Faine Kahia wins Gran Turismo Sport NZ Championships 2017

Faine Kahia has been crowned New Zealand's Gran Turismo champion and won a cool $5000 cash prize.

He competed against seven other racers in a 25-lap race around Mt Panorama with at the Skycity Theatre in Auckland.

Mr Kahia has been racing in the real world for six years and came second in the South East Asia Formula 4 Competition.

Although there are some similarities, he admitted his lack of gaming experience could've put him at a disadvantage.

"There can be gamers that are quicker than me, because they are gaming constantly and I barely even play videogames," Mr Kahia told Newshub before the grand final.

"But I'm very confident I'll do pretty well, I've done a bit of practice… and I'm pretty quick."

As he predicted, Mr Kahia did do pretty well, winning the Gran Turismo Sport NZ Championships 2017.

Krister Robinson, PlayStation's New Zealand head of marketing, said the attraction for real world drivers is down to the effort undertaken by Gran Turismo's developers to create a realistic game.

"It's great to see from our point of view and their point of view as well, I guess that the skills do transfer over into the real world," Mr Robinson said.

The event is part of a developing eSports phenomenon, which sees much bigger cash prizes dished out at overseas events.

Newshub.