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PlayStation Community Update: The Amazing Community of Gran Turismo 5

Morgan Haro — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 16:01:47 +0000

Welcome to this week’s PlayStation Community Update, where we shine the light on some of the most interesting content that is inherently owned and provided by you, the gamers. Last week, you may have checked out the Battle Bowl, a massive Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 tournament between 2 competitive communities: FraggedNation and Urgent Fury. This tournament is going on all month so you can still sign up today!

This week, we’re shining the spotlight on the legendary Gran Turismo series and some marquee community events that any racer might want to get involved in. We reached out to Gran Turismo 5 fanatic MasterGT to give us a breakdown of Gran Turismo 5 community events. If you love the series as much as millions of other gamers do, read on. Whether you’re a newcomer to Gran Turismo 5, or a racing vet, don’t hesitate to jump into some of these fantastic community races.

Don’t forget to download the 2014 Corvette Stingray Final Prototype, the latest DLC for Gran Turismo 5! Click here to add it to your cart from the SEN Online PlayStation Store.

Visit the Gran Turismo Events space in the PlayStation Community forums to join in the events, find new friends, and compete in an incredibly welcoming community.

Hey everyone, MastrGT here from the Gran Turismo PlayStation Community. The PlayStation Community forums are home to a lot of different things, but within the Gran Turismo 5 community, we’ve made a nice little home here by being able to meet racers new and old through a multitude of different events. So to start with, make sure you book mark it!

So that’s step 1; swing in and get to know the Gran Turismo community, filled with amazing players (some of which have been finalists in the GT Academy reality series), great Photo Mode artists, or racers who are generally knowledgeable of GT or cars and racing. In fact, for the past two years, this community has been using Gran Turismo to bring players of all abilities together on-line, no matter what type of racing interests them. Rally racing, NASCAR, F1, drifting, pick-up type racing, GT, Touring Car and just about any other type of high speed fun has been available here. Gran Turismo has the variety of cars, and the millions of drivers, to make this possible. Because of the depth of the GT community the GT Events forum always has something new going on, including the fresh Sunday Cup series of races!

And that brings us to Step 2; the races! Here’s how you can get in on the action with us. Two weekly events are specifically designed to attract racing fans from the broader forum membership and have had support from the PlayStation Community Management team, dedicated PlayStation Community forum members, and other special guests.

The Saturday Afternoon Events are run by GT community member, cr0wlft0fdmurder. Click here to visit the event page.

The Saturday afternoon races normally are longer races, taking up to about one hour to finish. That gives everyone a chance to settle in for a more measured and natural race, and we feel it captures the essence of racing cars. You can join in as soon as tomorrow, 2/9! Click here to check out the events page on the Saturday Afternoon Events.

The Monday Night Events are run by me, MastrGT. Click here to visit the event page.

The shorter Monday Night races have also been quite popular because they allow many players to race whenever they can during a weekday evening. The race program allows using virtually any and all of the 1,100 cars in GT, depending on each night’s race details: small street cars, then small race cars; bigger street cars, then bigger race cars. Anything is possible, no matter which car or track we use. The cars are usually very easy to find and down time between races is meant to be short, so the tempo is kept high. The open lobby can be very popular, but we can race over two, sometimes three, hours, making it very easy for you to join in on the fun.

Thanks MastrGT, representing the Gran Turismo community! There are a lot more racing events to be found, and you can find out about all of them by visiting the Events page in the PlayStation Community forums. If you’re a racing fan who’s looking for a great community with some heated competition, hop in to these areas and feel the GT Community love.

Chat with fellow PS gamers in our Forums! There’s plenty to talk about, with different sections including:

PlayStation Plus

PlayStation Home

PS Trophy Leaderboard

Whatever you want (aka Off-Topic area)

Win PlayStation games and products every Wednesday on Twitter! Next week we’re giving away voucher codes for the PS3 and PS Vita versions of Urban Trial Freestyle. Winners will also get a signed tshirt from French motorbike rider Julien Dupont, who is featured in the game.

Follow @HeyPlayStation on Twitter to be eligible to win this, and other prizes from PlayStation.

Gran Turismo 5 Exclusive – ’14 Corvette Stingray Free on PSN

Ken Chan — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 13:35:02 +0000

Arriving exclusively for Gran Turismo 5 this Tuesday, the 2014 Corvette Stingray DLC will be available for free through PlayStation Store.

Officially announced at the LA Auto Show last November, Polyphony Digital and Chevrolet worked very closely for months in developing an exclusive firsthand driving experience of the Corvette C7 in Gran Turismo 5. Since its introduction, nearly 500,000 people around the world have driven the camouflaged Corvette Test Prototype. And now, only just the day after the Corvette Stingray’s world debut at the North American International Auto Show, the DLC will be available exclusively through PS Store starting Tuesday.

During the creation of the virtual Corvette Stingray, careful attention was paid to the tiniest details of the new design inside and out, as well as to the enhanced performance and driving characteristics — right down to the shift schedule for the 7-speed manual transmission.

The Corvette Stingray will produce an estimated 450 horsepower and 450 ft. lbs. of torque, is capable of accelerating from 0-60 in less than four seconds and will achieve more than 1g in cornering grip. It will also be the most fuel-efficient Corvette ever, exceeding the EPA-estimated 26 MPG of the current model.

For more information and video content, check out www.one13thirteen.com. Enthusiasts can join the conversation about the next-generation Corvette and keep track of new announcements on Facebook and Twitter.

Gran Turismo 5 Exclusive: Drive the Corvette C7 Test Prototype

Ken Chan — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 23:00:46 +0000

For weeks now, members of GTplanet and PlayStation.Blog have been speculating about the mysterious appearance of a camouflaged Corvette C7 appearing in Gran Turismo 5‘s screen saver.

Well, the rumors are true – officially announced today at the LA Auto Show, Chevrolet and Polyphony Digital have been working very closely for months in developing an exclusive first-hand driving experience by offering a camouflaged Corvette C7 Test Prototype in Gran Turismo 5. The DLC is now available for free through PlayStation Store.

With spy photos valued at an estimated $100,000, Chevrolet has gone to extreme measures to disguise the test car. In fact, a designated Corvette design team was tasked with developing custom camouflage to conceal the new design elements. The concealed test prototype continues to undergo extensive performance and durability testing in preparation for final production. Millions of hours will be accumulated through thousands of rigorous performance trials before the car is released later in 2013.

Until now, only a handful of the most skilled drivers on the Corvette team have been authorized to push the test prototype to the limits on the most challenging tracks in the world, including the infamous Nurburgring Nordschleife – one of the core testing grounds for C7’s driving dynamics.

Now you can also be part of that exclusive experience by heading over to PlayStation Store and downloading the exclusive Corvette C7 Test Prototype, then taking it to the track in Gran Turismo 5. Be sure to share your best lap time on the Nurburgring Nordschleife through Corvette’s Facebook page.

Chevrolet will introduce the 2014 Corvette on Sunday, January 13th, 2013. For more information and video content, check out www.one13thirteen.com. Enthusiasts can join the conversation about the next-generation Corvette and keep track of new announcements on Facebook and Twitter.

Gran Turismo 5: Three New Cars, Update 2.08 Out Tuesday

Ken Chan — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 16:01:47 +0000

While we wait patiently for Spike’s airing of GT Academy 2012 this fall, we have three new pieces of DLC and Update 2.08 releasing on Tuesday, September 25th to keep you guys battling in Gran Turismo 5.

Nissan GT-R N24 GT Academy ’12 ($.99)

Relive the victory with the Nissan GT-R N24 GT Academy ’12, winner of the SP8T class in the 2012 Nürburgring 24-hour race.

The GT-R N24 GT Academy was developed by the GT-R development team of Nissan, and set up by software engineers of Gran Turismo. Driven by Gran Turismo series producer Kazunori Yamauchi and the first European GT Academy winner Lucas Ordonez, Team GT Academy won top victory in the SP8T class. Relive the victory at the Nürburgring with this signature GT-R N24.

Subaru BRZ S ’12 ($.99)

Enjoy the natural feel of a compact front engine rear wheel drive (FR) sportscar by adding the Subaru BRZ S ’12 to Gran Turismo 5.

Sharing the specifications of the Toyota FR-S, the production model prototype was announced at the Tokyo Motorshow in November 2011. In addition to the different front grill and foglights, the driving feel of the suspension settings focuses more on stability, and reflects the sports car philosophy of Subaru. In the BRZ, you can enjoy the feel of an FR layout sportscar — a rarity in today’s automobiles.

Honda weider HSV-010 (SUPER GT) ’11 ($.99)

Add the official Honda Weider HSV-010 (SUPER GT) ’11 that competed in the GT500 class of Japan Super GT series to Gran Turismo 5.

The HSV-010 debuted in 2010 as the heir to the Honda NSX-GT. The car is a front engine rear wheel drive powered by a 3.4 liter V8 based on an engine designed for the Formula Nippon. The car achieved a double title win in its debut year, and this 2011 model utilizes side radiators to optimize weight distribution, further improving its cornering performance. Add this high performance Honda Racing machine to your collection.

Update 2.08

A free downloadable update coming next week will add several new enhancements to GT5, as well as correcting some reported issues. A few examples of the update 2.08 include:

Now possible to select “Disable collisions” in the [Event Settings] of online races.
ID’s are now shown above cars when watching online races.
Response of the clutch pedal when using the steering wheel controllers “G25 Racing Wheel”, “G27 Racing Wheel”, “T500RS” and “TH8RS” has been adjusted.
Rate of tire wear in endurance races has been slowed (excluding formula cars).
Amount of air resistance change when altering aerodynamic wing settings has been increased.
Autopilot has been adjusted to prevent colliding with the wall when exiting the pit lane on the Tsukuba circuit.
Adjusted the changes in control characteristic when altering vehicle height from standard height. (Vehicle height can be changed by adjusting ride height, either by installing a suspension kit or adjusting a full customizable suspension kit.)

New Gran Turismo 5 DLC Today: Twin Ring Motegi Pack and Scion FR-S 12’

Penrose Tackie — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 15:01:23 +0000

The online portion of GT Academy 2012 may have ended, but that doesn’t mean you should stop playing Gran Turismo 5! Hitting the PlayStation® Store update this week are two new exciting DLCs – The Twin Ring Motegi Pack and Scion FR-S 12′

Twin Ring Motegi Pack (2 tracks, 4 layouts)
The Twin Ring Motegi is a racing circuit located in Japan that has both an oval and road course. The 2.4km oval ‘Superspeedway’ is mainly used as the stage for American motorsports, while the 4.8km road course is used for races like the Super GT and Formula Nippon.

In addition to these two tracks, the Twin Ring Motegi Pack also includes the West and East courses that are formed by separating the first and latter half of the road course, letting you enjoy the different technical layouts of the Motegi Track

Price: $5.00

Scion FR-S ’12
The long awaited compact FR (front engine, rear wheel drive) sportscar from Scion carries a 2-liter horizontally opposed engine that gives it a very low center of gravity and great weight distribution, and the car is specifically designed throughout to provide driving pleasure. The car is a brother of the Toyota 86 sold in Japan, and its front engine-rear wheel drive layout makes it perfect for learning sports driving techniques. Put one in your garage!

Price: FREE

For more information, be sure to check out Gran Turismo.com

GT Academy 2012 Update: How and When to Unlock Prizes

Ken Chan — Tue, 22 May 2012 18:14:56 +0000

Welcome to week four of this year’s GT Academy competition! By now you’ve probably learned the basic fundamentals of the racing line, variable high-speed cornering, continuous elevation changes, and multi-radius acceleration, all while trying to maintain the highest grip possible to maximize corner exit speed.

If you achieved a Gold Trophy in all five events within a round, you will unlock the GT Academy-spec Nissan used in the trials of that round. Prizes will be distributed one week after the online competition of GT Academy ends, which is on or after July 4th, 2012. Here are the four cars you can unlock in Rounds 1 through 4:

Round 1 – Nissan Leaf (GT Academy) ’11

Round 2 – Nissan Silvia spec-R AERO (GT Academy) ‘02

Round 3 – Nissan Skyline GT-R Vspec II (GT Academy) ‘94

Round 4 – Nissan 370Z (GT Academy) ‘08

*** Each of the subsequent vehicle prizing will be unveiled as Round 5 and 6 are unlocked on May 28th and Round 7 and 8 on June 11th

Drivers who clear all eight rounds of the competition with a Bronze Trophy or better will receive the special “GT Academy 2012” racing gear – the head-turning GT Academy racing suit

You can claim your prizes (including the GT Academy racing suit) on or after July 4th, 2012. To add these items to your collection, start up Gran Turismo 5 or Gran Turismo 5 XL, select “GT Mode” on the main menu, select “Community and Gift”, and your earned prizes will be shown on the right side of the screen. For a detailed description, please head to the official site here.

For now, be sure to learn as much as you can for each of the events as the final Round 8, Event 5 race is only a few short weeks away. Good luck!

GT Academy 2012: Get Tips From the US Champion Today

Ken Chan — Wed, 16 May 2012 17:50:20 +0000

Attention GT Academy competitors: we are now in the third week of the 2012 season, and the competition is heating up. Since May 1st, nearly 600,000 competitors have driven more than 51,000 miles and reattempted 52,000 times for their chance to become this year’s GT Academy Champion.

As you may already know, Round 3 and 4 became available this week – offering faster and more advanced technical driving challenges to prepare you for the final eighth round starting in June.

To give you a leg up on the competition, TwitchTV will be doing a live webcast with the first US GT Academy Champion Bryan Heitkotter today at 6pm Pacific Time. Be sure not to miss this as Bryan will be providing some inside tips for each of the round challenges and his predictions for this year’s winner.

Here’s a quick reminder for each of the challenges from Round 1-4:

Round 1: Nissan Leaf (Current Leaderboards)

Simple Right-Hand Corner
Simple Left-Hand Corner
Simple Series of Corners
Series of Blind Corners
Driving with Opponents

Round 2: Nissan Silvia Spec-R Aero (Current Leaderboards)

Long Banked Corner
Hard Braking Before a Corner
Series of Corners on the Rome City Course
S Curves 1
High-Speed Approach to a Series of Corners

Round 3: Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec II (Current Leaderboards)

Rotary Corner in the Madrid City Course
S Curve at Suzuka Circuit
Continuous Corners and Elevation Changes
Variations of Corners
Maintaining Stability in High-Speed Sections

Round 4: Nissan 370Z (GT Academy) ’08 (Current Leaderboards)

The Nurburgring’s “Kallenhard” Section
Low Speed ‘S’ Curve with Changing Radius
‘S’ Curves 2
Suzuka Circuit’s “Spoon Curve”
The “Variante Ascari” and “Parabolica” at Monza

Remember, in case you haven’t started, GT Academy 2012 is available as a free downloadable through the PlayStation Store until the end of the competition on June 24th. See if you have what it takes to become the next GT Academy Champion!

More information on GT Academy is available through the official site and our Facebook page.

Start Your Engines: GT Academy 2012 Gears Up for May 1st

Ken Chan — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 11:01:09 +0000

It’s time to gear up for GT Academy 2012! The competition starts on May 1st and will be open to all entrants through June 24th.

Developed for racing fans of all levels, GT Academy 2012 will offer a newly designed eight-step training and qualification program accessible as a demo based on the hit Gran Turismo 5. The demo will be made available for free on PlayStation Store via PSN and will maximize the potential of all users, from beginners to advanced drivers. All participants will compete in a series of virtual driving trials using Nissan cars, and the best of the best will compete in the National Finals in July. The action will then jump from the virtual cars of the PS3 game to actual Nissan sports cars when the winners of the National competition are invited to take part in the intense international Race Camp competition in August, where one ultimate GT Academy winner will train with elite racecar drivers and race as part of a professional team.

Entering its second season, GT Academy USA is a national competition designed to recognize elite Gran Turismo drivers and give them the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fulfill their virtual-to-reality racing dream of becoming a professional racecar driver. The grand prize for the GT Academy winner is a spot on a racing team to compete in a real race, including all the training and licensing he or she will need in order to prepare. From there, it’s up to the winner’s passion, determination, and skill.

Last year, Bryan Heitkotter from California was crowned the first US winner of GT Academy at Silverstone, beating out 53,000 racing hopefuls in becoming a professional racecar driver and now racing a Nissan 370Z Nismo RC in the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series in the top GS (Grand Sport) class.

Kazunori Yamauchi, President of Polyphony Digital, comments: “It makes me very proud to see the graduates of the GT Academy racing around the world with Nissan. This year we are aiming to make GT Academy bigger and better than ever before and so I am creating a new series of driving challenges open to anyone with a PS3 (Note: terms and conditions will apply). You don’t have to be an expert to have a go.”

So practice up on either Gran Turismo 5 or Gran Turismo 5 XL Edition and be sure to mark your calendars and get ready for GT Academy 2012 starting on May 1st.

More details to come on the official site and Facebook.

New Gran Turismo 5 DLC This Tuesday: Car Pack 3, Speed Test Course

Brian Dunn — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:22:26 +0000

Hey, GT fans! I’m happy to announce our third batch of premium downloadable content coming to Gran Turismo 5 next Tuesday, January 17, along with some updates to the game itself.

The first piece of content is Car Pack 3 for $5.99, featuring six new cars from both past and present. Download Car Pack 3 to get your hands on Lamborghini’s latest flagship model, the Aventador, along with the Jaguar XJR-9 LM racecar, Aston Martin V12 Vantage, the 66′ Volkswagen 1200, Mini Cooper S Countryman, and the new Nissan Leaf.

The second piece of new DLC is the Speed Test Course Pack featuring the Route X test course, which will be available for $3.99. If you caught the PDI-made promotional trailer for the new Acura NSX Concept vehicle (that’s right, the NSX is back!!), you’ve already seen a sneak peek of this new track. Route X is a massive oval with giant banking corners, allowing you to test your vehicles’ maximum speed and performance, plus some beautiful vistas to rush by at 200mph. You’ll be able to use this track online, and in Arcade and Practice modes.

And since the Speed Test Course Route X is the perfect proving ground to test the performance of your vehicles and all of the custom tuning and modification you’ve done, we’ve gone one step further and made that even easier for you. You’ll be able to track things like your mile and quarter-mile time, acceleration and g-force.

Also coming next week is the XL Edition of GT5 for $39.99, along with a minor update to Gran Turismo 5 via free downloadable patch. Check here for more details on the new improvements coming in next week’s patch.

If you’ve missed the first two DLC drops in October and December, check here for more information about all the great new content available for Gran Turismo 5, including the new car and track packs.

Finally, GT Academy USA winner Bryan Heitkotter is gearing up to take on the 24H Dubai endurance race this weekend, taking turns with fellow GT Academy Europe winners. Follow GT Academy on Facebook to find out how they do in this grueling 24-hour race.

Gran Turismo 5 XL Edition Hits This Month for $39.99

Brian Dunn — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:17:36 +0000

I’m happy to announce Gran Turismo 5 XL Edition, a brand-new version of Gran Turismo 5 packed with even more features, functionality, and content. Here’s what you can expect to find inside when it rolls out to stores starting January 17th:

Gran Turismo 5 XL Edition Contents

Original Gran Turismo 5 game, featuring more than 1,000 cars, 20+ locations with 70+ track layouts, diverse racing styles including rally, track, karting, NASCAR, and more, deep online community features and online racing, plus Gran Turismo TV, Course Maker and more.

All of the new and improved features and functionality from all free downloadable game updates up through Spec 2.0 included on the disc.

Voucher good for over $20 worth of DLC content, including the Racing Car Pack, Car Pack 2, Course Pack, Racing Gear Pack, and Paint Pack.

The XL Edition will also feature a new reversible inside coversheet featuring the new Red Bull X2011 supercar, to add a different look to your game library shelf.

You’ll be able to pick up the XL Edition of Gran Turismo 5 after January 17 for just $39.99. Watch the blog and the official GT website for more news about Gran Turismo, DLC, and new Gran Turismo TV content available exclusively within the game.