GT Asian Championship 2012: New GT-R Shown in Gran Turismo 5, Daiki Kasho Live Concert

Jordan Greer · · 133 Comments

The 2012 Gran Turismo Asian Championship was held at Nissan’s global headquarters on Saturday afternoon in Yokohama, Japan.

It was a large, four-hour event with a very high production quality, broadcast live on the Internet via Ustream. Part 1/3, part 2/3, and part 3/3 are archived and available to download in case you missed it. Although no English translations or commentary was provided, several interesting and notable things occurred.

Kazunori Yamauchi himself spoke often and commentated on the competitor’s races. He also took part in an exhibition race with Lucas Ordonez and other randomly selected spectators.

Daiki Kasho, renowned video game music composer, hosted a rare live concert after the winners were announced.

With a full band and singer Jonathan Underdown, they performed several of his most popular songs written for the Gran Turismo series, including “Surv1v3” from GT5: Prologue’s intro and “5OUL ON D!SPLAY” from GT5’s 2010 E3 trailer and Spec 2.0 intro. (As you may recall, the latter was named by a GTPlanet user who is acknowledged in the game’s credits.)

The band also performed a special “Happy Birthday” song for Kazunori Yamauchi, who turned 45 on August 5th.

After several rounds of races, three drivers were on top of the point standings, one of which (A. Maulana) is GTPlanet community member Ramstig. Congratulations, guys!

  1. K. Yamada (Japan)
  2. T. Kawajiri (Japan)
  3. A. Maulana (Indonesia)

Although Kazunori downplayed questions about game development (other than to re-confirm they’re working on GT6), the audience did get an interesting new peek at a new car used in the exhibition match: the Nissan GT-R N24 GT Academy ’12, which will be released next month in the upcoming Gran Turismo 5: Academy Edition. As you may recall, it was the car driven by Kazunori and Lucas to class victory in this year’s Nurburgring 24 Hours.

In-game footage of the new car was also seen in new promotional clips played during video transitions in the broadcast.

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Comments (133)

  3. abigor

    Nissan…yes..yes…Nissan…yes….good car…yes..2013 model yes Nissan ………….Nissan…yes……………….Nissan….. ok now you can throw up…..oh no wait a minute……..Nissan….Nissan….Nissan…..Nissan….

  6. Hentis

    I have to laugh at a few of your comments about the Nissan cars. If I were you I’d be grateful for any car as DLC at the mOments as I personally can’t see much more DLC being released between now and GT6 :)

    1. TokoTurismo

      +1. I rather GT5 be done and over with so Kaz and PD can fully FULLY focus on GT6 and just put GT5 to the side. Imo it’ll be a waste to make more DLC for GT5, so save the rest and put them in GT6 for a full excitement. ;)

      I really hope GT5 is really for good after the GT5: Academy Edition.

    2. DuskTrooper

      It isn’t a waste of time to push out a few more DLC packs. Personally, I don’t think I’ll be purchasing anymore now, but many other people will still purchase it, and PD & Sony clearly know this.

  8. BWX

    I’d rather have almost any NEW (to GT5) 2011-2013 performance car from a manufacturer OTHER than Nissan.

    Check out recent Forza4 DLC For inspiration Kaz!!

    1. tpark103

      I think we pretty much have any and everything Nissan has to offer with the exception for the Leaf RC and Juke-R. If I’m wrong please don’t correct me. I’m just trying to agree with BMX.

    2. hobanator24

      And Most of the cars released in forza 4 dlc are already in GT5. Fiat Coupé, Sauber C9, Peugeot 205, Mazda 787B, Ruf CTR Yellowbird, CTR2, and many others. And this GTR actually looks cool with the blue paint job and yellow headlights. I hope we do get this in GT5

    4. w115ter

      i dont care what other games get as dlc , although it would be nice to get a premium mitsi gto & supra rz as these have been with gt since the start , could have had them in place of kubelwhatever & ducktruck

    2. Amac500

      Not quite my taste in music (it’s closer then that pop crap though, lol). But it fits well as background music in the soundtrack. Honestly if it was my favorite music in the background it would get distracting lol.

    6. Amac500

      I’m just going out on a limb and am saying you’ve never heard any of it. But no, music is 100% subjective, everybody has a different taste and that’s totally fine…. as long as it isn’t that Justin Beiber crap, I mean unless your 12, lol

  10. masaki7026

    I stayed up ’til 4AM to watch this thing-but hey, it was worth it!

    That tournament was certainly spectacular in its own way-the races were quite fun to watch, and the concert was simply AWESOME!

    As for the GT-R and stuff….ehhhhh…people say it’s nice, it’s rubbish, etc, etc…It’s hard to be patient with PD anyway, so I’d rather not care and enjoy life and try to enjoy the game as it is…and…other games…

  11. aronh17

    Well contrary to how other people feel I like driving a car that kazunori had. Not a lot of other games have that, mainly because devs aren’t professional race car drivers.

    1. another_jakhole

      I seriously thought I was the only one. I find it to be the best part of getting these cars. So glad the first two were free. The IS-F RM and the first N24 Schulze GT-R.

    4. another_jakhole

      He’s not a total amateur. An amateur wouldn’t know half the things he does about cars and racing. Purely speculation that isn’t really speculation. It’s just me logic.

      He’s at least been racing since ’06-’07 with 20 years of GT experience and track meets. He picked things up along the way.

    5. Amac500

      Well I know alot of things about cars and racing to, lol. Be that all as it is, homologations for racing classify amateur by experience behind the wheel in actual sanctioned competition, to which Kaz has ran the Nürburgring 24 Hour race 3 times and one other race at some Thunderville Raceway in the US, which classifies him as amatuer. You have to do a certain number of things to shake that classification but I’m not quite sure what they are, nobody fully understands the FIA, not even the FIA lol

    6. another_jakhole

      Not saying Kaz is a professional, he’s not exactly amateur either. I’m only talking S. No need for a discussion on this.

    7. Amac500

      Oh no I deffinently agree he is a few steps above an amateur, regulations aside, he’s deffinently better then the clown that cut off Anthony Davidson at Le Mans, lol

    8. aronh17

      All I was mainly saying was most game developers and teams that make racing games, do not have people that have raced that much, developing the game along side them. Sure, Shift 2 had racecar drivers sponsoring the game and making it look cool, much like the special events on GT5, but none of them continually develop and play the game throughout it’s development phase. He’s pretty much professional to me. Oh well, can’t wait to drive this, as it’s a completely different car.

    9. Amac500

      Yeah I get what your saying Aronh17, and it deffinently shows because things like physic and perception are all important to him and it comes through in the game. I mean watch a real life onboard lap of Le Mans in a Peugeot 908, then watch it in GT5, then watch it in Forza. The cockpit is out of scale an none of the track render feels accurate, it feels disproportion it and the perception sucks.

    10. porsche 9146

      he’s so far from professional it isn’t even funny. the definition of professional is being paid to race, and he certainly doesn’t do that. furthermore, he’s a sports car driver, and sports car drivers are rated by the ACO as platinum (factory) – gold (standard pro) – silver (experienced amateur) – bronze (inexperienced amateur). the GT academy guys that run P2 are silver , he’d be bronze.

      amateur doesn’t mean you are horribly slow, just that you aren’t a pro race car driver. other amateur drivers include david heinemeier hansson and scott tucker, both of which were faster than their professional P2 codrivers (christophe bouchut and martin plowman) at mid ohio.

  12. tpark103

    To be honest I do think I drove the last 24hr GT-R, it’s just parked in my garage looking pretty with many of the cars I have collected.

  13. RobDoggy05

    “the Nissan GT-R N24 GT Academy ’12, which will be released next month”

    Cannot wait for ANOTHER Nissan!!!!

    –__–

  16. MÜLE_9242

    If I had a loonie for every sarcastic comment and for every tear shed below this post, I would be a rich man.

    1. fortbo

      i actually really want that gtr i am fine with any new race car they add the game seriously needs more race cars

    2. SkierPS3

      I’m sure everyone will be getting it. Kaz released his 2011 Nurburgring GTR in Spec II last year, so it’s likely he’ll release it again this year and make it an annual addition.

    4. Amac500

      Yes SkierPS3, but they also are releasing that special Gran Turismo 5 GT Academy edition with that car on the cover and the only difference between that special edition and the normal game is that car.

  19. fortbo

    hey this is very off topic but i just checked out the new grid 2 and i found out that it has no interior view which means i will not be buying it lol they were saying its going to be better than gt

    1. Amac500

      The thing that Grid got right in the 1st game that added a very realistic sim element was the crash damage, everything else was arcade like. But yeah, no in car is a step backwards, they had it before, and no in car cams are a deal breaker. When there was talk of none in GT5 I wasn’t going to get it lol

  20. SZRT Ice

    Why doesn’t PD follow D1 and Rally the way they follow all these GT races? There is more to GranTurismo than that. And not everyone is a fan of team Kazunori. So why not include the other winners of these events? I’m sure a racing Lamborghini, a racing Ferrari, or a racing Aston Martin are eligible for inclusion. So why insist everyone only wants the winning GTR’s!? Right, Porsche is out, but other manufacturers are clearly and (most are) already in. They need a GTD1 Academy, a GTWRC Academy and any other spectrum of driving Gran Turismo dabbles in. Why include a drift seasonal every week, with absolutely NO D1 vehicles DLC? And rally has been completely ignored in terms of tracks and cars as well. Let’s see some Point to Point & rally cross. Stop giving so much of the same and gradually improve on everything as a whole. This favoritism is pushing many away.

    2. Amac500

      That sir is a simple science. Nissan dumps a butt load of money into GT5 for promotion. In this case the car is added for Nissan GT Academy, one of Nissan’s promotions, so it’s Kaz’s GT-R. But yeah, all the many Nissans in the game is because Nissan is paying their way in for marketing. It isn’t that PD doesn’t want to add more I believe, it’s because Nissan has the pocket books for it and they even invest in extra things to wooh Kaz, like having him run the Nürburgring 24 Hour race.

    3. another_jakhole

      His first run at the Nurburgring wasn’t funded by them. He wasn’t even planning to go had it not been for an invitation. It was a completely privately-funded race by the Schulze siblings and father.

    4. Amac500

      I know it wasn’t a factory car or anything but I’m willing to bet that Nissan supplying the car played a role in Kaz with that team.

    6. another_jakhole

      They didn’t supply them the car, I don’t think, but he did say that he wanted to use a GT-R/Skyline since it’s never been done before. The results, and the more obvious Nissan collaborations, are a product of why he wanted to only use a GT-R. Well, his FIRST 24hr Nurburgring race was with a Lexus IS-F, so no one can use the argument anymore that he only did it for Nissan.

    7. Amac500

      Alright, so I did my homework and we were both off a bit, it’s kind’a somewhere in between. The Schulze Motorsport team is kind of privately funded but it kind of isn’t. The Nissan customer program for the GT-R they’re racing isn’t exactly the normal customer program, it’s half customer and half factory. So far there are only 3 of those Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3’s, and Schulze Motorsports got 1 of them. It’s a deal where they had to have a little money but Nissan is also using the team as development for the new car. In fact Schulze fields the only one currently in the ADAC GT Masters series, which is a German based series with FIA GT3 spec homologations that Nissan is using as development for a future expansion to be a top contender in the FIA GT Championship, where they currently only work with UK based JRM. All the way through Schulze Motorsports has kind if been Nissan’s German stepping stone. So it’s half a factory team, Nissan is being very selective as they are newer and smaller to this kind of racing.

      I also found in an article right on the Gran Turismo website about this year’s 24 race at the ring. The Schulze Motorsports team fielded a car for Kazunori Yamauchi (Kaz), Lucas Ordobez, Tobias Schulze, and Yasukichi Yamamoto to form “Team GT Academy”.

      So I’ll tie it all together really quick. Schuluze Motirsports is a customer team but they do have Nissan funding for development and sponsorship. Kaz carries Nissan GT Academy sponsorship (which would go on no car other then a Nissan for obvious reasons) which helps Schulze in the money department. The Nissan GT Academy sponsorship obviously promotes the GT5 game as well which Kaz leads development in. So Kaz’s running in the Schulze Motorsports GT-R is basically a money triangle involving Nissan, Schulze Motosports, and Kaz. So we were both kind of around the bush, but there it is, did my homework!

    9. another_jakhole

      Thanks! I didn’t know about that. FYI, I didn’t need that last paragraph in your first reply lol. It’s appreciated though.

    10. Amac500

      Yeah I just through the last one in because I thought I was spin a garbage job of wording the rest, lol, journalist I am not ;)

  21. BlindZenDriver

    More people need to watch the 24h race on the Ring. If they did they would not complain about the car.

    1. SimonK

      Why is that exactly? Why would we not complain just because we’ve seen it in real life? We know where it’s from and what it is but it’s still boring to add when it’s 95% the same as last years car we already have.

    2. Amac500

      Hey, I am much more okay with the Nissan race cars then road cars and as I am a huge fan of all forms of auto racing I have no problem with these cars, but it would be nice if they did at “these kind of cars” instead of just 1 model. But this car is part of the Nissan GT Academy thing so it’s not like it would be anything but a Nissan.

  22. Amac500

    Hey I know the award has to be Nissan, but why not the Signatech Oreca Nissan LMP2 car? It has a direct tie to GT Academy, as in the winner drives it.

    1. Pit Crew

      Im hpoing for a Default LMP body shell we can hopefully Livery Edit in GT6.

      Id take that LMP NON Signatech Endorsed shell from Nissan, no problem over another GT-R.

      IMO if we should see another GTA DLC, Nissan should approve race models GTA grads have driven and of course an Academy LMP2 car.

      Wicked I say, and no real shame for some to use TCS as it is on the Real World LMP vehicles. SRF is not. lol

      Those shells are expensive and I dont think Nissan and Kaz that friendly to let his PD test drivers aggressively flog that car around just for some Engine Specs and in car video footage, knowing a accident could happen, but a NISSAN driver with a free weekend on his hands could work towards the possibility of seeing an Update LMP model.

    3. Amac500

      Thank you Pit Crew! Many people forget that forms of racing like LMP cars DO IN FACT HAVE TC. But yeah, in 2011 the Zytek Nissan won LMP2 at Le Mans, seems like it wouldn’t be a bad idea for Nissan to market that. And I say the Signatech Oreca Nissan is most likely because it is the one GT Academy winners drive, even if it isn’t my favorite of the Nissan LMP2 cars, and most likely the 2011 model because, as I’ve said before, models currently in ise wouldn’t be added because da dah da dah da dah, yal know why, cards close to the chest, lol.

      Yeah I’ve been thinking PD could even just make a base LMP style chassis and when you buy it from the dealer it has a couple differed paint options, as far as how the livery is laid, and then let us spray it, same thing as spraying a ZR1 Corvette, and change the car number, but the big thing would be aero kits, have a bunch of different parts for the front, obviously changing the styling, and same for the back end and the wings and stuff. That would be great, it would be fairly small for PD to add and it would increase the range of diversity of the game so much!

    2. another_jakhole

      haha I’m reading these comments and quietly thinking how pathetic these people are. Do they see how pathetic it is to do this? I’m ashamed to have gotten into arguments with people who have this level of intelligence. Most of them are smart, but have ZERO capacity for intellect.

    1. Amac500

      I’ll bet ya money that it’s a prize for medaling in all the GT Academy seasonal events, though there should still be something special just for all gold….

    3. Amac500

      It’s not favoritism, it’s just something special for all 3 stars, and just something like that 2012 GT Academy suit that everyone who completed the academy will get, only with gold lettering. That would be something easy to code. But no, people who get medals in all of them will get something it’s in the seasonal event descriptions.

  26. ChicoMaloXD

    Love the car and its headlights.
    I hope GT6 has headlights color option. Would be A-W-E-S-O-M-E.
    + livery editor, etc.

  27. Tenacious D

    Wow… I totally forgot that Kaz’s birthday was August 5th, a day after mine! Of course, that makes mine the same day as some president’s, but I kind of ignore that part.

    And by the way, I’ll have that GT-R!

    1. mister dog

      Woww mine is december 3, that’s only one day off of Justin Bieber’s birthday! Plato, Winston Churchill and Picasso are also december 3 but i kinda ignore that part… :D

    1. HKS racer

      I hope this one will be a super limited version. So limited they don’t even release it.

      DEAR YAMAUCHI SAN YOUR GT-R IS SO LAME

    3. GT HP Nut

      I don’t think so. I think it’s going to be a good car, as it’s a racing GT-R that managed to go through 24 hours non-stop (with only minor mechanical problems, and they even finished the race with a ‘1st in class’). Besides, I’m happy with any new car added to GT5, as long as it doesn’t charge you a lot for it…

      But I haven’t driven the ‘old’ N24 GT-R at the A-Spec Nurburgring 24 Hrs event yet…

    4. Amac500

      Well unless the class is the main GT3 spec cars I’m not really impressed, lol. Just because there is like a million class in that race and alot of the classes only have about 3 cars.

  31. Amac500

    Oh yeah, and he had said before new content was still being planed for GT5. I’m betting money that they will do Spec 3.0 in October.

    1. Pit Crew

      Yeah after race season dies down and should the PD dev team hit a good stride with GT6 (Im speculating not factualizing) anything possible .

      2yr anniversary gifts in November are also possible, another round of Xmas stuff maybe…Just Sayin.

      Dang its August and im thinking bout GT5 possibilities in december…I need sleep.

    2. Amac500

      I’m thinking Silverstone and some new cars in a DLC, and they would probably just put 2012 NASCARs in, I want a couple new Super GT cars though. What is that new Honda, the HPV-010 or something?

    3. another_jakhole

      @Amac500
      The “new” Honda has already been modeled for some time now. I’ve been expecting it to come in one of these packs, but to no avail :(.

      I KNOW Kaz expects us to want/expect a Spec 3. I think it would be a huge disappointment if there isn’t one.

    4. Amac500

      Are you thinking of the new NSX concept another_jakhole? I saw that vid, I’m waiting for it as well. No though, I’m thinking of the car Honda runs currently in the GT500 class of Super GT. It was originally a car model suppose to replace the NSX but for financial reason the street car was canceled, but they still ran it in Super GT in Japan.

    6. Amac500

      Good stuff, looks like he has been going through and crossing off the list. Really hoping that HSV-010 thing makes it into spec 3.0 (assuming there is one). It just looks so much sharper then all the other Super GT cars :)

  32. Amac500

    Ya know that part in the description of the GT Academy seasonal events that talks about prizes at the end? I guarantee its that car, lol.

  33. Dekropttiv

    FINALLY! An R35 in GT5.

    I figured we’d get this car eventually. At least something is something. It shows that PD is still somewhat alive.

  34. belzebutt

    You shouldn’t raise our expectations and say there’s a “new car”. At best it’s a new paint job for an existing car, much less exciting. This GT-R will drive exactly the same as the myriad of other GT-Rs we already have.

  38. FdkVeilside

    It’s funny how people say they hope they don’t get this GT-R, if you hate the fact that PD isn’t giving you more cars, why wouldn’t you want a new one despite it being not that desirable? If it was another Factory Stock GT-R I probably wouldn’t want it, but since it’s a race modified race car GT-R or not, I want it!

    1. CJSpencer77

      Because dozens and dozens of the same model car with slight changes every time is a cop out, thats why

    2. e30 freek

      I think we need to start bitching so kazonuri knows that NOT EVERYONE is interested in GTR’s even if it is free I mean like I havent touched the old Schulze GTR at all all I want is a balanced amount of cars I dont like favoritism especially to this sort of extent it’s really silly

    3. Pit Crew

      To much of a good thing dilutes it’s value Kaz. We would appreciate a lil variety.

      Dang wish you would have gotten this Chummy with Porsche. *Sigh*

  44. Yauma9

    There’s always a GTPlanet member in almost every GT competition.
    I hope the new update brings at least some improvements, apart from the GT-R. (if that car isn’t already in the game)

  45. hobanator24

    Wait, is it only available on the GT Academy edition? And isnt the GT Academy edition only being released in the UK?

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