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?

Gran Turismo 5’s B-Spec mode unfortunately returns to the game’s Seasonal Events this week, but at least you’ll have some nice scenery to watch as your fastest drivers make their way around the Côte d’Azur and Monza circuits. Here’s a closer look at the details:

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.

After relatively successful pre-race preparations for the GT Academy graduates, their relative fortunes took a turn for the worse come race day.

Following Jordan Tresson’s disappointing season-opener in the Sebring 12 Hour race two weeks ago, two more GT Academy graduates are involved in their own race series debuts this weekend.

When Polyphony Digital launched Gran Turismo 5‘s new Photostream service in Asia two weeks ago, they also mentioned the game’s previously announced “March 2012 update” had been postponed.

In what will surely be much to the chagrin of increasingly restless Gran Turismo 5 fans, B-Spec has once again been featured in the game’s latest Seasonal Events. Here’s a closer look at the new races for your fastest B-Spec driver: