GT Academy-themed GT5™ special edition includes exclusive in-game competition for a chance to win a driving day at Silverstone and a VIP trip to Le Mans 24 Hours

GT5™: Academy Edition, a new special edition of Gran Turismo®5 is now available to buy. Created to celebrate the success of the Nissan PlayStation GT Academy competition, GT5™: Academy Edition has been re-mastered to include all the functionality updates and new content that has been made available since the launch of GT5. It also includes the chance to enter an exclusive competition(1) - the GT Academy Challenge.

Priced at €29.99/£19.99, the additional content includes more than 30 extra vehicles and three new courses, plus paint packs and racing gear. When sold separately, the Complete Pack (Car Pack, Course Pack, Special Paint Pack, Racing Gear Pack), Car Pack 2, Car Pack 3 and Speed Test Pack are individually valued at over €25.96. The new edition of the game also includes a special new Nissan GT-R driven in the Nürburgring 24H race by Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi with team-mate Lucas Ordoñez, the first GT Academy winner.

The prize on offer through the exclusive GT Academy Challenge competition will be for seven gamers to follow in the footsteps of the GT Academy alumni for a day of intensive driver training at the world-famous Silverstone Circuit, home of the GT Academy Race Camp. The best driver on the day, judged by Silverstone’s top team of instructors, will then be invited for a VIP trip for two to the famous Le Mans 24 Hours race in June 2013 - a race in which two former GT Academy champions, Lucas Ordoñez and Jordan Tresson, raced in 2012.

The GT Academy Challenge competition will be exclusively open to purchasers of GT5: Academy Edition from 00:01GMT on 01 January, 2013, and will run until 23:59GMT on 31 January. Six winners will be selected from the in-game event. One winner will also be chosen from a live competition being held on the Nissan stand at the Paris Motor Show from 29 September to 14 October, 2012.

As well as the exclusive competition, purchasers of GT5: Academy Edition will receive a special 25% discount for the online Gran Turismo® Boutique(2).

Alongside the launch of Gran Turismo® 5: Academy Edition there are also three new DLC (downloadable content) car packs. Priced at €0.99/£0.79 each from PlayStation®Store, the Subaru BRZ S ’12, Nissan GT-R N24 GT Academy '12 (included with the GT5: Academy Edition) and Honda weider HSV-010 (SUPER GT) ’11 race car are welcome additions to the line-up of over 1000 cars available in Gran Turismo 5.