GT Academy Set for Global Expansion: Japan, Indonesia, & Malaysia in 2015, Brazil 2016

gt-academy-global-expansion

A document hosted on the FIA’s official website appears to reveal GT Academy’s plans for global expansion over the next few years, bringing the competition to several important markets for both Nissan and the Gran Turismo brand.

New regions for 2015 are set to include Indonesia, Malaysia, and Nissan’s native Japan, while competitors in South America will have to wait one more year for GT Academy Brazil in 2016.

Of course, it is important to note this is not an official announcement, and Nissan’s plans could certainly change. These new countries were teased, however, on a map shown in the first global GT Academy 2014 trailer released earlier this year.

The document shares several other fascinating statistics about the scale of the GT Academy program: it has now hosted over 4 million worldwide participants, who have driven over 1 billion virtual miles in the competition. GT Academy television programs have also been broadcast in over 160 countries to more than 100 million viewers.

It is curious to see such a document hosted on FIA’s servers. The world’s governing body of motorsport will no doubt be taking a very close look at GT Academy, as it plans to host its own officially sanctioned virtual races in Gran Turismo with the FIA Online Championship next year.

As always, stop by our GT Academy forum for more discussion with other competitors, many of whom are already preparing for the season ahead.

Thanks to gm matthew for the tip!

See more articles on .

Comments (29)

  1. Normalaatsra

    Awesome news Indonesia is coming next year! I hope those who are serious in joining the motorsport world will be preparing for the challenges ahead.

  2. jangelelcangry

    this is the best part of gran turismo. i appreciate this kind of from console to the real thing tournament is the best part by far of gt. too bad that i suck so bad XD
    not that the game is bad tho.

  3. StigBelcherStyl

    With a such wide fan base maybe we might start seeing cars and tracks from these other great countries like Russia, India, Brazil and etc.

  4. perrolocomcquee

    meh.
    Glad they finally will come to Japan, there are really fast guys there.
    Still no GTAcademy for faster contries like mine :(

  5. Quigz125

    Is it me or is it odd that Gran Turismo was made by a Japanese company(PD) sponsored by a japanese automobile company (Nissan) and the game developer personally drives a Japanese made race car(Nissan GT-R variants) in many races along with its GT Academy winners but it took them until 2015 to finally add Japan to the GT Academy list. Just seems odd to me that japan just finally got in.

    1. Jordan

      It’s not really strange at all. Nissan and PlayStation may be Japanese companies, but they are global, multi-national brands. Only 9% of Nissan’s global sales and only 14% of Gran Turismo’s global sales come from Japan. Both companies get a much larger return on their investment in the GT Academy program by focusing on the significantly larger markets of Western Europe and the United States.

    2. Davoxx

      I’m agree with you about numbers but when it come to your own country you should have a kind of loyalty (or I don’t know how to call it), it’s symbolic.

    3. Davoxx

      I don’t see what you mean ? There is hundred examples of company who gives advantages(ex:early access, exclusive content/item …..) and take care of “local” customers not only for profit (even sometimes they are loosing money) but for “loyalty” and for brand image. As I said it’s symbolic.

    4. MeanElf

      Japan had a lengthy xenophobic period of isolationism, which I believe left a mark on the collective psyche and such policies.

    5. Davoxx

      Good point and this why they are really close minded IMO. But as well everything in Japan is about respect and honor, back there they have on of the best customer services and PD is at the opposite of it. It is Japanese company but they are far from being Japanese IMO. No hanger it is a observation, the market always win and we vote with our money. As you can see here people started with GT and are now playing other games.

    6. MeanElf

      In honsty, I think people would be playing other games too, no matter what. I enjoy my GT games, but I also like others who do other aspects better, such as rally racing.

    1. sangdude82

      Well, it’s Nissan GT Academy since Nissan supplies all the cars that they use for the GT Academy itself and various professional racing categories that those graduates participate in. I’m not sure if other car companies want to do the same thing…

Comments on this post are now closed.

About the Author