ROLLE, Switzerland (September 13th, 2011) - Eurosport and Nissan have teamed up to create a new showcase for the Nissan PlayStation® GT Academy across Europe: "GT Academy Road to Dubai". The exciting new series will be broadcast on Eurosport each Tuesday night for 20 weeks.

“GT Academy Road to Dubai” is a high-octane, character-driven look into the world of PlayStation gamers trying to make it in the world of top-level professional motor racing. The programmes follow three young GT Academy winners, all with the ultimate aim to win the Dubai 24 Hour race. Utilising the planet’s best race circuits as a backdrop, the series delves into the personalities behind the helmets and the teams and lets viewers in on the highs, the lows, the wins and the passion that drives a new generation of racers.

This is the story of an incredible dream, of three young men who live an unbelievable adventure as they journey from sofa to pro, starting with Gran Turismo® on their PS3™. Three personalities, three quests, three passions, they are the Nissan PlayStation GT racers, and "GT Academy: Road to Dubai" is their story.

In 2008, Nissan teamed up with PlayStation to ask the question; can a super-fast gamer become a super-fast driver in the real world? The Nissan PlayStation GT Academy competition unites the worlds of virtual and real racing, offering one lucky winner per year the chance to realise their dream of becoming a professional racing driver. The competition has developed into a truly global proposition. 2011 marked the third season of GT Academy in Europe, as well as the inaugural year in the USA.

From an online time trial on the Gran Turismo®5 game, through a series of national finals, the action moves to the real racetrack to determine the overall GT Academy winner. The winner then goes through a unique, professional training programme in high-performance Nissan race cars and competes in a series of national-level races in order to qualify for an international race licence and an entry into the Dubai race.

The "GT Academy Road to Dubai” series features 20x13 minute weekly shows to be aired on Eurosport every Tuesday at 23:00 CET and on Eurosport 2 in HD from September 13 to January 2012.

“We are extremely pleased to be joining forces once again with Eurosport on this TV programme. The popularity and success of the innovative “sofa to race car” GT Academy will now take on another level.

“Three years ago, no one believed that Nissan and PlayStation could transform a gamer into a racing driver. These programmes will show how the dream can, and has, come true for these young men. We are very proud of our GT Academy drivers and we are certain that this television series will excite and inspire future racing enthusiasts.” Laurent De La Cotardiere, Vice President Marketing for Nissan in Europe

“The new Eurosport show is a great addition to the GT Academy programme. It will be fascinating for fans to watch the extraordinary journey as PlayStation gamers progress their real racing careers with Gran Turismo 5. Lucas Ordoñez’s incredible rise from gamer to the podium of the Le Mans 24 Hours is a vindication of what PlayStation and Nissan set out to do when the GT Academy was created - making the virtual, real. It’s quite a story that everyone can now enjoy on Eurosport thanks to Nissan.”
Simon Rutter, SCEE Executive Vice President