The GT5 Demo and GT Academy 2010: What We Know

Jordan Greer · · 83 Comments

gt-academy-2010

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…

  • The demo will be available to download for free by on December 17, 2009 in Europe, Australia/NZ, and North America. Availability in local PSN Stores in other regions – including Japan – is not yet confirmed. However, you can easily create a new account on your PS3 associated with any country, so it will technically be available to everyone simultaneously.
  • You will only be able to download the demo between December 17, 2009 and January 25, 2010. After that date, the demo will be playable indefinitely, but it will no longer be available to download for others who missed out.
  • This is a demonstration of Gran Turismo 5 and its new physics engine – it is not just a new track or car inserted within the world of GT5: Prologue.
  • Red Nissan 370z in Gran Turismo 5The demo will feature one variation of a new track in Gran Turismo 5 and two cars: a stock and tuned version of the Nissan 370Z. Winners will be determined by the fastest combined time with the two cars. In other words, your fastest laps in each car will be added together, and the fastest total time wins.
  • If you’re from one of these countries, you will get to compete for a chance to race with Nissan via the GT Academy driver search program. If you’re in the United States or Canada, you win…two tickets to the Indianapolis 500.
  • GT Academy competitors will try to set the fastest lap in their respective country. The top 20 fastest laps recorded in each country will be invited to a national final where, according to the official press release, another new track will be used to host the second round of the competition. The fastest driver from each national event will move on to Silverstone to experience GT Academy – an intensive 5-day program (you can watch last year’s GT Academy finals here).
  • You must be over the age of 18 and you must have never held a national or international racing license of any kind to be eligible for GT Academy.
  • It is not yet known if Gran Turismo 5’s new damage engine will be shown off in this demo.
  • The tires visible in the rendering of the tuned 370Z in the demo appear to be mounted backwards, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. Looking at the tread pattern, the tires can be identified as Yokohama ADVAN A048s and – sure enough – according to their TireRack description, they can be mounted “inside-out” to prolong their life. Why Polyphony Digital would choose to render the tires this way, however, remains a mystery.

800px-Indianapolis_Motor_Speedway_-_road_course.svgNow, a few things remain unconfirmed – most notably the circuit which will be used in the demo. Before the public announcement, it was revealed to me that either the Indianpolis GP Circuit or Spa Francorchamps would be featured. After putting the rest of the pieces of the puzzle together, it’s quickly becoming obvious to that Indy will be the one available to the public. First, Indy was the only track which was explicitly revealed by name in the Gran Turismo 5 E3 2009 Trailer. Second, the “Time Trial” prize for U.S. residents is a trip to the Indy 500 race. And, finally, the European PS Blog announcement carefully described the track as “a specially created section of a new Gran Turismo 5 circuit”. Indianapolis Motor Speedway, of course, hosts three configurations: the famous oval, the GP circuit, and the counter-clockwise MotoGP circuit. Spa Francorchamps, then, would provide an “unseen” challenge for all GT Academy participants and would help even the playing field when they meet in their national finals. Unfortunately, however, that suggests the rest of us will have to wait until March to try out Polyphony Digital’s version of this epic track…

For now, here’s an onboard clip of the Indianapolis GP circuit. If you don’t know it yet, now would probably be a good time to start learning!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPf_lE1B2Mo

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Comments (83)

  1. Preston

    Is this demo and entry only available for the PS3 or do they have a demo to download on a PC? I think I can do well, maybe not the top, but the top 100 at least.

  3. CJ

    The video of the Indy GP circuit is outdated. The end of the lap where there’s those two hairpins before the right hander back onto the banking has been turned into a left/right/left to the right hander onto the banking. These changes were made for MotoGP. No big deal, it’s only a few more corners to learn.

  5. akiraacecombat

    well its great that the shown us the new game engine, based in what we probably will see in the demo we can make some ideas of the phisics in moments like rainning, and they probably also going to show the damage engine, the anuncement were almost 1 month ago and they are probably working on the destructible panels of the 350z, also the graphic are going to be something that everyone will be looking at, with new frames and after the pictures of the ferrary italia and the new mercedes we will taste a little bit the sensation of the whole gran turismo, in the circuit factor we will probaly see textures of tracks and another variables that are priority of the circuit development, in my opinion i will like to race in spa but the probably are going to indianapolis because the promotion in the us and canada sugest it.

  6. Mr.Grandorifto

    Yeah it’s a great posting and everything, but I’m thinking that Indy configuration looks a bit like a whale, maybe a beluga or sperm whale. It’s like they rolled dice to choose what kind of corner comes next, and then strung them together with straight bits of track.

  9. ferrari_chris

    I live in New Zealand and I have two questions:

    1. Will I be able to get this demo?
    2. Will I have to pay or can I download it for free?

    Thanks. :)

  10. Tiga

    HIP HIP HOORRRAAAY !

    Fantastic news. I read Lucas’ post there about the need to be fit…guess some of us just wanna be there at Silverstone but don’t seriously think of wining the GT Academy.

    Instructor: give me 3 laps around the track.
    Me: ummm…I’m here to become the next Lewis Hamilton not Usain Bolt !

    Thanks for the great news Jordan.

  12. SC

    When I saw the car model at first, I thought it looks like it’s from Prologue because in the demo videos it looks much more reflective.

  13. DeolTheBeast

    At least give us a more interesting, and challenging track. Indianpolis just doesn’t do it for me.
    Spa or Nurburgring please KY.

  14. FlareKR

    I guess I won’t have to use my European account after all. Too bad US winners get 2 free tickets to Indy, it’s so much better on TV because you can see the whole race (and there’s not 60000 other people around you), believe I did it once.

  15. RMS13

    Hi, I was wondering if anyone could answer this question. Would I be eligible to participate in the European contest since I am a Norwegian citizen who currently lives in the US?

  16. BoboMeiser

    I was a little bit disapointed when i see this.

    Look at die Sunlight in die Cockpit, when the car drives through shadows, it dosent matter.

    i hope they fixed this bug =)

  21. blubb

    first: indy is boring as ´the only´ demo track for the next possibly half a year

    second: only two Nissan 370Z versions also (there are so many cool brands in the world and they choose Nissan (again – nobody (KY) can say that they didn´t pay for the promotion)

    third: hope for Spa

  25. Kilborn230

    Congratulations Lucas! Its a nice welcome to see you participating the posts.

    I was under the impression that North Americans (Canadian here :) ) wouldn’t get any sort of prize, thanks for clearing it up Jordan. Any track is fine with me as i just really want to see and feel the improvements Polyphony Digital has conjured up… and to race of course!

    I’m not sure if any present under the tree could top this haha, thanks Kaz and PD!!!

  26. Will

    Thanks alan. not very clear even in this “bullet point” version. The story to me is we are getting a demo THIS MONTH, all the “GT academy” stuff is just confusing matters.

  29. Will

    Sorry to sound like a dickhead newb here but… Do I REALLY need to be in this “GT Academy” to play the demo?!?!? Weirdest shit I’ve ever heard!

  31. PeterWRC

    I living in Ireland, but I’m not irish. What’s the story now? Am I able to racing in the champioship or not? Or someone, who ex. English fella, but He livin in Cuba, is he able to do?

  32. Lucas Ordonez

    Hi Guys,
    As GT ACADEMY 08 winner I would like to say to all of you that GT ACADEMY 2010 will be even bigger and is your best opportunity to became a Professional racing driver and live the dream as me. My advice to all of you is not only train hard in the PLAYSTATION you must be very FIT so you must have to do lot’s of Fitness training If you want to be the next GTA winner!!!
    Good luck guys and see you in Silverstone!!

    Don’t forget to add and visit this sites!!:
    http://www.lucasordonez.com
    http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=171982060934&ref=ts
    http://www.facebook.com/GTAcademy?ref=ts
    http://www.nissan-motorsports.com/ENN/RACE/2009/GTACADEMY/index.html

    GOOD LUCK!!

    LUCAS ORDONEZ

  34. Mickle Pickle

    New Physics on the 17th = improvement on GT5-P driving!!! this is getting SWEEEET!

    Cant wait to take it for a test drive !!

  36. Turbo_3800

    This should keep me somewhat busy for a couple days. I thought this demo was gonna be something like the GT-HD demo from 06′. I guess this is better than nothing and I can’t be picky at this point lol. It’ll be nice to see what the new developments bring us. I wonder if there will be different camera views even tho cockpit is the best of th all, I do wanna drive outside the car sometimes and I think the camera being tight on the car is stupid. It throws me off while turning. Like the car stays fixed but it’s the track that turns, I love the camera loosness from GT1-GT3. That’s my only real complaint about GT since GT4 till now but CP view fix that! (let me stop rambling)lol

  37. maxpontiac

    I cannot wait for the 17th. I am not sure that I’ll even crack the top 1000, but I will gladly try..

    ..over and over again!

  38. andyreynuk

    There is an official Facebook site for GT Academy – just had it forwaded it to me by a friend. its facebook.com/GTAcademy

    there’s some pictures of the car and some other stuff here and there.

  42. JDigital

    I’m curious if I can login with my EU PSN account and compete in GTAcademy even though I live in USA?

    Anyone know?

  43. Luke

    @Donald
    i don`t think you can easily make a Spec upgrade for 5 Prologue. It´s been years since Prologue came out, so GT5 now surely is a completely different game.

    @noname
    He once said sound is one of the greatest improvements, but we`ll see on december 17th, hope Kaz is right about that. And if not, i`ll just enjoy how GT5 will play :)

  44. Alan

    @ Mustangmiha, go on to u tube and watch an on board video of an f1 car at spa and u will see whats so special with it, indianapolis is a boring circuit that doesnt challenge car nor driver

  45. Sele

    Sorry but I hate US tracks :( They all crap wich I played in GT5P and Supercar Challenge… My only love is Laguna seca… I hope we get Spa in the demo

  46. GTP_Davey07-O37

    Superb Can’t wait ’til 17th…Thanks for the info Jordan…Hope the servers dont crash on that day….

  52. Mustangmiha

    What’s so special about Spa Franchochampsomehow so much? And I don’t get it what it says about tires…

  54. TOLL-Scibba-HRT

    finally we have geat new about GT5 demo coming out on the 17 of this mouth can’t wait to comes out woooooohooooooo thank you kaz for gt5

  55. mc959

    Yes, and Belgium finally in for GT Academy!!!

    Now just Spa as the track and this will be indeed a nice christmas….

  56. Khlad

    Hmmmm, will it be all countries in Europe or just the big ones? Cos they said also that Vidzone was comin to Europe but it was only the big countries in Europe like UK, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, etc.

  57. noname

    @ Luke

    I dont think you should expect anything special when it comes to sound.
    Though, I can’t wait to get the feel of the new physics either (:

    I hope we’ll see the pit crew in action too! :-)

  59. Wheel Nut

    Interesting that it uses both the standard and tuned times combined.

    Id love to see this track with new lighting like the “Citreon” trailer had rather than bright blue skies. Oh a sunset or something would be ace.

    Now if only they also used this time trial to let people test out the “PS3 Eye” head tracking feature. Itching to experience that.

  60. N155AN

    thanks jordan, i know what im going to be up to in the christmas holidays…. trying to get within the top 20 uk times :D

  63. Krymzen

    @ riph

    Why would a private online race be available in a demo completely focused on a time trial for the GT Academy?

  65. Mikesima

    The Synchro Rev Match feature of the 370 can be toggled on or off in the real car. Advanced drivers would have this turned off since it designed to be a helper of sorts.

    Though it would be cool if they offered toggle, just for fun.

  66. Luke

    @Zenith
    i think the tuned version will be something like the tuned cars of GT5 Prologue, small body kit, little bit more power and better suspension, otherwise it wouldn`t make much sense to time both cars together if they nearly are the same.
    I suppose the demo doesn`t have much features, i think it is primarily released to extend the people trying to get into GT Academy, but i`m so curious about the new sounds and physics.

  71. Adam Lang

    Thank you for this awesome summary of what’s to come! I bought my PS3 in anticipation of GT5 when we were pretty much certain it would be released before the new year, now this kinda makes up for the let down! Now to sort myself out with a HDTV before the 17th..

  72. RedBaron

    I love addition of real tyre types to GT, addition of FR car to a demo over Christmas and am very curious about new sound, physics and graphics, mainly graphics of the track if it’s more “live” and dirty than tracks in Prologue. Spa-Francorchamps would be beautiful! Can’t wait to try it!

  73. Phosphor112

    I love how I know the Indy GP track off the back of my hand.. I live 5-10 minutes away from it and I’ve seen many races at that track… I probably won’t play to compete though.. I usually can get tickets to the 500 either very cheap or for free… I do live in Indy after all (connections ftw..)

    Good luck to everyone.

  76. dave

    Christmas comes early this year. Thanks for the update.

    Do you know if the restrictions are the same for the US/CA prize?

    Also a note to everyone: A steering wheel (Ideally Logitech) will be essential for both Indy and Spa. The long steady state corners in Sector 1 and 3 at Indy and Spa’s Sector 2 (Rivage to Stavelot, especially due to the off-camber nature of Pouhon) will yeild great rewards by the additional control.

    GETTING EXCITED!

    -Dmac

  77. PHYSICS!!!

    PHYSICS!!!!
    ALL I WANT ARE REAL PHYSICS!!!!

    I love GT for everything but the most important thing in sim game i.e. Physics! I hope I won’t just download the demo but play it!!! PD please give us rFactor/Race On kind of physics!!!

  79. Zenith

    Great!

    Is it possible that the tuned 370z is actually just an example car that has been customized with a spoiler and new wheels? (GT3 style) I remember something about Kaz saying we will be able to customize “every part imaginable” or something along those lines

  82. uzz30_driver

    The real question is if the Synchro Rev Match feature in the transmission will be simulated when you select manual with the 370Z.

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