Think you hold a record in Gran Turismo? Try out how the real world feels then

All the blokes who play the ultimate racing sim ever produced – Gran Turismo 5 and beaten every single record in that have a chance to convert their virtual racing career into a real one. How? Thanks to Nissan and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, who have joined forces to give the ultimate drivers in the virtual racing world a taste of how it feels to race for real. Called the GT Academy, it will go live on December 17.

As we mentioned, the winner of the virtual racing competition on Gran Turismo 5 will get a chance to shift his comfy sofa for a rock hard ride in a Nissan 370Z for the European GT4 cup. The winner will be driving a full spec racing 370Z including roll cage, racing bucket seats and racing harness. Think of this as the opportunity to prove yourself. Your great chance to make it big in the racing fraternity and all you need to do is play on your PS3!

In the inaugural edition for the 2008-90 season, Lucas Ordonez, a 23 year old from Spain made it big in PS3 and competed in the Dubai International 24 hour race alongside former F1 driver Johnny Herbert.  He then teamed-up with British driver Alex Buncombe to campaign a Nissan 350Z in the European GT4 Cup, which runs as a support race for the FIA GT series.  Lucas, driving for RJN Motorsport had a brilliant season with 2 race wins and 2 second place finishes that left them second in the drivers championship and winning the Team Championship! Better not to under-estimate the potential of this Academy then. Let the controllers do the talking!

Here is the catch – The GT Academy is open to participants from 15 European countries, Australia and New Zealand. Anyone who holds, or has held, a national or international race license is ineligible.

Source