Lots of exciting news in the Gran Turismo world today. First, starting today, you can now register for GT Academy, the ultimate chance to become a real professional race car driver using Gran Turismo 5, now available exclusively on the PlayStation 3. In case you hadn’t heard about this exciting competition, we’re not talking about a weekend racing school here. The GT Academy winner will ultimately go on to train with elite race car drivers in actual Nissan vehicles and race as part of a professional team…the ultimate dream. The actual GT Academy competition, in collaboration with Nissan North America, will start in the US on December 20 and will continue through January 23.

In the case that you just want to have some fun playing Gran Turismo 5 online and don’t think you’ll win GT Academy, all participants will earn free GT digital content just for playing. But if you do have some serious GT skills, you have a chance to win some cool GT prizing, including Logitech Driving Force GT steering wheels, Playseat racing rigs, GT5 posters, and more. Be sure to register for GT Academy first here on the official Gran Turismo web site! For more information on GT Academy, check out the official rules here. You can also join the GT community by following GT Academy on Facebook, and get the latest news and updates on the competition.

In addition to GT Academy, we’re unveiling a new Gran Turismo 5 trailer here on the PlayStation.Blog that showcases all of the many features of the game since there’s so much to show off, including, 1,000+ jaw dropping cars (plus select NASCAR cars and karts), an all-new Course Maker, dynamic weather system, an online racing community and more.

Many of you have seen the Kevin Butler Gran Turismo TV commercial that was unveiled here on the PlayStation.Blog by Peter Dille. Well in addition, this new 15-second TV commercial starts airing today, and features “Planetary (GO!),” the track from My Chemical Romance. If you’ve seen the GT5 launch trailer, or the GT5 opening cinematic, you’ll recognize the song, which is also from the band’s fourth studio album, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys.

Thank you to those of you who have enjoyed GT5 and also given feedback to us on the game. We definitely appreciate the comments. Polyphony Digital will be releasing a patch soon which will include improvements to damage.

Look forward to seeing you all in GT Academy come December 20!