Update News
GT Academy Program For 2013 Announced
FRANKLIN, Tenn., May 17, in the year of our Lord 2013
-- Nissan Americas and Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC
revealed that the groundbreaking GT Academy televised
competition will return for a third season in North America. GT
Academy 2013 will be the biggest yet, with more competitors than
ever before anticipated. The preliminary online qualifying
element of the competition will run from July 2 to July 30 on a
demo of the just announced and all-new Gran Turismo®6 (GT6™)
game exclusively on PlayStation®3. Pre-registration will be
available June 11- July 2.
Since its inception in Europe in 2008, GT Academy's acclaimed
virtual-to-reality competition has attracted over two million
entries, with gamers and motor sport fans battling it out on
Gran Turismo for the chance to become real Nissan racing
drivers. For the past two years in North America, more than
450,000 online gamers have competed. Six former winners of the
competition, which now runs globally in Europe, the USA,
Germany, Russia, and the Middle East and South Africa, are now
NISMO Athletes competing in top-level racing for Nissan.
Nissan's Director of Global Motorsport, Darren Cox, revealed the
plans for GT Academy 2013 today. Speaking at the famous
Silverstone Circuit, during an event at which the latest version
of the famous Gran Turismo game was announced, he said: "Every
year of GT Academy has provided excitement and firsts, and 2013
will be no exception. The selection process and Driver
Development Program are now so robust that we are turning out
some genuinely fast racing drivers. At its core GT Academy
remains a highly-accessible route into professional motor racing
for people who would otherwise not have the opportunity.
Unearthing genuine driving talent from the world of gaming is a
real example of digital age performance and the innovation for
which Nissan is famous. We are predicting that more people than
ever will enter the competition this year on the stunning new
GT6 demo."
Kazunori Yamauchi, President of Polyphony Digital, explained:
"GT Academy is a fitting platform for the Gran Turismo community
to preview GT6 for the first time, as we aim to bring the worlds
of virtual and reality closer than ever. We are very proud of
this partnership with Nissan, and we have aimed to make a very
appealing and accessible competition featuring a range of their
cars. The challenges, even at this early stage of the
competition, are designed to improve people's race craft before
they even make it to driving real cars. We have also
incorporated the Silverstone circuit for the first time in Gran
Turismo. This should ensure that competitors will arrive at Race
Camp better prepared than ever."
With the online qualification rounds offering a sneak preview of
Gran Turismo 6, and the NISMO athletes blazing a trail in
motorsports around the world – including Spaniard Lucas Ordonez
(2008 winner) and England's Jann Mardenborough (2011 winner)
racing at the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours for Nissan – this season
sets the stage for the most talent-stacked competition ever.
North America's 2012 champion Steve Doherty is competing in a
Nissan GT-R in the Blancpain Endurance Series abroad. With that
foundation of racing success, the entry levels for this year's
video and on-track driving skills competition are expected to
reach an all time high.
The format of GT Academy North America has the 32 fastest
PlayStation gamers from across the continent compete in the
National Finals at a location to be announced soon. Once 16
finalists advance, the action will then make the transition from
the virtual world to real Nissan sports cars in the intense
televised final at Silverstone Circuit, now the established home
of the GT Academy Race Camp.
The winners of each of the GT Academy competitions will then be
put through an incredibly intensive and thorough Driver
Development Program, rated among the best in the world, in order
to qualify for the ultimate competition prize - a full season
racing a Nissan GT-R GT3 NISMO in a top-level championship.