Nissan and PlayStation to grow gamer-to-racer program for 2012

Nissan and PlayStation will hold their fourth GT Academy in 2012. The program trains gamers to race real cars competitively and will expand to include the United States, Russia, Germany and Europe. This year's contest will start on May 1 and remains open until June 24.

More than 1.5 million gamers have competed in the contest since 2008. Former winners have grabbed a podium finish at Le Mans and have won an Intercontinental Le Mans Cup and a Blancpain Endurance Series race.

This past weekend, GT Academy winner Jann Mardenborough raced with Chris Ward and Alex Buncombe to a 34th-place overall finish at Monza. The trio worked their way up to 12th place after two hours but dropped back in the final third of the race.

A new format will greet this year's players. An eight-step qualification can be played online with the PlayStation 3 and Gran Turismo 5. The fastest players from each country will join winners from live events to compete in the finals in July. Those winners will be flown to the Silverstone Circuit in England to compete in Race Camp. The ultimate winner, like last year, will get a seat for the Dubai 24 Hours in January 2013.

The GT Academy is now an avenue into the racing world. Lucas Ordo

By Jake Lingeman