Difficult conditions greeted the 18 at Silverstone, but despite some heavy rain during the day, all driving activities went ahead as planned. A sprint competition in the 370Zs was followed by 3 separate activities in the afternoon - a head-to-head, parallel course time-trial in the awesome Nissan GT-R, drifting and car control in the 370Z, and lapping Stowe circuit in the 370Zs with an instructor assessing their progress.

At the end of the day, the competitors undertook a teamwork challenge. Split into two teams, they were timed to undertake a full 'pit-stop' on the new 370Z GT4 race car, delivered to the circuit by their potential new boss, Bob Neville of RJN Motorsport.

Back at the GT Academy's hotel base, the judges, armed with the competitors' times and scores supplied by Silverstone's experienced team of instructors, deliberated on the fate of the 18 hopeful gamers.

The decision was made - Luca Lorenzini and Giacomo Cunial of Italy, Marco Calvo of Spain, Filipe Barreto of Portugal, Jordan Tresson of France, Daniel Collins of Ireland, Oliver Simon of Switzerland and Jeroen Kesselring of the Netherlands all made it though to the next stage of GT Academy.

The 10 eliminated drivers were delighted to learn that they would not be sent home, however. An alternative driving programme was in place for them for the remainder of the Silverstone event. The sense of friendship and community among the Gran Turismo gamers ensured there were no sore losers and they immediately got behind the remaining eight - a spirit that remained throughout.