Friday, 04 March 2011 – The GT Academy 2011 Time Trial goes live today [1] on the Gran Turismo®5 game for PlayStation®3 (PS3™). The virtual-to-real-racer competition will be contested across 10 European countries over a six-week period. With the opportunity to become a real racing driver at stake, virtual racers must sign up on www.gran-turismo.com to participate (terms and conditions of entry apply [2]). The time trial competition will close at midnight on Sunday, 17 April, with competitors able to record as many laps as they want during the period.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) and Nissan in Europe devised the GT Academy in 2008 to unearth a real racing talent from the legions of Gran Turismo’s virtual racers. At the Geneva Motor Show this week, Nissan announced that Lucas Ordoñez, winner of the inaugural GT Academy competition, will be racing a new Nissan-powered LMP2 car in this year’s Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, which includes the famous Le Mans 24 Hour race. The announcement is a clear demonstration of the potential of GT Academy, with the Time Trial marking the beginning of another journey that will set a lucky gamer on the path to a career as a professional racing driver.

The fastest 20 GT5 gamers from each participating territory [3] will make it to the second phase of the competition - a live territory final event. Two gamers from each of the six territories will then progress to the intensive GT Academy Race Camp at the famous Silverstone circuit. They will be put through their paces in some demanding physical, mental and driving challenges. One winner will then be trained up to international race licence standard before competing in the prestigious Dubai International 24 Hour Race in a full race spec Nissan 370Z GT4.

The GT Academy 2011 Time Trial will be played out on a unique new track, known as ‘Eifel’, developed specifically in the innovative ‘Course Maker’ feature of the Gran Turismo®5 game by legendary creator Kazunori Yamauchi. The Time Trial will feature the stunning Nissan 370Z (Z34). As a reward for taking part, entrants to GT Academy 2011 will also have the opportunity to download an exclusive new Nissan GT-R model for general game play outside of the time trial.

A new feature will be added to this year’s Time Trial competition enabling the creation of ‘mini leagues’. As well as trying to prove themselves against the best GT5 racers in their country, players can also challenge friends in the Time Trial and compete for bragging rights.

Commenting on the changes, Kazunori Yamauchi, President of Polyphony Digital Inc., said: “We are very excited about the start of GT Academy 2011. The concept of taking a Gran Turismo racer and turning them into a real racing driver has been proven to work by both of our exceptional previous winners, Lucas Ordoñez and Jordan Tresson. This is the real deal and not just a gimmick, and so we look forward to some fierce competition played out on GT5 over the next six weeks.

“I have enjoyed creating a new track for the Time Trial. I aimed for something that is a balance between technical and challenging for the very fastest drivers, while still accessible for anybody new to GT5. With the addition of the mini leagues functionality, we are aiming to make sure that everybody gets online and plays. Even if you are not going to make the top 20, it is always good to be able to beat your friends!”

Nissan International’s Vice-President of Marketing, Vincent Wijnen, is equally upbeat. “Entering our third year of GT Academy is somehow even more exciting than when we started,” he explains. “We have already discovered two outstanding talents and it will be a very proud moment for us when Lucas lines up on the Le Mans grid this year. But I also can’t wait to see who is going to be our next champion.

“Of course, we particularly love to get to Silverstone, where we see the reaction of the finalists to getting behind the wheel of our real cars for the first time. But the Time Trial phase is also very satisfying because the 370Z looks so good in GT5. This is a great competition and a great co-operation between two very innovative companies.”

In order to ensure that they can participate in GT Academy 2011, players must ensure that they have all the latest updates for GT5 installed. This should happen automatically when the game is opened while online, but players should check that they are running version 1.07 of GT5.

Players should register for GT Academy 2011.

[1]. Italy GT Academy commences 18 March, 2011
[2]. Entrants must be aged 18 years or over, be resident in a participating country and hold a full driving licence. Other eligibility criteria apply. Full terms and conditions are available at gran-turismo.com
[3]. UK & Ireland; France & Switzerland; Germany & Austria; Spain & Portugal; Italy; Netherlands.