Nissan and PlayStation have joined forces again to run the fourth year of the innovative GT Academy virtual-to-reality racing competition. While the four previous GT Academy graduates line up in top-level race series in 2012, the programme that set them on their path to motor sport fame has been expanded and will now incorporate four separate competitions covering Europe, Germany, USA and Russia.
Over 1.5 million hopefuls have tried out for the GT Academy since 2008, and graduates of the dreams-to-reality programme have so far netted a Le Mans 24 Hour podium and won the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup and Blancpain Endurance Series. In January of this year an all-gamer line-up made history when they finished on the podium of the Dubai 24 hour race.
A brand-new gaming format for the European GT Academy will go live on 1 May, 2012 and remain open until 24 June. An eight-step qualification programme, that can be played online by anyone with a PlayStation®3, will use the best-selling Gran Turismo5 as a base, but has been specially developed by the game’s legendary creator, Kazunori Yamauchi.
The fastest PlayStation gamers from each country will join winners from a number of live events to compete in thrilling national finals in July. The action will then make the transition from the virtual world of PS3 to real Nissan sports cars when the winners of each National competition are invited to take part in the intense international Race Camp competition, which takes place at Silverstone Circuit in August.
The ultimate winners of each of the GT Academy competitions from Race Camp will then be put through an incredibly intensive and thorough Driver Development Programme to prepare them for the chance to take part in the challenging Dubai 24 Hours in January, 2013 – the ultimate competition prize.
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.”* terms and conditions will apply.
“You don’t have to be an expert to have a go. Added to that, each country will host live GT Academy entry events to ensure that as many people as possible can enter the 2012 GT Academy.”
Details of how to enter GT Academy Europe 2012 can be found on various platforms including: www.facebook.com/GTAcademy, http://eu.gran-turismo.com and www.twitter.com/GTAcademy.
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