GT Academy Starts May 1st, Available as Free Game Download
In the last few minutes Penrose Tackie, European Brand Manager for GT5, has confirmed the schedule for GT Academy 2012 and there’s been a couple of small changes…
GT Academy this year, like the first GT Academy, features a first qualifying round that takes the format of a standalone, downloadable pack. The pack is free to download from PSN, starting on May 1st and doesn’t require Gran Turismo 5 in order to play it. The pack features exclusive content and challenges that “should be a lot of fun whether you’ve played Gran Turismo before or whether you are coming to the game as a complete newbie“. Some of the content is teasingly glimpsed in the video below, but the exact nature of the challenges remains under wraps for now.
In another change, not all of Europe will be fighting for one berth. As we revealed nearly three months ago, Germany will be getting its own GT Academy competition, but it now seems that Russia will get its own too. The rest of Europe – UK & Eire, France, Spain, Portugal, BeNeLux, Poland, Switzerland and Austria – will face off against each other in the final bootcamp at Silverstone later this year. The USA is also involved in its own GT Academy, running parallel to the European Academies, meaning there will be four GT Academy winners in 2012 and doubling the Academy alumni!
The first qualification round begins on May 1st for all European gamers (May 2nd for US gamers) and run through to June 24th before gamers are selected for the regional finals. The overall prize remains a seat in the Dubai 24 Hour race in January 2013.
Best of luck to all participants!
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Newest comments are displayed first.
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April 21st, 2012 at 4:08 am - #iGoFast
How do you get an account in a different country?
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April 21st, 2012 at 1:12 am - #Raitziger
“The rest of Europe – UK & Eire, France, Spain, Portugal, BeNeLux, Poland, Switzerland and Austria ”
The rest of Europe my ass! PD should know that there are much more countries in Europe. -
April 20th, 2012 at 4:10 am - #Dionisiy
Kazinori`s Twitter: “そろそろ「GTアカデミー2012」のプレスリリースが出る時間です。”
“Press release is a time of “GT Academy 2012″ is out soon.” -
April 19th, 2012 at 12:00 am - #Lambofanghini
This is what makes GT5 a great game. Oops, I mean, Where’s my DLC? I want it now! GT5…Jack of all trades, master of physics.
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April 19th, 2012 at 1:10 am - #magsolid
I would rather have a fixing patch which improves a painful loading time. Or even improved car collision, and fix the damn penalty system. DLC is a joke these day, driving is the real part of this game!
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April 18th, 2012 at 11:19 pm - #Froudeybrand
Any way a new lot of seasonals just popped up time trial and drift nutburgiring and some other place Tt is 600 and 700 pp
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April 18th, 2012 at 11:42 pm - #tpark103
Nice thanks for the heads up.
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April 18th, 2012 at 10:31 pm - #GTrf
DLC update problem: give me only SPA (24h) time/change and Close The Game …?
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April 18th, 2012 at 8:32 pm - #F_Rossi
What about Latin America? There are plenty of players down here who would like to compete.
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April 18th, 2012 at 7:30 pm - #honda32v
Now it passed 18th April, three months since the last dcl…Now it overdue and now I giving up waiting for it…….
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April 18th, 2012 at 7:47 pm - #biftizmo
Good ..bye….!
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April 18th, 2012 at 8:03 pm - #Quakebass
Look at the schedule; each DLC came out on the third week of the month… which would mean the 17th… BUT, we could see some sort of DLC coming along with the GT Academy download…
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April 18th, 2012 at 8:20 pm - #TokoTurismo
Quakebass’s right. Time for me to shut up and get over myself, beforethat RB26 2jz guy jumps my a$$ again. At least we know now May 1st will be the day, and thats a Tuesday. :) I knew it’ll be May, and Kaz and PD must have something good behind GT Academy, such as the DLC and update.
One will only get angry, impatient, and disappointed if they stick on GTP all day, play some GT5 and do spring cleaning in your garage, or do other stuff in real life. I’m working on a comic that I love so much, and have a husky puppy at home and love playing with it, despite it biting me a lot. ;)
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April 18th, 2012 at 10:04 pm - #Quakebass
I haven’t said that May 1 WILL be the release date of any DLC, (or that any DLC exists…) or if it will come out then… I only examined a pattern and made a prediction… Don’t assume I’m correct. I’m expecting and update, though…
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April 18th, 2012 at 6:13 pm - #e30 freek
Next car pack will probably FRIGGIN AWESOME!
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April 18th, 2012 at 5:57 pm - #Zuel
It seems that the new format will be better from what the brifing photo shows. I can’t wait.
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April 18th, 2012 at 5:36 pm - #iGoFast
Canada!!!?
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April 18th, 2012 at 6:03 pm - #Suntzu32
I’m afraid it’s just too cold and uninviting up here in Can for us to be included in the US Academy. That and Nissan Canada probably didn’t want to sign up… Too bad though… Mosport would be a wicked track to have an endurance series on…
We are probably being punished for all the copywrite piracy that is blamed on Canada.
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April 18th, 2012 at 5:16 pm - #Sputnik
I think it’s about time we see some new stuff, like tracks, cars, wheels, etc… It pretty quite in the GT world lately!
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April 18th, 2012 at 5:06 pm - #zambuca
I wonder why they don’t include Scandinavia. I guess it’s all about the most potential markets. But it’s kindof demotivating to see the rest of Europe having all the fun…
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April 18th, 2012 at 1:29 pm - #HarVee
Let me guess, you have to be 18 to enter, right?
That’s quite stupid -at least for the U.S. counterpart- as with the U.S. you can legally drive a motored vehicle at the age of 16.
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April 18th, 2012 at 4:41 pm - #HKSBro92
Driving and racing are 2 different things man. Would you allow a 16 year old to race in a GTR?
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April 18th, 2012 at 6:05 pm - #Suntzu32
They still have to insure the drivers, not to mention this is a contest that is only open to adults.
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April 19th, 2012 at 8:24 pm - #gjeff12
In Canada, well at least where I am, you can enter any race at 16 and some you can race at 14 or maybe even 13. these are not just little race cars either.
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April 18th, 2012 at 1:17 pm - #R1600Turbo
This whole comment section had turned into a sad display of whining for DLC and people who live in countries that are excluded from the contest. Everyone blaming it on Kaz and PD/Sony, blah blah. Listen folks, I know for a fact that they are trying to include as many countries as possible. LEGAL REASONS are why you might not be included. There is a lot of red tape that they have to fight through to legally hold a contest like this.
That’s the problem with people these days. The wall that holds back stupid thoughts from being released to the world is no longer present it seems.
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April 18th, 2012 at 8:44 pm - #Louie_Schumii
@R1600Turbo – Please explain. I don’t quite understand how New Zealand can so easily be included in 2010 and all of a sudden be left out of 2011/2012…
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April 18th, 2012 at 12:55 pm - #Quakebass
This message is going towards all of the people whining about DLC:
The January DLC was a month early, so then if it were to follow the schedule, DLC 4 would fall about mid April.
If you look at the schedule:
DLC 1: October 18 = the 3rd Tuesday of October
DLC 2: December 20 = the 3rd Tuesday of December (noticing a pattern?)
DLC 3: January 17 = the 3rd Tuesday of January (this DLC was EXACTLY one month early)
DLC 4: Following this pattern, the DLC will fall on the 3rd Tuesday of April. Let’s see what day that is: the 17th.
Ok, now let’s see when this GT Academy comes out: May 1st. Hey, what do you know? THAT’S A TUESDAY! So, if we get some sort of a DLC along side of the GT Academy download, it’ll only be TWO WEEKS LATE! You guys can wait two weeks, right? Remember, too, that we’re still waiting for the PhotoStream Update, and have no idea what’s going on with the 2013 NSX. Some people here are WAY over exaggerating.-
April 18th, 2012 at 1:18 pm - #HarVee
when it was said that there would be one every two months, I was not said that it would be once every two months on a release schedule.
Therefor, the original statement implied that there would one every two months after the release of the previous, despite the previous getting released earlier or later.
Yeah, I found a loophole in your logic.
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April 18th, 2012 at 1:20 pm - #HarVee
Release schedule meaning the pattern you tried to point out, not the fact that it would be released two months after the previous one.
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April 18th, 2012 at 3:04 pm - #hobanator24
also, it said the dlc would be released approximately every two months. So it never said it would be on the 3rd tuesday, but anytime during that month. So if there is new content released along with GT Academy, Its not that late. I think people have no life if you just sit around waiting for dlc and complaining even after we get it. Read a book, call some friends, go outside. Its 80 degrees & sunny where I am. People need to realize that there is a real world outside ther door, not just what you see on the computer. So stop complaining and do something productive for once. Because frankly, we don’t wanna hear it. Bitching & moaning on your computer isn’t gonna get anything done.
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April 18th, 2012 at 3:35 pm - #Pit Crew
February the only month, according to the monthly pattern being upset by back to back DLC that we wouldn’t see any DLC. The 3 packs caused some online bugs, probably the reason for delay. In the future PD needs to just communicate better. Can we have some respect and stop calling each other stupid? or any name calling. We all purchased probably the best Racing/Simulator on the maret so none of us are close to stupid.
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April 18th, 2012 at 4:08 pm - #teppischfresser
@harvee you are still whining? Why complain about when DLC comes out? Go outside and play football, soccer, lacrosse, hockey, or something. You need to take a break from video games my buddy.
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April 18th, 2012 at 4:32 pm - #HKSBro92
You know what’s funny? The people who complain about DLC will never stop complaining even after a new DLC comes out. They will either complain about the price or how the cars suck THEN complain about how the NEXT DLC is taking too long….it will never end. When the Aventador pack out the whiners were happy for like 2 weeks then all of a sudden “wheres the next DLC?” It’s hilarious. They must be rich or something because they just can’t wait to spend their money. I don’t understand how DLC is gonna improve the game unless if its new tracks. If its new cars then nothing about the game will change. Just give up and wait for GT6 or get Forza 4 where you get to spend money EVERY month :)
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April 18th, 2012 at 12:45 pm - #danger23
y don’t they just make every car a race mod i would love to c herby the love bug with the racing strip lol.another thing is that y do they have that weak azz ford selection “other than the “mach1,that premieum mustang they have on there is “sorry” when ford has many other more powerful mustangs out there.whay about the boss,shelby,cobra. they put the “weakess” one on the game,they probably don’t want to see that paticular car whipping the GTR ass.those mustangs r like the terminator doing gymnastics,what i mean by that is,a car with muscles and agility is a ill combo i’ve road in 2011 SHELBY GT its a amazing machine,the g force makes you feel like your eyes are going throught the back of your head. and those first two gaers ur going to need a neck brace “i’m dead serious”
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April 18th, 2012 at 12:41 pm - #Pit Crew
I can relate to using the leaf for this Academy event as the car is not in my GT5 (Disc) Garage but Kaz and PD please spare us the pain of making GTAcademy Nissan Leaf a free prize car wecan use on our main GT5 account. Just say no. Work on evolving those seasonal A Specs if nothing else.
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April 18th, 2012 at 11:08 am - #19988pasha
I’am inspired!
GTPlanet on Google+
i know i don’t understand why it people all over the world can’t get involved. If you can buy a copy of gt5 that should mean you can use all features associated with the game. i know this is a free demo and not part of gt5 but i think people who ain’t in the mainstream countries can’t get dlc either am i right ?