GT Academy

At the Spanish GT Academy 2010 finals, Lucas Ordoñez, winner of the first GT Academy, got to try his hand at the latest GT5 build running the competition. Here’s his lap around the Nurburgring Nordschleife! Thanks to everyone (including Lucas himself!) for sending this in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3FNYJ2emp4

The first GT Academy 2010 national finals are now complete! TiZzla won in New Zealand, while GTP_DHolland came out on top in Australia. Congratulations to both of you! Participants and attendees are sharing their results, pictures, and impressions from the event here in our forums, so head there to find out how it all went down.

Now that we’re into February, the second round of GT Academy 2010 is about to begin! Participants down under will kick things off this Wednesday, February 3rd, before the European finals begin this weekend. Our forum moderator Sphinx is compiling a list of each national final, along with its date, venue, and all GTPlanet users who are competing.

Heads-up to all of you GT Academy hopefuls out there – the first round of the competition is now over, and it’s time for you to register with Sony if you want to compete in your national final. It’s easy enough: just go to the official GT site, select your country, click on the “National Finals Entry Form” image, and follow the instructions. You only have until midnight GMT on Tuesday, January 26th to complete your registration, so get this done as quickly as possible. Remember: they are accepting entries from the top 30 players (in case anyone from the top 20 is disqualified or doesn’t show up), so double check your ranking to see if you made the cut.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9V2YgZ7jjY

When Lucas Ordonez won the first GT Academy, we all knew he had a lot of expectations riding on his shoulders. He would be given the opportunity to enter a 24 hour endurance race with world-class drivers and sim racers everywhere watched closely as he lived the dream. Since then, we’ve seen him win races and fight for the FIA GT4 driver’s championship around the world. He made it look all too easy, but as this latest interview shows, his accomplishments are the result of a lot of determination and hard work.

As I read through the comments here and in our forum, there seems to be a surprising amount of confusion regarding the details and some of the specific points regarding the Gran Turismo 5 demo announced yesterday. I’ll try to condense things down into a few key bullet points to make sure that we’re all on the same page, while summarizing the details of how it’s all going to go down…

Announced just hours ago on the PlayStation EU Blog, GT Academy 2010 will be held in a brand new demo of Gran Turismo 5 hitting the PlayStation Store on December 17, 2009. The demo will feature a stock and tuned version of the Nissan 370Z, and, while Sony has decided not to release the track just yet, I have been aware of the competition for some time now and GTPlanet can reveal the demo will include either Spa Francorchamps or the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. However, Sony described the track as a “specially created section of a new Gran Turismo 5 circuit”, which suggests to me it’s the Indianapolis GP Circuit, as it is quite literally a “section” of a larger circuit. (Let’s not forget it was also the big track prominently shown in Gran Turismo 5’s E3 2009 trailer.)

GT Academy winner Lucas Ordonez has seen an incredible amount of success on both real and virtual race tracks. After coming out on top at the GT Academy Finals and scoring a drive in the 24 Hours of Dubai, Lucas has completed his first race season with seriously impressive results. Needless to say, he’s living the dream that lives inside every GT fan, and now it’s our chance to ask him anything you want! GTPlanet member 130tc is going to sit down for an interview Lucas tomorrow (October 12th), and he’s opened the floor to the entire community. Head on over to his forum thread or leave your questions in the comments below. Watch for the full interview featuring your questions very soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE3VAt07ie4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQm-6zNOEJE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsmO1_6SMkc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h8GPApp1Cg

We knew it wouldn’t be long before more detailed information begins trickling out of Los Angeles – and sure enough – the first interview with Kazunori Yamauchi from E3 does just that!  He sat down with automotive news site Edmunds.com shortly after Sony’s E3 press conference and shared a few interesting things about GT Mobile and Gran Turismo 5.  Here’s a quick summary of what we learn:

If you’ve lamented about missing the GT Academy, relax – you could be the next Lucas Ordoñez!  A new article in Top Gear explains the competition, and if you’re a regular reader of GTPlanet, it won’t tell you anything you don’t already know.  However, in the last paragraph, the author mentions an exciting bit of information from Nissan’s own Darren Cox:

Congratulations to GT Academy winner Lucas Ordoñez!  After competing in the 24 Hours of Dubai, the gamer-turned-racer is back in action for the first race of the GT4 European Cup at Silverstone, where he and teammate Alex Buncombe scored a podium finish in their RJN Motorsport Nissan 350Z.

The GT Academy Experience is about to jump off the internet and on to the airwaves via Dave, a men’s television channel in the UK.  The 30-minute episodes are set to air on Saturday nights at 7:00 PM, starting today (April 4, 2009), but no word yet on exactly how many shows you can expect.  Dave has already posted videos from the event that GTPlanet put together back in February, so the show will probably be put together from that footage.  Nevertheless, if you’re in the UK, check it out, and don’t forget to enter to win the PlayStation 3 that Dave is giving away to promote the show.

Richard Meaden, professional racer and writer for the (awesome) online publication Drivers Republic, was a witness to history last month when he drove alongside GT Academy winner Lucas Ordóñez in the 24 Hours of Dubai.  Meaden eloquently describes the experience of the 24 hour event from a personal, honest point of view in his latest article, and it’s a fascinating read.  He covers the race build-up, paddock drama, trials and tribulations of endurance racing, and complements Ordóñez for his calm head and steady driving.

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