Time Trial is now closed Territory national finals to feature real driving and physical test for the first timeThe GT Academy 2011 Time Trial has now closed. Over 90,000 racing driver hopefuls from across Europe recorded laps on the specially-designed track in a ‘virtual’ Nissan 370Z on the Gran Turismo®5 game. The competition will see the eventual winner being trained up to international race licence standards and potentially competing in the prestigious Dubai International 24 Hour race in January, 2012 in a full race-spec Nissan 370Z GT4 car.The fastest 20 Gran Turismo ® 5 gamers from each of the participating territories, spanning 10 European countries, will meet up over the next few weeks for six live territory final events. In each case they will be joined by up to four ‘wildcard’ competitors chosen through a variety of competition mechanics. The six territories are made up of: Germany and Austria; France and Switzerland; UK and Ireland; Spain and Portugal; Italy; and the Netherlands. The events will take place in a variety of locations and will feature live, multi-player Gran Turismo 5 racing on the PlayStation®3, the test of race craft likely to catch out some of the ultra-fast time trial specialists. In addition, the GT Academy territory finalists will, for the first time, be subjected to physical tests and some real life driving in Nissan 370Zs, preparing them for some of the trials that will face the winning two contestants from each territory who progress to Silverstone for the GT Academy Racecamp in June. With basic driving and fitness levels having already been put to the test during the territory finals, the competition at Racecamp will be fierce. The 12 competitors will be assessed in a series of driving, physical and mental challenges under the watchful eye of some experienced judges.The 2011 GT Academy Time Trial attracted the most entries from the UK closely followed by France and Spain. In performance terms, it was the French who dominated with the fastest two drivers and four of the top 10, and the largest number in the top 50. A Spanish driver was third quickest overall, and one of three Spaniards in the top 10. The remainder of the top 10 was made up of a German (fifth), an Italian (sixth) and a British driver (eighth fastest). The fierce competition on the time trial saw 145 gamers setting times within one second of the fastest driver. Hours of practice meant a few positional changes late on Sunday night as the competitors kept pushing right up to the deadline to better their lap times and gain that all-important top 20 finishing position.“It has been fun to keep an eye on the GT Academy 2011 leaderboards,” said Sony Computer Entertainment’s Gran Turismo brand manager Penrose Tackie. “There have been some extremely impressive lap times going on and it has been very close. Special mention should be made of some of the drivers who, due to the fact that they have attended the Silverstone race camp in either 2008 or last year, are not eligible to go further in the competition this year but have still showed incredible speed and determination in the time trial. Most notable among these is Arnaud Lacombe from France, who has topped the time trial phase of GT Academy for all three editions of the competition now.“Congratulations to him and to all of those who now progress to their territory final events. As in the real world, racing and qualifying are two different things on Gran Turimso® 5 and we often see people who were quick on the time trial caught out in the live racing of the territory finals. So now we look forward to more excitement during the second phase of the competition. We have some great venues and great challenges ahead.”Nissan in Europe’s Sports Car programme manager Sylvia Mink is also excited about the forthcoming territory finals as it will see real-life Nissan hardware come into play for the first time: “We have changed the format of the territory finals this year to include an actual driving element for the first time. It will be quite interesting to see the competitors come directly from racing each other on PS3 to driving a real 370Z car. We felt that it was quite important to make this change to try to ensure that when we get to Silverstone all 12 competitors have an equal chance of winning GT Academy. In the past we have discovered quite a big difference in ability behind the wheel when we arrived at Silverstone.“I would like to add my congratulations to all of those who have qualified for the national finals and thank everyone that has taken part so far in GT Academy 2011. The competition moves on, but there is still plenty of excitement and lots to compete for so I would encourage everyone to keep following the action on our Facebook page.”