A couple of years ago, if someone told you that clocking a few good hours on the Gran Turismo 6 racing simulator could propel you into a career as a professional racer, you’d have looked at them with some incredulity. In 2015 however you’d know that the fastest GT6 lap time on a PS3 could earn you a spot on Nissan’s GT Academy – a platform where the best online racers are given a chance to prove themselves, on tracks both real and virtual and possibly become a NISMO athlete.

The GT Academy Final Qualification round has commenced and will scout for racing talent across 4 major cities: Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Delhi, concluding on the 16th of June. Contestants can line-up at the listed venues and try their luck. The ten fastest contenders from the live events will join ten of the quickest online racers to compete in the Indian National Finals which are to be held in July.

From there, six finalists will be selected to attend a week long training camp at Silverstone where they shall compete with other national finalists to become Nismo athletes. Over 5000 contestants participated from India alone, out of which only one – Abhinay Bikkani, went on to secure a spot in the Nissan Micra Cup in Canada.

This year also sees the inauguration of the ‘GT Academy Asia’ which will allow South Asian countries acquainted with the GT Academy to compete with other South Asian countries including Indonesia, the Philippines and Nissan and Japan. The winner of the GT Academy Asia gets to race at the Dubai 24hrs in January.