Editor’s note: Meet Emerson Trimble. Emerson lives in Maine, is a huge 0-60 supporter and most likely has a day job like the rest of us, except there’s something that he is way better at than us: Gran Turismo 5. Unlike us, Emerson didn’t just waste a bunch of time trying to beat Trial Mountain. He’s actually accomplished something most of us only fantasize about: making it to the GT5 Championships in Florida.

Good luck, Emerson!

Last December Sony, Polyphony and Nissan launched the North American GT Academy for Gran Turismo 5, a national competition where GT5 players would battle for a chance to become a professional racecar driver. I was one of them.

“[It] would require shaving 0.2 seconds off my time. It took two days and 15 hours to accomplish.”

The first leg of the competition consisted of a five-week time trial. The contestants’ combined times over three tracks would determine their standing on the leader boards. More than 50,000 competitors raced to be one of the 128 in their respective regions (Northeast, Southeast, Midwest and West) to advance to Round Two. Anticipating a long and challenging competition, I didn’t want to get burned out between work and racing. So my plan for Round One was to gain a top-10 position within the first week, then monitor my times over the following four weeks. I wasn’t too concerned about where I finished in the Northeast—just that I would advance. I didn’t race much after that first week, and I finished comfortably in 41st.

In Round Two—a one-week challenge—we raced on two new tracks. This round was intense, but my personal experience was overshadowed by the controversy surrounding the track changes. Sadly, about midway through the week, some competitors found a way to exploit the game: intentionally cutting corners or hitting the walls to shorten lap times. Ultimately, Sony did a great job responding quickly to the issues and negated Round Two, advancing all 128 contestants of each region to the third round. The game was also updated to prevent these issues. Regardless, I finished second on one track and fifth on the other, for an overall third place after Round Two was eliminated.

“Nearly out of the competition, I needed to devote all of Sunday to racing. So I got a colleague to cover me at work.”

Round Three would advance the top eight in each region to the national finals. Originally, 16 players per region would have battled for these slots, but with the cancellation of Round Two, there were now 128 competing. Agh! The first track, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, was difficult: The slightly race-tuned Nissan 370Z was a fun car to drive, but with its rear-wheel drive, there was little room for error. After my first day of racing, my goal for Indy was to finish with a time of 1:40.00-ish, which would require shaving 0.2 seconds off my time. While that may not sound like much, it took two days and 15 hours to accomplish. I finished fifth on that track, with a final time of a 1:40.050, just .057 from first place.

With the competition ending Sunday, I spent an agonizing Saturday at work watching helplessly as I slipped from third overall to seventh, just .02 seconds from being pushed out of the top eight altogether. Nearly out of the competition, I needed to devote all of Sunday to racing. So I got a colleague to cover me at work, and I prepared for a major battle. Having met my goal on Indy, I decided to focus solely on the second track, the Eifel Circuit with the mighty Nissan GT-R. I spent 14 hours on Sunday racing the Eifel Circuit. Incredibly nerdy? Yes. But it’s what kept me in the tournament. Everyone’s times were incredibly close (less than four-tenths of a second between first and ninth places), and I had to fight just to stay in the top eight. I slowly (that’s an understatement, it took several hours) cut hundredths of seconds off my time, and finally, with 15 minutes left before the close of Round Three, I found nearly a tenth of a second—enough to move to fifth in the Northeast (eighth in the U.S.) with a time of 3:56.949.

I fly to Orlando on March 21 for the national finals. There 32 of us will be narrowed down to 16 finalists during a large series of races. Those 16 finalists will compete at the Silverstone GP Circuit during a six-week challenge that will include driving real Nissan racecars.

Wish me luck!