Yes, it’s been officially confirmed on the NISMO Facebook profile page: GT Academy has enrolled into another season of close online competitions that will try to track down talented drivers over the next several months. Although a significant number of countries won’t be supported on the initial run of the 2016 season, players residing in few select ones will get an exclusive chance to test-drive the upcoming GT Sport before everyone else.
Australia, Indonesia, Mexico, North Africa (Algeria, Egypt & Morocco), Philippines and Thailand are currently the only countries applicable for the season opener. Players not residing in these countries will have to wait until their own regions open up to the GT Academy program, which is presumably scheduled to happen upon the release of GT Sport on November 15 this year.
Challengers who sign up in the meantime will get access to Nissan-only version of GT Sport. Top drivers at the end of the season will receive the sort of intensive driver education program needed to qualify for an International Race License, as well as an admission ticket for a 24H International Endurance Race under the supervision of Nissan.
GT Academy has already expressed big plans for future months, and with GT Sport set to touch down this year, it could grow further still. Considering the successful achievements of several GT Academy graduates, there is no doubt drivers will be aiming very high this year as well. Matthew Simmons, 2015’s GT Academy champion, sums it up:
”I entered the GT Academy competition to achieve my dream of becoming a professional racing driver. GT Academy is an opportunity to make your racing dream come true. To make the most of it, you have to believe in yourself and your abilities but most of all, enjoy the experience.”
GTPlanet is going to follow the progress of this year’s events carefully. Stay alert for more news!
See more articles on GT Academy 2016, Matt Simmons, Nissan, and Polyphony Digital.
I would like to know your opinion , but gt academy 2016 will also be carried out in Europe or only in 6 countries cited in the article.
I think it important markets such as Europe and USA and Japan can not be excluded because they would be lost millions of players .
Thank you
Regards
Alessio
That assumption is that these 6 countries are going to get early access through specific venues set up with pods like the Copperbox and E3 events. After that, with the release of the full game, the rest of us will be able to be involved. That’s what I gather from the News article above.
I’ve always dreamed of being behind the Wheel. I’ve had my limited share of experiences.
Now, I’m a bit too old.. ( 50’s plus ) and to far out of shape to be Competitive.
One thing I will say to Anyone who is Serious about this.
Get off the Couch and get in Physical Shape. Get in the Best shape of your Life..
Race car Driving is Brutal. It will Drain your both Physically and Mentally.
If your Serious about wanting to become a Driver.
Then Do it!
you can have all the skills in the Virtual Game. But if you’re Not in physical Shape, and prepared for it, you won’t make it in the real world.
Good Luck to ALL! Go For it!
Thanks for the tip!
There are times appeared on the site of the FIA a PDF in which were planning gt Academy Brazil in 2016.
Finally Australia gets in on the GT Sport and Gran Turismo special treatment. Along with Canada, Australia was pretty much the only country that has missed out on all these special events and the like.
Also good to see the smaller countries get the benefit too.
On the first GT Academy ever, i pulled a time that got the 14th place on leaderboards, but then Brazil wasn’t able to participate, so i gave up and ended going down on leaderboards.
Hope this time Brazil can participate.
do you think if you create a PS4 login for one of these markets (Australia, Indonesia, Mexico, North Africa (Algeria, Egypt & Morocco), Philippines and Thailand) thay it will let you down load it to play it? On PS3 I had a US and Oz account and could view some Australian TV channels.
I believe that the early Academy events in those 6 countries will be held live at designated venues.
So while those that attend will get an early look at GT Sport, there won’t be any downloading.
Loved the old Silverstone GT Academy demo thing on the PS3…
Let’s hope us rest-of-worlders get a crack at this too (before the GTS release)
Who’s that dashing young man at the top? Oh wait :p
lmao
Gotta admit, lots of odd countries to restrict it to, aside from maybe Australia. But, perhaps they are overdue in those countries. I say this because obviously the big global markets are typical America, China, Russia, England, Germany, Japan, etc.
ynot open to everyone every year? I never understood this. Seems a bit of a slap in the face for Japan, USA, and Europe. Lots of opportunity for people to play with the game to seal the deal on sales.
Except it is open to everyone every year, just at different times of the year.
Not everyone. Canadians have only been allowed in once.
Wonder why that is Johnny, lots of racing fans and Gran Turismo players in Canada. If I were a gaming company I would want everyone in the world to have the opportunity to play my games. Especially something like GT Academy. A chance to sample Gran Turismo for free and then possibly buy it.
It would be relatively simple (and also beneficial in terms of development feedback) for them to open it to everyone to play, but only enable select regions to compete for the actual GTA prize. T3H DEMO, MAN, GIVE US A DEMO
It had to do with our legislation around contests and who is eligible to enter and how winning must be structured. Not sure how they got around it for one year and then not last year.
I just hope it comes to Brazil in the next years
Bout time Matt Simmons @Mint_GTR got a proper quote in the news feed,
GT academy 2016 (powered by GT sport) is coming!! (hopefully)
I guess better late than never eh Nissan? Was GT Sport the entire cause of this, perhaps now I want that special Nissan version of GT Sport, perhaps PD should throw that up on the PS Store for us to time trial. Got my fingers crossed as I can’t enter but I would love to try out the physics before the final product arrives in Nov.
Cool
Maybe Nissan and PD are trying to make it up to a few regions for being overlooked for a few years, but this seems like a rather strange introduction to the 2016 GT Academy. Oh well, I can wait for GT Sport, as long as I have games to tide me over of the caliber of No Man’s Sky and Deus Ex.
Good luck to all who participate, and may the best humans win!
Ok, so 370z confirmed. :D
Yep, I think I read that GT Sport will have about 130 cars out of which 125 are 370s and GT-R. The other 5 cars are Vision GT cars.