Nissan GT Academy 2015 is online for Aussies to enter, this time against Americans too

THIS could be our modern day America’s Cup-style victory. And it doesn’t involve boats, or any traditional sporting equipment.

Is this our next America’s Cup?

NISSAN’S GT Academy, the competition that proves how creepily accurate video games are to real life returns to Australia today.

Continuing the search to find the next great racing driver through video games, those who wish to fulfil their dreams of being a pro driver can start recording times on Gran Turismo as of right now.

For the Aussies who make it to the International Race Camp, they will be put in a group that includes competitors from the United States for the first time. With the competition more fierce than ever, this year could show off the next generation of great international sporting battles, perhaps even a modern-day America’s Cup moment.

Australia’s Joshua Muggleton came painfully close to winning last year’s International GT Academy against competitors from the Middle East, Thailand, India and Mexico. In the end, Mexico’s Ricardo Sanchez walked away as the winner and is now racing in the prestigious Blancpain Endurance Series in Europe for Nissan.

The GT Academy online qualifying starts today and finishes on June 16 for those with Gran Turismo 6 on their PlayStation 3. The top ten times will then proceed to a national final, with winners of live events across the country also joining them. From there, six will be sent to compete at the famous Silverstone race track at the International Race Camp against the rest of the world for a million dollar contract to become a professional race driver for Nissan Motorsport.

GT Academy winners have already beaten the world’s best in Bathurst.

Success of the GT Academy has already been seen on Australian soil, with two previous winners behind the wheel of the Nismo GT-R that won this year’s Bathurst 12-hour race. That included driving in the dark around one of the world’s most difficult race tracks against some of the world’s best and most experienced drivers.

The current poster boy for GT Academy though is 23-year old Brit Jann Mardenborough.

Since winning GT Academy in 2011, he has gone from strength to strength and currently races in GP3, the Formula 1 feeder series. He has even signed a contract to Red Bull’s Formula 1 development program, the same program that current F1 drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel went through.

Lucas Ordonez and Jann Mardenborough have beat the world’s best in the some of the world’s hardest races.

“If you had no experience at all at driving anything in real life, and you had a pedal setup in a rig and had Gran Turismo 6, you could jump from that into a real car, and drive it very near the limit or on the limit,” Mardenborough told news.com.au at the GT Academy International Race Camp in Silverstone last year.

So if you’ve ever dreamt of becoming a race driver but never had the chance, now you do.

Originally published as Nissan GT Academy 2015 is online for Aussies to enter, this time against Americans too