Talent search takes gamers to real life racing

Nissan and Sony will bring their GT Academy racing driver talent search program to Australia this year, with 28 local drivers in the running for a chance to compete with Nissan at the Dubai 24 Hour.

The unique virtual-to-reality program has included several other countries since 2008, but 2014 will be the first year that Australia has been included in the program’s talent pool.

GT Academy gives drivers with proven talent in Sony’s Gran Turismo Playstation game the chance to prove their ability in actual racing cars, with the most successful given the chance to compete in real life.

Spanish driver Lucas Ordonez was the first GT Academy winner in 2008, and has gone onto finish on the LMP2 class podium at Le Mans in 2011 and 2013, be crowned the Blancpain Endurance Series Pro-Am champion in 2013, and tested a Nissan Altima V8 Supercar last year as part of the ongoing program.

The Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 that entered the recent Bathurst 12 Hour also had GT Academy graduate Wolfgang Reip compete alongside other Nissan factory drivers and Nissan V8 Supercar driver Rick Kelly.

Perhaps the most successful GT Academy graduate to date though is Jann Mardenborough. Along with competing in the GP3 series with Arden International in 2014, Mardenborough has been selected to join dominant F1 team Infiniti Red Bull Racing for a driver development program.

Australian contestants will be selected from the top 14 placings on the Gran Turismo 6 online leaderboard, and a further 14 from live events including V8 Supercar rounds. These 28 finalists will compete in a National Final event, comprised of Gran Turismo 6 challenges, real-life driving challenges, and a media test.

Six of these finalists will then compete at an International final among 24 international entries at Silverstone in the UK, with the winner to participate in a driver development program ahead of competing with Nissan in the Dubai 24 Hour race.

This reporter is on Twitter: @Mal_Flynn