A new Seasonal Event went live in GT5 late last night, highlighting the game’s “raging bulls” in races at five different circuits. Here’s an overview of the events (and their respective prize winnings) compiled for us by MarsSpork:
It’s been a few weeks (actually, nearly two months), but we’re back on the front page for the weekly coverage of GTP’s Photomode competitions. Using GT5’s mode, and varying levels of post-game work (ranging from none in “PMC”, all the way to the Photoshop free-for-all of the aptly-named Photomode/Photoshop comp), many of our users post amazing shots on a weekly basis, and every registered forum member has the chance to cast their vote to determine each week’s winner, as well as enter if they so desire. Let’s see what’s going on this week:
GT Academy EU 2011 is in full swing, but this year, Sony and Nissan have revealed an interesting new twist for players in the UK. A live “wild card” time trial event will be held April 1st, 2nd, and 3rd at the Nissan Innovation Center inside London’s O2.
As I announced a few weeks ago, Electronic Arts invited GTPlanet to a “community day” event for their latest driving game, Shift 2: Unleashed. I took them up on the offer, and I’m eager to share my impressions of the game. There’s a lot of eyes on Shift 2 after the series’ first title, billed as a realistic simulator, was highly criticized by “sim racers” for its too-friendly physics. According to EA’s marketing, these issues have been addressed, going so far as to call it “the most realistic racer ever”.
In a somewhat surprising update to GT5’s “Seasonal Events” given the continued disruption of life in Tokyo, Polyphony Digital has introduced five new races in the game and extended the deadline for existing events. Here’s a closer look at what’s new along with the potential earnings from each (thanks for the stats, MarsSpork):
The top 16 drivers among the 50,000 participants in GT Academy USA 2011 have now earned their place in the Silverstone boot camp! The last few rounds of heated competition went down in Orlando on Wednesday, and GTPlanet correspondent grafpt was on hand for all the action. Here’s the finalists, grouped by region:
Holy cow, where to begin! Well first and foremost I must send my biggest thanks to Jordan(GTP) and Alex and Claudine(Sony). Without them this day would never have occurred and many great things would never have been sparked.
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.
GT Academy winner Lucas Ordonez and his Signatech Nissan team finished second in class during their first race: the challenging 12 Hours of Sebring. After starting on pole, the team was forced to battle with gearbox and electrical issues, but still managed to bring the car home in one piece with a very respectable finish. Check the official race report for a complete overview of all the results.
As you know, GT Academy winner Lucas Ordonez has made huge strides in his racing career and is now competing in the 2011 International Le Mans Cup. The series kicks off today with the legendary 12 Hours of Sebring in Florida, and Lucas’ team, Signatech Nissan, are already off to a great start scoring class pole in the LMP2 category!
The European round of GT Academy 2011 has had a bit of trouble getting started in Italy. As you may recall, the rules officially stated the competition wouldn’t kick off in the country until today, March 18th, at 8 AM GMT. However, the launch date has passed and, as of writing, there’s still no sign of the Academy there yet. Italy also appears to have been removed from the list of eligible countries on the official website.
If you’ve spent much time online in GT5 or our forums recently, you may have seen one of the latest “glitches” discovered in the game (there’s more on YouTube). With a little help from a friend, you can “break out” of the Nurburgring using a high-powered car (usually the X2010) to explore or – unfortunately – acquire a lot of money very quickly. The glitch appears to work just as the one discovered at SSR7, which was just patched last week in GT5 v1.08. Watch the the video above to see how it’s done – hopefully this is an issue that can be resolved soon.
A new Chevrolet Camaro SS “Edge Special” is available in Gran Turismo 5, thanks to a promotion by Schick Razors. To download the car, stop by your local store and pick up one of Schick’s specially labeled products, then head over to this website and enter the code found in the packaging. You’ll be provided with another PSN code to enter in the PSN Store on your console.
As you’ve probably heard by now, Japan was rocked by a large earthquake and tsunami early this morning. Understandably, I’ve received questions from many other fans concerned about the safety of Kazunori Yamauchi and the team at Polyphony Digital. Fortunately, Kazunori tweeted not long after the event to report no major damage or significant injuries at either of the company’s studios.
The latest GT5 update, v1.08, has just gone live in Europe and North America (it became available in Asia earlier today). According to Polyphony Digital, this small patch only fixes one issue that has become something of a hot-topic in our forums over the past few days. Known as the “SSR7 glitch” or the “online money glitch”, it allowed players to quickly accumulate a lot of money and A-Spec experience points – check the video above to see how it was done.
SCEE has granted a product licensing company known as “Musterbrand” the rights to produce GT-branded shirts and outerwear in an online “Gran Turismo Boutique”. The products range in price from $24.00 to $199.00 (shipping not included).
GT Academy officially returns to Europe today, with a new, custom “Eifel” track specially designed for the competition by Kazunori Yamauchi himself. Participants will be piloting a Nissan 370Z around the new course, featuring sweeping, high-speed corners with plenty of helpful camber (check out the video above for a complete lap).
