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Nissan PlayStation GT Academy hits Australia

Sony and Nissan give gamers a chance to go from virtual to reality.

Nic Healey Senior Editor / Australia
Nic Healey is a Senior Editor with CNET, based in the Australia office. His passions include bourbon, video games and boring strangers with photos of his cat.
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Nic Healey

The insanely popular GT Academy is heading to Australia thanks to Sony and Nissan.

Probably best not to try this at home. (Credit: Sony)

The Nissan PlayStation GT Academy gives PS3 Gran Turismo fanatics a chance to show their skills in the real world. How do you get started? Well, it's a lot of hard work. According to Sony:

The nation’s top 14 Gran Turismo gamers will be identified via recording a series of online time trials using pre-selected digital Nissan vehicles available only through PS3 exclusive, Gran Turismo 6. An additional 14 gamers will be selected from live events to be held at V8 Supercars Championship events and other public events around Australia.

The collective 28 racers will participate in a National Final event where they will battle in special racing pods during a series of Gran Turismo 6 rounds, driving skill challenges in a real Nissan sports-car, a fitness challenge and a media test.

The top six racers from these National Finals will then be invited to head to the Silverstone Circuit in the UK for the Final Selection Round, racing against 24 international finalists, competing in on-track evaluations, driving some of Nissan’s best road and race cars

It's worth remembering that the inaugural GT Academy winner, Lucas Ordonez, became the Blancpain Endurance Series Pro-Am champion in 2013 and was a podium finisher at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LM P2 class in both 2011 and 2013.

You can get more info on the events via the Nissan website and Facebook page.