Although European GT Academy champions have typically had the most opportunities at the highest levels of sports car racing over the past few years, Nissan hasn’t forgotten about their ever-increasing stable of champions in the United States.

A new round of A-Spec Seasonal Events have just gone live in Gran Turismo 6, and they spice things up a bit with rally racing at Toscana. Here’s an overview of the new races; as always, stop by our GT6 Seasonal Events forum for more discussion!

Nissan Philippines president Antonio Zara confirmed GT Academy will be coming to the country in 2015 while speaking to the media earlier this week.

The following was written by Nicolas Hammann, the 2014 GT Academy North American champion, as he offers an inside look at the Nissan Driver Development Program which he joined after winning this past season of the competition.

As you’ve probably heard by now, all eyes of the automotive world were on the North American International Auto Show this Monday for the unveiling of the new Ford GT. It’s a radical car, set to produce more than 600HP from a twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 engine, complete with a full carbon-fiber body and active aerodynamics to compete with Europe’s finest.

Facts & Guides

Nissan is making waves in the endurance racing world this year with a new car to compete in the top LMP1 category at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and you’ll be able to drive it in Gran Turismo.

A new batch of seasonal events are now available in Gran Turismo 6, featuring your choice of rally car, non-race cars, race cars, and tuned cars, and once again features the updated 2014 layout of Suzuka. This week’s challenges are as follows, and remember to stop by our GT6 Seasonal Events forum for in-depth analysis and discussion, and tips and tricks.

The 2015 Tokyo Auto Salon will be hosting a “Super Gran Turismo Competition” this weekend, which will see some of the country’s top professional drivers face off against one another along with some of the best GT players in the country.

French website AutoMoto.fr has published what it claims to be the first photos of Alpine’s new Vision Gran Turismo concept car. The site reports the car will be officially unveiled this month at a special presentation in Paris.

“Project CARS” – a new racing game from Slightly Mad Studios – is set to release in March, and it’s going to feature one very special car for our community here! The game’s RUF CTR3 SMS-R will be available in a full GTPlanet livery, conceived by GTP member Willfred_1 and custom designed by FLX1981.

2014 was a roller coaster of a year for Gran Turismo fans. Although GT6 didn’t evolve as quickly as many people expected after its December 2013 release, it has undergone a considerable transformation over the past twelve months and introduced some major “firsts” for the series.

The third annual Red Bull 5G competition was held in Tokyo, Japan last week, and the Gran Turismo 6 round of the country’s preeminent gaming contest offered the most excitement and drama at the event.

A new batch of seasonal events are now available in Gran Turismo 6, featuring two overtake challenges, a non-race car drift trial, and a 10-lap survival race at the 2014 layout for Suzuka Circuit.

In a bid to celebrate the holiday season in the best possible way, the newest Vision Gran Turismo project car has been revealed and is Mazda’s homage to its own success at the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans; introducing the Mazda LM55.

Mazda may be close to unveiling their Vision Gran Turismo project in GT6, according to a mention of the car in the game itself. GTPlanet user @smasherguy1020 noticed the “Mazda LM55 Vision Gran Turismo” appeared in a list of eligible LMP-class cars in an online racing room and reported it in our forums.

The maintenance is somewhat unusual: it’s occurring on one of the major holidays of the year, it’s just an hour long (most are two hours), and it’s only been a week since GT6 update 1.15 was launched. This reduces the probability of another update or more new content, but announced maintenance does usually precede update releases, so it can’t be entirely ruled out.

GT Academy has another new champion: 21-year old Nicolas Hammann of Elkhart Lake, WI!

There’s one last episode of GT Academy 2014 to be aired on Spike TV at 11:30pm ET tonight, and it’s a big one, with the conclusion of the competition and the revelation of a new GT Academy champion from North America.