GT Academy 2014 Qualifier: Round 3 Begins at Bathurst, Official Rules Announced

nissan-gtr-black-edition-bathurst

Round 3 of GT Academy’s online qualification round officially kicks off today, bringing us one step closer to the final time trial which will ultimately determine who moves on to the national finals.

i1XNYa4sm7v5tThis round reveals a new version of the Nissan GT-R, in its 2014 “Black Edition” trim, to be driven around Australia’s famous Bathurst circuit. The official international leaderboard is available online; another leaderboard which filters top times by country is available here, maintained by @Hardyx.

Official contest rules have also been posted; be sure to check your regional GT Academy website for more information specific to your location.

Notably, the U.S. rules do not contain any mention of a “Racer X” wildcard position, which has been a prominent feature of the U.S. GT Academy since 2012. Meanwhile, the U.K. rules mention a “Mini Game Event”, which appears to be a fairly substantial alternate qualification method hosted in a series of smaller Facebook games. Stay tuned for more details as they are released.

As always, head on over to our GT Academy message boards for more analysis and discussion with your fellow competitors!

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Comments (54)

  1. SkylineObsession

    My best so far is a 1:16.9xx, but i think i can probably only go as low as 1:16.500.

    Then again, i did have a few slides and moments of understeer through corners, so could end up closer to a low 1:16, but meh – thats good enough for me since NZ isn’t eligible to enter the comp.

    1. fluegelmann

      Exactly. Always questionned myself during the drive how much it may weight. But nontheless I did not expect the 17##kg it has.

  2. chrisspeed281

    I’m done with this time trials and superlaps.Still wait for A-spec Seasonal Events but i guess a good payout don’t fit to their Microtransaction

  3. Spannermonkey33

    Severely annoyed with this event, can’t seem to get a decent pace or rhythm. Shame cause it’s one of my favourite tracks

  4. vr6cas

    Just did a 2.15.9xxx and was seven hundred an change in the world on my ds3, d-pad user, x for gas and square for brake (I know I’m old school and fast). Let’s go DS3 drivers!

  5. Johnnypenso

    I love this track and this combination, but the poorly implemented track edge penalties really put a damper on things. Getting penalties for going “off track” when you are on track and between walls you aren’t even close to touching is just stupid. Alan Prost would be pi$$ed if he was trying this combo out!!

    1. hsv010

      My line around here is usually scrape the wall > clip the grass > hop around sideways a bit. Can’t do that now :(

    2. ThrasherDBS

      Agreed. I understand that they want to make incredibly sure that people aren’t gaining an unfair advantage against everyone else, but this anal-retentiveness gets ridiculous sometimes.

      I know I won’t have to worry about Circuit de la Sarthe being the last round (it’s most likely going to be Silverstone), but still the “invalidation” zones on that track are absurd. Many times I’ve been penalized for having one wheel off the path that was not a shortcut by any stretch of the imagination.

  6. COUNTERSTEER123

    When setting the fastest time possible, what do all of you think is the BEST car view to drive when doing do. P.S. I’M A WHEEL USER.

  7. Ben Rogue

    The track rules are a bit strict! Just touching a few mm of grass with only one wheel invalidates your time, or if you get close to the crash barriers climbing the hill. Most V8 Supercar drivers often scrape their wing mirrors on the barriers but we get disqualified if we come within a good 30-50cm (not even off the track or touching anything). PD needs to pull their head out. Not enough incentive for us non-eligible countries to participate, would be nice to get awarded the GT Academy cars for use in game

  8. warpkez

    Lap invalidated, you have left the track – WTF!!! I am in the middle of the road.

    So glad to see these kind of bugs still in the game after 7 major patches!

    1. mikronimo

      Well… not exactly in the middle… anyway, this time more than others, the rules were quite tricky, too much: barely touch a wall or a corner, crossing a border line (at 20 cm from a wall) and the game ends; i put a quite good time (around 1″17″xx, i do not remember), and i don’t think i can go a lot down (maybe another sec, but it can be really difficult with this tires: braking a mm over, and it’s all finished), so a lot of compliments to whom set the best time, over 6 sec under the gold time.

    2. Johnnypenso

      The fastest drivers are within 6 seconds of the Aussie V8 Supercar all-time track record with 100 less hp and (so called) street tires and 300 kgs more weight and no downforce. This car is way faster in the game than it would be in real life on the track so I’d say you can expect a lot from it.

    3. warpkez

      On Conrad coming into Chase. Not once, not twice, but three times the game declared me as having left the track.

      Checking one replay I only touch the grass with my left rear wheel – a bit of a slide – at that was enough to kill it for me.

      Almost as bad as hitting the witch’s caps whilst still being able to clearly see daylight between the car and them.

  9. biftizmo

    Bathurst is the best track in the game ..I love it…and will be giving it my best shot ever……it does give me trouble with sound issues and always crashes my system if I try to host it in a lobby..

  10. RandomCarGuy17

    I already made an attempt on it. I can only get Bronze though. :/
    Yeah, Mount Panorama is not really my best track.

    1. sircarltonlotus

      Drive a Nissan gtr as fast as you can round Bathurst, what a “yawner” hahahahaha! Brilliant!

  11. DeriaHanuj

    I’ll probably end up with silver trophy again on that event. As I did with the leaf & 370z ones

    1. Magic Ayrton

      Start slow, keep practicing and adjust your line, work at it, I am rubbish on that track but I did a 1:16.617 in the end. nearly 2.5 seconds quicker than gold. I do have a Thrusmaster T500 though. Good luck!

  12. AlexFFM1991

    We had the 370z and now the gtr hmm so what are we gonna drive in the final round ? :) I hope something revolutionary like the gp3 car. They’ve said that the 2014 winner will join Jann in gp3 so why shouldn’t we have this car into the finals ?
    And the second thing I wanna say is that this track isn’t short so in my opinion nordschleife could be an option for the final round too. What do you think ? As we know the 24h nordschleife will be in June and the Nissan academy team will compete this jear too. I think even kaz is gonna compete again this jear so why not ?

    1. cally-dave

      To answer what we drive next, it’s the YouTube liveried GTR GT3 – it’s been unearthed from the latest update, along with the dialogue that various previous academy winners use to welcome you to the final event – held at Spa

    2. Aussie_HSV

      … which surely is unnecessary.
      Must people take advantage of absolutely everything these days?
      Those already ‘practicing’ for the final round should take a good look at themselves.
      Cheats should never prosper.

    3. Doodle

      How is it cheating that we are practicing the exact combo of the final round in Arcade mode before it even opens?

    4. Quigz125

      That’s right Doodle, I agree. There is nothing wrong with practicing. Real racers practice all the time on tracks they know they’ll be racing on. It’s the only way they get to feel the way their cars handle the track. It’s best to go into a race with SOME experience rather than none at all.

    5. Quigz125

      Now if someone is using nitro or hacked GT6 and has an obvious unfair advantage then that I consider that cheating. Now using the game, as it was purchased, with no mods or unfair advantages, that is legit. If it’s in the game and available to everyone without altering the game data then I have no problem with practice.

    6. Aussie_HSV

      I believe there was a touch of sarcasm in Doodle’s reply. Well that’s how I read it anyway.
      The point is the game was hacked, or else you wouldn’t know what the car or track for Round 4 is. If hackers didn’t divulge this information, no-one would be practicing for an event that hasn’t been opened or the details of the event released.

  13. go6

    what do you mean 720p time andrew? and i know what you mean s3nna about the whole infinite laps thing,,,, but they are trying to find an ENDURANCE DRIVER so when stop to think about it, the more laps you put down in the shortest amount of time can also be a fast driver, im not exactly sure they are choosing the fastest lap times anymore, as you know the rules state that previous entrants to the gt academy silverstone can not re-enter….ironic as i have seen someone enter twice already, but anyways on another note………does anyone seem to have an issue with their disc specifically for bathurst? because my game freezes constantly after only 1 hr of racing on that course……anyone else having this issue?

    1. Ben Rogue

      I get last stuttering and freezing particularly on the last corner with sound drop out all over the track. A bit too much for the PS3 to handle I think…

  14. s3nNa

    do u think gt academy should have 2 or 3 30 – min to 1 hr sessions available per account for each event?
    rather than having someone doing infinite laps to be better their time..
    just my opinion..

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