On Wednesday September 11, 2013, the final selection round of the 5th GT European Academy reached the last day of its final selection round, and Miguel Faisca, a 24 year old student from Lisbon, Portugal became the winner of the GT Academy. In the seven tough days of race camp that took place at the Silverstone Circuit of the UK, Miguel proved that he has what it takes to be a real racing driver. From here he will participate in an intensive driver training program to acquire his international racing license, then go on to take on a full season of racing in a Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3.

Over 765,000 people participated in this year's European Academy, held through a special free demo made using technology of the new Gran Turismo®6 game coming this winter. A record 42 gamers gathered at the final selection round this year to compete in the process of turning them from virtual to real racers.

Guided by high profile judges and mentors including former Formula One drivers Johnny Herbert, René Arnoux, Stefan Johansson and Vitantonio Liuzzi, the 42 were divided into seven territory groups. The fierce competition saw the field gradually reduced through a series of challenges that tested driving ability, fitness, attitude, psychological strength and potential.

For the final day of Race Camp on September 11, only one competitor from each territory group remained in contention. This day they repeated a ‘benchmark’ test first completed on day one on Silverstone’s National Circuit in a 370Z NISMO. Coming from no real racing experience one week ago, the seven competitors had all completed a basic ARDS race license. They had gone through lessons that would ready them for any race condition.

The seven finalists were split into a 4 man and 3 man group to race. The two winners from each of these races would go on to the final race.
Italian Minh Tuan Nguyen (23) and Jérémy Bouteloup (21) from France dropped out on the first race. In the next race where the rain started, and Petr Doležal (26) from the Czech Republic dropped out. Lining up on the grid for a final race were Miguel, Romain Delva (21) from Belgium, Filip Larsson (19) Sweden and Adam Suswillo (21) from the UK.

The final race began, and Romain led the first lap with an excellent start. However, on lap two he spun in the wet conditions allowing Miguel to take the lead. The Portuguese driver held on the remaining 7 laps, despite pressure from Adam Suswillo. From this result the judges made their final decision, selecting Miguel Faisca as this years winner.

After only a short break, Miguel will return to Silverstone in October to begin his intensive training program alongside the winners of the German, Russian and USA Race Camps, to acquire his international racing license.

Comment from Miguel Faisca
“I’m very proud, I didn’t expect to win this morning. I don’t think I was one of the favorites. But I was feeling good with the car and the track and I quite like the rain conditions. I didn’t get a good start and I was second. Once I got into the lead it was very difficult to keep it, but I am so happy. This is the start. It is going to be very hard work, but I can’t wait to get going. Thanks to Nissan and PlayStation for this opportunity. It is fantastic to be the first Portuguese winner.”

Comment by Johnny Herbert
“It’s been another interesting journey this year. We’ve seen the guys grow through the whole week, even up until the last moment, like Adam who was still growing until the very last lap. It was a difficult one to decide because the finalists we had were so close. It was very impressive.
The race typically showed the true grit that they had. Miguel was able to get in front, which is never easy, but once you’re in front, you’ve got nothing in front of you, you’re looking in mirrors, you can see the guys closing down, as in Adam, and you’ve got to be able to hold your wits. Miguel did that. He did a fine job of controlling the race. Adam was putting in some really fast laps as well, but it was impressive how Miguel was able to take hold of the pressure that was thrown upon him, winning the race, making no mistakes, and I think that’s why we agreed that he was the guy that through the whole week had been strong and then was able to deliver when needed. That’s exactly what we need in GT Academy and for the NISMO Athletes for next season.”

Comment by Darren Cox (Nissan Europe Director of Global Motorsports)
“This is the fifth GT Academy and we have come a long way since 2008, all of the PlayStation gamers have come here better prepared than ever before and the competition is fierce. It is good to see, however, that at its core, GT Academy remains true to its principles. It is growing, developing and gaining credibility each year. It was very satisfying to see how our winner from last year Wolfgang Reip was here doing an amazing job as a mentor, showing how much he has grown as both a driver and personality, while our first winner Lucas Ordoñez has now mentored our new winner.”

Comment by Lucas Ordóñez (1st GT Academy Winner)
“It’s amazing to have a Portuguese winner. Team Iberia had an amazing week! It was very tough to choose our final Iberian winner, but we showed we chose the right one. Miguel did an amazing job. He was the fastest on the racing, winning two races and coming second in the qualifying, so I’m very happy right now. The best thing is seeing all of Team Iberia up on the podium now celebrating, not only Faisca, but all the other guys celebrating with him. It’s been an amazing time for them, Goncalo and me.”