Nissan GT Academy: The Story

In 2008, Nissan came up with the idea of taking gaming enthusiasts who are good at driving in the virtual world and training them to be professional race car drivers. The first edition of this unorthodox program was shepherded by Nissan Europe in collaboration with Sony and for the last six years, the Nissan GT Academy has been making dreams come true for many talented drivers by giving them the opportunity to race at a professional level. Last month, the first ever Indian edition of the Nissan GT Academy entered its final phase after a showdown in Jaipur. The event saw six aspiring racers progress through the National Finals to confirm their place in the GT Academy training camp to be held at the Silverstone race track, in UK.

The Indian edition of the GT Academy was kick-started in February this year during the 2014 Delhi Auto Expo. Those who wished to enter the competition could either enrol through qualifying the timetrials hosted at shopping malls across five major cities or enter through the online portal of the Gran Turismo 6 game on their PlayStation 3 console. Out of the five cities, just 14 contestants who clocked the quickest lap times were eligible, while the remaining 14 were selected through the online qualifiers.

India National Finals: Day 1

The India National Finals of the Nissan GT Academy was officiated over by the company's India operations head, Mr. Kenichiro Yomura as well as the global director of motorsports for Nissan, Mr. Darren Cox. The event saw the 28 contestants undergo a thorough two-day intensive physical and mental training examination programme to filter out the six finalists. The first two rounds involved setting lap times of the Silverstone and then Monaco race circuits on the simulators.

With the advancements in technology, simulators can come very close to imitating the real world conditions, and racing teams around the world have been increasingly relying on simulators to get racing drivers accustomed to the track as well as to gauge the driving dynamics of the car. The competition took place in the Banquet Room of the Fairmont, where six simulators had been set up connected to a huge projector. As expected, the lap times were pretty competitive and a lot of fun to watch as these 28 gamers were not just battling it out for a trophy, but they were competing to be a part of a life-changing experience, and the determination was clearly visible.

Speaking about the level of competitiveness among the participants, Mr Darren Cox, on a lighter note, said that since the start of the event, only one of the competitors had actually walked up to him and thanked him for this opportunity. The other participants had been bombarding him and the other officials with questions in an attempt to extract every piece of information which might give them an edge over the other participants. From altering the pedal and seating position, to getting their own headphones to hear revs clearly, the participants were trying to grab every advantage they could lay hands on.

The first two rounds on the simulators helped Nissan eliminate 16 contestants, bringing the tally down to 12. A large part of a racing driver’s job also involves garnering sponsors to fund his drives, so projecting an image becomes extremely important. The 12 semi-finalists were made to undergo a mock media interview with actual members of the media to judge how media-savvy they were, for this is the measure besides the race results by which your sponsors will choose or lose you.

India National Finals: Day 2

The next day of the finals saw the contestants go through a litmus test, as they were taken out of their comfort zone and made to drive around a special stage in an actual car. The Final Driving Test saw the contestants drive a Nissan Micra Active on a specially designed rallycross course and set a lap time under the watchful eye of the instructor, Jonathan Cox.

The rallycross stage was laid out on a slippery polo ground and was made up of slaloms and 360 degree turns, designed to test the drivers’ car control. While the simulators saw all the contestants use paddle shifters and left foot braking, the rallycross stage and Micra Active, with its manual stick and clutch pedal, presented the contestants with a completely contrasting environment.

Later, the contestants were subjected to a thorough physical test which included planking, push-ups, measuring their vertical leap and a ‘bleep test’ all of which were aimed at determining their overall fitness levels. The bleep test which is not unlike basketball’s ‘suicides’, was a shuttle-run test conducted on the rooftop of Fairmont in Jaipur’s woefully hot weather. It was a true test of stamina.

Here was a surprise –, 42-year-old Prakash Nair, the oldest of the group, outlasted all the young ones in the physical tests, showing that age is not an issue when it comes to fitness. It also made us chuckle at the stereotype that people interested in video games aren’t interested in physical fitness.

The performance in all these tests helped Nissan narrow the 12 contestants down to six. These six finalists will now undergo training for a week at the International Race Camp at Silverstone, where they will compete with the winners from other countries for top honours – a race seat for Nissan.

Mr Darren Cox claims that if schooled properly, there are many transferrable skills which a gamer can carry from the virtual world to the real world. Lucas Ordonez was the first winner of the Nissan GT Academy and is now a veteran endurance racer with multiple podium finishes to his credit. But not only is he a great racing driver, but also the perfect face for the Nissan GT Academy. He has become a global icon who paved the way and set the standards for his fellow ‘NISMO athletes’.

Other Nissan GT Academy graduates like Jann Mardenborough, Nick McMillen and Jordan Tresson have also tasted success in the world of track racing, proving that the system actually works and that Lucas’ success was not just a fluke.

India National Finals: The Finalists

The camp is scheduled to begin from August 8 this year, and will take the six finalists through another gruelling set of challenges which will not only test the finalists’ prowess behind the wheel of Nissan 370Zs and the GT-R, but also their physical fitness and their mental strength. The six finalists from India will compete with the other Nissan GT Academy finalists from Australia, Thailand, Mexico and the Middle East and among them, only one winner will be chosen. The winner will be eligible for the Driver Development Programme which will train him in the necessary skills to help him compete in the Nissan GT Academy’s 'graduation race' i.e. the Dubai 24 Hour Race.

The six finalists from India are:

1) Abhinav Bhatt

2) Abhinay Bikkani

3) Prakash Nair

4) Akshay Gupta

5) Glen Ivan Suchita

6) Karl Patel

It is a little unfortunate that Nissan India is refusing to commit to another GT Academy next year. The sheer size of our population means that the chances of finding good talent are high – provided it gets through to the right people. This year was promising, but when a 42-year old comes out on top in the fitness tests and the favourite Nissan racing cars of the contestants happen to be only video-game cars, you do realise that besides the claim of transferable skills from the virtual world to reality, there is also a sizeable gap that needs to be bridged between the expectations and knowledge of the participants and reality. However, that’s what GT Academy aims to cut through – to find hidden gems where it wouldn’t occur to others to look. No doubt the quality of participants will improve every time the GT Academy is held, thanks to media coverage and the stories of success that hopefully will accompany each iteration.

Keep an eye out for how our six finalists fare in the competition at Silverstone.