Believe in better: Inside the Nissan GT Academy

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Tucked away in a rural Oxfordshire cottage, two aspiring racing drivers are preparing for the biggest week of their lives. A few months ago Luca Lorenzini was working as a mechanic at his family-owned garage in Italy, while Jordan Tresson was studying for an engineering degree in France.

Now one of them is on the brink of becoming a professional racing driver by winning a sponsored season driving in the European GT4 Cup, courtesy of PlayStation and Nissan's GT Academy. First, though, they have to beat each other.

Both wannabe racers were plucked from obscurity earlier this year after posting record lap times in virtual reality. With absolutely no experience of motorsport, they entered the GT Academy: a pan-European online competition that aims to turn armchair Gran Turismo experts into real-life racing drivers. Out of the million-or-so gamers who downloaded and entered the GT Academy add-on, Luca and Jordan were fastest.