After one of the most gruelling ‘Total 24 Hours of Spa’ in many years, the RJN Motorsport Nissan 370Z of Jordan Tresson, Alex Buncombe and Chris Ward crossed the line as the GT4 race winner! This marks the first international victory for a GT Academy winner and indeed for the production class Nissan 370Z.

While responding to a question on Twitter, Kazunori Yamauchi has thankfully shared some brief yet interesting information on the future plans for Gran Turismo 5. Here’s a human translation of his comments, kindly offered by GTPlanet community member Shirakawa Akira:

After nearly a month-long hiatus, GT5’s Seasonal Event updates have returned. The “World Compact Car” series is now available, open to cars with less than 450pp and less than 4200mm in length. Races take place at the following circuits:

European GT Academy winner Jann Mardenborough and his American counterpart Bryan Heitkotter faced the toughest challenge so far of their intensive ‘Driver Development Programme’ on Sunday, 24 July at Castle Combe. The pair campaigned their PlayStation® Nissan Team 370Z to a second-in-class finish (17th place overall) in the competitive Britcar Dunlop Production GTN Championship. The strong result in the two-hour endurance race secured each driver two more vital ‘signatures’ required for them to attain the international race licence that will allow them to compete in the Dubai International 24 Hour Race in January 2012.

According to a new product listing on Amazon France, Gran Turismo 5 will be joining the PlayStation 3’s “Platinum Range” less than one year after its release, on October 5, 2011.

Remember GT5 Signature Edition Challenge, which offered the chance to win a real-life Mercedes SLS AMG? The unique B-Spec competition took place in January and the next stage has finally been announced, with the top-placed finishers headed to the Red Bull Ring in Austria for their chance to compete for the top prize.