A great video which shows how the virtual to real story which is based on using Gran Turismo "as his job" as a younger guy. Take a look at his story.

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“. 

Nissan has officially announced the next edition of their hugely-successful Nissan GT Academy in co-operation with Sony, the 2012 edition of the competition is due to start on May 1st.

Held since 2008, the GT Academy’s aim is to find talent in the virtual racing community and help them get a real racing career started. The success of the program has exceeded everyone’s expectations as all past GT Academy winners have become successful in racing with 2008 winner Lucas Ordonez even becoming 2011 International Le Mans Cup LMP2 champion.

Following a successful spin-off for American users, Nissan is now branching out the competition further as Germany and Russia get a dedicated GT Academy while other European countries remain in the main competition. With three regional competitions and one European one, GT Academy 2012 will see four winners that will enjoy the main prize – A drive in the 2013 Dubai 24 Hours race next January that will hopefully just be their first step in a long racing career.

Traditionally, the GT Academy starts out as an online time-trial competition to find the quickest racers, the GT Academy software will be available on the PlayStation Network starting May 1st. Ownership of Gran Turismo 5 is not required, everyone with a PlayStation 3 living in one of the participating countries is invited to give it their best shot. The online events will be held until June 24, the quickest drivers emerging from there will be challenged in a series of real-life meetings to further prove their skills.

For the first time since the start of the Nissan GT Academy programme in 2008, Nissan entered an all-gamer car in the 2012 Dubai 24 Hours, pairing up four winners of the GT Academy competition.

While GT Academy winners previously were assisted by experienced racing hands, this time the GT Academy guys were on their own and the experiment very well paid off as the GT Academy winners finished in an impressive 3rd in class, 26th overall.

The #100 Nissan 370Z was driven by the winner of the first GT Academy Lucas Ordonez, who was joined by 2010 winner Jordan Tresson and 2011 winners Jann Mardenborough (GT Academy Europe) & Bryan Heitkotter (GT Academy North America).

The GT Academy Nissan qualified 4th and ended up on the podium after 24h grueling hours of racing despite hitting a bunch of problems on the way, including brake issues & power problems caused by a blocked air filter. A great performance by the drivers and trouble for some of their opponents helped the team to a rewarding finish, much to the delight of the drivers.