It looks like Sony / Nissan are going to run the GT Academy again in 2010.
For those that don't know it was run in 2008 for Playstation 3 owners of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. After posting times online of lapping a 350Z at one of GT5's circuits the fastest 'drivers' were whittled down and the winner won a race seat in the Dubai 24hrs alongside Jonny Herbert followed by a seson's racing in Europe in a Nissan factory prepared 350Z.
The chap that won is a Spaniard called Lucas Ordonez and for those that attended this year's Race Academy he was on hand to give passenger laps in his race-spec 350Z. He came across as a really top bloke and was pretty handy behind the wheel bearing in mind he had never raced a car before entering the GT Academy. From memory he finished second in his championship, only missing out on a shot at the series win after a mechanical failure at the final double-header. Not bad for a PS3 gamer!
Anyway, it's going to happen again next year:
'Sony's announced that the GT Academy competition will begin this year on 17th December.
That may be unremarkable, but on the same day a special demo of Gran Turismo 5 will be released.
That sampler of Polyphony's game offers up a Time Trial platform to qualify for the Academy. Race a Nissan 370Z as fast as you can around a new GT5 circuit before 24th January 2010 to take part.'
The relevance to new owners or those who are thinking of placing an order is that Nissan may well run another Race Academy in 2010.
