Nissan and PlayStation reveal biggest GT Academy
GT Academy is returning for its fifth season, with Nissan and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe collaborating to make it the biggest yet.
The competition pits intrepid PlayStation owners against each other on the video game Gran Turismo for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to turn their virtual fun into a reality and become a Nissan racing driver.
GT Academy 2013 will see competitors from more countries than ever before, now including Europe, the US, Russia, the Middle East and South Africa. They will battle it out on a hugely anticipated demo of Gran Turismo 6 on the PlayStation 3 in July.
"Every year of GT Academy has provided excitement and firsts, and 2013 will be no exception. The selection process and Driver Development Programme are now so robust that we are turning out some genuinely fast racing drivers," said Darren Cox, Nissan's director of global motorsport.
"At its core GT Academy remains a highly-accessible route into professional motor racing for people who would otherwise not have the opportunity. Unearthing genuine driving talent from the world of gaming is a real example of digital age performance and the innovation for which Nissan is famous."
He is expecting that more people than ever before will enter the competition, adding to the two million entries there have been since the competition's introduction.
Six previous winners of GT Academy have gone on to compete in the top-level of motorsport on behalf of Nissan.
GT Academy's format sees the fastest PlayStation racers from each country join up with other winners of live events to compete in their National Finals. After that, all the winners of the National Finals make the transition to the real world where they battle it out in a race at Silverstone Circuit.
The overall winner will then be put through Nissan's intensive Driver Development Porgramme, which could see them qualify for the a full season driving the Nissan GT-R GT3 Nismo in a top-level competition.
Posted by Sebastian Turkenburg
