Nissan and Playstation launch GT Academy in May

Nissan – and its chums at Playstation - is offering two very lucky, possibly socially-inept would-be racing drivers the chance to thrash about in a Nissan 350Z in Dubai next year. In the definitive test of determining whether people can transfer their honed, bragged racing driver attributes from the safety and comfort of their games consoles, to the demands of a track.

Just in case you thought the worlds of reality and virtually-the-same couldn’t morph into one another any further, up crops the ultimate racing vision for those nursing Playstation-bottoms. With distant echoes of Tron - and the current hyperbole surrounding Speed Racer - Nissan and Sony believe it's the perfect time to launch its unique GT Academy.

Nissan and Sony have brought their considerable skill-set together to create the ultimate driving test. However any similarities to what we all know as the driving test cease to count the very second that the Nissan 350Z is mentioned.

Having been closer car lovers than even Noddy and Big Ears in recent years, best buddies Nissan and Playstation are offering the chance for two people of flimsy midriff and an aversion to natural daylight the opportunity to represent the Nissan team at the Dubai 24-hour endurance race, just as quickly as they’ve graduated from the GT Academy.

The GT in question isn’t a race series either, but gives you a clue as to what it's all about. It’s the abbreviation for that hallowed game that car loons big and small sell their soul to the devil for, and wave goodbye to their partner over – the Holy Gospel of automotive game play - Gran Turismo.

That's right, an eight month pan-European competition – Gran Turismo Prologue - allows the virtual racing world to seamlessly blend in with the real when whittled down courtesy of a head-to-head at Silverstone. In real cars.

With the chaff now rooted out as a result, the two remaining people will then have the opportunity to attend a focussed four-month training programme. The GT Academy will equip and enable the drivers to gain their racing licences, where ultimately these two individuals will get behind the 3-D wheel of a real Nissan 350Z in Dubai in January 2009.

To get all this motoring pandemonium underway the GT Academy goes live at the end of May, where entrants have to register via their Playstation 3, therein notifying the Playstation Network so as to compete in the first stage – the special on-line Prologue tournament. Best make sure that you're on the grid then.