GT Academy for Middle East starts today

Sony and Nissan have announced that online qualifying for the 2014 GT Academy is now open in the Middle East.

Ten live qualification events for the gamer-to-real-racer competition will also be held across seven different countries between 25 April and 20 May.

After the live qualification rounds, 14 racers with the fastest times will be selected to take part in the regional finals in Dubai alongside 14 qualifiers from the online competition.

To take part all players need is a copy of Gran Turismo 6 and a PlayStation 3, and you can find out more on entering the game's qualifying rounds here.

The GT Academy competition has attracted nearly 4 million entries since first launching back in 2008, and last year's Middle East winner Salman Al Khater won his first competitive race in September 2013 at the Silverstone 1000k.

"As I was growing up, I always loved Gran Turismo - I had no idea it would one day allow me to fulfil my dream and become a professional racing driver," he said.

"GT Academy in the Middle East has completely changed my life and offered me a unique experience. If you ever had a dream to become a racing driver, you must take part in GT Academy Middle East 2014."

Al Khater joins other graduates from GT Academy such as Britain's Jann Mardenborough and Spain's Lucas Ordoñez as players who made the step up to becoming real life racers. 

"Six years ago this innovative approach was seen as a risk, but it is now a firmly established route to professional motorsport," said NISMO's global head of brand marketing Darren Cox.

"GT Academy started in Europe but is now expanding globally with new editions being launched in several emerging markets. We are looking forward to discovering even more new stars in 2014."