Hello Gran Turismo Fans.

As posted last week I am very pleased to confirm that lots of great new GT5 DLC is in PlayStation Store update.

So what’s in this batch of new content? Well firstly there is a brand new car pack (Car Pack 3) featuring stunning new additions to the Gran Turismo car line-up. Vehicles offered in this pack include one of the most exciting cars of recent years – the outrageously quick Lamborghini Aventador. Lining up alongside that fine motoring specimen is perhaps one of the most potent vehicles ever released by Aston Martin, the beast-like Vantage V12.

Adding to the attractive line-up are two classics, the Jaguar XJR9 1988 LM and ‘vee dub’ 1200 1966 and finally if all this power and grace was not enough, completing the pack are the innovative Nissan Leaf electric car and Mini Cooper S.

The whole exciting package comes in at €5.99 or equivalent within your local currency. That’s a whole lot of hot virtual metal or bang for your buck – choose your own description!

The second DLC being released today is the Speed Test Pack. The Speed Test Pack features an oval enigmatically named Special Stage Route X. What it is behind the name is a beautifully rendered massive oval with extra-long 7.5 mile straights and large radius curves which mean you don’t need to lift off at any point. This pack also features a performance measurement mode that will allow you test top speed, acceleration and whole lot more.

Is there any better location to test the Red Bull X2011, Bugatti Veyron or possibly another much cherished, much enhanced motor from your garage?

The Speed Test Pack is priced at €3.99 or equivalent within your local currency.

And finally to top off all this great new DLC is the brand new FREE Functionality Update 2.03 (which you will need to install to run the new DLC). In addition to enabling the DLC, the new update features a host of improvements and new features.

Full details of all the great new content can be found on gran-turismo.com and more news will be coming soon on Gran Turismo, so of course keep checking back here on PlayStation Blog.

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If you saw the GT Academy post last Friday you will know that this weekend, history was made with a race team composed entirely of PlayStation gamers taking to the track at the Dubai 24H as the final act in the GT Academy competition run in conjunction with Nissan.

The record breaking team included Lucas Ordoñez, winner of the first GT Academy in 2008, and 2010 winner Jordan Tresson. The remaining two berths in the team were taken by Jann Mardenborough and Bryan Heitkotter, the winners of the 2011 GT Academy contests in Europe and America respectively.

Following a weekend of drama and tension, the four Academy winning gamers managed to achieve an outstanding third-place in class podium finish. The chequered flag was eventually taken by British driver Jann Mardenborough.

Reflecting on his incredible journey from Gran Turismo 5 gamer to real-life professional racing driver an ecstatic Jann had the following to say:

“That was without doubt the weekend of my life, the only thing that compares to it is winning GT Academy last June. It feels like pure joy. This is just the first step for me and now I hope that my performance in Dubai can take me further.”

The race marks the end of this particular chapter of the GT Academy story for both Jann and Bryan Heitkotter, but I’m sure it will not be the end of their journey.

More news on GT Academy will be coming soon and will be found here on PlayStation Blog and gran-turismo.com.

In the meantime I hope you will join me in congratulating our four gamers on their outstanding, record-breaking achievement.

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Hello Everyone, and welcome to GT Academy live from the Dubai 24H.

I’m here today in Dubai on a rather historic occasion. As I write, four drivers who all earned their professional driving status through Gran Turismo and the GT Academy contest are on the track in an all GT Academy race team at the famously testing Dubai 24H race.

For those who don’t recall how we got here, a quick recap. GT Academy is a competition where we take a PlayStation gamer and, with the help of our partner Nissan, turn them into professional racing drivers. Last Spring, a young Welsh Gran Turismo player called Jann Mardenborough became the third European winner of the GT Academy contest.

Jann, having now completed his professional driver training with flying colours, lines up in a 420bhp Nissan 370Z GT4 race car team alongside our previous GT Academy winners Lucas Ordoñez and Jordan Tresson. Bryan Heitkotter, the winner of SCEA’s inaugural GT Academy in 2011, completes the all-Gran-Turismo line up.

Qualifying for the race took place on Thursday with senior GT Academy driver Lucas taking the wheel for the second qualifying session and posting a 2:11.142 around the 5.39km track – good enough for fourth in class. This race has 80 cars entered in a number of different classes. Nissan is running a ‘Champions’ GT-R GT3 car (third on the grid overall) that is up against Ferraris, Porsches, Audi R8s, Mercedes SLS AMGs. With four quick drivers who have all won Championships for Nissan this year they are looking for a win.

Our GT Academy boys are in a tricky class called SP2 that has some very fast cars in it. The experts say that all of our drivers are all equally quick and that means that by the end of 24 hours if they have no technical issues they will be in for a good result despite the stiff competition.

The race will be run in 30 plus degree heat. After coping with this afternoon’s challenging conditions and negotiating the 80 cars on track, the boys then face the different challenge of driving in darkness and identifying their braking markers lap after lap – while still having to pass slower cars and looking out for the fast cars coming up behind them.

I feel very lucky to be here to witness this incredible PlayStation and Nissan achievement and we have everything crossed for a great result for the GT Academy guys!

Post race news and results will appear here on PlayStation Blog and gran-turismo very soon so keep checking back.

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Hello Gran Turismo fans,

Firstly I would like to take the opportunity to wish you all a belated Happy New Year.

I hope you had opportunity to check out the December festive gift that was Functionality Update 2.02 with its host of new features and perhaps also the new cars of DLC Pack 2.

The great news I want to share with you today is that for GT fans the new year starts much like the old one closed – with brand new DLC. I can confirm today that there is another DLC pack winging it’s way to PlayStation Store very soon, 18th January to be exact.

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Hello Gran Turismo fans,

Last week we confirmed a whole host of new content coming your way for Gran Turismo 5 and I can confirm that it’s all now ready and available for your gaming pleasure.

First on the menu and published on PlayStation Store earlier today is DLC Pack 2, featuring four brand new rides including new Scirocco, Golf , Mini and GTR models.

Also available this week is Functionality Update 2.02 which went live yesterday. The update features a host of GT community inspired game improvements and the rather lovely Christmas bonus of a free Toyota 86 GT ’12 DLC vehicle (pictured at the top of this post).

So there you are lots of great new content to keep you going over the festive period, we hope you enjoy it (both the content and the festive period!).

Full details of Functionality Update 2.02 and DLC Pack 2 can be found on gran-turismo.com now.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

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