GT Academy returns to screens as gamers battle it out to become the next Nissan pro driver

“This year we had people qualifying on GT6 which is the latest version of Gran Turismo coming out on 6 December. We launched a demo back in June, where people could go into the Play Station store, download the game and qualify for an opportunity to enter the GT Academy programme,” explained Joshua Walker, GT product manager, Play Station.

Walker revealed that this year there was about 750,000 people who applied just in Europe.

“So from there we shortlist the top players using a leader board system,” he said. “The top players from across Europe get invited to local events, in the UK that was Silverstone. From there, through a combination of gaming and driving challenges, we shortlisted it to six candidates and these six reps from each country across Europe get invited to a race camp. This is literally a shoot out to see who has the best game driving skills and who is best on the track. Then we shortlist it down to one, who wins a season driving for Nissan in their GT Driving team.”

The programme format has also changed slightly this year. It is now made up of three hour long episodes as opposed to six 30 minute slots. This, hopes Walker, will give viewers a better understanding of the programme and how it works.

As well as the programme launch, Play Station bought an entire ad segment half way through the programme. The four minute ad promotes GT6 and stars the 2011 winner, and now pro driver for F3, Jann Mardenborough and Danny Wallace. They both take part in a virtual versus reality challenge, driving round Silverstone using either the game console or a racing car.

The ad jumps between gameplay and reality which, says Wallace, aims to “showcase how realistic the game is versus reality.”

GT Academy will air at Wednesdays at 8pm on ITV4. It is repeated on Saturdays and available on the ITV Player.