On 17th December exclusively via the PlayStation store, Sony will be launching the GT Academy 2010 Time Trial (Time Trial Challenge in North America). The time trial will be the only way into this year’s Academy, and if you’ve got what it takes it could be the start of a life-changing journey.

Last year the GT Academy program unearthed a real driving talent in the form of Lucas Ordonez from Spain, who after winning the GT Academy went on to drive for the Nissan PlayStation race team and take an astonishing second place in the GT4 Championship – all in his first season!

This time around the Academy is even bigger and better, and competition is bound to be pretty fierce – perhaps best of all though for Gran Turismo fans, it will be the first opportunity to get a hands-on taster as to what Yamauchi-san and his Polyphony team have been carefully crafting and polishing at their Tokyo base.

Qualify in the top twenty within your country and you will be invited to a national final event, where you will pit your wits against the best Gran Turismo drivers in the country. If you make it from there only then will you join the elite 20 that will be taken into the GT Academy 2010.

Only the two best drivers will make it out of this 5 day test of nerve and skill. From there will follow an intensive driver training schedule from which we will select our one GT Academy ace.

The time trial features the stunning Nissan 370Z in two guises. Firstly a blisteringly fast, race-tuned monster and secondly an only slightly less fearsome non-tuned version.

The 370Z is the most recent of the new range of cars wearing the famous ‘Z’ brand revived by Japanese manufacturer Nissan. The car has been specially chosen for its challenging but hugely entertaining rear-wheel drive dynamics and the time trial should allow GT novices and veterans alike to get a real idea of what its like to get to grips with this sensational car

To enter the Academy racers will have to post their best overall leaderboard times negotiating a specially created section of a new Gran Turismo 5 circuit. This best time will be a composite of two separate runs – one with the tuned vehicle and the other with the non-tuned version.

You will have the opportunity to keep refining your overall best time from the launch of the demo right up until the close of this time trial stage at 24.00 CET on 24th January 2010.

The GT Academy will run in the following countries:

• UK
• Ireland
• France
• Switzerland
• Italy
• Germany
• Austria
• Denmark
• Norway
• Finland
• Sweden
• Spain
• Portugal
• Netherlands
• Belgium
• Australia
• New Zealand

However gamers in countries not mentioned on the list need not fear as there will be a special Gran Turismo 5 Time Trial Challenge for them to get to grips with it, too.

What does being the best of the best earn you? The winner will receive round trip airfare and hotel accommodations for two (winner and guest) to attend the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race, a.k.a. the Indy 500, on May 30, 2010. It doesn’t end there, because the winner and guest also get a VIP package which includes two (2) all-access passes for Carb Day – which includes the final Indy 500 practice, pit stop competition, special concert festivities, special event car rides in the 2010 Indy 500 event vehicle, as well as all-access passes to the garage, pit area, and Victory Lane for pre- and post-race celebrations for the race and two (2) VIP suite tickets to enjoy the race. This is the experience of a lifetime for true racing fans.

The contest is open to US and Canada residents, with an independent contest for each country. That means that there will actually be two grand prize winners: one for the US and one for Canada. And I’m sure there will be some friendly rivalry to see which country has the fastest racers, in true Gran Turismo spirit. You just have to be 18 years old or older to win because much of the cool VIP experience the winner will be treated to require the participants to be 18 for safety reasons.

In the event of a tie of combined Time Trial lap times, the player with the fastest stock non-tuned Time Trial lap will be deemed the winner. In addition, five runner-ups in the US and five in Canada will receive a voucher to download Gran Turismo for PSP.