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Nissan and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE)
have joined forces again to bring gaming and
motor sport fans the ultimate racing
competition. GT Academy 2010 will go live on 17
December, 2009 and will use the virtual world of
the new PlayStation® Gran Turismo®5 game to find
a real-world racing driver. The stakes are high,
with an intensive race training programme and a
season-long drive in a full race-spec Nissan
370Z in the European GT4 Cup as the ultimate
prize.
GT Academy 2010 is the second instalment of this
incredible competition. In 2008/09, Lucas
Ordońez, a 23-year-old Spanish student,
graduated from his PlayStation®3 (PS3TM) console
to become a full-on racing driver via the GT
Academy. Lucas is living proof that the answer
to the question posed by PlayStation and Nissan
- “can the world of virtual racing unearth a
real racing talent?” - was a resounding “yes”.
After a debut in the Dubai International 24 Hour
race alongside former F1 driver Johnny Herbert,
Lucas teamed-up with British driver Alex
Buncombe to campaign a Nissan 350Z. Driving for
the RJN Motorsport GT Academy team, the pair
took part in the full European GT4 Cup season,
mostly run alongside the prestigious FIA GT
series. Their stunning performances included two
race wins and two second-place finishes that
left them an agonisingly close second in the
drivers’ classification, but winners of the
Teams’ Championship.
The success of Nissan and PlayStations’
‘experiment’ spurred them on to make GT Academy
2010 even bigger and better. The competition
falls into four main stages:
Stage One - will offer Gran
Turismo fans a sneak preview of the
hotly-anticipated Gran Turismo 5 game, due for
release during 2010. Competitors will record
flying laps on a time trial-based track
available via PlayStation®Network, accessed
through PS3. Unlike the first GT Academy,
participants will not have to enter the
competition using the GT5 PrologueTM game
itself, and so even more hopeful racing drivers
are expected to take part.
Stage Two – the holders of the
twenty fastest online lap times from each
participating country will qualify for their
national final event. Tensions will run high as
they battle each other on another exclusive Gran
Turismo 5 level for the chance to move to the
next phase of the competition.
Stage Three – twenty finalists,
chosen from each of the national finals events,
will head to the world famous Silverstone
circuit for the GT Academy itself - a five-day,
comprehensive race driver ‘boot camp’. They will
have a chance to develop new driving skills in
an array of Nissan, and other, hardware, while
also being judged on fitness and mental
attitude.
Stage Four - For the two
competitors that display the talent, fitness,
aptitude, drive and determination to succeed in
motor sport, the action will hot-up even
further. A UK-based intensive driving and racing
programme will prepare them to qualify for an
international racing license.
Stage Five – There is only one
place available for the driver with the most
potential to compete on an international stage.
The overall GT Academy 2010 champion will race a
full season in the European GT4 Cup in a Nissan
370Z prepared by RJN Motorsport. The opening
race is currently scheduled for May, 2010.
The GT Academy competition is open to
participants from the following territories:
Austria; Belgium; France; Germany; Ireland;
Italy; Netherlands; Portugal; Spain;
Switzerland; UK; and Denmark, Finland, Norway
and Sweden. Also joining in will be Australia
and New Zealand to make it a truly international
promotion. This year’s rules stipulate that
anyone who holds, or has held, a national or
international race license will not qualify for
GT Academy. This rule is aimed at maintaining
the purity of the “virtual to real” concept.
Nissan International’s Vice-President of
Marketing, Vincent Wijnen, is excited to be
embarking on the GT Academy 2010 journey.
“Following the success of last year’s GT Academy
programme, we had no hesitation in working with
PlayStation on GT Academy 2010,” he explains.
“The idea behind GT Academy is a natural
extension of our approach to sports cars – we’re
determined to challenge the traditional way of
doing things. Both the GT-R and 370Z are
authentic sports cars combining performance with
accessibility for drivers who are serious about
driving enjoyment. Similarly, GT Academy makes
the dream of becoming an authentic racing driver
more accessible than ever thanks to Nissan,
PlayStation and the stunning Gran Turismo’s
online capability. Nobody else could deliver
this programme.
“The original GT Academy exceeded expectations.
We did not expect to find a driver of Lucas’s
calibre and it was a real bonus for the
programme that we were able to help him
demonstrate his potential over a full season
with the European GT4 Cup drive. We are even
more excited about GT Academy 2010, and I would
encourage anyone who has ever wondered if they
might have what it takes to be a racing driver
to give it a go.”
Kazunori Yamauchi, president of Polyphony
Digital and creator of the Gran Turismo series,
shares Wijnen’s enthusiasm. “This has been a
very rewarding partnership. The whole GT Academy
concept is very close to my heart. Our target
with the Gran Turismo series has always been to
come as close as possible to a real driving
experience. To witness the level of driving
achieved by GT players after a relatively short
space of time at the GT Academy was very
satisfying for me and I look forward to seeing
the 2010 finalists in action. I am also very
happy to have the opportunity for our GT
community to have a preview of the Gran Turismo
5 game.”
The online section of the game will run from 17
December until 24 January with national finals
following soon afterwards. The GT Academy itself
takes place from 26 February until 3 March. The
two winners will have to quickly clear their
diaries, as their intensive training programme
will start immediately and culminate in one
driver racing in the opening European GT4 Cup
race that could be at Silverstone on 2 May.
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