1.3 million worldwide racers took on the challenge of the Gran Turismo 6 demo, or at least downloaded it. The demo also served as the qualifying process for the 2013 GT Academy competition; a small selection of the victorious speedsters progressed to the next stage of the process, where they'll fight to win the eventual grand prize of a spot on Nissan's real-life racing team.

The rest of us must make do with the virtual prospect that is the game proper, due on PS3 this holiday. The demo remains open until the end of August to those who downloaded it.