GT Academy 2012 starts May 1st

[Fisha695]

In the last few minutes Penrose Tackie, European Brand Manager for GT5, has confirmed the schedule for GT Academy 2012 and there’s been a couple of small changes…

GT Academy this year, like the first GT Academy, features a first qualifying round that takes the format of a standalone, downloadable pack. The pack is free to download from PSN, starting on May 1st and doesn’t require Gran Turismo 5 in order to play it. The pack features exclusive content and challenges that “should be a lot of fun whether you’ve played Gran Turismo before or whether you are coming to the game as a complete newbie“. Some of the content is teasingly glimpsed in the video below, but the exact nature of the challenges remains under wraps for now.

In another change, not all of Europe will be fighting for one berth. As we revealed nearly three months ago, Germany will be getting its own GT Academy competition, but it now seems that Russia will get its own too. The rest of Europe – UK & Eire, France, Spain, Portugal, BeNeLux, Poland, Switzerland and Austria – will face off against each other in the final bootcamp at Silverstone later this year. The USA is also involved in its own GT Academy, running parallel to the European Academies, meaning there will be four GT Academy winners in 2012 and doubling the Academy alumni!

The first qualification round begins on May 1st for all European gamers (May 2nd for US gamers) and run through to June 24th before gamers are selected for the regional finals. The overall prize remains a seat in the Dubai 24 Hour race in January 2013.

Best of luck to all participants!

As announced earlier this week, GT Academy 2012 is about to kick off next month in four different regions around the globe.

Now, more details about the free Gran Turismo mini-game through which the competition will be held are being released. The demo will consist of 8 weekly rounds of increasingly difficult driving challenges, starting May 1st.

Curiously, the demo will introduce several new analytic features not seen in previous games. According to the Japanese press release, the total number of challenge attempts and the total number of miles driven by all participants will be recorded and displayed in the game’s menu. Additionally, the number of players who achieve a “gold” ranking in each challenge from each respective participating country will be sorted and displayed on an international leaderboard.

The announcement also confirms that “rewards” or “gifts” earned in the GT Academy 2012 game can be transferred for use Gran Turismo 5.

Finally, the press release also confirms the mini-game will be available to players in Japan. Although they will not be eligible for the GT Academy Race Camp or Driver Development Program, top players will be eligible to participate in a “special event”, of which more details will be announced later.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqvEBjLAKGA]GT Academy 2012 Announced - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Fisha695]

GT Academy download is live in Europe (should go live here in the USA sometime later tonight) and is a 3GB download, also the format has been reveled.

Meanwhile European Brand manager Penrose Tackie has included the following information on the PS Blog:

Here’s how everything works – the exclusive Gran Turismo content will be available to download from PlayStation Store, free of charge, from 17.00BST / 18.00CEST on May 1 until 23.59BST / 00.59CEST on 24 June. You can download and take part at any time during this period, so even if you miss the start you can still play catch up and get involved.

Once you have downloaded the content, Polyphony Digital will release new rounds approximately every two weeks; in total there are eight rounds and within each round there are five sections.

Here’s a list of the rounds and when they will be available:

• Round 1 and 2: 1/5 (Tue) 17.00BST – 24/6 (Sun) 23:59 BST
• Round 3 and 4: 14/5 (Mon) 00:00 – 24/6 (Sun) 23:59 BST
• Round 5 and 6: 28/5 (Mon) 00:00 – 24/6 (Sun) 23:59 BST
• Round 7 and 8 (ROUND 8 IS FINAL/QUALIFICATION EVENT): 6/11 (Mon) 00:00 – 24/6 (Sun) 23:59 BST

....

The download has now gone live in Europe and is a 3Gb download from the PS Store!

EDIT: The download is now live in the USA Playstation Store.

 

[K.Chuck]

Has anyone ran this? Is it worth me "borrowing" my kids PS3 from them?

 

[tipptruck]

i ran it for a few days. but I deleted it after a them few days. it takes yo almost 11 gigs of space.

 

[Fisha695]

i ran it for a few days. but I deleted it after a them few days. it takes yo almost 11 gigs of space.

Do you have that much stuff on your PS3 that your really hurting for space? XD

 

[tipptruck]

Porn lots and lots of porn. I just bought the ps3 so i view 3d and blue ray porn. Just keep forgetting the money shot is not flying at me. Once and a while I might play a game when I get to sore down there.
No in reality i have the 120 one. after the set up I had about 70 gigs left. I know before the hack last year I had about 40 gigs lor so left. I got the two free games and still have infamous in the hdd. I still havent beat the game. So with about 30 games of data, 4 hours of music, And the full gt5 game plus install. I have about 11 gigs left.

At last I am not like my brother. He filled a 60 gig ps3. Insted of buying a bigger hdd for 100 bucks. He went out and bought the 320 gig ps3. I still would like to buy a 500 gig hdd. I just need my money else wear.

 

[celticfang]

40GB PS3 here, lots of games plus I have a life....so no thanks GT5

In the EU PSN store it showed as 2.6GB though

 

[tipptruck]

I have a life also. But I still find time for video games. Since we have snow on the ground 4 months a year. I tend to have a lot of free time during them months. When it is nice out I tend to not play games munch. I am out side fishing or being use full.

My brother on the other hand. It could be 80 degrees and sunny out side. He would be playing games all day. You could give him a game that takes a normal person to beat in a week. He will beat it in less then 24 hours or less.

 

[celticfang]

I'll skip the academy thanks, I re-read it and I'm nowhere near good enough or willing to no life GT5