Nissan & PlayStation launch third GT Academy

Nissan and PlayStation have again teamed up to launch the third edition of the GT Academy with online gamers from ten nations set to battle for a prize drive in the 2012 Dubai 24 Hours.

Previous winners Lucas Ordonez (2009) and Jordan Tresson (2010) have both gone on to enjoy success having transferred their gaming skills to the race track. Ordonez finish second in the GT4 European Cup in his rookie season and then tied for fourth in the standings with Tresson last year.

The ‘virtual’ stage of the competition will be played out on the new PlayStation 3 game, Gran Turismo 5, starting on Friday 4 March and continuing until Sunday 17 April with the top 20 gamers in each territory progressing to a live regional final. Two from each final will then move on to a six-day driver training camp at Silverstone, from where a winner will be selected to continue training in Nissan race cars, as well as racing in national-level events to qualify for an international race licence, before being given entry to the Dubai 24 Hours.

“In Gran Turismo 5 we continue to bring the worlds of real and virtual racing closer together and the GT Academy programme, in partnership with our friends at Nissan, perfectly illustrates this ambition,” explained Kazunori Yamauchi, the creator of the Gran Turismo games and president of Polyphony Digital.

“It is also a great showcase for the fact that GT5 will continue to offer players more than just the game they have bought. It fully utilises the online functionality of GT5 and highlights the community elements. I think that we shall see a lot of friends challenging each other to take part in GT Academy and seeing how good they are against others.

“I am sure that most people with an interest in motor sport have dreamt about having a go for real. The competition has already made that dream a reality for the previous two winners, so it is well worth entering – even if it is only your friends you want to beat!”

Last year’s GT Academy attracted 1.2 million gamers and Nissan International’s Vice-President of Marketing, Vincent Wijnen, is delighted that the Japanese manufacturer is involved once again.

“It has been a great pleasure for us to see so many of our cars recreated in stunning detail on the new GT5 game.

“But GT Academy is even more special as we watch the incredible progression of somebody racing our cars in the game to enjoying great success racing them at full speed on international race circuits. GT Academy has become a great ‘grass roots’ mainstay of our international race programme and we enjoy the partnership with PlayStation very much.”

Watch highlights of the 2011 Dubai 24 Hours on Friday 25 February at 9pm (GMT) on Motors TV.


Andy Wilkinson

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