By Shaun Summerfield
Becoming a professional racing driver usually takes years of work and costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. But now there is a much easier way to get on track, so easy that would-be drivers don't even have to get off the sofa.
Keen gamers can become a Schumacher with their shoes off.
A new talent search called the GT Academy is making the virtual, reality - giving gamers a chance to live the life of a pro-racer like Jonny Reid, who says the game is good practise for real life racing.
“If you can drive one of these games, you should handle the basics of racing - and you can be turned into a race driver,” says Reid.
And that's exactly what Playstation are doing - finding New Zealand's fastest Gran Turismo player and turning them into a real race driver.
The top Kiwi will them be flown to Silverstone in England for the GT Academy, where the top driver will be given a professional racing contract.
The only condition is that anyone with a race licence cannot apply; the competition is for rookies only.
Last year's overall academy winner, Spaniard Lucas Ordoñez, has gone from the racing in his bedroom to regular podium finishes in the British GT4 Series.
New Zealand’s top virtual racer Stuart Cannan isn't surprised - his move from make-believe to real-life racing saw him win his club championship.
“When it first came out that I was a Playstation guy I got a hard time, but I get less and less of a hard time these days,” he says.
Qualifying starts online tomorrow - drivers have until January 24 to swap the sofa for a real car.
3 News