Six finalists from Mexico, Indonesia, Australia, North Africa (Algeria, Egypt & Morocco), Thailand and the Philippines have earned the opportunity through live events held in each country. The prize for the winner of Nissan GT Academy 2016: represent Nissan at the Dubai 24 Hours in January 2017.

More than 135,000 entrants visited Nissan dealerships, shopping malls, exhibitions and hotels to enter the competition using a unique demo version of Sony's new flagship GT Sport game, which is not yet available to anyone else in the world.

The top 20 in each region then took part in regional finals where they were they had their physical capabilities tested, their mental strength stretched and their real world driving skills assessed.

This week at Silverstone, they will be stretched even further as they do battle for the opportunity to become an official NISMO athlete. Recent GT Academy winners including Australia's Matt Simmons, France's Romain Sarazin and Mexico's Ricardo Sanchez (who competed for Nissan this year in the Blancpain GT Series).

Inaugural winner Lucas Ordóñez was also part of the Blancpain line-up this year after previously competing in Japan. Jann Mardenborough took second place in the Japanese Formula 3 championship and also sits in second place in the Super GT GT300 class with only one race weekend remaining. Former American winner Bryan Heitkotter finished fifth in the Pirelli World Challenge Championship in the U.S., including a dominant weekend in Salt Lake City where he took two victories.

For the very first time in GT Academy's history, a female finalist is in the mix. Elysse Menorca from The Philippines has proved #SheDares with Nissan and heads to Silverstone with her sights firmly set on the motor racing prize of a drive at the prestigious Dubai 24 hour race.

GT Academy 2016 also welcome its oldest competitor to date, 46-year-old Kanokphan Wathanakitanan from Thailand, who has proved age does not have to be a barrier to entry in a competition that is accessible to all.