Nissan Playstation GT Academy returns to Australia

The Nissan Playstation GT Academy will return to Australia in 2015, taking the country's best videogamers and turning them into battle-hardened race drivers.

Nissan Australia has today confirmed the competition will yet again take place in this country, highlighting the competition's innovative method to scout up and coming race talent.

Last year's competition saw Aussie IT support manager Josh Muggleton miss out on a lucrative international race driving contract by a cat's whisker, beaten only by Mexico’s Ricardo Sanchez, who has since raced a Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 to second in class (and fifth overall) in the 2015 Dubai 24 Hours endurance race.

Sanchez has also been signed to race GT-R NISMO GT3 in the 2015 Blancpain Endurance Series.

The competition works like this: entrants post their best lap times on the Playstation 3 game, Gran Turismo 6, and the fastest gamers in Australia will join a race boot camp.

The fastest Aussies will then attend an international competition in Europe, with the winner landing a one-in-a-million NISMO race contract.

Qualification details for the 2015 Nissan Playstation GT Academy will be revealed in about two weeks, but Nissan Australia will officially begin promoting the 2015 comp via the V8 Supercars, with Michael Caruso's #23 GT Academy Nissan Altima V8 Supercar to bear "nissan.com.au/GT15" across its windscreen.

The Nissan Altima race car will contest the March 27-29 round of the V8 Supercars at Symmons Plains Raceway in Launceston, Tasmania.

Another example of the GT Academy's success came after the Nissan GT-R scored its first major win at the Bathurst race track in February's 2015 Bathurst 12 Hour, which was driven by former GT Academy winners Wolfgang Reip and Florian Strauss.

While the promotion of the GT Academy will differ somewhat to 2014, with fewer 'live event' qualifications, the cause will be furthered by the recent Bathurst win, said Nissan Australia's CEO, Richard Emery.

"The success of the Nissan PlayStation GT Academy is well documented, but I think that Australians now have an even greater appreciation for it following Nissan's win at the recent Bathurst 12 Hour.

"It was amazing to watch Wolfgang and Florian lapping the unforgiving Mount Panorama circuit wheel-to-wheel with seasoned professionals at the front of a world-class GT sports car field, only a few years after they had won GT Academy and made the switch from gamer to racer," said Emery.

After an Australian was runner up in 2014, just missing out on a contract, can a local racer make history and win the GT Academy? Emery is positive.

"Last year we saw some fantastic talent come through the GT Academy program here in Australia and we saw Josh Muggleton come extremely close to winning the overall competition. This year we hope to find an Australian GT Academy winner."

V8 Supercar driver Michael Caruso expressed astonishment at how effective the GT Academy has been in blooding new talent.

"It still amazes me that drivers discovered by playing Gran Turismo on PlayStation 3 are now racing in some of the best championships in global motorsport such as WEC and Super GT," he said.

GT Academy graduates have since raced in significant events such as the Le Mans 24 Hours, Nurburgring 24 Hours, Spa 24 Hours and Suzuka 1000.
"It's a credit to Nissan and PlayStation that they support young driving talent – but in true Nissan style, do it in such an innovative and exciting way," said Caruso.

"Winning the Nissan PlayStation GT Academy can be the start of big things for an aspiring driver. Hopefully we can have an Australian winner this year – and maybe one day a GT Academy winner in V8 Supercars."

Go to the website for more details.