GT Academy 2013 – Get To The Starting Grid. GT6 Demo released.

The GT Academy 2013 competition will get under way at 0900BST (1000CET) on Tuesday, 2nd July on an exclusive downloadable demo of the new Gran Turismo®6 game for PlayStation®3.

The challenges, that could open the door to a real life racing career with Nissan, remain open until Sunday, 28th July at 2359BST (0059CET on Monday, 29th July) for GT Academy competitors, while the demo itself will remain available to play until 31 August. 

GT Academy 2013 is expected to be the biggest yet, with more countries participating and the allure of a first glimpse at the exclusive GT6 demo making it more attractive than ever for racing driver hopefuls to have a go.

The innovative co-operation between Nissan and Sony Computer Entertainment has attracted more than two million entrants since its inception in 2008, and created a number of successful racing drivers now competing for Nissan in top-level international motor sport. 

The 2013 GT Academy competition began today (2nd July) at 0900 BST (1000 CET), with an exclusive demo of the new Gran Turismo®6 game for PlayStation®3 now available to download.

The GT6™ demo is available to anyone with a Sony Entertainment Network account and access to a PlayStation3 connected to the internet. It can be downloaded free from the PlayStation®Store, with no ownership of the Gran Turismo® game required.

The GT6 demo will guide players through a number of rounds in a GT Academy-themed driving school before unlocking the final qualifying event. Gamers have the potential to qualify for this year’s GT Academy, kick-starting a journey that could lead to a real life racing career with Nissan.

While the demo is open to all and available to play until the end of August, the GT Academy competition itself will close during the night of Sunday, 28th July at 2359 BST (0059 CET on Monday, 29th July). Eligible players wishing to enter will register for the final round of the demo and agree to the terms and conditions of the competition. Anyone who registers and submits a qualifying time will receive free bonus content.

GT Academy Europe 2013 includes France, Italy, UK, Spain, Portugal, Benelux, Nordics (Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway) and CEE (Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia). The USA, Russia and Germany will again each have standalone GT Academy competitions.

The online qualification for GT Academy will lead to the fastest gamers being invited to the National Final events where they will be challenged on the game as well as in real Nissan Nismo cars. From there, the action switches to the famous Race Camp at Silverstone, with the winner there set to potentially join the elite band of Nissan’s Nismo Athletes.

This year, the former GT Academy Champions are showcasing the quality produced through the competition by racing in Nissan-powered race cars in top level international motor sport. Lucas Ordoñez (2008 winner) and Jann Mardenborough (2011 winner) gave a clear demonstration of the strength of GT Academy when they raced their Greaves Motorsport Zytek-Nissan LMP2 car to fourth in class, top 10 overall, in the Le Mans 24 Hours.

The Gran Turismo 6 demo can be downloaded now from the PlayStation Store. Details of how to enter GT Academy 2013 can be found on various platforms including: www.facebook.com/GTAcademy,http://eu.gran-turismo.com and www.twitter.com/GTAcademy.