The online gaming element of the competition gets under starter’s orders this July via a demo of the just-announced Gran Turismo 6 exclusively on PlayStation 3.

Since it began in 2008, the acclaimed virtual-to-reality competition has attracted over two million entries, with gamers and motor sport fans battling it out in Gran Turismo for the chance to become real Nissan racing drivers. Six former winners of the competition, which now runs in Europe, the USA, Germany, Russia, the Middle East and South Africa, are now Nismo Athletes competing in top-level motor sport on behalf of Nissan.

Nissan’s Director of Global Motorsport, Darren Cox, revealed the plans for GT Academy 2013 today at the famous Silverstone Circuit, at the same event where Kazunori Yamauchi announced Gran Turismo 6.

“At its core GT Academy remains a highly-accessible route into professional motor racing for people who would otherwise not have the opportunity. Unearthing genuine driving talent from the world of gaming is a real example of digital age performance and the innovation for which Nissan is famous.

“We are predicting that more people than ever will enter the competition this year on the stunning new GT6 demo.”

Kazunori Yamauchi, President of developer Polyphony Digital, added: “GT Academy is a fitting platform for the Gran Turismo community to preview GT6 for the first time, as we aim to bring the worlds of virtual and reality closer than ever.

“We are very proud of this partnership with Nissan, and we have aimed to make a very appealing and accessible competition featuring a range of their cars. The challenges, even at this early stage of the competition, are designed to improve people’s race craft before they even make it to driving real cars.

“We have also incorporated the Silverstone circuit for the first time in Gran Turismo. This should ensure that competitors will arrive at Race Camp better prepared than ever.”

Winning GT Academy is a passport to a career in global motorsport, with Lucas Ordoñez (2008 winner) and Jann Mardenborough (2011 winner) racing at the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours for Nissan Nismo.

The latest graduates Wolfgang Reip from Belgium (European winner), Mark Shulzhitskiy (Russian winner), Steve Doherty (US winner) and Peter Pyzera (German winner) are currently competing in the Blancpain Endurance Series in a pair of Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 cars.

The format of GT Academy sees the fastest PlayStation gamers from each country join winners from a number of live events to compete in their respective National Finals. The action will then make the transition from the virtual world to real Nissan sports cars when the winners of each national competition are invited to take part in the intense international final at Silverstone Circuit, now the established home of the GT Academy Race Camp.

The winners of each of the GT Academy competitions will then be put through an intensive and thorough Driver Development Program, rated among the best in the world, in order to qualify for the ultimate competition prize – a full season racing a Nissan GT-R GT3 Nismo in a top-level championship.

Details of how to enter GT Academy 2013 can be found on Facebook, Twitter and the official Gran Turismo site. Good luck!

After seven months, 400,000 competitors, and a six-week television series that captured every challenge and human drama of an intense week of racing boot camp, Steven Doherty of Plainfield, IL defeated the rest of the top 16 to win the coveted title of 2012 GT Academy US Champion.

The 29-year old mechanic actually competed in the first US GT Academy competition in 2011, but during the National Finals he missed the final 16 for Silverstone by just six tenths of a second. So in 2012, Steve came back with a vengeance and trained incredibly hard, both mentally and physically, to be a top contender at Silverstone. In the end, Steve came away victorious in the final “Winner Take All” race — and set an all-time track record amongst all previous GT Academy contestants in the process.

Currently in the UK for his intensive racing training for an international license, Steve and three other GT Academy Champions from Europe will team up in two race-prepared 370Zs to race at the Dubai 24 Hour race in the Middle East on January 10th. We look forward to seeing Steve and the rest of 2012 GT Academy Champions follow the same racing success of Lucas, Jordan, Jann, and Bryan.

Go to the official Nissan GT Academy page for full episodes and more info.

Nissan GT Academy is back for a second season, seeking to determine which of America’s best Gran Turismo players has what it takes to become a professional racing driver.

The first of the six-part episode will air on Spike TV beginning Thursday, November 1st at 11:30pm Pacific Time . The remaining episodes will air at the same time each Thursday night and will be available on the Nissan YouTube channel the following Monday. GT Academy will also be screened on MTV2, one week after the original airdate on SPIKE TV. For a preview, visit GTAcademy.com.

In July, after three months of online competition, the top 32 out of 400,000 registered Gran Turismo online gamers met at Comic-Con in San Diego to determine the 16 finalists for GT Academy 2012. After two days of virtual racing competition on identical gaming sleds, the fastest 16 were invited to the legendary Silverstone Racing complex in England to begin an intense boot camp that combined physical and psychological challenges in addition to on-track driving in a variety of performance vehicles.

The six-week GT Academy 2012 television series, hosted by ex-NFL player Dhani Jones will capture every challenge and all of the human drama of a very intense week. At the end of each episode, competitors’ performances are evaluated and critiqued by pro racers Danny Sullivan, Maryeve Dufault, and Boris Said. Those who don’t make the cut go home. One winner emerges and remains in the UK to undergo intensive professional racing training that will qualify them to earn their international competition license.

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.)

Nearly 400,000 gamers across the United States entered the second iteration of Nissan and PlayStation’s innovative gamer-to-racer competition this year. The top 32 gamers faced off in July at the National Finals at Comic-Con in San Diego, and only 16 advanced to Silverstone Circuit in August for the one-week challenge at GT Academy Race Camp. After seven days of intense challenges, racing Nissan 370Z and GT-R race cars, a new U.S. Champion now joins the ranks of the 2011 GT Academy Champion, Bryan Heitkotter.

Want to know which of the top 16 is the new 2012 GT Academy Champion? Be sure to tune into Spike TV starting November 1st, as every moment of the week-long competition will be aired as a six-part reality show. Be sure to keep your eyes glued to the official GT Academy Facebook page, as we’ll have daily updates on GT Academy Race Camp — including behind-the scenes videos of various challenges — and interviews with the Top 16.

On Sunday, August 26th, 16 of the fastest Gran Turismo drivers from the San Diego National Finals arrived at Silverstone Circuit in UK. For 7 days, each contender was put through a variety of mental and physical challenges designed to test fitness, driving skills, reaction speeds and performance under pressure.

The GT Academy Race Camp Judges and racing veterans, Danny Sullivan, Boris Said and Maryeve Default had the difficult task of gradually reducing the field of 16 down to selected few who had what it took to compete in the final “Winner Takes All” head-to-head championship race. Victory is anyone’s, but only ONE will be the 2012 GT Academy Champion and become a professional race car driver for Nissan.

The top 16 virtual racers will fly to the world-renowned Silverstone racing circuit in the UK to participate in a week-long boot camp in August, which will be televised and aired on Spike TV’s GT Academy television series later this year.

GT Academy North America finalists will be judged and eliminated by an expert panel of racing professionals, based on each competitor’s skills, performance and overall aptitude for the requirements to become a professional racer. The top driver will train under the guidance of professional racing drivers and compete in selected races for a Nissan racing team.

Below are the 33 competitors who participated in the tournament, with the top 16 advancing to the final phase of competition in Silverstone (ranked in order of placement).

Taking one step closer to possibly becoming a part of a professional race car team, these 16 finalists emerged from a pool of over 400,000 racing hopefuls who competed for a top spot through Gran Turismo 5, battled their way through two days of intense racing, and earned a spot as one of the final 16. Congratulations from Sony, Polyphony Digital and Nissan North America to these truly amazing 16 individuals.

Congrats to Patrick Crider and Jeff Stuart for dominating the Racer X Challenge, winning the one-of-a-kind GT Academy 2012 designed – HumanRacing® GT Chassis equipped with the Thrustmaster T500RS wheel and pedal set.

Be sure to follow GT Academy (North America) on Facebook for up-to-date info for the 16 finalists traveling to Silverstone later this year!

Throughout Comic-Con, the PlayStation booth will be offering demos of the latest content from our upcoming titles for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. Come over and check out PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale (and make sure to pay attention at the panel for the game on Sunday, where two new combatants will be revealed!), Sports Champions 2, The Unfinished Swan, LittleBigPlanet Karting, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, Papo Y Yo, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and The Expendables 2. Attendees will also be treated to hands-on opportunities with new and upcoming PlayStation Vita titles like Sound Shapes, Retro City Rampage, LittleBigPlanet, Jet Set Radio, Guacamelee, Gravity Rush, Ragnarok Odyssey, and Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. There will also be chances to check out cross-play features for PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale and Street Fighter X Tekken.

A limited number of The Last of Us shirts also will be given out at the PlayStation booth throughout the week. Stay tuned for details on dates and times as we get closer to the show.

For anyone unable to get hands-on with PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale at our booth, we will also have two gaming stations featured in the SPIKE TV booth (BOOTH#3729) for another shot to get your hands on one of the most exciting new upcoming PS3 games.

Excited for Comic-Con yet? Well, hang tight, there’s more. Below is a full schedule of our panel sessions that will be taking place for some of our highly anticipated titles, including Beyond: Two Souls, The Last of Us and PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale.

Thursday, July 12 (12pm to 1pm) – Room 25ABC
Beyond: Two Souls
A New Breed of Interactive Storytelling from Writer/Director David Cage of Quantic Dream

Meet David Cage, the co-CEO of Quantic Dream and writer/director of the 2010 hit Heavy Rain, as he discusses his latest project — Beyond: Two Souls. David will focus on the concept of creating innovative gameplay experiences that are woven together with emotion and story. Beyond: Two Souls is prepared to deliver an immersive interactive and cinematic experience based on emotional involvement and interactive storytelling. In developing a unique “interactive drama” to engross the audience, David and his team have introduced the concept of Virtual Performance Capture to videogames, where actors play the entire role in development of the game (from motion capture to dialogue). The session will focus on techniques used to create an emotional and compelling experience, focusing on their award winning titles as well as provide a deeper look into their brand new project, Beyond: Two Souls. Join IGN.com‘s Greg Miller as he moderates with writer/director and co-CEO of Quantic Dream David Cage, and actress and academy award nominee Ellen Page as they explore the uncanny valley of bringing realism and emotion to this project.

Friday, July 13 (5pm to 6pm) – Room 25ABC
The Last of Us
Behind the Scenes with Naughty Dog

Join Creative Director Neil Druckmann and Game Director Bruce Straley of Naughty Dog, along with actors Troy Baker (Fullmetal Alchemist, Batman: Arkham City) and Ashley Johnson (Marvel’s The Avengers, The Killing, Ben-10: Alien Force) in a discussion about the upcoming post-pandemic, survival-action PlayStation 3 game The Last of Us, from the developers of the critically-acclaimed UNCHARTED series. Panelists will provide an exclusive reveal of a new in-game cinematic featuring a special guest in this Q&A session moderated by Adam Sessler (veteran videogame industry journalist). Guests will also receive a limited edition The Last of Us poster.

Saturday, July 14 (11am to 12pm) – Room 7AB
The Unfinished Swan
An Art-Infused Adventure: Giant Sparrow Talks Art and the Inspiration Behind One of the Most Unique and Anticipated PlayStation 3 Titles

The Unfinished Swan presents an art game like no other before it. For many years, a debate has raged over whether or not videogames can be considered art. In 2012, The Unfinished Swan will address the issue head on, both in terms of its experimental nature and its focus on the art of painting. Attendees will have the opportunity to get an up-close look at the art within the game, discuss games as art, and chat with Giant Sparrow about the creative inspiration behind developing one of the most beautiful and intriguing games on the PlayStation 3.

Sunday, July 15 (11am to 12pm) – Room 24ABC
PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale
Tapping into PlayStation History: The Emergence of PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale

Chan Park, President of SuperBot Entertainment, provides a look into the creation and development of PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale, where the team has tapped into 17 years of PlayStation history to create a brawler with top PlayStation characters and environments. Learn about decisions faced in selecting characters, how the team implemented the idea of mash-ups, and how players can engage in cross play to challenge one another, regardless of whether they’re playing on PS3 or PS Vita. The team will also unveil the two newest characters in the series at the panel. Q&A session to follow. IGN.com’s Greg Miller will moderate a panel featuring Chan Park, President of SuperBot Games and Omar Kendall, Game Director of PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale.

Looking to become a professional race car driver and the next GT Academy winner? Phase 1 of the GT Academy National Finals is coming to Comic-Con!

This year’s GT Academy National Finals will be taking place on Friday and Saturday, July 13 and 14, at Jolt’n Joe’s in the Gaslamp Quarter, a short distance away from the San Diego Convention Center. The nation’s top 32 drivers will take part in a live head-to-head competition, battling it out for the opportunity to move on to the next phase and get one step closer to becoming the winner of Season 2’s GT Academy.

NEW TWIST ADDED: This year, everyone at Comic-Con has a chance to secure a spot in the National Final. This “wildcard” will compete with the 32 finalists, fighting for the chance to move on to the final phase of the competition. 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 Pacific time 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.
So for those who didn’t make the top 32 within the online competition, this is your second chance to fight for a spot in the National Finals! Just be sure to show up early as the competition will be first come first serve, and will only be running from 10am to 4pm.

Once within 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.

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

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.

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

With just two weeks left on the clock, the long awaited Rounds 7 and 8 have finally opened, completing the eight-round training program for this year’s GT Academy. For those that’s been keeping close tabs on the rumor mill, the infamous “Twin Ring Motegi East Short Course” is making it’s Gran Turismo debut as the final Round 8, Event 5 – Time Trial race.

For the next two weeks, you must take everything you have learned from the eight-round training program and put it on the line for a top lap time. Remember, this event is only open from June 11, 2012 to June 24, 2012, so make it count! Only the fastest lap times will be recorded and entered into the national leaderboards, so you must improve your results to move up in rankings. The top 32 players (pending eligibility verification) will be flown to the National Finals in July where they will compete against each other to be one of the 16 finalists.

To be eligible for the top 32 spots and to compete in the National Finals in July, you MUST first register through the National Event Registration Form from now to June 24, 2012. Failure to register before the required deadline will result in disqualification of the National Finals, even if you make it to the top 32 leaderboards. So don’t wait, register immediately

Good luck. Your destiny at the GT Academy is just two short weeks – and a perfect lap – away.