Back in June at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Nissan and Sony’s GT Academy USA television series won the AICP’s inaugural Most Next Award, which best exemplifies among Next winners (in this case honored in the Product Integration category) the most innovative and forward-thinking work of the year. Developed by TBWA\Chiat\Day and OMD, GT Academy USA features players of a realistic car racing/driving simulation video game–Gran Turismo (played on the Sony PlayStation platforms)–who translate their proficiency into professional auto racing. The highest scorers advance to a driving academy and then compete for the chance to go on the real-world racing circuit.
Today, the second season of that show debuts in the U.S. on Spike TV (11:30 pm/10:30 Central), once again produced by @radical.media and directed by Jeff Zwart, a filmmaker known for his automotive prowess. The non-scripted six-part reality series takes the 16 best Gran Turismo players–from 400,000 entries–and pits them against one another for the chance to become a professional race car driver. The remaining episodes will air at the same time each Thursday night and will be available on the Nissan YouTube channel the following Monday. GT Academy will also be screened on MTV2, one week after the original airdate on Spike TV.
For this season, after three months of online competition, the top 32 registered Gran Turismo online gamers met in July at Comic-Con in San Diego to determine the 16 finalists for GT Academy USA. Over two days of virtual racing competition on identical gaming sleds, the fastest 16 were invited to the legendary Silverstone Racing complex in England to begin an intense boot camp that combined physical and psychological challenges in addition to on-track driving in a variety of performance vehicles.
The six-week GT Academy television series, hosted by ex-NFL player Dhani Jones, will capture every challenge and all of the human drama of a very intense week. At the end of each episode, competitors’ performances are evaluated and critiqued by pro racers Danny Sullivan, Maryeve Dufault and Boris Said. Those who don’t make the cut go home. One winner emerges and remains in the U.K. to undergo intensive professional racing training that will qualify them to earn their international competition license.
2nd screen experience
A new addition for season two is a second-screen experience, Pit Pass, which puts viewers at the center of the action, making them feel more like a participant than a spectator. Building on the concept of “Victory Is Anyone’s,” viewers can visit GTAcademy.us via their smartphone or tablet devices while watching the show and enjoy access to exclusive segment-specific content while the show is playing on Spike TV, all via the browser and without needing to download an app. Each episode will have unique companion content, including video, interactive maps, polls, tutorials and fun facts, to drive deeper viewer engagement and inspire social media sharing. In addition, using Facebook Connect, the fan becomes the hero, enjoying the ability to create his/her own custom, adrenaline-charged GT Academy hot lap video, as well as immersing him or herself in a rich, panoramic first person experience on the GT Academy website, optimized for the iPad and iPhone gyroscope technology.
Critical Mass is responsible for the GT Academy website (GTAcademy.com), the Pit Pass second-screen experience and first-person Facebook video.
The GT Academy concept has already proven successful. Both European and North American GT Academy competitions have produced race winners and top qualifiers in professional racing programs around the world. Europe’s GT Academy Season One winner Lucas Ord��ez won the P2 Class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2011 in a Nissan-powered prototype, while a team of four GT Academy winners placed third-in-class in January at the 24 Hours of Dubai in a race-prepared Nissan 370Z.
Jon Brancheau, VP marketing, Nissan North America, said that GT Academy “reinforces our values of excitement, innovation and performance above all else, while giving 16 people the opportunity to fulfill their dreams–and for one of them to potentially change their lives for good.”
The show’s premise taps into a popular game property. Played on the Sony PlayStation, PlayStation2 and Playstation3 platforms, Gran Turismo is a driving simulation game known for its true-to-life graphics, physics and real-life vehicles (in turn providing an ideal gamers’ medium for automotive makers to showcase their products). The Gran Turismo franchise has sold more than 65 million units worldwide.
Next grant
The aforementioned Most Next Award also includes a $5,000 grant, drawn from the AICP Foundation, which goes to an educational institution selected by the entrant. When GT Academy USA won the AICP Next honor this past summer, entrant TBWA\Chiat\Day, Los Angeles, chose to direct the grant to Room 13, an international network of student-driven creative studios founded as a single room in 1994 in Fort William, Scotland. The students at Room 13 were apprised of what earned the grant money, helping to introduce them to a creative/marketing/media platform world to which they can quite possibly apply themselves and contribute to down the road.
For TBWA\Chiat\Day L.A., credits for season two of GT Academy USA include creative directors Tito Melega and Karl Dunn, exec producer Brian O’ Rourke, producer Tim Newfang, art director Joao Medeiros, writer Alex Goulart, global creative president Rob Schwartz and executive director of integrated production Richard O’Neill.
Steve Savic and Michael McGrath-Sing are creative directors for Critical Mass (website and second screen experience), with Gene Ho producing.
Dave O’Connor and Frank Scherma are exec producers for @radical.media with Samantha Storr serving as showrunner.
Here’s a promo trailer for the new season of GT Academy USA, billed as the show which takes gamers “from virtual to reality”:
