Really real driving simulation news now, with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and Nissan launching GT Academy, the competition that will put two of Europe's best Gran Turismo 5 Prologue players inside rapidly moving hunks of metal. If you happen to live in the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, Finland, Sweden, Norway or Denmark, and have always wanted to go hurtling around a track at terrifying speeds, now's your chance.

The GT Academy website is already up and running, with the first, seven-week long stage of the competition following on June 2nd. You'll have to register your PSN ID on the site during that time and set your fastest lap around the Eiger Nordwand track in a Nissan Fairlady 350Z. Following that, you'll need to come out tops in a national final held in July, and finally, avoid crashing on the real life Silverstone track in August. Easy peasy.

Umm ... is this really a good idea? Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and Nissan seem to think so, having announced "the ultimate competitive driving test" in the form of "GT Academy." The eight-month long European competition will see two obsessive Gran Turismo 5 Prologue players win a four-month training programme to "earn their racing licenses" and, consequently, discover that the ol' mid-turn bump-and-go isn't advised in real life. Following the training, the winners will be granted the opportunity to drive a Nissan 350Z in a 24-hour endurance race in Dubai in January 2009.

To get your foot in the door of GT Academy, you'll first have to keep it planted on a pedal as you face "a series of elimination-based competitions on and off the racetrack." Before that, you'll have to qualify in an online GT5 Prologue tournament on the PlayStation Network, details of which will arrive when GT Academy goes live at the end of May. We wish the entrants the best of luck and remind them that the damage modeling in real-life, 80000p racing is totally awesome.