Announced this morning via Twitter, Lucas Ordoñez will shortly find himself driving a Nissan GT-R at the punishing Nürburgring 24 Hour race.
The 2008 GT Academy winner has been paired with Gran Turismo series creator and Polyphony Digital head Kazunori Yamauchi for potentially over 2,000 miles of all-condition racing on one of the toughest tracks in the world. The event marks Yamauchi’s third successive N24 race (with one class victory) while Ordoñez himself will be entering his fifth 24 hour race since his Academy win – with 2 class podium finishes in his four races so far.
The race weekend starts on May 15th with compulsory training while the race itself will start at 14.00GMT/UTC on May 19th.
GT5 Photomode image courtesy of Adrianf1.
See more articles on Kazunori Yamauchi, Lucas Ordonez, and Nurburgring 24 Hours 2012.
Good luck to everyone out there. Good luck to Lucas too!!!:)
Well done on making it as far as being able to compete in the Nurburgring 24h. Hope the race goes smooth for him.
Best of luck to our fellow GT representatives!
Great news !!
I wish them bothe the best of luck !!! :-)
Both !!!
Yes, both!! Good luck out there on the ‘Ring. :)
The hardest sports car race to compete in is Le Mans. :)
But really the Dakar Rally blows both away for all out endurance….
I’m pretty sure the Nurburgring is much harder than Le Mans. Nurburgring at night is pitch black. They only see where there headlights shine. And the Nurburgring is bumpy and twisty all the way. One mistake usually ends in the barrier ending the race. Dakar, is just a totally different ballgame…
yeh yeh
Soon there will be a GT Academy Team and they will rule the racing world! :D
They should rule the racing world. Just imagine how populer they’ll be, and be sponsored by everyone and everything. Gran Turismo for life. Do they by any chance do rally as well?
There’s a GT Academy Europe finalist that races in rally right now. Check my GT Academy thread in the Motorsport section.
Yes. :) Thank you R1600Turbo. Will check at some point. ;)
That’s pretty cool, gotta say!! Haha. Good luck!
this is really cool. i love how the developer is a race car driver too. he knows exactly what it is like and can do his best to portray that in his game.
The GT5 24h of Nurburgring feature… well, ehm, PROTOTYPES. There’s even a meme about this.
Lucas and Kaz teaming up for the hardest endurance in the world?! That’s a dream-made match! I wish you both the best of luck!
Nice! Gonna be there again! :)
me too! for the first time
That’s what’s up!!!!
Ok r-truth lol
I kind of expected it to happen, but this is a good surprise.
OMG! That’s Bootifull!
Not to sound rude or anything, but although I’m glad for these guys being able to race in real life and I wish them the best, I’m just being honest to say I don’t really care too much about this GT Academy thing.
All I want is to do business with PD and buy some of their wonderful DLC content. A couple of days ago I bought Route X and the speed test even if I really didn’t want to from the begining. But even if Route X never was in my plans, I still bought it to show I’m faithful with the franchise.
This silence wouldn’t be a problem if we were in the third or fourth year of the game’s life cycle. We are in the middle of the second year and most of what was expected has still yet to come. If this sudden silence is because they are giving their full attention to GT6’s development now, then it would be good that they told us. If that was the reason, then I would give PD all my support to stop working on GT5 and focus all of their creativity on GT6.
So far I’m having a balst testing my cars in the Speed Test, but I’m not sure how long the fun is going to last.
I too will love PD to work on GT6 and do their very best with that one instead GT5. I wish for the GT Academy people the bestest luck yet as. But to be honest, I don’t care much about it either. What about the game, and the fans of the game? I ask this many times to myself everyday, and still haven’t gotten answer. Why must PD AND Kaz be quite for so long, say something damnit. Not trying to sound rude or anything but really, if they rather work on GT6, JUST SAY IT. I’m tired of guessing everyday of what they’re doing nowadays…
And I really hope they’re using OUR FEEDBACK to improve in GT6 instead. And please, stop trying to be perfect, be yourself and do the best you can to make GT6 the bestest racing game alive. Show it at E3 this year. I hope…
I agree to huskyGt and tokoturismo..maybe kaz didn’t visit this forum? I read a lot of same concern and complains in this forums but still we don”t get what we want..more real tracks and more real cars..and more modifications in gt auto options. If PD started to concentrate on gt6 they should atleast be good that they told us..or maybe because of business matter..that is why they are so silent.
we’ve got drift, the 2nd biggest thing is obviously drag racing, so forget about nascar and bring a bloody drag strip out! pre stage, stage and all 4 lights please!
Screw drag strips. You draggers got the damn route X, that’s enough.
I don’t even do NASCAR but that needs more tracks more than we need a drag strip. A drag strip is just a straight piece of road, there’s plenty of those in GT5. We only got 2 ovals in this game. What they should do is add an oval creator, or at least another ovals. I can only imagine how boring it must get for NASCAR fans.
Before all that we need REAL life tracks and maybe a few GT classics like Costa Di Amalfi and El Capitan. We definitely need some tarmac rally stages like costa, and citta di aria, then we need more dirt courses, THEN a drag strip would be in order. Drag racing isn’t nearly popular enough to warrant a strip yet. There may be a lot of draggers online but that’s because online is the only place you can drag race (besides split screen). The percentage of drag racers in the GT community is much lower than you think dude
Huh? There’s a massive drag community. Although it’s not my greatest interest, drag racing is still something and many others love to do online. And a dedicated drag strip would be fantastic. But, you’re both forgetting what we really need. More cars. All premium.
@Tombrady _ Omg dude you are the worst kind of troll. I just read your reply to comment about how i defended the “rampant whiney crying ” people on this site (completely misread what I said BTW) so its ok for you to have requests but no one else? Your lack of integrity is astounding. All i see you doing is disagreeing with everyone’s post and condescending to everyone who has a request for something you don’t care for.
@MyFavoriteGame dude it’s one thing to disagree with something. That is what I’ve done, so what. The drag community seems larger than it is because most draggers are only able to drag ONLINE. Think about it, unless you’re doing split screen, how can you drag race someone? you cant drag race that Ai, or at least you wouldn’t do that. So what I’m saying is because of that fact, the drag community isn’t as big as you might assume from scanning through the lobbies online everyday. How can you say I’m wrong in that?
What you do is completely different. You attack GT5 with wild and ridiculously nit picky complaints, and you completely ignore what the game does so well. There’s so many positives to choose from I can’t understand how people like you can focus only on negatives, and even worse are the people that say this isn’t the best GT, or that it was a disappointment. I’ve heard you say that over and over again and it’s ridiculous. If it’s so disappointing, then move on. That’s just insane, they improved on every important aspect of it, and added key features as well as little additions that go a long way in making MOST people who play it happy with it. I don’t even play it that often, and there’s a lot of things I would change about it, doesn’t mean I go telling everyone, and occassionally go overboard with ridiculous criticisms like you do.
Seriously man, you’re on a website called GTPlanet. This site is dedicated TO Gran Turismo, not against it. So if you don’t expect that most people are gonna get sick of people badmouthing the game as much as you do, then find another forum. You don’t make legitimate complaints, and nobody wants to hear them.
Most people love GT5, it’s the most popular racing game in the world right now, but I guess you think MOST people are wrong and you’re right? And you say I don’t have integrity
I find racing in a straight line to be more boring that racing on an oval.
Not because I don’t kiss Kay’s ass like some of the people in this forum doesnt mean that I don’t like GT5, plus what you’re saying is completely unjustified, anyone who knows me on this site knows that I’m an apologetic , just no to the extent of fanboism. I’ve playing GT since GT2 on my psx, and I do understand where you’re coming from when u talk about the good the game does, but being better than GT4 is not enough, especially if you consider the gap. PD didn’t keep up with the times as far as features and race modes and over extended themselves in the graphics department…..and that’s a fact.
Like many pple I bought my ps3 for GT5 and that’s what its mostly used for….on a typical week I game for about 5 hrs or so, and 4 of those are usually GT5. So I obviously enjoy the game. Just because this is a gran turismo forum does not mean a person here cannot voice displeasure or dissatisfaction with the game, constructive criticism is not the same as tolling , blind praise does not necessarily translate into support,….sometimes its harmful actually.
There’s no offense in what you’re accusing me of, bit what I’m accusing of is your blatant disrespect for the opinions of others,
Wow its a GT dream team! Best of luck to the both of them! Any word on who else will be in the car with them?
There’s too many comments asking about and for DLC here; PLEASE, comment about it in the “April Maintenance” news story, stop spamming it here in the GT Academy news…
It’s gonna be like that for a while man. Everyone’s expecting it, can’t blame them for talking about it as long as they don’t go overboard
They almost ARE going overboard… some people are saying that they’re leaving the GT franchise behind JUST because Forza 4 is receiving the 2013 Dodge Viper as DLC… (for May, I believe) It’s really sad, to be honest. I think the Forums needs a whole section for DLC and Update speculation.
People who say they’re gonna “leave GT5 for Forza” are retarded, and I’ve said this many times before. To do that, a person most like has to already own both consoles for one, secondly trading in GT5 to Gamestop is gonna get you about $11(max), to Amazon $15(max)…..which is quite a waste actually. I think people just say that because they’re upset and think they’re hurting PD by doing so.
I was in college and played GT prologue , GT4 , Forza 2 and Forza 3 all at once (they all kinda over lapped). Forza is a fun game, but the people who have actually played it know its no substitute for GT5, tho it has its strong points. and I agree Quakebass, people need to relax a little bit.
Oh and Congrats to Lucas BTW! :)
Who cares if “FORZA” is getting the new Viper, even though I love it myself but come on Big deal. I can’t believe people are saying they’re leaving GT5 just for one car, ONE CAR. Pff. I’m glad I own both consoles and both games. Why is it so hard to own beats me. >_>
Own both….
@Toko: The main issue at owning both games is the cost; If I get a 360, I’ll be getting a used one off Ebay, most likely (hopefully $200 or less), and then I’d have to purchase Forza 4, ($20-30) and then Xbox Live… ($50) I need $280 to do that, and I can spend my money on better things; camera equipment, slot cars and slot car accessories… the list can go on. The most likely thing I’ll be spending money on in terms of gamin in the upcoming months an years are Car pack 3, (I haven’t had time to get a PSN card…) Dirt Showdown, Borderlands 2, and then either an Xbox 360 or PSOrbis (depending on release; Sony want to get the PSOrbis out around holiday 2013). It’s all about the money…
Excellent news for Lucas!
I agree. It’s great news for Lucas indeed. And we just go and sit on GTP waiting for our news to come. :) —– :'( —– X'( Which haven’t happened yet……..
^ But who cares about that, best of luck. :D
In all honesty, as much as I love the Nurburgring, and I could drive it straight for 4 hours easy, during the day, but even attempting to drive it at night, with all the adversaries around me, I have no idea how their mental strength is at the moment, but driving this at night over 12? dark hours, I don’t know, it’s high risk… isn’t it?
yea it is but they train like crazy for it. I always wonder if any drivers have fallen asleep at the wheel or if the intensity keeps them awake. Taking naps is not exactly the best thing for your body but what else can they do.
AND MAYBE SUM MORE CADDIES THEY HAVE SUM CARS TOO
I want to see the new ZL1 CAMERO,2012 CHRYSLER 300 SRT8& 2010 MOD,INSTEAD OF PUTTING F150’S &CHEVY TRUCK WHAT ABOUT SUM OF THE “JEEP” PRODUCT’S MOPAR MAKES SOME AMAZING MACHINES WITH ALOT OF POWER THOSE OTHER TRUCK SHOULDN’T EVEN BE ON GT5 THERE WHACK & THE GTR’S GIVE THEM A REST I PROLLY HAVE MORE GTR’S THAN ANY OTHER CAR IN MY GARAGE WHAT HAPPEN TO THE NEW NSX & A PRIMEUM SUPRA.BAFFLES ME THAT THEY DONT HAVE ONE ON THE GAME THE SUPRA HAS TO BE ONE OF JAPANS MOST FAMOUS CAR 3RD TO “YOU NO WHO”NISSAN HONDA THEN TOYOTA.Y DO THEY HAVE THE CASTROL SUPER GT AS A PRIMEUM AND NOT THE OTHER,THAT CAR BEEN ON THE GAME SINCE GT1ST CAME OUT. PD NO HARM BUT I THINK U CAN DO LIL BETTER ON CAR SELECTION,BUT I’M STILL A BIGGGGGG FAN OF THE GT SERIES.
And who’s supposed to decipher that?
Type it again properly in English, then put it in the feedback section, then stop annoying us. Sound good? Good.
I can’t hear you over the caps lock. What did you say?
I don’t understand why people think all caps typing makes your comment stick out. It just gives the trolls something to do
Read sloooowly maybe you’ll understand .what i’m saying is that i just want better car selection,it’s kinda backwards to have some of the world most iconic cars in standard i can do without the dodge ram and the other pickup trucks they have what the h.e.l.l. r we going to do with those THERE USELESS!!!!! if i had my choice it would be the 2011 shelby gt mustang,or the new charger.(castrol supra gt premium) supra street car(standard)what’s up with that,and for the a.s.s.h.o.l.e that wasted there time reading this comment and replying.if you dont have anything nice to say don’t say it at all.
that’s funny ps3finest lol
Must be an honor for Lucas to be on the same team with the man that got his career going.
I hope we get the GT-R they drive. As much as people complain at the number there are it is an impressive car.
That’s really cool. Can’t say I’m surprised. Lucas is a beast
I think its the Schulze so if it is that, its in the game.
another GT Academy news :(
It’s that time of year. Get used to it.
top news !!! great i can see this race live, all the best Lucas
Good luck!!!
GT forever :)
Wish him good luck. I watched a video on youtube and…….good luck.
Ah, there’s a reason why Kazanori was sighted at the Nürburgring last week… could it be that he and Lucas will be team mates? Will it be the Schulze GT-R or is Nissan sending out their own team to compete?
As the second paragraph says, they are indeed team-mates. No word on the team, though Lucas refers to a “Team GT Academy Polyphony Digital Team” in his Tweet.
I actually didn’t see that, I just kind of flew over it. That’s pretty awesome! I’m excited for Lucas about that one.
Kaz was at the ‘spotted’ at the ‘Ring because he was actually racing with 3 others in the first round of the VLN. Obviously getting some practice in!
Good luck to him
Wow other reason to look at the race this year. Last year was Kaz and this one Lucas too.
And of course the main reason is the track itself and those beautiful cars.
I read Lucas’s tweet on tweeter. Really happy for him. :)