"An incredible opportunity"

Gran Turismo European Brand Manager Mark Bowles talks to eu.playstation.com about giving the two GT Academy winners the opportunity of a lifetime.

Where did the idea for GT Academy come from?

Two and a half years ago I met Darren Cox, who was the marketing manager at Nissan Europe at the time. He'd had the idea of a racing competition that began online and then moved into reality. Obviously, a key factor in realising this was introducing online racing to Gran Turismo, and we knew that Gran Turismo 5 Prologue was on the way.

What were your objectives?

I suppose my objective was to show people that PlayStation experiences can go beyond playing a game at home, and to see if it was possible to take someone from virtual racing to the real thing. If you look at the top racing drivers, they have all been involved in karting and motorsport from an early age. We wanted to see if we could bypass that and find two undiscovered talents whose driving experience had been on PlayStation, and I think we've found two really talented guys.

Motor racing is seen as an exclusive world, can GT Academy help break down these perceptions?

Absolutely - Lucas Ordóñez did some karting when he was younger and his family has been involved in racing but the cost of running a professional team has excluded him. Even at entry level, running a car costs several hundred thousand pounds a season, so for us to remove that expense gives these guys such an incredible opportunity.

How confident were you of finding two drivers good enough to race for real?

To be honest, we've had that concern at every stage of the competition. Even when the top qualifiers arrived for their National Finals and were really hungry and competitive, we wondered if they would carry that through to Silverstone and withstand all the trials and tribulations we were ready to throw at them.

Our judges are all renowned motorsport guys and they came away really impressed by the talent on show. Johnny Herbert was a guest judge and he was so impressed with what he saw he will be driving in the Nissan PlayStation team, which shows how much belief he has in their ability. In fact, after an intensive training period, including races at well renowned circuits such as Snetterton and Brands Hatch, they look set for careers in motorsport beyond Dubai.

What has Johnny Herbert brought to the competition?

All of the judges have strong backgrounds in motorsport but Johnny Herbert has won a British Grand Prix and has won Le Mans so he brings all that experience with him. He has been a great mentor to the lads, an inspiration to all of us and I'm delighted to have him working with PlayStation.

What message does Lars' and Lucas's success send to the Gran Turismo community?

Well, videogames are historically viewed as a bedroom activity, but if you take Lars, who is a 28-year-old taxi driver from Bonn, Germany, he has played every game in the Gran Turismo series and look where he is now. I think it shows how realistic Gran Turismo is, when someone can hone their skills over ten years of playing and then translate them to the track.

Has anything been learnt that might influence future Gran Turismo titles?

It has been a fantastic test of the online functionality and Polyphony Digital made an excellent job of setting up the event. To get 25,000 competing and posting umpteen thousand lap times is a proud achievement for us all.

There's a GT Academy trailer in PlayStation Home; where can people go to see more?

At gtacademy.eu you'll find loads of information, as well as photos and videos from the National Finals and the Grand Final at Silverstone. During the race on 9 and 10 January we're going to be posting live updates, videos and photos from trackside. We also have a pan-European television series in the pipeline, which charts the competition from start to finish, so that's well worth looking out for.