Polyphony Digital Inc., creators of PlayStation®’s best-selling Gran Turismo® driving simulation titles, has made its specially created GT Academy 2012 Download available to a number of non-GT Academy countries. The free download will be available from PlayStation®Store from 11:00GMT (12.00BST) today until 22:59GMT (23.59BST) on 24 June 2012.

The free content, that legendary Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi described as having a place “along our path from GT5 to GT6”, is available to anybody with a PlayStation®3 and PlayStation®Network (PSN) ID, meaning players do not need to own Gran Turismo®5. The eight-round game takes players on a journey through a series of challenges that build in complexity and are aimed at improving race craft. Successful players are rewarded at each stage with Gold awards, that can be translated into free content on Gran Turismo®5 at the conclusion of the download period. The GT Academy demo’s finale is a time trial competition, with a leaderboard demonstrating the fastest gamers.

The demo includes a number of stunning Nissan cars. PlayStation’s long-term partner in the innovative GT Academy virtual-to-reality racing driver competition is represented by the all-electric Nissan Leaf in the first round. The action continues on various Gran Turismo circuits and spans a classic 1994 Skyline GT-R to the modern-classic 2012 Nissan GT-R Black edition.

Whether players are enjoying the award-winning Gran Turismo for the first time, or are hardened PlayStation® racers, the GT Academy 2012 demo offers racing action for everyone. It’s not just about competing with the best GT5 racers, as players can also challenge friends, colleagues and family for bragging rights by monitoring scores via a ‘PSN Friends List’ built into the demo.

“The response to the GT Academy 2012 demo has been very positive, so we wanted to make it as widely available as possible,” explains Kazunori Yamauchi, President of Polyphony Digital. “The title is very accessible to everyone. Veteran Gran Turismo players enjoy the challenges, but then it is also a very good starting point for players who have never tried a driving simulator before. They can experience the depth of race driving, as well as the fun and excitement of time trials.”

The demo was originally created as the qualifying process for PlayStation® and Nissan’s innovative GT Academy competition. GT Academy in 2012 is open to 14 European countries (including standalone versions in Germany and the Russian Federation) and the USA. The competition, that will turn the winners into real racing drivers competing in the prestigious Dubai 24 Hours race in January 2013, is open until 24 June. Since the demo was launched in these countries, plus Japan, in early May, more than 800,000 players have downloaded and played it, racking up almost 100 million virtual kilometres between them.

The GT Academy 2012 download will now be available in most countries with a PlayStation®Store until 22:59GMT (23.59BST) on 24 June.