HE has won car races on tracks in cities all over the world ... from his parents' converted loft in Musselburgh. And now he is revving-up to take the top podium place, the champagne spray and a cheque for a cool $200,000 in Las Vegas as one of the world's super-star drivers, well a virtual super-star driver anyway.

Graham Carroll is what's known as a sim racer, competing against other online challengers from all over the world in what is basically the Formula 1 of gaming. The championship is an adjunct of the recently-formed Formula E racing series, for electric-powered cars, with professional teams and drivers, which take place in some of the world's great cities, with the next one in Buenos Aires in February.

Now that Carroll has won through to the final he will actually be in the gambling capital of the world in Nevada in January, rather than the loft, to race for the big prize, competing not just against nine other sim drivers who have won through with him, but 20 of the real life drivers who will be quitting the cockpit for a racing seat in front of three large screens. The total prize money is $1 million, put up by Formula E to promote the sport and he is guaranteed $20,000, even if he comes bottom of the pack. Which he is sure he won't.

Earlier this month he was flown out by Formula E to Marrakesh to watch the track race and then, on the simulator, take on two of the top pros, Nelson Piquet Junior and Jérôme D’Ambrosio. The drivers are not strangers to simulators, practising on them when he are not in their actual cars.

So how did he do? "I smashed them into the middle of next week," he responds.

There were three races. "In the first and second I beat them by over 20 seconds over three laps. And then on the third they ganged up on me and smashed into me on the first corner."

They clearly took it, and him, seriously giving him their phone numbers before he left. "Really nice, down to earth guys."

He was also able to drive an actual Formula E car on the track. "It was just a mind-blowing experience. People have asked me how I did, and what speed I got up to, but I took care and just made sure I didn't crash the thing."

Carroll is 26 and raced on the track from the age of eight to 18, first in go-karts and then the 1600cc Formula Ford category where he won five championships in a year (there is no prize money), but was forced to give up because he and his family could not afford to move up a class where the annual cost is £100,000. He made a mini-comeback in Formula Ford at the at Silverstone last year, winning the Grand Final of the Walter Hayes Trophy, the world's largest event.

"I didn't do a lot for a few years, a bit of joinery, driver training work with my dad [Steven owns Elite Drivers Services in Edinburgh] and then about three years ago I got into gaming," he says. "It's really competitive online. And I got the same kind of feeling that I had when I was racing in real life."

That he takes it seriously is a profound understatement. Not only was the loft converted but Carroll reckons that the kit he installed – racing seat, pedals, wheel, three large screens and a "bog-standard PC" – cost more than £3000, and he has another steering wheel which cost an additional £2000.

There is serious money, too, in Formula E, not only in putting up the million dollar prize pot but in sponsors like Visa and the development of the cars, which names like Renault, Jaguar and Audi who are involved, believe will aid the development of electric technology for future saloon cars.

The online simulator championship used film of the tracks the real cars have raced around, but in Las Vegas it will be on a specially-designed video track, new to all, but incorporating the famous Las Vegas Strip, and fought out in front of an audience at the Consumer Electronics Show on January 7.

“When I was younger and thought of qualifying for major races, I never thought it would be from my parents’ loft," Carroll adds. "My mum and dad’s passions in gaming and racing must have played up in my genes. The prize on offer is life-changing and qualification just vindicates my decision to not give up on my dreams and I’m fully intending to win in Las Vegas.”