A very interesting new screenshot emerged today on German video game news site PlayFront, in an article they posted about GT Academy 2012. Included with a batch of various promotional images is one screenshot labeled “Round_8_Twin Ring Motegi East Short Course”, which you can see above.

GT Academy’s 2010 champion Jordan Tresson gets a second chance at an LMP2 debut this afternoon as the Signatech Nissan team take to the track for the WEC Spa 6 Hours.

With the GT5 GT Academy 2012 now available to gamers around the world, GTPlanet was able to get an interview with 2011 European GT Academy champion Jann Mardenborough. Jann was kind enough to answer a few questions for all the budding racing drivers and GT Academy hopefuls out there, to give insight into the before, during and after of the internationally successful Gamer-to-Racer program.

Despite the focus on GT Academy, Polyphony Digital have stuck to their Seasonal Event cycle schedule and added two new Time and Drift Trials. This week’s focus is on the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution road car, with an unusual appearance from a snow circuit in the Time Trial section:

GT Academy 2012 has been online for just over a day now, and the numbers coming in are staggering: in the past 24 hours, over 63,000 players from around the world have driven over 2 million miles, in over 3 million attempts at the mini-game’s 10 available time trial challenges.

The search for the next generation of GT Academy champions begins today! This year’s competition will be bigger than ever before, open to players in more than 15 countries in four different regions:

The first batch of GT Academy 2012 details raised almost as many questions as they answered; most importantly, how would the competition evolve and how would competitors advance over the 8 weeks of competition?

GT5 Photomode image by The R!CE Guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNXxZCnrYhk

Each month, over half a million people visit GTPlanet using Google’s Chrome browser, making it the most popular way to access the site. Now, it’s going to be easier than ever for Chrome users to stay on top of news from the “world of Gran Turismo” with GTPlanet’s new Chrome extension!

As announced earlier this week, GT Academy 2012 is about to kick off next month in four different regions around the globe.

Two of Gran Turismo 5’s most legendary and popular circuits are both taking the stage in this week’s Time & Drift Trial Seasonal Events! Here’s all the details:

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…

GTP_Registry to host Laguna Seca Enduro!

While the rest of us wait for GT Academy to start next month, the winners of previous academies continue to make their names in world motorsports and demonstrate the success of the GT Academy program.

Gran Turismo 5’s reverse London circuit brings some interesting new variety to this week’s A-Spec Seasonal Events. Here’s a complete look at the new races:

Following last year’s successful Asia Online tournament, SCEA have today launched a second event.

New Time and Drift Trials are now available in Gran Turismo 5’s Seasonal Events, which feature German cars. Here’s a closer look at what’s new:

Announced this morning via Twitter, Lucas Ordoñez will shortly find himself driving a Nissan GT-R at the punishing Nürburgring 24 Hour race.

Although many of us were expecting a start date for the European GT Academy in March, the recent update delay seemed to have put this on hold.