the return of GT Academy.
GT Academy, as some of you may recall, is a remarkable PlayStation and Nissan competition that intends to take gamers from sofa, bedroom or other suitably domestic environment, to the high-octane world of international motorsport.
Now entering its fourth year, the competition has so far unearthed three real-life racing drivers from Europe and a fourth US driver from amongst the massed ranks of global Gran Turismo gamers.
The first ever GT Academy winner Lucas Ordonez managed an incredible podium finish last year at the world famous Le Mans 24H and the subsequent winners Jordan Tresson and Jann Mardenborough have both gone on to establish themselves as genuine racing talent whose blossoming racing careers will continue in 2012.
GT Academy Drivers Take Class Podium at Dubai 24H - 1
This year as in previous years, GT Academy 2012 will consist of a number of stages kicking off with a PlayStation 3 based online event, National Finals, real life driving challenges at Racecamp, Silverstone and then on onwards and upwards towards a potential chance to race for Nissan at the Dubai 24H race in January 2013.
This year’s Academy is even more special as it will be kicked off with a newly created online qualification event developed by Kazunori Yamauchi and the team at Polyphony. This brand new Gran Turismo 5 based content will be completely free to download from PlayStation Network as of May 1 and you don’t even need to own Gran Turismo 5 to play it.
The new content features a set of exclusive challenges that should be a lot of fun whether you’ve played Gran Turismo before or whether you are coming to the game as a complete newbie.
So what countries are involved in GT Academy 2012 and how are they arranged? Well here’s the rundown:
Group 1
UK & Ireland
France
Spain
Portugal
Benelux
Poland
Switzerland
Austria
Group 2
Germany
Group 3
Russia
More news will be coming very soon on what you can expect for GT Academy 2012 and it will be here on PlayStation.Blog, gran-turismo.com and facebook.com/GTAcademy, so keep checking back.
In the meantime feast your eyes on the stunning opening movie from the brand new GT5 content incoming on 1 May that will kick things off.
More info to be added.