GT Academy National Finals: Racer X Challenge, Win a HumanRacing GT Chassis

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GT Academy National Finals: Racer X Challenge, Win a HumanRacing GT Chassis

GT Academy 2012

Congratulations to our Top 32 competitors, who beat out a field of nearly 400,000 participants to compete in this year’s GT Academy 2012 National Finals. The 32 finalists (pending eligibility confirmation) will take part in a live head-to-head competition at the GT Academy National Finals event on Friday and Saturday, July 13th and 14th, at the Jolt’n Joe’s Gaslamp – a short distance away from the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con.

Introducing a new twist in this year’s competition, PlayStation and Nissan are backing up our “Victory Is Anyone’s” message by allowing any gamer to show up and secure one spot in the National Finals to compete against the top 32 finalists. Anyone (pending eligibility) can register at the Oasis Bar inside the Hard Rock Hotel in downtown San Diego on Thursday, July 12th from 10am to 4pm PST and compete for top lap time in Gran Turismo 5. The top competitor of the day will walk away with a one of a kind GT Academy 2012 designed HumanRacing GT Chassis equipped with the Thrustmaster T500RS wheel and pedal set. Additionally, the winner will earn a 33rd spot in the Finals competition, becoming “Racer X” and earning a chance Friday morning — July 13th — to knock out and replace any of the top 32 finalists.

GT Academy - HumanRacing Chassis
GT Academy - HumanRacing Chassis

GT Academy - HumanRacing ChassisGT Academy - HumanRacing Chassis

GT Academy - HumanRacing Chassis

So for those who didn’t make the top 32 in the online competition, this is your second chance to fight for ONE spot in the National Finals and also take away an exclusive GT Academy – HumanRacing GT Chassis and Thrustmaster Wheel! Just be sure to show up early, as the competition will be first come first serve. Since this is only open from 10:00am to 4:00pm, your window of opportunity is very limited, so be sure to show up early and ready to race!

Once in the National Finals Event, the 33 contestants will be divided into individual groups and race in a series of live head-to-head races in Gran Turismo 5. Racing Nissan vehicles, each contestant will earn points based on the place they finish in. As race difficulty increases, the contestants with the fewest points at the end of each round will be eliminated until only 16 remain. These final 16 contestants will move on to Phase Two in GT Academy, taking the racers away from their PS3 consoles and onto the track, behind the wheel of real race cars, for a chance to become a professional race car driver and the official GT Academy winner for the U.S. The winner will have the opportunity to train with an elite racing team, and will work towards a debut as part of a professional team. The competitors’ road to victory will be documented in an innovative new series airing exclusively on Spike TV in late 2012.

More info, including Official Rules for Racer X and National Finals will be available very shortly through GT.com

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21 Comments

6 Author Replies

  • so if your not from California forget it!

    Why Couldnt you link up with other places around the U.S. and do this simulcast?

    #Bias!

  • I’m in Ca 600 miles from San Diego. Do you see me crying bias? If you think you got a shot man up and buy a plane ticket or shut up.

  • Will this be the only racer X event? I would highly suggest something one the east coast. Times Square NYC would be awesome!

  • I am also assuming hotel is not included if you win (a la those that actually got in the top 32)?

  • Any insight as to whether the competition for “racer X” will be on existing tracks, or new tracks?

    How many tracks, how many tries, how many open “consoles” to try? will contenders race IN the actual gizmo shown here? more details on the actual setup would be nice. Along with details such as, will existing “ranked” players get a bit of an edge in priority or something?

    • No insights. We want the competition to be purely based on the driver’s naturally ability to adapt to various conditions :)

  • I would like to know what race event will it be as well. I hope it won’t be Event 8-5 again from GT Academy! Haha, many people such as myself have nightmares of that Twin Ring Motegi Short Course driving the lightly tuned 370z, from a terrible amount of retries.

  • East Coast never gets any love.

  • So much negativity. …but at least you get a taste of how Canadians and Mexicans feel.

    Good luck to the best of the best!

  • Ultimategamer101

    Hah! Good thing I live in San Diego! I’m definitely going. I don’t think I’ll win, but why not try and have some fun?

    • Most definitely. The Racer X competition and National Finals are open to the public. Come check it out

  • haha sweet a 20 min drive. i am going to go just for the fun of it

  • and i bet once the 2nd phase starts there is going to be a HUGE turn around for what the ps3 places were.

  • omg that is smexxxy they should do this in baltimore maryland give us a shot

  • I love how people are complaining about this only being in San Diego… The reason it’s there is because this event takes place 1 day before the national finals. This way “Racer X” will be able to compete on location. If you think you got what it takes to win, buy a plane ticket.

    Was the 400,000 competitors world wide (I’m guess yes), or just the US?

  • 400,00 is probably US as worldwide was over 1 million. You can see the total world wide number here: http://us.gran-turismo.com/us/academy/2012/

  • If anyone thinks it will be easy knocking one of the established 32 off the roster, think again.

    You won’t have endless chances to redo your laps, like you did sitting at home.

    Good luck!

  • Fine… Be that way! Don’t give us eastern coast people a chance

  • They also have to get one of the babies on the OPEN market.

  • OK, so the registration needs to be more clear… the description above says first come serve.
    So I live in the East Coast, and lets say…. if I buy a plane ticket and stay in a hotel room ( around $900) and by the time I get to the event, they tell me that the competition is full.. I might want to break something!

    So please tell us if there is a maximum amount of people who can register on that day.

    Thank you

    • There is no maximum amount of people who can register, but it’s a one day competition from 10am to 4pm, so bare that in mind. The line can very well be cut off way before 4pm if the line exceeds the time it requires for each competitor to drive. We would highly suggest getting there before 10am, especially since it’s comic-con.

  • “+ Ken Chan on June 27th, 2012 at 9:12 am said:

    No insights. We want the competition to be purely based on the driver’s naturally ability to adapt to various conditions :)”

    Is it fair to say, then, that it will NOT be the twin ring motegi course? If not, that is EXCELLENT… it give me more hope of doing better. Competing against people “cold”, with a non-(mentally)warmed-up car, would be a fantastic challenge!

  • If the initial contest had been about driving ability and the ability to adapt to different conditions I would have qualified.
    Based on the total cumulative time of all 40 driving tests I finished 4th among Americans. But based solely on the results from 8-5 I finished 331st.
    I was also one of only 2 Americans to finish on top of any of the 40 worldwide leader boards. (7-5)
    Living in North Carolina, 2500 miles away from San Diego, means I can’t afford to make the trip to even get the chance to try for the 33rd spot.

  • Thanks for the clarification Ken Chan,

    Now the question is, where is this Oasis Bar?

    I called the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego CA. and the reseptionist told me that there is no Oasis Bar inside the Hard Rock Hotel.

    I’m very confused.

    this is the info I found in Google:

    Hard Rock San Diego Hotel
    207 5th Avenue San Diego, CA 92101
    (619) 702-3000

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