Gran Turismo 5 competition will put winners in a real race
Umm ... is this really a good idea? Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and Nissan seem to think so, having announced "the ultimate competitive driving test" in the form of "GT Academy." The eight-month long European competition will see two obsessive Gran Turismo 5 Prologue players win a four-month training programme to "earn their racing licenses" and, consequently, discover that the ol' mid-turn bump-and-go isn't advised in real life. Following the training, the winners will be granted the opportunity to drive a Nissan 350Z in a 24-hour endurance race in Dubai in January 2009.
To get your foot in the door of GT Academy, you'll first have to keep it planted on a pedal as you face "a series of elimination-based competitions on and off the racetrack." Before that, you'll have to qualify in an online GT5 Prologue tournament on the PlayStation Network, details of which will arrive when GT Academy goes live at the end of May. We wish the entrants the best of luck and remind them that the damage modeling in real-life, 80000p racing is totally awesome.
To get your foot in the door of GT Academy, you'll first have to keep it planted on a pedal as you face "a series of elimination-based competitions on and off the racetrack." Before that, you'll have to qualify in an online GT5 Prologue tournament on the PlayStation Network, details of which will arrive when GT Academy goes live at the end of May. We wish the entrants the best of luck and remind them that the damage modeling in real-life, 80000p racing is totally awesome.






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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sir Fidlious Wong (Zeon Defense Force) @ May 6th 2008 4:46PM
Wow, very cool competition. I don't stand a snowballs chance in hell. On GTHD, I was proud that release night, I had the top race time in one of the cars. Come back a week later, my time was halved....
But good luck to others.
mike @ May 6th 2008 4:50PM
80000p would be more then 11355 megapixels. The human eye cant really be measured properly for megapixels, but its no more then 600 for sure. I know it was a joke, but still thought I would post this :p
P.S. joystiq, get rid of that stupid hummingbird commercial/advertisement that loads between clicks. It messes up half the time showing a black screen so you cant reply properly to comments.
Neebs @ May 6th 2008 5:10PM
they could have said OVER 9000p
LaughingTarget @ May 6th 2008 5:11PM
Better yet, get Firefox so you'll never have to look at ads again.
finnith @ May 6th 2008 9:49PM
Firefox + Adblock = No ads
Bigfoot @ May 6th 2008 4:54PM
That would be awesome. Every time I've gone to the Rolex 24, I wished I could drive in the race.
LaughingTarget @ May 6th 2008 5:00PM
Dang, shelling out the big money for the extra m and e in program, that just may make me want to join up.
WiiFTW @ May 6th 2008 5:22PM
I think they did this or similar things for older GTs except that it was like a sweepstakes instead of a tournament-type setup. It'd be interesting to see who wins, then see them crash and burn in the real race. Better yet, they should add another rule "No women allowed" because we all know women can't drive.
/joking just in case the extremely rare women on the internets start attacking me
Sir Fidlious Wong (Zeon Defense Force) @ May 6th 2008 5:55PM
-1 for you.
Because you missed the VERY obvious asian people driving joke and went for women drivers. Women drivers? Fucks sake, quit stealing your politically incorrect humor from Archie Bunker. Next thing you know, you'll be talking about "Dem dere, jews..."
WiiFTW @ May 6th 2008 6:13PM
Um yea, I didn't go for the Asian drivers joke because:
1. I'm technically Asian (Indian).
2. I haven't heard of bad Asian drivers.
el serpiente @ May 6th 2008 7:00PM
3. You ain't funnt
el serpiente @ May 6th 2008 7:00PM
3. You ain't funny.
el serpiente @ May 6th 2008 7:00PM
4. I can't spell.
the real steve @ May 6th 2008 5:24PM
but I thought Gran Turismo was the real driving simulator. The two best Gran Turismo drivers in the world should not have any problem driving a race car in real life.... oh wait.
PojoMofo @ May 6th 2008 5:45PM
a video game is different than real life, sorry it took you this long to figure it out.
You like COD4??? Go over to Iraq and blow up some terrorists.
You like GTAIV??? Steal a car and run from the cops
glitched @ May 6th 2008 6:08PM
I'm gonna go out and guess that more car people and actual race car drivers play gran turismo more often than "gamers"
the original GT came out when i was about 16. I blame GT for my obsession with my IRL Nissan time attack car.
I have real on-track experience, not wheel to wheel, but time attack experience, and would LOVE to take the wheel of a 350zed in a 24 hour race!
rv @ May 6th 2008 6:17PM
Well if gt5 has reallly good physics, and the participants use a racing wheel, and dont use glitches/exploits, it should be nearly the same. Also, you guys are forgetting the 4 month program, which should help those entrants out a lot.
Maverick Saturn @ May 6th 2008 6:55PM
This is why our society today is made up (so said by the media) of absent minded destructive youths who believe games are real and that they could carry out thier gaming tasks in real life.
¬_¬
pr_master @ May 6th 2008 11:03PM
Sarcasm people, Sarcasms :\
Carl Abrams @ May 6th 2008 6:34PM
Watch some good ole boys at any Nascar race this summer and you'll see lots of bump and go action. Open wheel Indy style cars, sure, you bump and you're in a world of hurt. Stock cars - let's have at the dings!
I think it'd be cool to put some of the Nascar drivers up against the European drivers and see who'd come out on top.
Kliend @ May 6th 2008 6:52PM
Dear Luddy, I love your sense of humor and missed you on the last poooooodcaaaast. also, This story is weird. Hey fanboys: Forza is so much better than GT.
el serpiente @ May 6th 2008 7:01PM
That's the worst flame in the history of flame.
playwhutyalike @ May 6th 2008 7:35PM
Must....buy......PS3.......
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.
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Must......kill.....Linconln.....
Kujel @ May 6th 2008 9:49PM
I'll be laughing my ass off when they crash those Nissan 350Zs in the real world.
Purple Haze @ May 7th 2008 1:54AM
I'm gonna laugh when the winners are all 14 year old kids.