Think you're pretty good at Gran Turismo? So good that you've got every corner down pat, know exactly how your expensive steering wheel with force feedback will react in any given situation, and that you never ever use the behind-car camera view? Well we hate to break it to you, but you're probably still not as good as these guys. On Wednesday 3 February, sixteen finalists from the international GT Academy competition gathered at Shannon's Classic Car Auctions in Cheltenham, Victoria to see who would become the national champion.
If you aren't already aware, GT Academy is an international competition that uses Gran Turismo 5 to weed out potential future race drivers from the slew of car enthusiasts who play the Gran Turismo series. Using the Gran Turismo 5 time trial demo that was released at the end of last year, the fastest competitors in each country are selected compete in national finals. The winners of these national finals are sent to the Nissan GT Academy at Silverstone, UK to receive a full racing 'boot camp' (in proper, non-virtual cars no less!). After all of this, one lucky competitor will be selected on the basis of aptitude, drive and ability not to crash in a hideous fireball, to compete on the international stage, racing a full season in the European GT4 Cup in a RJN Motorsport-prepared Nissan 370Z in May.
This is how cars will look in the future. If the future is like Star Wars.
Last year, the competition saw Spanish student Lucas Ordoñez win the international event, and go on to become a full-fledged driver. Defying all expectations of virtual experience vs. real experience, Lucas has performed exceptionally well, finishing ninth in the Dubai 24-hour and third at the Silverstone round of the GT4 European Cup, with his teammate Alex Buncombe.
This year is the first time Australia has been included in the GT Academy competition, and there were no shortage of willing participants. With the success of Lucas in the back of their minds, the sixteen national finalists were flown to Melbourne to compete against one another in time trial challenges as well as four player head-to-head matches. The races were tense, as the competitors drove in specially designed Gran Turismo pods which created the illusion for the driver that they were actually driving a Nissan 370Z.
Shiny.
After brutal semi-finals, the competitors for the grand final were announced - 'GTP_Holland', 'joshmuggo', 'GTP_DEVIE' and 'tepez1985'. In possibly the most intense Gran Turismo race that we've ever seen, the racers were literally neck-and-neck, bumper-to-bumper and literally fractions of a second behind one another. As the eight-lap race carried on, and the drivers continued to stay close, something had to give, and eventually two of the racers unfortunately managed to tap the other out. While victory had been within a second of reach moments ago, they found themselves fourteen seconds behind. However, their attitudes were none the worse for wear, as one even exclaimed that he would see everyone next year.
The rest of the race was a battle between the remaining two drives, but 'GTP_Holland' retained the lead, going on to win the race, and the Australian finals for GT Academy. Going in real life by the name of Daniel Holland, the 25 year old student couldn't believe his success.
“I’m stoked! I can’t believe that my passion for Gran Turismo has provided me with this opportunity," he said, "The fact that I’m now going Silverstone at the end of this month as the first Australian to take part in Nissan GT Academy, blows my mind. It’s been a phenomenal day with some worthy challengers, but right now, I just can’t wait to get to the UK to compete internationally!”
Daniel Holland celebrates his victory.
And so the national finals for GT Academy came to a close, but Daniel Holland still has a lot to look forward to. At the Silverstone circuit, he'll experience a five-day comprehensive boot camp, with a series of online and offline challenges including handling Nissan cars. However, he's definitely off to a good start, as during the Gran Turismo 5 time trials he consistently held top ranking lap times on the international leader board.
Raoul Bedford, the Senior Director of Marketing at SCE Australia, summed up the event, “GT Academy epitomises the Sony make.believe spirit, the power of turning dreams into reality. From enjoying Gran Turismo on PlayStation in your living room, to perfecting the ultimate simulator game and aspiring to become a real life race car driver, PlayStation and Nissan have given Daniel Holland the opportunity to fulfil his dream through GT Academy.”
“The team at PlayStation share Daniel Holland’s excitement and anticipation as he heads to the UK. With 2010 being the inaugural year of Australia’s involvement in Nissan GT Academy, we wish him well and will be supporting him all the way.”
Congratulations to Daniel Holland for his winning effort, and we wish him good luck representing Australia at Silverstone! You can check out the media panel below to see more pictures from the event (as well as some pretty sweet cars!).
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