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Feann Torr13 Aug 2014
NEWS

Aussie Gran Turismo gamers get serious

Australia a strong chance to take out international leg of 2014 NISMO PlayStation GT Academy in the UK

Imagine someone told you that all those hours 'wasted' playing video games day in and day out could land you a dream job as a jet-setting international race driver. Would you believe them?

This ain't no joke: the PlayStation GT Academy does just that and a trio of Australian gamers are on the cusp of realising their dream of becoming a professional race driver for NISMO, Nissan's motorsport arm.

Marcello Rivera and Ben Smith, both aged 19 and from Melbourne, and 27-year-old Sydneysider Josh Muggleton are the three remaining Aussies that were whittled down from 28 contestants during the Australian GT Academy finals.

And that's after more than 20,000 people entered into the GT Academy via the Gran Turismo 6 car racing video game.

The three Aussies are competing in the 2014 NISMO PlayStation GT Academy International Race Camp and have already been subjected to fitness, media relations, driving and video gaming tests.

Several gruelling tests of endurance fitness training and driving challenges are just the beginning, as the Australian trio is put up against intensely competitive rivals from Thailand, India, Mexico and the Middle East.

But can an Aussie win? As of Tuesday night in the UK, the Australians had not lost a competitive challenge, so there's a good chance.

Nissan Australia Corporate Communications Supervisor, Chris Jordan, told motoring.com.au in Silverstone overnight that if an Aussie took out the competition, it would be "massive".

"If we get an Australian winner, it’s going to be massive. It's a proven program, the GT Academy delivers world-class drivers, and it's exciting to think we could see another Aussie on the motor racing world stage," he said.

"If there was an Australian winner to come out of it, there would be more investment. We'd have to work closely with everyone involved in the NISMO global driver exchange program to see where that person may integrate in motorsports."

The GT Academy started out in 2008 as a partnership between Nissan and Sony, and sought to find the fastest Gran Turismo gamers to see if they could make the transition from the couch to the race track.

They did, and the program has been a resounding success for Nissan in unearthing new talent.

Lucas Ordonez from Spain won the first GT Academy in 2008 and has since landed podium honours at two Le Mans 24-hour races, the pinnacle of sports car racing. He has also tested Nissan Altima V8 Supercars in Australia.

The winner in the 'International' competition -- one of four also comprising North America, Europe and Germany -- heads into an intense driver development program and then a confirmed drive in the Dubai 24 Hour endurance race in January. And after that, who knows?

Last week 22-year-old Frenchman Gaëtan Paletou was crowned the European champion of the NISMO PlayStation GT Academy Race Camp at Silverstone. He will now enjoy four months in one of the world's most advanced and successful driver development programs, before hitting Dubai to prove he has what it takes to become a NISMO Athlete.

"The process out of this event for the winner is that they then go into a driver development program, focussed on getting them ready from this point for the Dubai 24 Hours, in which they race a GT4-spec Nissan 370Z NISMO.

"Once they go through that Dubai event, it's kept pretty open. It's about what's happening at the time," said Jordan, who noted that a seat in a V8 Supercar would not be out of the question for an Aussie winner.

"Definitely V8 Supercars would be great for Nissan Australia because that's the highest profile motorsport in Australia. But you’ve got to get them there through a pathway -- you don’t just drop them in. What that pathway looks like is perhaps a combination of Europe and Australia and other things. It’s about what's best at the time," he said.

Nissan Australia is currently in talks with an Australian free-to-air TV network to air a TV show of the GT Academy currently being filmed on location at Silverstone in the UK and featuring the Aussies going man-on-man with international rivals. V8 Supercar driver Rick Kelly is one of the judges, and the series will include about six episodes.

We'll have more details from the event in the next few days, with insights from the judges and the drivers, so stay tuned to motoring.com.au. Go Aussie!

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