gran turismo academy – Adam's Auto Advice

2014 GT Academy begins, gives Average Joe’s shot at Real Racing

Nissan and Sony have started the 2014 GT Academy which takes Average Joes who play the video game Gran Turismo 6 on PS3 from a couch potato to a real life professional race car driver. The sixth installment of the GT Academy in 2014 is expected to be the biggest in history and one lucky winner will get a spot on the NISMO racing team, Nissan's motorsports arm. So basically this means all those hours playing racing video games wasn't for nothing. You can put those skills to use! 🙂

The GT Academy competition has attracted about 4 million entries globally since the program started in 2008. This year winners will come from Europe, North America and Germany will all select champions. This year Canada will participate as part of GT Academy for the first time in the events history.

If you are lucky enough to make it to the final selection you will do a three-month driver development program that Nissan claims is one of the best. The 2014 GT Academy global champions will then compete at the historic Silverstone racing circuit in the UK for a spot on Nissan’s NISMO race team and the chance to drive a Nissan in the grueling Dubai 24 Hour race next January. You can prove that gamers can be elite racers.

“The GT Academy concept has now been validated by the results of NISMO Athletes’ performance on the track worldwide. It’s a blast to see Gran Turismo 6 gamers driving Nissan performance cars in the game, while aspiring to race our real vehicles in this competition. Nissan’s partnership with PlayStation has been a very good one, and I look forward to seeing what the fourth year of GT Academy in North America will bring.” said Nissan North America Vice President of Marketing, Jon Brancheau.

Brancheau is referring to the past success of GT Acadmey graduates who have gone on to be successful in their racing careers. The 2011 GT Academy North America winner Bryan Heitkotter earned three pole positions, five front row qualifying spots and two podiums racing a Nissan 370Z NISMO for Doran racing in the Continental Tire Challenge Series in IMSA. GT Academy 2012 champion Steve Doherty notched two podium finishes in seven starts driving a Nissan GT-R in the Blancpain Endurance Series last year for RJN Motorsport. Last season’s GT Academy winner Nicholas McMillen is currently competing in the Blancpain Series and experienced his first start April 13 at Monza in Italy, helping his team earn an impressive fifth in class in their first Blancpain Series appearance. McMillen also brought the GT-R to second in class during his stint behind the wheel, demonstrating his ability to maneuver through the pack quickly. Keep in mind all these guys got these racing opportunities by competing in Gran Turismo.

“I am very proud that GT Academy has returned for its sixth season globally, and that Gran Turismo 6 together with Nissan will once again serve as the platform for the development of new racing drivers who otherwise would not have had the chance to pursue their dreams,” said Kazunori Yamauchi, the legendary creator of the Gran Turismo racing games and President of Polyphony Digital Inc.

How to Compete in GT Academy

The 2014 GT Academy will feature a new round of challenges opening every 2 weeks, for a total of 4 rounds. For those interested in competing online qualifying started on April 21st but you can start up until when the 4th round begins which is on June 2nd. You are allowed to compete in try the challenges at any time until June 16th when the 2014 Academy closes.

You will need a copy of Gran Turismo 6, along with a PlayStation 3 gaming system, and an online PlayStation membership to compete in the GT Academy. This might set you back a few hundred but that isn't much when you consider the opportunity you get right from your house.

For regions of Europe and North America where GT Academy 2014 is hosted, the selection for the online qualification is performed through the final round of these events. People that live outside the applicable regions for the GT Academy will not be subject to the selection process, you can still challenge and experience all events of the GT Academy 2014. “Even if you don’t make it through to the next round of GT Academy, the GT6 qualifying challenge will improve your skills as a driver and all players taking part will be rewarded with in-game credits to enhance their experience.” says Yamauchi.

If you want more information about the 2014 GT Academy visit the website;

http://www.gran-turismo.com/us/academy/2014/

Are GT Academy Drivers to Fast to even Race?

Some of my readers might be familiar with the GT Academy where Nissan and Sony give average guys the chance at a real racing career. It appears the GT Academy program might be a little too successful though as GT Academy winners have been deemed “too fast” for the British GT Championship (Pro-Am category).

Jann Mardenborough, the 2012 GT Academy winner, entered the British GT Championship alongside Alex Buncombe in the brand new Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3. Jann was the amateur and Alex was the pro at that point. Even though Jann's racing experience was limited the racing duo worked hard and were close to winning the championship. “I have a lot of admiration for GT Academy,” said British GT Championship Manager Benjamin Franassovici. “It has shown itself to be a great way to source raw talent and turn that into real racing talent as we saw in British GT last year with Jann Mardenborough. However Nissan’s ability to find such amazing raw talent means that we cannot accept their full season entry for British GT in 2013. Their new recruits have very little racing experience so they have to be on the lowest performance grade. Their talent, going on Jann’s speed last year, doesn’t reflect this lack of experience so it is not fair to put them up against our Pro/Gentleman grid, the basis of British GT3. Hats off to Nissan though and I should point out that there are no closed doors here.”

During the 2012 British GT season Jann Mardenborough was marked as being ‘too fast’ for his performance grading. Since Mardenborough didn’t meet any of the higher criteria the British GT organizers had no choice other than to apply a time penalty to allow other drivers to catch up. In his first season as a real racing driver Jann’s talent was recognized by the British Racing Driver’s Club who awarded him Rising Star status. Mardenborough was also awarded a place on the prestigious MSA Academy, run by the governing body of racing in the UK.

“It’s disappointing that we can’t put any of our new winners into the British GT Championship as it was a great learning experience for Jann. It’s also very flattering at the same time though. Being told you are too fast isn’t something that happens very often in any competitive sport.” said Nissan’s Global Motorsports Director Darren Cox. In 2013 four new winners of GT Academy came through the intensive GT Academy Driver Development Program; Wolfgang Reip (Belgium), Mark Shulzhitskiy (Russia), Peter Pyzera (Germany) and Steve Doherty (United States). it will be interesting to see what these new GT Academy drivers will be able to accomplish in 2013 out on racing circuits across the world.

Nissan’s GT Academy 2012 – Episode 1 [Video]

The Gran Turismo (GT) Academy recently released the first episode on YouTube, showing all the mayhem, challenges, and difficulties it takes to go from a video gamer to a real racecar driver.

For those that don't know, the GT Academy is a competition where players of the popular racing game Gran Turismo 5 try to take their video game skills from the couch onto a real racetrack. Out of 400,000 players that compete on the PlayStation Network, 16 finalists compete for a chance to fulfill the ultimate dream, being a racecar driver for Nissan.

The GT Academy series chronicles these finalists journey toward achieving a real racing career at the world famous Silverstone racetrack, the birthplace of F1, in the UK.

Sounds like fun? It sure sounds cool and exciting, but don't be fooled. The driving challenges and tests in the GT Academy are anything but easy. The GT Academy tests not only a driver's skill, but mental and physical abilities as well. Since there is only one winner and everyone wants to win, competition is fierce and grueling.

The GT Academy has produced some talented drivers in the past. Lucas Ordonez, who won the first GT Academy, started his international racing career in Dubai three years ago, and so far his journey has taken him all the way to drive and compete in the world famous “24 Hours of Le Mans.” He was able to secure a class podium finish in that race in the LMP2 class, which is quite impressive for a rookie driver. Past winners include Jann Mardenborough, Bryan Heitkotter, and Jordan Tresson.

If you have dreams of becoming a real race car driver, all you need is a PS3 and some serious skill on Gran Turismo 5. Whoever said “Video games are a waste of time” clearly doesn't know what they are talking about and has never played Gran Turismo.