Game over for Nissan’s GT Academy

Nissan has confirmed it is game over for its popular GT Academy, however the car-maker says a similar gaming motorsport platform may soon replace it.

Speaking with carsales on the eve of the Hong Kong round of the esports Formula E championship, newly-appointed Nissan global motorsport director Tommaso Volpe said the GT Academy was no more.

“The GT Academy was an amazing project and we are so proud of it, but it’s not going any further,” Volpe said.

“It’s interesting that we can now use some of the drivers from previous seasons for the … Formula E esports championship. Formula E wants to distinguish professional drivers from the simulator drivers. This gives us an opportunity to use two of the winners from previous GT Academy series as the simulator drivers. We will do that for the next eight races.”

While the current incarnation of GT Academy would disappear, Volpe said there was scope for an evolved version. That spells good news for aspiring racers wanting to follow in the footsteps of Aussie Matthew Simmons, who won the GT Academy in 2015 on his way to securing a million dollar race contract.

“We believe there is a lot of potential for a future in esports,” Volpe said.

“We will see how this esport world is evolving and whether it is for us. We definitely have experience with this, given the GT Academy – in a way we were pioneering in this area.

“Let’s see what the esport world is like outside of what Formula E is already doing. Let’s see if we can use some of our past experience to develop something in the future.

“It’s all at a discussion level at the moment.”

Round two of the Formula E championship will be set on the Hong Kong street circuit.
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