GT Academy Middle East winner revealed

The winner of the inaugural GT Academy Middle East has been revealed as Qatar's Salman Al Khater.

The 29-year-old mechanical engineer beat off thousands of competitors in the Gran Turismo GT Academy qualifying rounds before putting his skills to the test in a Nissan 370Z.

He's now preparing for his first professional race in a six-hour endurance challenge at the world famous Silverstone circuit in the UK.

"GT Academy has made my dream of becoming a professional racing driver come true," said Salman.

"I had no professional motorsport experience, but I did have the passion to follow my dream. It was tough as the standard of my competitors was very high but that makes winning even more rewarding."

The GT Academy is a competition set up by Sony and Nissan to see if the best gamers can transfer their skills to a real life race.

The first ever GT Academy winner, Lucas Ordóñez, went on an intensive training and race programme which eventually led to him claiming a podium finish at Le Mans 24H in 2011.