RE the negativity about GT Academy / Experience of drivers / winners
GT Academy is a marketing exercise for Nissan and Playstation. It's a fantastic opportunity and everyone entering it should do all they can to prepare before they go to Silverstone. When I found out I was going to race camp I spent 2 days at a rally school here in Ireland driving a 350z. I also did a good few karting sessions. That was a lot more than some guys, but a lot less than others. You can't think about the other competitors though. You have a passion for racing, it is your dream and you do all you can to try and win. Why bother doing anything in life if you are afraid others are better than you? Someone is always "better", but on any given day you can be the best.
For marketing reasons they use slogans like 'from gamer to racer' etc, and I think that this is fine. Everyone in the competition is a gamer as (1) they own a ps3, GT6, wheel and (2) they would have played countless hours to qualify. Some of the guys have done testing or amateur racing, but they are also gamers. Just like Rene Rast, who never seems to be away from Project cars when he's not racing for real. Countless other pros are gamers too. Valterri Bottas used to play F1 2010/2011 with a friend of mine.
Playing GT6 is how they find the talent pool and from that they try find the best candidates.
When Lucas won the whole thing was still just a concept and nobody expected it to go as far as it did. Jann is a pure talent, proving so in GT3 cars, LMP2 and now race winning in GP3. I don't subscribe to the negativity about him. He had to learn the hard way in F3, but a few months later nearly won the Toyota Race Series championship in the same spec car. The guy has been racing 3 years and he's as fast as some guys that are racing 10 times as long.
Also regarding getting a seat afterwards. Motorsport is a business and if you are not business minded, you will struggle. I tried for a long time to get something going, and decided it was best not to put myself and parents in debt just to fulfil a selfish passion that doesn't really have any certainty to it (no matter how good you are).
Everyone has had a different experience of the Academy, but I know I will never forget mine and I highly recommend anyone that hasn't made it yet to keep trying. Also, don't give up on the dream of racing for real some day. It's not that big a deal if you have the ability. Getting the business side sorted is the hardest part. Stay fit and keep driving sims to keep your eye in and maybe one day you can make something happen. Thats what I keep telling myself anyway...
EDIT: forgot to mention congrats to this years winner and commiserations to those who didn't make it