Nissan and Playstation GT Academy 2010 is go!

SILVERSTONE, UNITED KINGDOM – February 26, 2010: February 2010 – Nissan and PlayStation’s quest to unearth real racing talent from the virtual world of the successful Gran Turismo race simulation games enters a crucial phase today. The 18 winners from across the 17 participating countries will gather at the famous Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, UK. For the next five days they will be put through a series of gruelling driving, physical and mental challenges in order to select the two competitors that display the most talent, determination and potential to succeed as real racing drivers.

The two winners of the Silverstone event will be invited back to the UK to embark on an intensive two-month driver training programme. They will compete in enough race events to qualify for an international racing licence while also learning race-craft and technique. Following this phase, only one of the drivers will be chosen to compete a full season in the European GT4 Cup series driving a Nissan 370Z GT car alongside Alex Buncombe in the Nissan PlayStation RJN Motorsport team.

On hand at the GT Academy at Silverstone to guide and train the competitors will be an international team of experienced race instructors headed by Rob Barff. Barff will also act as a judge alongside former F1 boss Eddie Jordan, F1 and Le Mans-winner Johnny Herbert, and two-time Nürburgring 24-Hour winner Sabine Schmitz. The panel faces a tough job to reduce the field from 18 to two over the course of the next five days.

During their intensive racing driver ‘boot camp’, the competitors will swap their PlayStation®3 controls for the steering wheels of the awesome Nissan GT-R and new Nissan 370Z as well as karts, single-seaters and other cars. From the end of day two, the judges will be required to make the difficult decision of who must be eliminated from the competition.

Commenting on the process, Nissan’s European Interactive Marketing Manager Darren Cox said: “So far GT Academy has been a major success. The time trial phase played on the Gran Turismo game was like a huge virtual group test drive of the 370Z for over 1.1 million people. We have then had some extremely competitive national finals events run over a variety of race circuits on the game that demonstrated the determination of these gamers. We now enter a really fascinating stage to watch how these guys are able to adapt their obvious talent to being on a real track. We have a great group of instructors at Silverstone to deliver the programme and some fantastic judges to pick our winners.”

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s PS3 Brand Manager Mark Bowles is equally excited about the prospect of Silverstone: “Having whittled down 1.1 million to 18 and delivered our gamers to Silverstone, we are looking forward to see if they have what it takes to become real racing drivers with Nissan. GT Academy is the perfect example of how 'the game is just the start' on PS3 and so I am very excited to watch how things develop. It is a shame that there can be only two winners. But whatever happens, we have developed a programme that will ensure that all of the competitors have an incredible experience and learn many new skills.”