GT Academy 2012 (EU) General Discussion

  • Thread starter Manuelos
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It all seems to have gone quiet on the GTA front since Kaz tweeted. I expected it to be this march? Wonder when there will be any more news
 
Woo I haven't missed it.. :) I know I'm not 18 but I'm gonna enter anyway too see how high up I can get on the leader boards..

Also, what happens if someone under 18 gets into the top 20? :dopey:
 
Woo I haven't missed it.. :) I know I'm not 18 but I'm gonna enter anyway too see how high up I can get on the leader boards..

Also, what happens if someone under 18 gets into the top 20? :dopey:

They ring up the top 20, if you dont meet the requirements they will say you can't enter and then the place will go to the next person in the leaderboard. I think last year 25th place got to go, so even if people don't make the top 20, still a possibility, as a few people with racing licences were in the top 20 last year.
 
Dutch Nissan GT Academy Team reveals a car....

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...0815441.125748.156111877739433&type=1&theater

385578_425352327482052_156111877739433_1915969_165733690_n.jpg


More information to follow, according to their Facebook site.

update: This is the team that will participate in the 2012 HDI-Gerling Dutch GT Championship. The drivers are Dutch GT Academy 2011 winner Thomas Arends, Tim Coronel, Bertus Sanders, Sandor van Es.

Foto's van de presentatie van het Dutch Nissan GT Academy Team dat in 2012 gaat deelnemen aan het HDI-Gerling Dutch GT Championship. Rijders: Thomas Arends (GT Academy winnaar 2011), Tim Coronel, Bertus Sanders, Sandor van Es
 
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Any more photos of the car? I clicked the link but it says "not available".

I'd like to add them to the GT Academy racers thread I created. Thanks.
 
Facebook pages are not working for me, but the GTHQ one is so I'll try to get info from that. Thanks.

Edit: Thomas is the only GT Academy participant driving, correct? He was a/the Dutch finalist?

Edit 2: Got the info I need, thanks. :)
 
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Racing alongside Tim Coronel (brother of Tom, who is currently running in WTCC on a Roal Motorsports BMW) will be an enourmous step in Thomas RL racing carreer, as the 'Coronel' Brothers are well known and respected in Holland or Belgium.

I wish Thomas good luck on his first race in the Nissan next monday.
 
Kaz just tweeted...
"We produce a full-fledged version "GT Academy 2012" comparatively. Schedule will be announced shortly. RT @ takyob72: last Mon @ Kaz_Yamauchi, I could not be delivered, such as updates and DLC. I will look for further. ~ I'm looking forward to it."

(It's a bad Google translation)
 
Basically it means, we have a new GTR for the GT Academy, and he couldn't be bothered with DLC or updates as of the moment..
 
What exactly is this GT Academy? Do you race in front of your telly or is it a mass gathering? Please explain to me!
Cheers,
 
GT Academy is a competetion that gives GT5 players the chance to become a fully fledged professional race driver.

The fastest say 20 people from each region (UK & Ireland, France, Germany etc) go through to a live semi final where they battle it out (on GT) until there is an overall winner.

All of the region winners go to a boot camp to start proper training, and race real life cars, go on gruelling assault courses to determine who is the best overall candidate. That person then wins the contract to race for the Nissan Signatech team :)
 
cally-dave
GT Academy is a competetion that gives GT5 players the chance to become a fully fledged professional race driver.

The fastest say 20 people from each region (UK & Ireland, France, Germany etc) go through to a live semi final where they battle it out (on GT) until there is an overall winner.

All of the region winners go to a boot camp to start proper training, and race real life cars, go on gruelling assault courses to determine who is the best overall candidate. That person then wins the contract to race for the Nissan Signatech team :)

So anyone can take part in the beginning to win prizes(eg GTR GTAcademy Special) ???
 
Yeah. It was in the seasonal events section last year, its open for about 2months I think, and we were given a Academy special GTR just for having a go! So either way, you would be daft not to have a go, even if your not that good!
 
This year also an Academy for Russia. :)

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2012/04/16/on-starters-orders-for-gt-academy-2012/

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f....10150150182315197.284012.170858255196&type=1

Things seems to have changed for this year's event, big time!

This year’s Academy is even more special as it will be kicked off with a newly created online qualification event developed by Kazunori Yamauchi and the team at Polyphony. This brand new Gran Turismo 5 based content will be completely free to download from PlayStation Network as of May 1 and you don’t even need to own Gran Turismo 5 to play it.

The new content features a set of exclusive challenges that should be a lot of fun whether you’ve played Gran Turismo before or whether you are coming to the game as a complete newbie.

SUCCESSFUL ‘GAMER-TO-RACER’ GT ACADEMY PROGRAMME EXPANDS FOR 2012
* New Series of Gran Turismo-based challenges will start the process on 1 May, 2012 *
* A potential route into motor sport - GT Academy graduates compete at Le Mans *

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 Turismo®5 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.

GT Academy is now established as a potential route into top-level motor sport. Lucas Ordoñez (Spain, winner in 2008) took second place at the 2011 Le Mans 24 Hour race and will aim for one better this year racing alongside father-and-son pairing Alex and Martin Brundle. Lucas will also contest the full European Le Mans Series in the Greaves Motorsport Zytek-Nissan LMP2 car. Jordan Tresson (France, winner in 2010) is racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship and Le Mans 24 Hours in the Signatech Nissan LMP2 car. Jann Mardenborough (UK, winner in 2011) is racing a Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 in the Blancpain Endurance Series while his American counterpart, Bryan Heitkotter, will drive a Nissan 370Z Nismo RC in the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series in the top GS (Grand Sport) class.

“Being able to use our GT Academy graduates in our ever-growing range of top-level motor sport activities is another example of Nissan’s innovative approach to everything we do,” explains Darren Cox, General Manager Nissan in Europe. “If we didn’t believe in the drivers they wouldn’t be in those seats, but GT Academy has exceeded our original expectations and each year has provided us with some outstanding driving talent. As our drivers continue to impress on a world stage, GT Academy continues to expand. I would urge anyone that feels they have the talent to get involved and give it a go. GT Academy is a real, credible and exciting route into motor sport that will not cost you anything thanks to our partnership with PlayStation®.”

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”.

I hope you all had a great Easter. I am absolutely delighted to share some news that will be as mouth-watering as the chocolate treats you hopefully received last week.

The great news I can reveal today is that in just a few short weeks (May 1, so three to be precise), we will see the return of GT Academy.

GT Academy, as some of you may recall, is a remarkable PlayStation and Nissan competition that intends to take gamers from sofa, bedroom or other suitably domestic environment, to the high-octane world of international motorsport.

Now entering its fourth year, the competition has so far unearthed three real-life racing drivers from Europe and a fourth US driver from amongst the massed ranks of global Gran Turismo gamers.

The first ever GT Academy winner Lucas Ordonez managed an incredible podium finish last year at the world famous Le Mans 24H and the subsequent winners Jordan Tresson and Jann Mardenborough have both gone on to establish themselves as genuine racing talent whose blossoming racing careers will continue in 2012.

GT Academy Drivers Take Class Podium at Dubai 24H - 1

This year as in previous years, GT Academy 2012 will consist of a number of stages kicking off with a PlayStation 3 based online event, National Finals, real life driving challenges at Racecamp, Silverstone and then on onwards and upwards towards a potential chance to race for Nissan at the Dubai 24H race in January 2013.

This year’s Academy is even more special as it will be kicked off with a newly created online qualification event developed by Kazunori Yamauchi and the team at Polyphony. This brand new Gran Turismo 5 based content will be completely free to download from PlayStation Network as of May 1 and you don’t even need to own Gran Turismo 5 to play it.

The new content features a set of exclusive challenges that should be a lot of fun whether you’ve played Gran Turismo before or whether you are coming to the game as a complete newbie.

So what countries are involved in GT Academy 2012 and how are they arranged? Well here’s the rundown:

Group 1

UK & Ireland
France
Spain
Portugal
Benelux
Poland
Switzerland
Austria

Group 2

Germany

Group 3

Russia

More news will be coming very soon on what you can expect for GT Academy 2012 and it will be here on PlayStation.Blog, gran-turismo.com and facebook.com/GTAcademy, so keep checking back.

In the meantime feast your eyes on the stunning opening movie from the brand new GT5 content incoming on 1 May that will kick things off.
 
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I've a feeling this year is going to be rather competitive :)! Good luck all my attention is certainly on GT Academy and not a dissertation this year! Lets see what fun this year brings :)! O If I get to the nationals again, come to our table at the finals we had a right laugh :D!
 
Looks very interesting, I will for sure have a go at it again and hoping to reach nationals :D!
I am wondering what the exact new format is? Not such a fan of the fact that people without the game can join the challenge aswell.
And where is Italia? And Spain and Portugal divide just like France and Swiss this year?

//Edit, in final my final year aswell :(. Hence I haven't played in a month.
 
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Bring. It. On.

Can't wait, last year my son had just arrived so my time was obviously limited. Now he actually sleeps I can give it a proper go!

Good luck all, I look forward to seeing your names high on the leaderboard!!
 
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