GT5 Is Looking For Drivers

PS3

Think you're good enough at Gran Turismo to drive for real? Well, you've now got the opportunity to prove it, thanks to GT Academy 2010. Nissan and Sony have teamed up to present a massive racing competition. From December 17th, 2009 Gran Turismo 5 will be the home of a series of challenges to find a real-world racing driver. The ultimate prize is an intensive race training programme and season-long drive in a full race-spec Nissan 370Z in the European GT4 Cup.

Last year, Lucas Ordoñez, a 23- year-old Spanish student debuted in the Dubai International 24 Hour race alongside former F1 driver Johnny Herbert. Lucas teamed-up with British driver Alex Buncombe to campaign a Nissan 350Z. Driving for the RJN Motorsport GT Academy team, the pair took part in the full European GT4 Cup season, mostly run alongside the prestigious FIA GT series. Their stunning performances included two race wins and two second-place finishes that left them an agonisingly close second in the drivers’ classification, but winners of the Teams’ Championship.

Here's how the competition will break down.

• Stage One: Competitors will record flying laps on a time trial-based track available via PSN. Unlike the first GT Academy, participants will not have to enter the competition using the GT5 Prologue game itself.
• Stage Two: The holders of the twenty fastest online lap times from each participating country will qualify for their national final event. Tensions will run high as they battle each other on another exclusive Gran Turismo 5 level for the chance to move to the next phase of the competition.
• Stage Three: Twenty finalists, chosen from each of the national finals events, will head to the world famous Silverstone circuit for the GT Academy itself - a five-day, comprehensive race driver ‘boot camp’. They will have a chance to develop new driving skills in an array of Nissan, and other, hardware, while also being judged on fitness and mental attitude.
• Stage Four: The two competitors that display the talent, fitness, aptitude, drive and determination to succeed in motor sport, will undergo a UK-based intensive driving and racing programme to prepare them to qualify for an international racing license.
• Stage Five: There is only one place available for the driver with the most potential to compete on an international stage. The overall GT Academy 2010 champion will race a full season in the European GT4 Cup in a Nissan 370Z prepared by RJN Motorsport. The opening race is currently scheduled for May, 2010.

This year’s rules stipulate that anyone who holds, or has held, a national or international race license will not qualify for GT Academy. The online section of the game will run from 17 December until 24 January with national finals following soon afterwards. The GT Academy itself takes place from 26 February until 3 March. The two winners will have to quickly clear their diaries, as their intensive training programme will start immediately and culminate in one driver racing in the opening European GT4 Cup race that could be at Silverstone on 2 May.