TuneGT

For most people, video games are just a hobby, a way to do things they can’t do in real life. But with GT Academy, PlayStation, Gran Turismo, and Nissan have changed all that. Over 53,000 hopefuls competed in the GT Academy online time trials in Gran Turismo 5 this past December and January. Thirty-two of the best players in the country made it to the National Finals event in Orlando in March. And this past week, the 16 fastest and most promising racers were taken from virtual to reality when they took a trip over the Atlantic to compete at Silverstone Circuit in England. The stakes: a shot at becoming a professional race car driver.

Last week at Silverstone, the 16 finalists were put through their paces in a week’s worth of physical and mental endurance challenges, and of course, a host of driving challenges and short and endurance races behind the wheel of real race cars including Nissan 370Zs and GT-Rs. Closely watching over the finalists’ every braking point and turn of the wheel was an expert panel of racing industry veterans, judging skill, raw talent, potential, dedication, attitude and passion.

The time has come! We are now a little more than a week away from crowning the first winner of GT Academy here in the US. This weekend, the nation’s top 16 Gran Turismo 5 players will be making their way across the ocean to participate in the final phase of GT Academy, an intense week-long racing camp to be held at the Silverstone Circuit in the U.K. Participants will be judged by an expert panel of racing veterans, judging each competitor’s performance behind the wheel of real Nissan race cars, as well as through other grueling challenges designed to push their physical and mental stamina to the limits.