Interviews

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Kazunori Yamauchi Goes Drifting with Daijiro Yoshihara

During his recent trip to Las Vegas for SEMA and the 2012 Gran Turismo Awards, Kazunori Yamauchi had a chance to get behind the wheel of Daijiro Yoshihara’s (2011 Formula D Champion) Discount Tire/Falken Tire S13 drift car.

GT Academy Silverstone: Post-Race Interview

Thanks to an invite to the race day on behalf of Nissan and RJN Motorsport from Glen Gibson at Jardine International, daan and I were able to spend the day in and around the busy garage of the #35 Nissan Nismo GT-R GT3 – trying our hardest to stay out of the way. With the race over, Jann Mardenborough and RJN Motorsport team boss Bob Neville were kind enough to answer a few questions from us and Calvin de Freitas of Jardine:

GT Academy: GTPlanet interviews Jann Mardenborough

With the GT5 GT Academy 2012 now available to gamers around the world, GTPlanet was able to get an interview with 2011 European GT Academy champion Jann Mardenborough. Jann was kind enough to answer a few questions for all the budding racing drivers and GT Academy hopefuls out there, to give insight into the before, during and after of the internationally successful Gamer-to-Racer program.

Bryan Heitkotter Interviewed by InsideSimRacing.tv

U.S. GT Academy winner Bryan Heitkotter recently sat down for an in-depth one-on-one video interview with InsideSimRacing‘s Darin Gangi. Bryan discusses his background, what it was really like to come up through the ranks of GT Academy USA, and how he’s making the most out of his time with Nissan in preparations for the 24 Hours of Dubai.

RJN Principal Bob Neville on GT Academy’s Past, Present, & Future

In addition to being granted full access to GT Academy 2011 winners Jann Mardenborough and Bryan Heitkotter, GTPlanet also had the pleasure of interviewing RJN Motorsport team principal Bob Neville on the team’s prospects for the Dubai 24 Hour race, the development of this year’s winners and the GT Academy programme as a whole.

GTPlanet Interviews GT Academy 2011 Champions Bryan Heitkotter & Jann Mardenborough

Following in the footsteps of GT Academy champions Lucas Ordoñez and Jordan Tresson, European GT Academy 2011 winner Jann Mardenborough and his US counterpart champion Bryan Heitkotter would conclude their intense driver development programme at the Britcar “Into The Night” 3-hour endurance race around Brands Hatch circuit. This race would signify the last segment of the pair’s development campaign and their last competitive race before the GT Academy 2011 grand prize, the chance to compete at the prestigious Dubai 24 hour race.

Gran Turismo 5 DLC Hits One Million Downloads in Two Weeks

In an interview at the GT Awards party, U.S. Gran Turismo producer Taku Imasaki shared an interesting statistic about the game’s recent batch of new content, which included Spa Francorchamps and 15 new cars. As of November 3rd, two weeks and two days since its European release, it had received over 1 million downloads.

Catching Up with U.S. GT Academy Winner Bryan Heitkotter

Since Bryan Heitkotter took home victory at the U.S. GT Academy finals, Sony America and Nissan’s PR haven’t done a lot to promote Bryan’s accomplishments (though, in fairness, they may be waiting for the finals to air on Speed TV), despite some very impressive on-track results.

Interview with European GT Academy Winner Jann Mardenborough

The first complete interview with 2011 European GT Academy winner Jann Mardenborough has been posted to GT Academy’s Facebook page, and offers an interesting, inside look at the competition from the winner’s eyes. Once again, congratulations, Jann!

Interview With a US GT Academy Silverstone Finalist

If you competed in GT Academy USA earlier this year, you know exactly how difficult it was to make the cut during the Round 3 time trials. Those who made it to the National Finals in Orlando are obviously very talented, and the final 16 going to Silverstone next week are the best in the country. What’s it like to make it that far in the competition, and how can you do it, yourself?

Kazunori Wanted “Another 2 Years” for GT5 Development

This interview conducted with Kazunori Yamauchi shortly after the release of Gran Turismo 5 has been flying under the radar since it was published back in February. It was just recently brought to my attention and, though there’s obviously no bombshells, it provides a few interesting details worth highlighting here:

Live Twitter Q&A With GT Academy Star Lucas Ordonez

GTPlanet is very excited to team up with Nissan to co-host a live Twitter question & answer session with Lucas Ordonez, the real-world racing star that’s emerged from the first GT Academy competition! As you know, Lucas and his Signatech Nissan team just finished second-in-class at the 12 Hours of Sebring, the first race in the 2011 International Le Mans Cup calendar. They’ll be participating in all the events around the world this year, including the ultimate endurance race – the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Kazunori Yamauchi at DICE 2011, “On Gran Turismo and I”

GT series creator Kazunori Yamauchi gave an interesting speech at D.I.C.E. 2011 yesterday, titled “On Gran Turismo and I”. Hosted by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, the D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit is designed to “bring together the top video game designers and developers from around the world and business leaders from all major publishers to discuss the state of the industry, its trends and the future.”