the world.

The program has been nothing but a success, with inaugural winner Lucas Ordonez now a formidable force in international motorsport for Nissan, winning some of the most coveted races in the world at tracks like LeMans, Spa and Germany’s Nurburgring.

The current poster boy for GT Academy though is 22-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.

“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 Turismo6, 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.

While the drivers may have got their foot in the door with video games, they have to do so much more to prove their driving worth. All the challenges at race camp are devised by some of the best brains in international motorsport and are designed to separate the boys from the men, and then to separate those who think they want it from those who really want it.

Signs are looking good for the program to return to Australia this year, with Mr Emery telling news.com.au that Nissan Australia was hoping to bring the