World’s best Gran Turismo gamers coming to Australia
Sydney set to hold world championship contest for a smash-hit game approaching 90 million sales around the globe.
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The world’s best PlayStation racers are set to contest the FIA Gran Turismo Championships at Sydney’s Luna Park.
Players from Europe, the Americas and Australasia will race in front of a live audience on site and through streaming channels on social media on February 15 and 16.
Top-ranked racers Cody Nikola Latkovski, Adam Wilk and Matt Simmons will represent Australia at the free event. Simmons was one of the last players to win the Nismo PlayStation GT Academy that trained gamers to become real-life racers, giving him an opportunity to campaign a Nissan GT-R in European GT3 racing.
That program is on hold, but up-and-coming gamers still have a chance to tour the world representing their country or favourite car manufacturer, and to collect a trophy at the same ceremony where top-tier world champions of Formula 1 and rallying receive their prizes.
Motorsport fans are increasingly turning to eSports as real-life racing is prohibitively expensive. Professional drivers such as supercars champions Shane van Gisbergen and Marcos Ambrose regularly race online, as do Formula 1 combatants Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.
Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi says Australia is “home to some of the most passionate GT fans of the world”.
“Australia is also a very forward thinking country that took notice of the Japanese sports car culture which ultimately led to the creation of Gran Turismo, with cars like the iconic Nissan GT-R, which even became a part of their own sports car culture,” he says.
“I think it’s the robust car culture of Australia that nurtured fans of Gran Turismo over the last 20 years and led to the birth of top Gran Turismo athletes such as Cody Nikola Latkovski and Adam Wilk. I’m looking forward to seeing them perform well in this world class championship which is being held for the first time on their home turf.”
Originally published as World’s best Gran Turismo gamers coming to Australia
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