GT Acadamy Gamers Banned from Britsh GT Pro-Am

[WingsofWar]

British GT Pro-Am GT3 bans GT5 Acadamy racers for 2013 on the premise that they are too fast.

http://jalopnik.com/5982998/gt-acade...heyre-too-fast

Expert Gran Turismo Drivers Can't Race In Real Life Because They're Too Fast

Since it launched in 2008, Nissan's GT Academy has repeatedly done something previously thought to be absurd and unrealistic: It has taken people who are really, really good at Gran Turismo and put them in the seats of actual race cars. Look at Spaniard Lucas Ordoñez, who successfully went from gamer to pro driver through the program.

But now the latest crop of GT Academy winners have run into a bit of a roadblock on their path to real-life racing glory: They won't be allowed to compete in this year's British GT Championship, according to GT Planet. Why? Because they're too damned fast, that's why.

A little backstory: Last year, GT Academy winner Jann Mardenborough and his partner, pro driver Alex Buncombe, came very close to winning the British GT's Pro-Am class in their Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3. That class is supposed to have non-professional "gentleman drivers" (in this case, Mardenborough) who are expected to be slower than the pros. But Mardenborough wasn't — he was on par the guys who have been doing it professionally for years. Yes, Gran Turismo can make you THAT good.

On this basis, the promoters of the British GT have denied entry to four GT Academy drivers, saying that they're essentially too good to fit into the pro driver/gentleman driver setup. Here's what GT Planet quoted series manager Benjamin Franassovici as saying:

GT Academy has shown itself to be a great way to source raw talent and turn that into real racing talent as we saw in British GT last year with Jann Mardenborough. However Nissan's ability to find such amazing raw talent means that we cannot accept their full season entry for British GT in 2013. Their new recruits have very little racing experience so they have to be on the lowest performance grade. Their talent, going on Jann's speed last year, doesn't reflect this lack of experience so it is not fair to put them up against our Pro/Gentleman grid, the basis of British GT3.

Bummer for those guys. But don't worry — even if they can't race in the British GT, there are other series they will be expected to compete in this year.

lolz what...thats like saying GT is better at gauging IRL racers than iRACING or propitiatory simulators.

[OrbitalEllipses]

...wat

[n2oinferno]

This is just silly. All Gran Turismo (or Forza for that matter) can give you is an idea and practice of racing principles, with a rough physics engine and approximation of what's going on with the tires and pavement, weight transfer, etc. Even the best simulators out there can't give you a 100% realistic experience because you're not actually in the car.

Someone just got mad that some guys with a load of natural born talent were scouted out and put into a real driver's seat.

[7thgear]

"gentleman drivers"

aka

rich folk bloating their egos

[Orthow]

Gran Turismo > Forza .... lol

[rice_classic]

Let's be clear about who is being banned.

These aren't just people who play GT5 well. These aren't gamers. They are people who have won the GT Academy, that means they have moved past the ranks of expert virtual driver to qualify and participate in the real life driver/racing training at Silverstone International. They are subjected to a large variety of physical tests/training along with advanced car control and professional training. Then the ones that are the best are the winners.

It's is the winners of this advanced training regimen and contest that are being excluded, not just "good GT5 players". So let's be clear here.

It even said that in the article quoted:

But now the latest crop of GT Academy winners

The difference between professional drivers and "gentlemen" driver is mostly "professional training and expert coaching" and that's something that the GT Academy winners have.


My opinion. Ruling is fair and logical. The point of the "gentlemens drivers" group that they are not expertly trained. GT Academy winners are.

[Jedi1]

Don't completely dismiss GT or Forza until you have experienced them with at the bare minimum a Proper Wheel and Pedal Set. We have partnered with Turn10 the last two years at Petit LeMans and run Forza4 on our 3 degree of freedom motion platform with the Fanatec CSR Elite wheel and pedals. It's is actually quite amazing.

When we first booted the system in 2011 there were three Turn10 physics developers standing around the rig when I took the LMPC car out on ROad Atlanta for the first time. Experiencing this car and circuit for the first time without the regular Xbox control was a relvelation! After 3 laps, I stopped the car and couldn't stop laughing (In a good way!). The engineers asked me what was up. I explained to them exactly what I was feeling the car do through our motion and with that explanation learned just how in depth the Forza physics model is. I could feel the car roll over on the minimal spring travel that an LMPC car offers and then, here comes the biggy, I could feel the sidewall take over and actually use that feeling to balance the car right on the edge of oversteer and understeer. It was astounding! Forza models Sidewall Deflection and Contact Patch Deformation. It might not be able to take into account 500 different tire models when doing this, but the fact that those two incredibly complex funtions are in there at all and that you can feel them when you combine the software with proper hardware is quite amazing.

Couple all that with the Forza FFB system and the Fanatec wheel and you have a winner in my book. No other PC or console title allows you to feel the wheel weight increase as you load the front end into a corner and then have that weight drop off dramatically as the front end transitions into understeer. There are som many canned effects when it comes to haptic feedback systems in simulation and gaming and no other commercial title that I have ever tried (I have honestly tried them all) gives the proper feeling when it comes to feedback from the wheel. SOme come close, but believe it or not, Forza4 does it best. Sure there are high end bespoke solutions that do a wonderful job with all of these things, but they start at 100k and go up to GOOD LORD YOU PAID WHAT FOR YOUR SIMULATION PROGRAM!

[The359]

The bulk of GT Academy winners across the world also have had some minor racing experience prior to their winning the competition, so that helped them when it came to the physical competition. Bryan Heitkotter for instance had plenty of time in SCCA and Autocross. Even the runner-up in the US GT Academy has gone on to win the IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup.

[SnapOv3st3r]

I just read this a minute ago over at GTPlanet....BHAHAHA! Awesome and crappy at the same time. I follow Gran Turismo for a reason. Shits Legit.

[SnapOv3st3r]

Originally Posted by n2oinferno

This is just silly. All Gran Turismo (or Forza for that matter) can give you is an idea and practice of racing principles, with a rough physics engine and approximation of what's going on with the tires and pavement, weight transfer, etc. Even the best simulators out there can't give you a 100% realistic experience because you're not actually in the car.

Someone just got mad that some guys with a load of natural born talent were scouted out and put into a real driver's seat.

These are not Game dudes jumping straight to the Track. GT Academy is a seasonal contest. Should you place among the top drivers, you are flown to a facility where you compete with real life cars and events. They train you for real world driving and you become a race car driver after finishing the program. That is if you beat the other guys that also are there.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLI_q7Ev9qk"]Nissan's GT Academy 2012 | Episode 1 - YouTube[/ame]

[n2oinferno]

Originally Posted by SnapOv3st3r

These are not Game dudes jumping straight to the Track. GT Academy is a seasonal contest. Should you place among the top drivers, you are flown to a facility where you compete with real life cars and events. They train you for real world driving and you become a race car driver after finishing the program. That is if you beat the other guys that also are there.

Yeah, I know what it is. I just think it's silly that they don't let them race. You can be amazing at a game, but you still need that talent as well as the physical endurance to be one of the best racers.

[Asterisked Accolade]

Wow, it's almost a compliment to those rookie drivers.

[WingsofWar]

Originally Posted by n2oinferno

Yeah, I know what it is. I just think it's silly that they don't let them race. You can be amazing at a game, but you still need that talent as well as the physical endurance to be one of the best racers.

Its not silly, got to adjust your lens a bit.

Here is the issue...

For places such as skip barber racing school or equivalent, new recruits or graduates are placed in sanctioned events with a very low National or International Grade competition license. British GT GT3 is pro-am, meaning Grade C drivers can compete which are comprised of experienced new racers because limiting factor of total experience, and are on their way to being able to achieve a FIA S class license.

GT Academy winners are found to be only capable of getting a grade C or B license because they lack total IRL experience and standings required of FIA. But since they are skilled beyond that because of the Academy, their speed and skills rival higher grade pro-racing licenses of A and S. It would be easier to ban them from destroying the balance that has been set by FIA in regards to competitor levels.

GT academy is training and gradating racers to compete in the A and S class rankings, but IRL can't race in those sections because ASN and FIA regulations do not allow jumping of classes based on skill alone.

See where this is going?

A typical young career racer will start at a young age, and gain ranks through a series of age based competitions which are placed in his/her resume to achieve higher grade license to compete in more competitive racing.

Atypical young career racers will start their career at a driving school, receive training, then placed in national races to gain ranks.

Unorthodox career (GT Academy) Scouts high ranked simulator drivers, give them a fitness workout and a short instructional program, and place them in the same competition grade as the typical and atypical novice driver.

[ichitaka05]

Hm... this is my view. It doesn't matter Forza, GT or iRacing. Good driver will be good driver. Some will become Great driver by racing in real life.