Meet the second fastest Playstation racing driver in Britain ..

BEING crowned the second fastest racing driver in the UK has been a dream come true for Alex Ingram.

But the 22-year-old Edinburgh student, who beat 250,000 others to the accolade has never put one wheel on the race track.

Instead the Heriot-Watt University economics student took the honours on the PlayStation.

Alex has earned second ranking in the UK National Final of the GT Academy competition.

He will now represent the country on the international stage at Silverstone, where he will compete on a track for the chance to become a real racing driver.

Alex, who lives in Chesser, said: "To finish second was just unbelievable, it's difficult to put into words. It still hasn't sunk in yet."

The first round of the competition saw more than a million gamers worldwide, including 260,000 in the UK, try to set the fastest racing time in the PlayStation 3 game Gran Turismo.

The top 20 racers in Britain were invited to the UK National Final of the competition, which was at Brands Hatch in Kent on Wednesday and saw the UK's top PlayStation racers compete over a series of races on a specially designed version of Gran Turismo.

Alex, who passed his real driving test at 17, said: "During the first round to reach the UK final we had about a month and a half to set the fastest time. During that month and a half, I was playing the game not far off every day for a few hours each day. On the final day I played it for seven hours to try to set the fastest time."

Along with John Moorby from Wakefield, Alex will now represent the UK at the Nissan PlayStation GT Academy International Final – a five-day, racing driver boot camp where participants will have the chance to develop new driving skills.

A panel of judges, including former F1 driver Johnny Herbert, will assess the competitors' abilities in a real racing car to see who can most effectively adapt their on-screen skills to the real track.

Alex added: "The thinking behind the competition is to show that a genuinely good racing driver can emerge from being able to play the game well.

"I've always wanted to be a racing driver but I thought the chance would never come around. This competition is another way into the world of motorsports and I'm really excited about trying to progress further."

The two international finalists who display the talent and determination to succeed in motorsport will undergo an intensive driver training programme to help them gain an international race licence.

The driver with the most potential will contest a full-season in the 2010 European GT4 Cup racing series in a Nissan 370Z GT.

The international final is from 26 February to 2 March.

Alex added: "Everyone will be pretty closely matched so I don't see why I shouldn't fancy my own chances of winning.

"To win would be a life-changing thing."