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Carsales Staff21 Apr 2015
NEWS

Nissan Playstation GT Academy kicks off for 2015

Videogame competition begins today; winners land professional racing contract

The hugely successful Nissan Playstation GT Academy begins in earnest today, April 21, 2015, with the first phase of qualifying open for owners of the Gran Turismo 6 videogame.

If you have a Playstation 3 and a copy of Gran Turismo 6, you can enter the GT Academy for a chance to snaffle an international race driving contract simply by posting very quick lap times in the qualifying races.

Qualifying runs between April 21 and June 16 and is open to anyone over the age of 18, male or female.

There will also be a second opportunity to make the final cut, for which six Aussies will head to Silverstone in the UK for the gruelling 'race camp', via Live Events.

These events are still a secret and will be confirmed "at a later date" says Nissan Australia, but motoring.com.au understands they may not be held at motorsport events as was the case in 2014. Shopping malls perhaps?

Currently in its seventh year, the GT Academy is one of the world's most successful talent scout systems for finding gifted race drivers, having unearthed a number of young drivers who have competed – and won – in some of the world's most prestigious sports car races.

The very first winner of the GT Academy in 2008, Lucas Ordoñez from Spain and more recently Jann Mardenborough from the UK, have achieved success as professional racers and both will be competing in the Le Mans 24 Hour race in June in the LM P1 class with Nissan's radical front-drive GT-R LM NISMO race car.

Closer to home, and the Bathurst 12 Hour race was won by GT Academy winners Wolfgang Reip and Florian Strauss, who took the victory in Nissan's GT-R NISMO GT3 in February 2015.

Last year there were four groups, with the best driver from each region scoring a million dollar race driving contract: USA, Germany, Europe and International. Australia was lumped into the latter group for the first time in 2014 and narrowly lost to Mexico, but in 2015 the groups have been narrowed to three. This will see Australians up against stiff competition from the US for the first time.

The groups are now Europe, Asia and International, with race camp to be held in Silverstone for the Asian and International groups, while European finalists will head to the Yas Marina race track in Abu Dhabi.

A new competition, 'GT Academy Asia', will also be launched for 2015. The Asian region will feature Thailand and India, both of which were introduced to GT Academy in 2014 as part of the International competition, and will also be open to gamers from Indonesia, the Philippines and Nissan and PlayStation's homeland, Japan.

The 2015 GT Academy competition will be the biggest year yet for the virtual to reality competition. Gamers from up to 21 countries around the world will be able to enter, with GT Academy International and Asia reaching a staggering 2.2 billion potential entrants. Nissan and PlayStation are looking for the very best to progress from virtual racing to the real world of racing for Nissan.

GT Academy Online Qualifying will commence on April 21 (today) and conclude on June 16 on Gran Turismo 6 for PlayStation®3. Gamers will also be able to enter the competition via GT Academy Live Events, the location and timing of which will be confirmed at a later date.

Winners from the Live Events will then join ten winners from the online game at the Australian National Final, with the chance to grab one of six places at the famous Silverstone Race Camp in the United Kingdom.

"One year ago I wanted to be a racing driver, but I had no opportunity to make my dream a reality," said Sanchez, who narrowly defeated top Australian finalist Joshua Muggleton to win the 2014 GT Academy International competition.

"Then I entered a GT Academy Live Event at my local shopping mall in Mexico and my life changed forever. I've already stood on the podium at the Dubai 24 Hours and now I will spend the year racing the amazing Nissan GT-R at some of the best circuits across Europe. My dream job has become a reality!"

More information about GT Academy including how to enter and the location of countries' Live Events is available on a Facebook page.

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Written byCarsales Staff
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