Six Gran Turismo gamers from the region have won the right to travel to Silverstone in the United Kingdom to compete for a chance to become professional racers.
The winners beat 22 other aspirants at the just concluded Nissan PlayStation GT Academy Middle East Challenge in Dubai.
The two-day event, held at the Dubai World Trade Centre, saw 28 finalists from around the Middle East vie for the six spots on offer to attend a boot camp in August to determine the overall Middle East GT Academy winner, who then gets the opportunity to be a professional track racer.
The six top gun Gran Turismo gamers heading to Silverstone are: Hadi Abdel Hadi (Lebanon), Bahaa Abdel Hadi (Lebanon), Mohamad Jamal Ghandour (Lebanon), Walid Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia), Yasser Al Mansoor (Saudi Arabia) and Ahmed Khaled (Saudi Arabia).
The Nissan PlayStation GT Academy was launched in Europe in 2008 and introduced to the Middle East last year.
The Middle East’s 2014 winner will follow in the tracks of Qatari Salman Al Khater, last year’s champion, who won his first race at the 2013 Britcar 1,000km after making the transition from gaming.
Anyone owning a PlayStation and a copy of Gran Turismo 6 was entitled to enter the contest online or by attending a Nissan PlayStation GT Academy live event throughout the Middle East.
GT Academy is a unique concept created by Darren Cox, Global Head Brand, Marketing and Sales NISMO, who set out to prove a gamer with outstanding driving skills in the virtual world could perform equally well in a car on the tarmac.
Cox said: “It’s great the winners from the Middle East have been selected.
“We now look forward to putting them through their paces at Silverstone.
“Salman Al Khater made the transition from virtual to real-world driving effortlessly and won his very first race. I’m sure this year’s eventual winner from the Middle East will be equally talented.”
Samir Cherfan, managing director, Nissan Middle East, said the challenge in Dubai had “exceeded all expectations”.
“We have seen two days of excitement as gamers went hard at it in a bid to move to the next phase and hopefully become a professional racing driver after the tutoring at Silverstone,” he added.
“It’s been great fun for all concerned and the event will pave the way for one of the contestants getting a spot behind the wheel with Nissan and becoming a racer for real on the tarmac.
“Motorsport is becoming more popular by the day in the Middle East and Nissan is delighted to be making a contribution in this unique way via the Nissan PlayStation GT Academy. Congratulations to the six winners and good luck at Silverstone.”
According to Cherfan, the entries for this year’s challenge had increased five-fold on last year’s inaugural event.
Robert Fisher, general manager of Sony Computer Entertainment in Middle East, Africa, Turkey, and India, hailed the second GT Academy event in the UAE as a “resounding success”.
He said: “The GT Academy continues to illustrate how the virtual and real world can combine in such a seamless and productive manner."