Cardiff Teenager Enters Guinness Records by Becoming a Racing Driver Through Computer Game

A Cardiff teenager has entered the Guinness book of records after training himself to becoming an international racing driver by playing a racing game on his computer. Jann Mardenborough had always wanted to be a racing driver and was told by the owner of his local kart circuit that he was a natural at the age of 11. But when the circuit closed down, he could no longer afford to pursue his dream on the track so instead started taking part in virtual races on the videogame Gran Turismo, reports Sky News.

Jann, whose father Steve was a professional footballer, beat 90,000 other gamers to win the European round of GT Academy in the middle of 2011.

The competition was set up by Sony and Nissan to find the fastest player on Gran Turismo 5 and see if it was possible to transform them into a real racing car driver.

After six months of driver and fitness training at Silverstone, Jann went on to finish third in class at last year's Dubai 24 Hour race.

With his victory, he also cemented his name in the Guinness World Records Gamers Edition 2013 as the Youngest Gran Turismo Academy Winner Turned Pro Racing Driver.

His talents also won him a place driving or Nissan in the Blancpain endurance Series.

Another British entry featuring in the Guinness World Records Gamers Edition 2013 is 15-year-old Jacob Gaby from Bushey, Hertfordshire.

He has taken the title as the Highest Score on FIFA after scoring 189 goals in one game - nearly five goals a minute.

The record for the Largest Collection of Videogame Memorabilia went to Brett Martin, 31, from Colorado, USA, who has amassed more than 8,000 items.

Mark Slevinsky, 30, a computer engineer from Alberta, Canada, took the record for the Smallest Arcade Machine for his device which is smaller than an iPhone.

Source-ANI