Opinion: Why Nissan GT Academy makes sense

Next week at Silverstone 16 national winners will converge to compete for the ultimate prize in NissanNissanJapan, 1932 > present159 models
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’s GT Academy.

For anyone who doesn’t know what GT Academy is I will explain: Playstation and Nissan teamed up in 2008 and gave us Lucas Ordonez (who finished second in class in the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans) who teamed up this year with Martin and Alex Brundle at the Le Mans 24 Hours. Gamers are asked to achieve a certain time on Gran Turismo and then invited to take part in a national assessment, the winner of each national event is then asked to Silverstone, where I will be part of the panel judging them on their media skills! The eventual winner then will undertake training to take part, as a driver, in the 2013 Dubai 24 Hours.

Aside from my own (limited) involvement in the programme I think it is a very interesting concept and one that has unearthed some potential, at a relatively limited cost.

Nissan has offset some of the cost by its involvement with Playstation and also the television coverage that goes with it. Compare this with Red BullRed BullAustria, 2004 > present12 models
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’s driver development programme which has cost an estimated £500 million so far and unearthed one real star: Sebastian Vettel (who owes a significant part of his training to BMWBMWGermany, 1918 > present87 models
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). Link this to the DeltaWingNissan DeltaWingJapan, 2012 > present19 photos
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project which gained rave reviews at Le Mans this year and Nissan is leading the way in the motorsport marketing stakes.

Lucas Ordonez is the most famous graduate, and also the first, but there have been others. One notable talent is Jann Mardenborough, last year’s winner, who won his first British GT race at Brands Hatch in June this year and is showing potential elsewhere too.

One of the really refreshing aspects, in my experience, is that these guys are very normal – and I mean that in a good way – they come across, particularly in Jann’s case as people who feel lucky to be where they are and are making the very best of what they have got.

It is plausible that Nissan will field an entirely former gamer based driver lineup at next year’s Le Mans 24 Hours and it will be very interesting to see how they get on. Ordonez will almost definitely feature and one would think that Jordan Tresson would also be in the lineup (he took part this year too), the question is: who would the third driver be?

The point of all this though is that it is worth celebrating a different approach, one that unearths talent from unlikely sources, and also one that does it on a sensible budget in these austere times. I wonder what Nissan has in store for us next?