News Six Brits in national GT Academy finals

The mini-game selection process may have ended, but there's still a long way to go until we find an eventual winner for this year's GT Academy. And with only a few spots going spare in the overall finals, things have been hotting up for the lucky Brits who made it into this month's selection process.

Day 1 began with a scenario that all the competitors would be familiar with – a series of online races and other sessions which required them to pelt virtual Nissans on a PS3 and, of course, a copy of Gran Turismo 5.

Day 2, though, was a bit more strenuous. 20 of the previous day's participants were dropped, with the remaining 12 being put under a hugely tough procedure. Not only were there yet more virtual competitions, but there were also a series of hot-lap sessions around the Silverstone circuit in Nissan 370Zs and even a very in-depth physical analysis, to make sure they're all up to the standard that's required to compete in a 24 hour endurance race (in case you didn't know, the overall winner gets to drive a fully-fledged race car in next year's Dubai 24 Hours race).

In the end, the six most 'complete' virtual drivers were selected to take part in next month's Race Camp – again, at the Silverstone circuit – where the eventual winner will enter the European finals and be up with the chance to win the 2012 GT Academy.

We've listed their details below, along with their PSN gamer tag. You can also follow one of the six finalists, Des Foley, on Twitter at @ReallyDes. (We expect an exclusive interview or at least a very kind mention of Team VVV in a Tweet now, Des!)

Name                                           Age    Residency                                               Standings

Thomas Gibson (GTP_Rutter200)   23      Ballygowan, Northern Ireland                     2nd

Jack O'Neill (Jackcerracing)          20      Rustington, England                                   4th

Istvan Demes (DemesGT)               21      Colchester, England (from Hungary)           6th

We wish the best of luck to the six national finalists, and hopefully one of the lucky few will join the ranks of Jann Mardenborough and become the second UK winner of the GT Academy.

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