Nissan 370Z

In 1969, Nissan debuted the very first in its long line of Z cars. Now, 50 years later it’s celebrating its golden anniversary with a special edition 370Z.

The seemingly endless wait for the new Toyota Supra is over. When Akio Toyoda drove the finished car onto the stage in Detroit, it marked the climax of five years and one day of teasing. Finally, the car was here.

Nissan’s latest Z-car is getting on a bit now. It’s knocking on the door of ten years old, and you might be expecting a new one any day. Well, at this year’s SEMA show, the Japanese automaker debuted an updated model — but it may not be what you’d expect.

http://youtu.be/z8Ioh1_lGcA

Last weekend, 2010 GT Academy winner Jordan Tresson became the second of Nissan’s graduates to win an international championship. Along with his RJN Motorsport team mates, Alex Buncombe and Chris Ward, he took the Nissan 370Z to the GT4 title in Sunday afternoon’s season-closing Blancpain Endurance Series race at Silverstone.

European GT Academy winner Jann Mardenborough’s bid to make the jump from PlayStation gamer to real racing driver took a massive step forward on Sunday when he contested a round of the Nippon Challenge national series at the UK’s Rockingham Circuit. The 19-year-old from Cardiff had an almost faultless day in the Nissan 370Z taking pole position and dominant wins in both races and recording the fastest lap of race one in the process. Jann’s American counterpart, Bryan Heitkotter, completed an excellent weekend for the PlayStation® Nissan Team taking second on the grid, second place in both races and the second fastest lap.

After one of the most gruelling ‘Total 24 Hours of Spa’ in many years, the RJN Motorsport Nissan 370Z of Jordan Tresson, Alex Buncombe and Chris Ward crossed the line as the GT4 race winner! This marks the first international victory for a GT Academy winner and indeed for the production class Nissan 370Z.

European GT Academy 2011 winner Jann Mardenborough had another amazing weekend on-track, recording a notable first in class, third overall, finish at the Donington Park round of the Production Touring Car Trophy. More importantly, the weekend’s results have moved Jann another step closer to qualifying for an international race licence, necessary to compete at the next 24 Hours of Dubai. With the 19-year-old from Cardiff collecting valuable signatures at Donington, his licence has now been upgraded from National ‘B’ to National ‘A’, and his motor sport CV now reads; two race meetings, two podiums.

There’s been a lot of attention (and rightfully so!) around winner of the first GT Academy, Lucas Ordonez, after it was announced he’d be competing in the 2011 ILMC this year. However, last year’s GT Academy winner, Jordan Tresson, is also steadily making his way up the racing ladder, running in this year’s Blancpain Endurance Series – a European championship which includes the challenging 24 Hours of Spa.

After more than a month of grinding away at Tsukuba, Rome Reverse, and Cape Ring, the top regional drivers in GT Academy USA have finally crossed the finish line – see here for all of the official results. I’d like to congratulate all GTPlanet readers and members who made the cut, and a special thanks to everyone using their GTP_ “tagged” PSN accounts which can be found throughout the leaderboards (nice work, GTP_potatochip for being the highest-placed tagged driver).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8D5BcFJPiI

Jordan Tresson has been announced as the winner of GT Academy 2010. The 21-year-old Frenchman completed a short head-to-head test today on Silverstone’s new Grand Prix circuit against friend and rival Luca Lorenzini. The pair drove five flying laps each in the 420bhp Nissan 370Z GT4 race car that Tresson will now campaign in the 2010 European GT Cup series.

Our friends at TaxiGamer, who are obsessed with high-quality video game footage, have shared some excellent new stuff from the Gran Turismo 5 Demo, including real game play footage, a replay, and a walk through the menu. Keep reading to see all the clips, and visit their site to download the original files in all their glory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGNeHlfJU6I

As I read through the comments here and in our forum, there seems to be a surprising amount of confusion regarding the details and some of the specific points regarding the Gran Turismo 5 demo announced yesterday. I’ll try to condense things down into a few key bullet points to make sure that we’re all on the same page, while summarizing the details of how it’s all going to go down…

Announced just hours ago on the PlayStation EU Blog, GT Academy 2010 will be held in a brand new demo of Gran Turismo 5 hitting the PlayStation Store on December 17, 2009. The demo will feature a stock and tuned version of the Nissan 370Z, and, while Sony has decided not to release the track just yet, I have been aware of the competition for some time now and GTPlanet can reveal the demo will include either Spa Francorchamps or the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. However, Sony described the track as a “specially created section of a new Gran Turismo 5 circuit”, which suggests to me it’s the Indianapolis GP Circuit, as it is quite literally a “section” of a larger circuit. (Let’s not forget it was also the big track prominently shown in Gran Turismo 5’s E3 2009 trailer.)