Nearly 400,000 gamers across the United States entered the second iteration of Nissan and PlayStation’s innovative gamer-to-racer competition this year. The top 32 gamers faced off in July at the National Finals at Comic-Con in San Diego, and only 16 advanced to Silverstone Circuit in August for the one-week challenge at GT Academy Race Camp. After seven days of intense challenges, racing Nissan 370Z and GT-R race cars, a new U.S. Champion now joins the ranks of the 2011 GT Academy Champion, Bryan Heitkotter.

Want to know which of the top 16 is the new 2012 GT Academy Champion? Be sure to tune into Spike TV starting November 1st, as every moment of the week-long competition will be aired as a six-part reality show. Also keep your eyes glued to the official GT Academy Facebook page as we’ll have daily updates on GT Academy Race Camp — including behind-the scenes videos of various challenges — and interviews with the Top 16.

On Sunday, August 26th, 16 of the fastest Gran Turismo drivers from the San Diego National Finals arrived at Silverstone Circuit in UK. For 7 days, each contender was put through a variety of mental and physical challenges designed to test fitness, driving skills, reaction speeds and performance under pressure.

The GT Academy Race Camp Judges and racing veterans, Danny Sullivan, Boris Said and Maryeve Default had the difficult task of gradually reducing the field of 16 down to selected few who had what it took to compete in the final “Winner Takes All” head-to-head championship race. Victory is anyone’s, but only ONE will be the 2012 GT Academy Champion and become a professional race car driver for Nissan.