Official logo of the GT Academy.
GT Academy was a television and racing program jointly run by Nissan and PlayStation as an alternative route to entry for mainstream motorsports. It allowed the best players the chance to go from virtual to reality as they compete to win the ultimate prize: a spot on the Nissan racing team. The competition was held between 2008 to 2016.
History[]
The idea for GT Academy dates back to 2006, when Darren Cox signed a deal with Sony Computer Entertainment UK that allowed players to a participate in a track day with Nissan. With support from series producer Kazunori Yamauchi, the inaugural GT Academy was held in 2008 in Europe; Lucas Ordonez was crowned the champion. As it was initially planned as a one-off event, it was not held in 2009.
The competition continued in 2010, with an international expansion to North America the following year. Additional regions were added every year, with GT Academy Asia debuting in 2014. For the final year of the competition, there was only one competition region.
To qualify for the finals, in addition to reaching the top of event leaderboards, competitors must also be:[1]
- at least 18 years old
- provide a registration information to Sony Computer Entertainment, when prompted
- have a valid, active driving license
- have never competed in a previous GT Academy Boot Camp
- have never held a racing license equivalent to MSA (UK) National A level, or competed in a professional, national level karting championship for more than two seasons, or an "existing competition driving contract with any motorsports" organization that conflicts with the winner's ability to advance further in GT Academy.
The 2016 edition was the last running of the event. An interview with Jann Mardenborough on SportsCenter on ESPN in 2017 suggested that GT Academy may return that year, although this ultimately did not happen.[2] At the end of 2018, Lucas Ordonez was released from Nissan's racing program,[3] and Nissan's GT3 racing partner, RJN Motorsport, switched to Honda the following year,[4] as part of cost-cutting measures at Nissan that effectively ended almost all of their international motorsport programs (with major exceptions to Formula E and Super GT), signaling the unofficial end of GT Academy. Additionally, Polyphony Digital signed Toyota as an FIA-Ceritifed Gran Turismo Championships partner that year.
GT Academy is the setting for the Gran Turismo movie released in 2023.
Phases[]
Every GT Academy event consists of the following phases:
- Qualifying: Players qualify through a special game mode (or game demo, in case of 2010, 2012, and 2013; alternatively also live event pods organized by Nissan, which was the only available method in 2016) and reach the top rankings of the main time trial event, using specially branded versions of Nissan cars emblazoned with GT Academy logos. (In most cases, these GT Academy-branded cars are not available outside of the event, although they were given out to competitors' in-game garage for participating in the 2012 event, as an exception.)
- National Finals: For multi-regional events, qualified players compete on an on-site time trial event, as well as on-track driving real-life Nissan vehicles and personality and health assessments.
- Race Camp: National Finalists are sent to Silverstone Circuit to determine their abilities against each other, both on-track and off-track. A group of judges (including a head judge) with motorsport backgrounds determines who would be eliminated, as well as deciding each region's champion. Finally, a race on the last day will determine the ultimate champion. The Race Camp portion of the event is the portion that is televised as a special television program.
- Driver Development: Winners partake in a driver development program by Nissan (headquartered at Silverstone Circuit) where they received training, as well as club and national-level racing to prepare themselves to earn an FIA-recognized international racing license for worldwide professional sports car races. This process was done with partnership of RJN Motorsport, who runs Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3s in worldwide GT3 races for the graduates. The graduates also competed in other race events, such as in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Super GT.
Graduates[]
| Season | Driver | Region | Qualifying Game |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 |  Lucas Ordóñez
|
Europe | Gran Turismo 5 Prologue |
| 2009 | Not held | ||
| 2010 |  Jordan Tresson
|
Europe | Gran Turismo 5 Time Trial Challenge demo |
| 2011 |  Jann Mardenborough Bryan Heitkotter
|
Europe USA |
Gran Turismo 5 |
| 2012 |  Wolfgang Reip Steve Doherty Peter Pyzera Mark Shulzhitskiy
|
Europe USA Germany Russia |
GT Academy 2012 (downloadable, cut-down standalone version of GT5) |
| 2013 |  Ashley Oldfield Miguel Faisca Nick McMillen Florian Strauss Stanislav Aksenov
|
Africa/Middle East Europe USA Germany Russia |
GT Academy 2013 (downloadable Gran Turismo 6 demo) |
| 2014 | Gaëtan Paletou Nicolas Hammann Marc Gassner Ricardo Sanchez Ahmed Bin-Khanen
|
Europe USA Germany International Asia |
Gran Turismo 6 |
| 2015 | Romain Sarazin Matthew Simmons Jose Gerard Policarpio
|
Europe International Asia |
Gran Turismo 6 |
| 2016 | Johnny Guindi Hamui
|
International | Gran Turismo Sport (pre-release version on live event pods) |
Notes[]
- ↑ GT Academy 2014 Canada Terms & Conditions - GT Academy - gran-turismo.com (other regions may have similar terms)
- ↑ ESPN: GT Academy Returns in 2017 With Gran Turismo Sport - GTPlanet
- ↑ GT Academy’s First Winner, Lucas Ordonez, Parts Company With Nissan - GTPlanet
- ↑ Is GT Academy Officially Dead? RJN Motorsport Switches to Honda — and Jenson Button - GTPlanet
External links[]
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