Nissan and PlayStation have joined forces for a seventh year to offer a ‘dream job' to one lucky Gran Turismo gamer.

GT Academy 2015 begins today with a qualifying competition featuring in-game challenges on Gran Turismo6 for PlayStation3 and will run until June 16. Further opportunities to qualify are available at a series of mass-participation GT Academy live events taking place in participating countries.

The European version of GT Academy Race Camp, the final selection process for the winner, will take place at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi.

The winner will go on to participate in one of, which is said to be, most advanced Driver Development Programmes in the world, which will get them ready for a season's racing in the competitive Blancpain Endurance Series driving a 550bhp Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 race car.

In 2015 alone, GT Academy graduates will compete in the top-level of the Le Mans 24 Hour race as well as in Formula 1 feeder series GP3, the FIA World Endurance Championship, the Blancpain GT3 series and the top class of the Japanese Super GT series.

Sponsorship and partnership manager for Nissan Europe Olivier Pierini said: "Whenever I explain GT Academy to people I meet, no matter who they are, are blown away by the concept. Either they want to enter themselves or they know someone who would love it. So this year we simply want to make GT Academy bigger and more accessible than ever. GT Academy delivers ‘innovation that excites' and we want to shout about it and put it firmly on the radar of those that are tempted to take another road in their lives and follow a dream."

President of Polyphony Digital Inc, the creators of Gran Turismo, Kazunori Yamauchi said: "This is another exciting milestone year for GT Academy and a source of great pride for us. We have two GT Academy graduates racing in the top class at Le Mans and an ambitious programme that will introduce new fans to Gran Turismo, as they test themselves to see if they have what it takes to follow in the footsteps of Jann Mardenborough, Lucas Ordonez and the other Nismo Athletes. It is truly an incredible competition and I would highly recommend that people have a go, whatever their level on the game."

The competition is open to players over 18 years old who are resident in 12 European countries split into the following groups: France, Italy, Germany, UK, Iberia (Spain, Portugal), Benelux (Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg) and CEE (Poland, Hungary, Czech Rep.). Terms and conditions and eligibility criteria can be found on www.facebook.com/GTAcademy or www.gran-turismo.com.