Nissan and Sony team up to give more gamers a chance to go racing
Armchair racers eager to transfer skills from thumb controller to steering wheel are to get another chance to become racing drivers 'for real'.
The launch of the second Nissan and PlayStation GT Academy has just been announced, giving gamers from across Europe (and Australia and New Zealand too) an opportunity to turn their virtual dreams into reality.
The eventual winner gets a full season's racing in the European GT4 Cup at the wheel of an RJN Motorsport-prepared Nissan 370Z. There's only one stipulation - anyone who holds, or has held, a national or international race licence is not elegible to enter.
From 17 December budding online racers will be able to compete on a time-trial course via PlayStation Network that previews next year's Gran Turismo 5 - one of the most eagerly awaited racing games ever.
The fastest 20 from each participating country will then compete on another exclusive Gran Turismo 5 in order to decide who moves on to the next phase, a five-day 'bootcamp-style' driver training programme.
The two best contestants from the driver training programme will then go on to a programme of UK-based races to help qualify them for an international race licence, although only one can go on to the full European race programme.
"The whole GT Academy concept is very close to my heart," says Kazunori Yamauchi, creator of the Gran Turismo series. "Our target with the Gran Turismo series has always been to come as close as possible to a real driving experience. To witness the level of driving achieved by GT players after a relatively short space of time at the GT Academy was very satisfying for me and I look forward to seeing the 2010 finalists in action."
Armchair racers eager to transfer skills from thumb controller to steering wheel are to get another chance to become racing drivers 'for real'.
The launch of the second Nissan and PlayStation GT Academy has just been announced, giving gamers from across Europe (and Australia and New Zealand too) an opportunity to turn their virtual dreams into reality.
The eventual winner gets a full season's racing in the European GT4 Cup at the wheel of an RJN Motorsport-prepared Nissan 370Z. There's only one stipulation - anyone who holds, or has held, a national or international race licence is not elegible to enter.
From 17 December budding online racers will be able to compete on a time-trial course via PlayStation Network that previews next year's Gran Turismo 5 - one of the most eagerly awaited racing games ever.
The fastest 20 from each participating country will then compete on another exclusive Gran Turismo 5 in order to decide who moves on to the next phase, a five-day 'bootcamp-style' driver training programme.
The two best contestants from the driver training programme will then go on to a programme of UK-based races to help qualify them for an international race licence, although only one can go on to the full European race programme.
"The whole GT Academy concept is very close to my heart," says Kazunori Yamauchi, creator of the Gran Turismo series. "Our target with the Gran Turismo series has always been to come as close as possible to a real driving experience. To witness the level of driving achieved by GT players after a relatively short space of time at the GT Academy was very satisfying for me and I look forward to seeing the 2010 finalists in action."
