Gran Turismo 6's GT Academy kicks off today

Gran Turismo fans, it's time to test your skills and maybe win your way through to a real life racing career.

Gran Turismo's GT Academy is one of the coolest things ever to come out of the intersection of video games and the real world.

Because the series pays so much attention to faithful recreation of real racing experiences, it's used as a training aid by professional racers - and one day somebody had the bright idea of using it to recruit potential new stars. National winners of the competition attend a training camp in the UK, and one grand champion will go on to become professional racers, if they so choose.

There have been four GT Academy seasons so far, and the fifth kicks off today. Shack News reports Sony aid it begins at midnight, but didn't say which midnight. Happily, if you fire up Gran Turismo 6 it ought to be pretty obvious whether qualifiers are open or not. Just look for the GT Academy event to participate.

The online qualifier portion of the competition runs till June 16. The fastest times recorded in each territory will then race head to head in national finals, followed by international events to further whittle down the pack.

Good luck to all competitors; there's a lot of talent out there going unrecognised due to lack of access to mentors, vehicles and track times, and we love seeing it celebrated and realising its potential.