Sony Announces Gran Turismo 5 Academy Edition for Europe

A new bundle version of GT5 has been announced this lunchtime for Europeans – the Academy Edition, to celebrate the fourth year of the Sony/Nissan tie-in of GT Academy.

Coming after the US-only Gran Turismo 5 XL, Academy Edition gives Europeans their first chance to buy a disc version of the Spec 2 upgraded game with a free DLC bundle – and it’s quite the bundle, featuring:

  • Complete Pack (Car Pack, Course Pack, Special Paint Pack, Racing Gear Pack)
  • Car Pack 2
  • Car Pack 3 and Course Pack 2
  • The Nissan GTR driven in this year’s Nurburgring 24 hour race by series creator Kazunori Yamauchi.

If that wasn’t enough, the announcement also contains a cryptic additional note that “there is more news yet to come on this title”.

The Academy Edition is due for release on September 26th 2012 for €29.99/£19.99 – less than the value of the DLC it contains.

See more articles on .

Comments (140)

  1. Sharpener

    If you have a Playstation 3 with two users, if one of them download the game, can pass the game to another user?. or everyone should download the game and pay for it?. Does anyone know the answer? Thanks in advance.

  2. sangdude82

    It would’ve been sweet if this edition had the 2012 GT Academy event along with GT Academy Cars since it’s called ‘GT5 Academy Edition’. So everyone can experience the 2012 GT Academy and drive those prized cars as well. Also, Twin Ring Motegi & Scion FR-S should’ve been included on this edition of GT5 as part of the free DLC bundle.

  3. PureGTMuzz

    I really hope they make this available in New Zealand. If not I’ll just get one of my mates in Europe to buy it for me or maybe just get it at eBay.co.uk.

  4. JAHHAJ

    I’m glad they did this because I don’t have psn and I think it shows they do think about people without psn even though this is aimed at everyone. Thank you PD.

    1. another_jakhole

      Exactly. Think about the future too. There are thousands more GT games being sold to date that aren’t GT5. GT4 sold approximately 250,000 copies last year.

  5. tje23

    Surely this has got to include Silverstone? We know that GT6 is confirmed to have a greater number of tracks, with some major licenses included, so with al the current usage of the track they probably have a laser scanned version! It would make sense to release it, as so many people want it, and it would allow them to ‘cool off’ DLC releases and ultimately polish GT6. Here’s hoping! :) In a perfect situation, I’d love the Vantage GTE too! :)

  6. Amac500

    Or maybe it will be the special prize car for us who get all golds all the way through GT Academy, that would be okay. It is GT Acadany edition anyways

  7. Amac500

    Plus it’s in a new version of the game for new players who don’t care while us dedicated ling time players can’t have it

  8. Amac500

    Hey I want that GT-R to, after all the GT-R’s they give us the ONE I’m interested I can’t have because I’m American. If it’s not in free DLC I’ll be disappointed hughly

  9. starbutt033

    Why in the world would you only give the New Schulze GTR to Europe, makes no sense what so ever? Think you guys (PD) make some needlessly rude decisions, talk about leaving mass amounts of your supporters out..Again

  10. Neilson248

    The funny thing is, I bet all the bitches now moaning about this new deal are gonna buy it at some stage because everyone on here, including the moaners, loves gt!

  11. STGLONG

    Why can’t we have some more Aston Martins and make mire if the cars premium ? It’s not hard . Interior view and more overall premium rather than the rubbish crap you get in the used car dealership .. Cars like Focus RS , Aston one 77 , aston v8 vantage , Lamborghini gallardo ( older model ) more jaguars , XKRS , some old racing jags , Ford fiesta . There’s way too many nissans and japanese cats , I know it’s a japanese game but there’s no need for that many Japanese cars . More manufacturers too like koenigsegg and more maseratis , like the MC12 . Britsh tracks like silverstone and Donington . I could keep going on but PD need to know that people aren’t interested in 200 different types of GTRs and silly little hondas .. More premium cars … More manufacturers … More tracks … And put in more car customisation , I want to be able to make my car unique , not just the same as everyone else’s !! PD need to see these comments so they can do something about it

    1. MeanElf

      Sorry, what does your ramble STGlong have to do with the news item? It’s not replacing any future DLC…this is just a version of the game we already have.

      Nowhere has it been said that PD have stopped producing stuff for GT5 just because of this release.

    2. w115ter

      xkrs can be made from xkr , one 77 from v12 , do what the rest of us do & build cars from standard premium models , i got loads of gtr’s all drive different , same as my hondas , 5 ctr’s , 14 s2000’s , look on tuner sites like seeker , spoon , spoon type one , j’s racing , mugen , arvou etc , then come back with a different view on hondas , im in the middle of adding giomic’s demo cars

    3. CarMad26

      I agree with you about having those cars installed or available at some point as DLC. It needs more got hatchbacks too, like the fiesta ST, focus RS, Citroen ds3 racing etc

    4. CarMad26

      Aswell, there should be more ferraris, like the GTB Daytona, testerossa, and new ferraris like the FF and the F12 Berlinetta etc, and defo more maseratis and lamborghinis, and a few Mercedes wouldn’t go amiss

    1. tpark103

      Agreed, as stated earlier this is Europes first bundle but I don’t remember anyother having an exclusive car. It would be a nice addition to the garage.

    2. w115ter

      did america not get the stealth nsx for purchasing all dlc , i think its about time europeans got recognition as all but the tc dlc have had america in mind , golf r dlc released in line with american real car release , scion ,

    3. DuskTrooper

      ^ Yes they got it, but it wasn’t exclusive to America. It was originally available in the European GT5 Signature Edition too. I don’t understand what scion has to do with anything, that premium Scion may be an American model, but the car was available to all.

      I don’t mind some exclusive content, but only if it is pre-order stuff. Once a game is released onto the worldwide market, their should no longer be any exclusive content.

    4. w115ter

      the reason about scion is that its american , i also forgot about the date at which gta cars started to be given , so why did i not recieve a code for a stealth nsx when ive purchased all dlc on release dates ? I agree with youre no exclusive content after release though , btw any americans reading this who think i hate all of them stop thinking now as 1 of the nicest couples i have ever met live in austin texas

  12. Zamado75

    Just a pointer; that definitely isn’t the ‘Schulze MS GTR’ that we ready have.

    It’s a new car. :)

    However, it’s ANOTHER GT-R, so my interest ends there…

  13. Quakebass

    Looks like we’ll be getting the new Nurburg Racing GT-R sometime soon… At least I hope so. Also, I hope that PD/Sony just starts releasing everything everywhere; Europe didn’t have a bundle until now, and now that they do, the bundle seems better than what came with GT5 XL… It provokes jealousy, which leads to annoying complaints.

  14. tpark103

    Fantastic news it’s always exciting to hear new stuff. I hope that I’ll be able to borrow the GTR from some of my EU friends ,I highly doubt it seeing as they can’t use my Edge Camero. Sad day for some happy day for others!!!!

  15. JER_CREST

    I hope they include the 2012 GT-R Race car for a DLC or an update like they did for the 2011 GT-R Race car.

    1. TrdScionxB2

      Unfortunately, I don’t know if we can get it as DLC yet. I went on the sony blog & this is what I got. “At the time of writing the GT-R #123 will be exclusive to Academy Edition customers. Things might change later on, never say never.”

  16. Hentis

    Ok my predictions, about the “fourthcoming announcement”.
    Service pack 3. Various updates & upgrades to GT5 and a couple of cars. This will be free. Premium DLC possibly a few more cars and maybe a track.

    OR

    Same as above with the added point that Gamescom is a few weeks away in mid August. Perhaps an announcement at the show in Germany about the above and or GT6

    Just throwing that in the mix. Probably neither but hey you never know.

  17. dixonbaps

    Is the Spec 2 (from disc) install smaller size on the HD rather than a full Spec 2 Download from the net as was with GT5P? (the difference was about 2 gig on HD space as I recall). If it’s a lot smaller on install size then I will purchase it and completely wipe my old GT5 install and reinstall from disc, Saving a significant amount of HD space and trade in my old copy of GT5.

  18. BMfan

    When the GT5 XL edition was announced for US market that news section became a long wishlist now we have people moaning about something they aren’t forced to buy.

    Did u ever think that maybe some would want this so if they ever did a re-install they wouldn’t have to sit with the updates failing all the time or maybe,for some reason they just don’t want too download the updates or even don’t have internet(which i know is slim but i know a guy that use’s his brothers internet to update).

    I’m just going to throw this out there but just maybe there is someone who would be trying a GT game for the 1st time,don’t flame me for saying that,i know all of the GT players started at GT1 so that would make this disk a bit pointless for us since we would have bought it when it 1st came out.

    1. another_jakhole

      “I’m just going to throw this out there but just maybe there is someone who would be trying a GT game for the 1st time,”

      I think you’d be surprised how many people got GT5 as their first game. I only see it in comments and in forums. A lot of people pointed out that they wanted to wait for the price to drop to half price or however much they wanted to wait for.

      I think it’s something like 80-90%% of PS3’s are hooked up to the internet.

  19. hub_zemke

    so “If that wasn’t enough, the announcement also contains a cryptic additional note that “there is more news yet to come on this title” — sounds like a No More DLC’s for GT5 ? that’s it ???????????
    Oh nooo!!

  20. HKS racer

    They try to re-sell the same stuff all over again, plus some bonus here and there.
    Lame never end
    in the Galaxy.

    1. MeanElf

      How is it reselling stuff all over again if the game disc is cheaper than the DLC to date? Simply reselling old content to me implies profit for nothing, which this doesn’t seem to be. It’s making the game plus DLC available for those who don’t have it as yet and cheaply too.

      There’s very little profit involved.

    2. EliteDreamer

      I guess selling a game on it’s second day could be considered re-selling the same stuff all over again. Pity.

    3. HKS racer

      All the pre-release hype it’s gone now. 7 milion people already purchased GT5. Don’t forget in this world there’s people not interested in GT5/PS3, not interested in racing games, or simply not interested in videogames at all.

      Therefore their main market is still the same, those 7 milion users,
      + some occasional new entries. They are just repacking the same stuff adding some extras hoping some fanboys and some random new entries will buy / re-buy the game. It’s a marketing strategy adding DLC’s at a cheaper price. So people will consider the purchase even if they are not very interested but, it’s CHEAPER, you know. So it’s a “deal”. Not really.

      If you consider the DLC content lame and you buy only because it’s cheaper, you’re gonna be disapponited.

      My advice to all of you, buy only if you really like what you get, not because it’s cheaper.

    4. EliteDreamer

      Do you seriously the think that some of the other 6.3 billion people will want the game? Don’t even go into that fanboy BS. There are still buyers, some may haven’t even gotten the game and are going to now.

    5. MeanElf

      Agreed that it’s a marketing ploy – but why get all het up about it? This doesn’t affect those who already have the game, unless they want to be completist about GT in which case, their choice.

      So, one car isn’t available to other regions – there is still plenty of time for that to appear across the rest of the world in one form of bonus or another – that has happened before.

    6. BlindZenDriver

      Get over yourself already!

      I think it’s cool they make a good package deal. Nobody is forcing people to buy it so how can that ever be a problem?

      For those that want to get into GT5 like say perhaps because they tried the GTA or maybe because they just bought a PS3 the package is great. And for me it’s like the more that play GT5 the better – it takes nothing from me that there are more players or that PD makes money. Both things can only mean more GT5 stuff, free or for money, and also making it likely that GT6 becomes even better.

      Also I think you need to look up the word reselling in a dictionary. PD ain’t re-selling they are selling and since they aren’t forcing anyone to buy what they have already bought there is zero problem with that.

      Finally a general observation. What is it with all the whining and complaining about GT5. For every news there is about GT5 there is a whole bunch of whiners and I ‘d wish they would just shut up or try to be constructive. People should remember when one buys a game it’s not like one has bought shares in the game company.

    7. Quakebass

      I think a big reason for this is for people without in internet connection being able to get DLC and updates for the game…

  21. mercgoat

    Oh joy another car that only one region is going to get. Enough with this country exclusive content already.

    1. sangdude82

      They also need to include more non-Japanese cars into the game and also update the line up of cars from existing manufacturers like Pagani & Mercedes Benz.

    2. MeanElf

      Why – didn’t you notice all the Japanese cars in previous titles? Sheesh – how many times does that inconvenient truth have to be posted?

      And AnPrionsaBeag – these ‘discrimination’ comments you keep plastering about the place are getting very old – the version isn’t even out yet. September is still quite a long way off – still plenty of time for an announcement concerning the extra car.

      So what if the European market gets it first? That’s nothing if the rest of the world gets it a bit later – wait and see before posting such accusations.

  22. HuskyGT

    I’m not a big JDM fan, but boy, that GTR looks sexy! Yes, another GTTR, but it’s the car that Yamauchi drove. I WANT!

    I wonder what those news are? I highly suggest that no one gets their hopes high, though. It might only be that GTR as a free DLC.

  23. leeson65

    I wonder if it’ll have the academy events built in or something. There must be a reason it’s the “Academy Edition”.

    Oh and by the way, another Sklyine/ GTR… seriously? It’s like a bad joke that we were all tired of a year ago. The only “new” cars we get are just different versions of the same stuff we’ve always had. Sigh…

  24. A_Higher_Place

    Damn, I actually like the Racing versions on GTRs. Hope someday North America can get that car!

  25. danger23

    Has anybody heard about that new N.S.X..is it going to be on the next dlc “when ever that happens”or gt6?

    1. leeson65

      Yes the N.S.X.. has been confirmed to be released on GT6, which will be on the PS3. Release date is June 5, 2013. This is common knowledge that everyone knows. You shouldn’t even have to ask.

  26. pnbr0014

    lol all the GTRs do in the game is understeer anyways lol.. well besides for the TC and whatever racing models there are. I wonder if this GTR will sound like a GTR or like some other car in the game..

  27. Jav

    Good to see the value of your money! After we pay for stupid DLC they just come out with this crap and give it away?

  28. BMfan

    Now comes all the speculations on what the extra news is and then when it doesn’t match what people have speculated it becomes Kaz’s fault.

    1. HuskyGT

      Yeah. So donn’t get your hopes high. I think it’s only going to be this GTR for the rest of us as a free DLC. Just like with the first one.

  29. japlkofk69

    Another day without new DLC! By the way im sure that in the new DLC that GTR in the pic will be in there LOL

  30. DerBrandy

    id like to see a download version of gt5 no matter how big the download is.. cannot play since weeks because of a broken bluray drive

  31. Zamado75

    £20?! Hahahaha!
    Oh, PD, dont you think that if people haven’t already downloaded any if those ‘packs’ it’s maybe because they, erm, dont want them(?). And forcing them to pay £20 for it, isn’t going yo change their mind XP.

    1. BMfan

      Please show me where it say that if you don’t buy this version they are going to send someone around to your house?

    2. wainwj

      Ermm mate, you get the FULL game and the DLC for 20 quid. If you don’t already own the game then thats a pretty amazing deal.

  32. Beefstallion

    “New” car is a stretch. Does PD think you are all Kaz fanboys or something? No wonder they can’t offer decent DLC…too busy tooting their own horn.

    1. YMG-7

      you two! don’t talk like that here! it’s not safe! everywhere filled with fanboys! other than that, I completely agree…

    2. another_jakhole

      IMO, rules need to be made about posts like, “you two! don’t talk like that here! it’s not safe! everywhere filled with fanboys! other than that, I completely agree…”

      No one says we don’t prefer a better DLC selection. No one says GT5 is flawless. You kinda guys are the ones making inappropriate comments most of the time. Obviously, no “side”is innocent though.

    3. YMG-7

      you know what mate, if you put it on vote here, for a rule against the term “fanboy” you can make it illegal to use eaisly. because this place is filled with them..

      don’t know if you have seen it but there are fanboys who can cheer when the kazman take a sh.t.

      I’m against all kinds of fanboy thing.

  33. evanzo7

    Im pretty sure the GTR is the N24 Schulze Motorsport GT-R that we got a while back for free, not an actual other one.
    Thats what I think though, don’t take my word on it.

    1. Nismo34

      Oh I dunno, that GTR Imaged above seems quite different to the Shulze Motorsport one we got last year I could be imaging things but Im sure the one we got was black not blue..

    2. Dan360

      Last year featured the black Schulze motorsport GT-R. This year Kaz drove the blue GT Academy Nissan GT-R.

    3. crcn11

      No, it’s a different one, it’s the one they used in this year’s Nurb 24… hence it’s blue and has different insides…

    1. another_jakhole

      Another free-to-receive RACE CAR version of the GT-R. It’s a treat for Photo Mode people. Also, some of us will appreciate that Kaz used this car in a race that happened only last month. Three months ’til we get to drive what Kaz got to drive on the Ring.

  34. Deko Wolf-GTPT

    I just want the car. I’m guessing it’s going to be a PSN code, to later download it. And that means it won’t be trade-able, just like the chrome and stealth cars.

    For those who already have everything in this game, they now will be force to spend more extra cash for something they already have, just for the sake of one car.

    Too bad, I hope the car is given away for a limited time or something, because I really want it, I already missed out on the chrome and stealth…

  35. scholesy1899

    Isn’t that just the Kaz Schulzesport GT-R we all got back a little while ago, but with white Volks instead of black and a blue chip? I thought most of us had all this DLC, well if your a GTPlanet user i would have thought you would?
    Meh! i got excited for a bit.

    1. G.T.Ace

      No, this is the 2012 GT-R, which is a tuned street car. The N24 Schulze Motorsport GT-R we already got is closer to a GT3 machine. The new one is blue by the way.

    1. Jarnac

      To be precise, one hopes owners of the original game will have an opportunity to acquire the special GTR without buying another disc.

  36. L8erBaby

    Buuut, now someone in US is probably gonna complain about Europe getting more in the XL edition than them.

Comments on this post are now closed.

About the Author