Difficult conditions greeted the 18 at Silverstone today (Saturday). But despite some heavy rain during the day, all driving activities went ahead as planned. A sprint competition in the 370Zs was followed by 3 separate activities in the afternoon – a head-to-head, parallel course time-trial in the awesome Nissan GT-R, drifting and car control in the 370Z, and lapping Stowe circuit in the 370Zs with an instructor assessing their progress.
At the end of the day, the competitors undertook a teamwork challenge. Split into two teams, they were timed to undertake a full ‘pit-stop’ on the new 370Z GT4 race car, delivered to the circuit by their potential new boss, Bob Neville of RJN Motorsport.
Back at the GT Academy’s hotel base, the judges, armed with the competitors’ times and scores supplied by Silverstone’s experienced team of instructors, deliberated on the fate of the 18 hopeful gamers. After less than an hour, the decision was taken as follows…
The Final 8:
- Jordan Tresson – GT_driver_BMW (FR)
- Oliver Simon – GTNDC_czsimo (CH)
- Daniel Collins – DarkEnergyForce (IE)
- Jeroen Kesselring – Oenta (NL)
- Marco Calvo – MakaayX (ES)
- Filipe Baretto – Hunter_4_6 (PT)
- Luca Lorenzini – Giagua (IT)
- Giacomo Cunial (IT)
Formula One and Le Mans 24 Hour winner Johnny Herbert felt that most of the decisions were relatively clear cut: “I would say that the standard is fairly similar to that of GT Academy 2008 at this stage,” he explained. “However, the eight that we have chosen are close, compatible and very competitive. There was probably a bit more of a difference between the last eight in the first Academy. You have the impression that these guys are really going to push each other, but in a positive way.
“Obviously we feel we have got the best eight, but it was a hard decision. There were a couple of guys that were close and we had to weigh up all the factors and make that tough decision based on who can realistically progress to be the full racing package. That means being fast and consistent on the track, but also being able to communicate well with your team and the media. In the end, it may have been some of those ‘softer’ elements that made the difference of one guy over the next.”
The GT Academy continues on Sunday. A 7.00am start of a gruelling assault course awaits the competitors, followed by more intensive race instruction and challenges in the GT-Rs, 370Zs and some single seaters. In the classroom, the eight competitors will sit their written ARDS (race licence) test. Joining the judging panel on Sunday will be former Formula One team owner, Eddie Jordan.
See more articles on GT Academy 2010.
Good luck to the finalists! Also, Jordan just made a little mistake and that was corrected, I guess he deserves some respect, he puts a lot of effort to keep on with GTP and bring us very interesting stuff all the time.
Jordan, don’t let some children throw any offense on you man, every member here knows about your commitment and that you would never do that on purpose.
Cheers,
Dan
Hearing people making moaning comments about GT5’s release date is getting pretty old now…
Good luck to the final eight competitors.
Thanks for correction. The show must go on
No one should doubt Jordan’s geographic knowledge, specially when he deals with a website who welcomes people from all over the world. That should be enough proof that he knows where each country is, specially Portugal and Spain.
It was a typo, and it’s corrected now, so let’s move along and continue the party!
C’mon.. GT Acadamy? this is offtopic of Gran Turismo 5!
Funny, all white.
tyl0r_r
“Nobody thinks Portugal is part of Spain. Somebody just got his nationality wrong. Chill out and go eat some piri piri.”
If nobody thinks that, why you make jokes with a preocupation to correct the article… you like if a friend of you, participate in a competition and they put her nationality wrong… you probrably do the same thing and ask to correct the error…
@SukuryMaster, I think tyl0r was referring to Sannyasin’s calling me an “idiot” and “ignorant” because I mis-labeled Felipe Baretto’s country in the post above. Interestingly, according to other responses here which point out the mistake, others also assume the error was not a simple typo, but evidence that I lack an understanding of basic geography.
Sometimes, on sundays Portugal is part of Spain, not always though.
There is a Dutch guy!! Woohoo! :P
What a total joke.
This was meant to be a marketing precurser to GT5’s release, instead it looks like PD are rubbing everyones nose in it.
Nobody thinks Portugal is part of Spain. Somebody just got his nationality wrong. Chill out and go eat some piri piri.
@spazza
a release date would bring fantastic news
Idiots.
Portugal is not part of Spain. What ignorance…
The weather in Britain….a reason why GT5 has to include rain, these guys were lapping on a wet track with the wipers on no doubt and it would be good if GT5 could simulate this.
Grats to all who got through, but I’m a little sad that neither the Aussie nor the Kiwi got in. :(
“GOOD” *
Agree’s with SPAZZA , We need goos GT5 NEWS SOON!
Filipe Baretto – Hunter_4_6 (ES) – he’s not Spanish, he’s PORTUGUESE, so, PT, not ES.
Portugal it’s a country on it’s own, not part of Spain.
Filipe Barreto is PORTUGUESE. (PT)
(ES) is Spain and is another country in the world.
This is incredible! If PD put this experience in the game as a ‘true’ story mode, cg cut scenes and all, I think it would be more widely accepted by novices. I like makeing up my own GT story as I play, but there could a great story here. I also think it would be a more appropriate place for standard physics. As far as marketing goes, you gotta send your money to the places you believe in. Sony, PD, and Nissan put on the party but everyone is going to have fun. Just look at the drivers faces, it’s the best day of their lives.
Grrr, everytime i think theres new GT5 news it just ends up being academy, i really don’t care much for this stuff XD, i want GT5 :(
Filipe Barreto is portuguese not spanish :)
At least one GTP remaining. Congrats to all of them. Sounds like a lot of fun
So we can conclude from this tedious marketing side-show that it’s quicker to be come an actual racing driver than it is to sit on the sofa waiting to become a virtual one.
No Prudent? Oh well…congrats guys!
We can hope Priesty =)
I don’t think it will,
Glad to hear the acadamy is going well, would be good if PD also announced the release date when they announce the winner!
Well, we can dream!
kwl…just thinking if silverstone will make an appearance in GT5