Big changes for GT Academy in 2015

  • Thread starter Wardez
  • 173 comments
  • 12,672 views
Damn, looks like Canada had one shot and we're out again. 👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎
 
Has someone actually got 100% confirmation from Sony that Canada is out, or are a majority of Canadian members here jumping the gun?
 
Man when it's my turn to finally compete I'm honestly worried about what will happen to GTA. It just comes to a point where they won't be able to fill racing seats anymore, and I'm honestly scared of what happens when that starts to really make an impact. Seems like the far west side of the world (past Europe) and especially the northern hemisphere will be much less involved. The racing culture here just isn't as big as in Europe or Asia and even South America. We do have NASCAR mainly and they serve many different racing disciplines but they are for the most part different then disciplines in the continents I said before. Also the racing around here that is similar to the racing in those continents, is barely followed. I really hope racing culture in this area of the world continues to grow well. Just some of my thoughts, disagree if you want, would like to hear a counter-argument to this actually would be interesting to hear the other side of this.
 
Think one of the biggest changes:

(j) not have competed at a GT Academy Territory Finals (or equivalent or similar stages in any jurisdiction) in the 2013 and/or 2014 GT Academy competition; and
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They already had some sort of rule descriped in last years competition. So everyone who have already particpated in one of the regional finals are now allowed to compete again!
 
I was about to post that. It seems like they're restricting previous participants even more, when I was hoping it was going to be the opposite.
 
I've just read the same when I've got to work, that's a very interesting rule! They did say they wanted to open it up but that one is very interesting!
 
Its even stranger, from the rules point of view it doens't seem to involve regional finals! So if you qualify online within the first four you are going to Yas Marina Circuit
 
Djie
Its even stranger, from the rules point of view it doens't seem to involve regional finals! So if you qualify online within the first four you are going to Yas Marina Circuit
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I think some do have regional finals while all of Europe doesn't looking at the numbers .e.g India 10+10 but only 6 go to Race camp suggesting a national final? Some big shake ups that's for sure!
 
REW
Wardez, those are not ME countries. Egypt and Algeria are African countries and Turkey is European.
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They are middle eastern countries located north of Africa.

I'm not liking the new changes at all, sure it's great the Egypt is eligible but being among the fastest 20 with players from the USA and Australia is impossible, doubt I'll bother trying to be honest.
 
I know I'm biased, but SCEE are making a huge mistake by not allowing national finalists from 2013 or 2014 to enter. Using just the UK as an example, 35 guys who haven't made it to Race Camp, many of whom I know to be fast, are not even being given a chance this year. As I've already mentioned in the UK thread, if this rule had been in effect last year, none of the top 6 from the UK would even have been eligible. Why on earth did SCEE think this was a good idea?!

I dearly hope that this is a one-off thing and we'll be eligible again next year. :nervous:

By the way, this applies to GT Academy Europe only; International and Asia are unaffected.
 
gm matthew
I know I'm biased, but SCEE are making a huge mistake by not allowing national finalists from 2013 or 2014 to enter. Using just the UK as an example, 35 guys who haven't made it to Race Camp, many of whom I know to be fast, are not even being given a chance this year. As I've already mentioned in the UK thread, if this rule had been in effect last year, none of the top 6 from the UK would even have been eligible. Why on earth did SCEE think this was a good idea?!

I dearly hope that this is a one-off thing and we'll be eligible again next year. :nervous:

By the way, this applies to GT Academy Europe only; International and Asia are unaffected.
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Maybe that's what they meant when they said they wanted to open it up. It opens up for people that are not fast enough, because everyone that is fast enough has already been to the nationals.

That means they can find someone that is very fast IRL, but not so fast in GT6.
 
I think this opens up the potential for there to be a really low low level of competitor at race camp..

I mean, no fitness tests or driving tests AT ALL before race camp? That can't be a good thing..

But I guess that makes this a real gamer to racer competition..
 
TRL_Andromeda
Maybe that's what they meant when they said they wanted to open it up. It opens up for people that are not fast enough, because everyone that is fast enough has already been to the nationals.

That means they can find someone that is very fast IRL, but not so fast in GT6.
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As much as i agree on that, although it kinda takes away their motto and principles. They might aswell recruit people on track day events and call it gamer to racer :lol:

Growling
I think this opens up the potential for there to be a really low low level of competitor at race camp..

I mean, no fitness tests or driving tests AT ALL before race camp? That can't be a good thing..

But I guess that makes this a real gamer to racer competition..
Click to expand...


Don't worry things will be back in order for 2016, Nissan is on drugs at the moment, bare with them
 
TRL_Andromeda
Maybe that's what they meant when they said they wanted to open it up. It opens up for people that are not fast enough, because everyone that is fast enough has already been to the nationals.

That means they can find someone that is very fast IRL, but not so fast in GT6.
Click to expand...

It would make a lot of sense if that's the reasoning behind it. A lot of good driving habits IRL don't help you find that extra .5 sec to put you in the Gran Turismo elite club. And then there are things in the GT physics model that you can exploit to pick up a lot of time. These are things that don't have a prayer of working in real life - i.e. using curb on the entry of turns, torturing tires, sliding the rear end out and still maintaining rear grip.

And how many people honestly spend months practicing for GT Academy time trials? It does dilute the level of real racing talent that can make it through to race camp. I've come across quite a few really fast guys from karts and cars that can't figure out how to be really quick in GT time trials.
 
redsoxboy80
It would make a lot of sense if that's the reasoning behind it. A lot of good driving habits IRL don't help you find that extra .5 sec to put you in the Gran Turismo elite club. And then there are things in the GT physics model that you can exploit to pick up a lot of time. These are things that don't have a prayer of working in real life - i.e. using curb on the entry of turns, torturing tires, sliding the rear end out and still maintaining rear grip.

And how many people honestly spend months practicing for GT Academy time trials? It does dilute the level of real racing talent that can make it through to race camp. I've come across quite a few really fast guys from karts and cars that can't figure out how to be really quick in GT time trials.
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Yeah, that's what i meant, but it also contradicts the whole "from gamer to reality" thing...

LLOYDZELITE69
I'll be devestated if Canada isn't apart of this
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I dont want to say I told you so, but I actually did... it really sucks though!
 
TRL_Andromeda
Yeah, that's what i meant, but it also contradicts the whole "from gamer to reality" thing...
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Well nobody is stopping PD from improving the physics or tire models. And if half the guys that make it race camp can't drive that well in real life, they'll be kicked out before they start getting comfortable at the real thing. If race camp actually gave guys 2 or 3 days of acclimitizing to driving real cars before starting the challenges, the results would probably be a lot different. But it turns out they're just evaluated on the real life skills they already have ........

The "gamer to racer" thing is just a marketing line. The reality of the process isn't exactly true to the marketing image.
 
TRL_Andromeda
Maybe that's what they meant when they said they wanted to open it up. It opens up for people that are not fast enough, because everyone that is fast enough has already been to the nationals.

That means they can find someone that is very fast IRL, but not so fast in GT6.
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I don't see how this could work at all, the best winner or participants came from earlier GTA no matter how less or more experience IRL they had.
Finding the slower guys even in game would guarantee a slower drivers more.

If they really did eliminate those who worked hard to go to national final for real, then I find another reason not to buy any product from sony.
 
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TRL_Andromeda
Maybe that's what they meant when they said they wanted to open it up. It opens up for people that are not fast enough, because everyone that is fast enough has already been to the nationals.

That means they can find someone that is very fast IRL, but not so fast in GT6.
Click to expand...

The trouble is, this line of thinking makes no sense.

How can we predict which gamers will likely be the fastest in a real car? We don't really have any idea. However, suppose there was a GT6 time trial and gamer A sets a faster time than gamer B. Given no other information, it is more likely that gamer A will be faster IRL than gamer B. Hence the purpose of the GT Academy qualifier; to find the 16 (or however many) gamers from each region most likely to be fast IRL.

However, while many people can set one quick lap time after hours and hours of practice, they may not necessarily be quick to adapt or consistent. This is where the territory finals come in, to determine which of the gamers are quick off the bat and can avoid making mistakes; they will be the best possible candidates for Race Camp.

If someone qualifies for their territory final but fails to make it to Race Camp, it's not a sign that they won't be quick IRL, it simply means that there were better candidates according to the areas tested at the territory final (usually gaming, autotest, media and fitness). It is still possible to improve for the following year, indeed many finalists have done so and qualified for Race Camp at a later date. Nick McMillen didn't make it to Race Camp on his first try, but went on to become 2013 GT Academy USA champion.

Yes, the system isn't perfect when you consider that it is pretty much required to exploit GT6's physics engine in order to set a quick enough lap time, but that is a fault of GT6, not GT Academy itself.

I can understand the reasoning behind eliminating the territory finals in Europe this year; maybe there are some guys that are very quick in online time trials, but may struggle with the events at the territory finals. These guys now automatically get a shot at Race Camp, plus there is no need to organise any territory finals which I can't imagine being particularly cheap. The disadvantage is that the standard of competition may be lowered somewhat, with some of the gamers possibly ending up at Race Camp before they are fully prepared.

As far as I can make out, making 2013 and 2014 territory finalists ineligible yields only one advantage: encouraging gamers new to GT Academy to try it out, since it will be considerably easier to qualify given that they only have to compete against guys that have yet to make it to the territory finals. The disadvantages, on the other hand, are numerous:
  1. Much lower standard of competition, since many of the the best candidates for Race Camp are not allowed to compete this year.
  2. Incredibly unfair to previous finalists who were hoping to compete this year.
  3. No more stories of previous national finalists finally making it to Race Camp after years of trying; Shane Green is one of the best examples.
I am in the process of writing an open letter to SCEE regarding this rule change, since ultimately it is the company that runs and promotes this competition and is responsible for setting its rules. If there is anyone with good writing skills who would like to assist me in writing this letter, please send me a PM.
 
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Am i the only one who has noticed that this rule only applies to 2013/2014 and NOT previous years....

So if you went to the Nationals between 2008-2012 you are still eligible, but if you went to the Nationals in 13/14 then you aren't, that is very unfair. But what i think is the most unfair is the fact these rule changes only effect Europe right..? (correct me if i'm wrong). They should make the rules identical for all regions. It's not fair to have one set of rules for one region and not the other.
 
Hello everyone,

I am writing today because I am deeply disappointed and sad to the new regulation.

I am also a finalist in 2014 and I do not understand their new way of working.

By removing the national finals, they take a lot of risk, they could end up with non-sports people who do not speak a word of English, who are incredibly slow on the actual track, etc...

This is absurd, stupid, incredibly stupid...

Selecting only the first 4 of each country, they will have fun contact all first to finally find qualified in 50th place?

GT Academy becomes too commercial, basically, the real motto of this event is to bring together the best players of Gran Turismo, not to give a chance to anyone, so finally this year it seems the case...

If this rule were to change not, we could have fun to boycott the rankings by having multiple fake accounts, I'm stupid to think that, but it will permit may be heard...

Anyway I am very sad, I was expecting GT Academy 2015 forward...

Forgive me for this negative message.

Sincerely,
Yinato.
 
gm matthew
A lot of stuff.
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I'm totally with you, I'm just trying to understand how they are thinking, I'm one of those that wont be able to compete because of this odd rule, and I know many, many more, so yes, the competition will be lower for sure.:(

If there is anything you think I can help out with regarding that open letter, I'd be happy to help!:)
 
Yinato
Hello everyone,

I am writing today because I am deeply disappointed and sad to the new regulation.

I am also a finalist in 2014 and I do not understand their new way of working.

By removing the national finals, they take a lot of risk, they could end up with non-sports people who do not speak a word of English, who are incredibly slow on the actual track, etc...

This is absurd, stupid, incredibly stupid...

Selecting only the first 4 of each country, they will have fun contact all first to finally find qualified in 50th place?

GT Academy becomes too commercial, basically, the real motto of this event is to bring together the best players of Gran Turismo, not to give a chance to anyone, so finally this year it seems the case...

If this rule were to change not, we could have fun to boycott the rankings by having multiple fake accounts, I'm stupid to think that, but it will permit may be heard...

Anyway I am very sad, I was expecting GT Academy 2015 forward...

Forgive me for this negative message.

Sincerely,
Yinato.
Click to expand...

One more thing, what is going to stop someone having a very fast friend running their lap? The nationals would soon show that.

Suppose it's worth mentioning I am also affected, I went to 2013 nationals totally unprepared (i mean, I had gran turismo for 6months prior the academy starting, i owned a wheel for only three of those months and i only knew 3 or 4 tracks). Starting to regret going now and wish i learnt the tracks lol.
 
Let's see what it has been changed this year:

  • Countries that were removed this year from GT Academy:
Canada, Russia, Sweden and Gulf Cooperation council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, SA and UAE)

So players from these countries who worked really hard on getting to the top and then go to the GT Academy race camp only to get a big F:censored: you from Nissan for no reason or whatsoever. So all the hard work on practicing on being better at driving gone into nothing. Nissan you really pissed off those players and i'm one of those people (just don't ask me why i'm pissed even thought i won't join GTA this or next couple years).

  • Some countries Number of Qualifiers to Race Camp are low
I noticed that both Hungary and Czech Republic are only 2!, why it isn't 4 or 8 like the other European countries? does every group have to be the maximum of 8? just one from online and one from live event? why? just why?

And then there's the North Africa Group, while all other GT Academy International countries has 6 Race Campers (6 racers from 10 Online players and 10 Live Event players) and 6 racers from 20 online players (US), North Africa has 3 only! 20 from live event but only 3 could go? again why? just why?

Why don't they just give a fair amount of players from each group?

  • GT Academy Europe Race Camp in different Circuit this year

Since 2008, Nissan and Sony used the Sliverstone as the Race Camp location but this year on GT Academy Europe there's some kind of changes. Now instead of being on a cold and wet historical track, they went into a really dry and melting hot track with no history at all in the Emirates (that's how i pronounce UAE BTW). That's right guys, European Racers had to suffer the really boiling hot weather that easily reaches over 45 C in the summer, even more than 50 C or so.
I (myself) who's living in that amount of Hotness in my whole life couldn't resist that heat so how could people who lives in some nice weather and/or really cold weather could handle that?? The winter over here is a joke compared to you guys so how could summer be like??

  • No more independent racecamps
Okay i got nothing to really say about this except it's a good thing and that it's better than being alone (never understood why US and Germany were alone back then).

  • New Countries for GT Academy this year
So countries like Philippines, Japan, Turkey, Algeria, Morocco and Egypt could finally join GT Academy and that's some really good news but the fact it's over shadowed by the removed countries from GT Academy this year seems to make me want to complain instead of being happy with this news.


Okay i'll finish this post by saying this: Good luck everyone!
 

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