Here's a comparison between GT4 and the real thing, as published last week in our local paper. I've cut & pasted the text as the articles on the paper's website don't last long.
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Ring of confidence
August 26, 2005
http://www.smh.com.au/news/news/ring-of-confidence/2005/08/25/1124563005923.html
BILL THOMAS switches from the safety of a video game to the perilous reality of lapping Germany's daunting Nurburgring at 200kmh.
It wasn't really a journey into the unknown, more a journey into the perfectly familiar. After playing Sony's new driving game, Gran Turismo 4, for longer than I'm prepared to admit, lapping the world's most treacherous circuit, the Nurburgring Nordschleife, with a Logitech Driving Force Pro steering wheel clamped to an ironing board placed in front of the television, it occurred to me that it might be fun to try the real track and see how fast I could go. I'd never been there before, so I'd be driving blind, with no previous knowledge - other than about 100 laps in the game.
If you've never heard of Gran Turismo 4, or the previous generation Gran Turismo games, all you need to know is that they are probably the best driving games ever created and the latest version pushes the PlayStation 2 platform to the limit.
It's an extraordinary piece of work - not the most sophisticated physics model ever created but challenging and difficult. The graphics are almost photo-real, there are 650 cars to drive - everything from a Honda Zot to an Audi R8 Le Mans car - and one of the 50 tracks is the Nurburgring, modelled to an accuracy of about five centimetres.
It's the central feature of the game and GT4 freaks around the world are honing their racing lines around it as you read this. It's quite a challenge. The Nordschleife, or Northern Loop, located near Koblenz in the Eiffel Mountains in north west Germany, is 21km long and has 73 corners, with a total elevation change of more than 300 metres. Nicknamed the Green Hell, it makes Mount Panorama look like a kiddies' go-kart track. It's where Niki Lauda had his terrifying accident in the 1976 German Grand Prix and it was dropped from the Formula One calendar the following year.
It is dangerous and freakishly difficult, a track where the driver can make a real difference: men such as Fangio, Moss, Nuvolari, Carraciola and Clark were legendary here. Today it is used for occasional races, including a couple of 24-hour events, then is booked for most of the year as a manufacturer test track. For the remaining time, it is open to the public.
Arrive on a public day in a road-legal, insured car, buy a ticket for 15 euros, punch it into the entrance barrier and you're away for a lap. No speed limits, no worries, except for the very obvious risk of falling off. There isn't anywhere else like it on earth and it's certain to continue for the foreseeable future, despite the fact that a number of motorcycle riders and car drivers lose their lives there every year.
The precise number of annual fatalities isn't known. Best estimates say four or five a year - that's people who die at the track, not at the nearby hospital after a helicopter ride. But the Ring brings in so much money to the local economy, it would be difficult to stop it.
The car for this adventure chose itself - the Nissan 350Z GT4. Called the 35th Anniversary Edition in Australia, it was launched in Europe in conjunction with the game. It has a bit more power than the standard car (up to 224kW from 205kW) and comes in exclusive metallic yellow. The car is available in GT4, of course, and I've taken it around the virtual Nurburgring 10 or 20 times to set a reasonable lap time.
If you're a game-head and want to compare your speed, you need to buy a 350Z Special Edition in Gran Turismo mode, then fit Normal Road tyres. These are the most realistic. Choose the Nurburgring in World Circuits, go for a free run and turn off all driver aids in settings. No tuning allowed and use the normal cockpit view, not the view from above and behind the car. Your pace should be very close to eight minutes, or slightly under for a lap. My best lap, error-strewn and a bit ragged, was a 7 minutes 57.605. Already, that seems too fast: an R33 Skyline GT-R just pipped the eight-minute mark in 1997, which was considered a phenomenal time. I have a sneaking suspicion I won't get anywhere near that.
Back to the real world and I'm charging through the gears in the Z, passing under the bridge before the kink on the long main straight. What a moment. The rain is heaving down and it's turned the track into a black ice rink. The pit area and entrance to the Ring are half way along the straight - you can see the buildings in the game if you look to the right. Cones are placed across the track to prevent anyone flying through for a second lap. Do that and you're banned for good.
The track seems more compressed than in the game - narrower and tighter, like it's been squeezed in every dimension. As I fly toward the uphill sweepers at Hohenrain, though, everything is where it should be. Yes, I've been here before, even though I haven't. It's a bit like seeing a TV or movie star in the flesh for the first time: it lights up a seldom-used diode in your head and the real life versions of famous people often seem smaller or slightly different to how you imagine them. That diode is overclocking right now, as I go into the tight right and left where you start the time trial lap, then cross the virtual start-finish line near the white wall.
This is weird and fantastic. I know the line, and as I look through the corner, I can judge my speed and accelerate at the correct point. The red and white kerbs appear bloated and fat compared with the game, even though they're probably the same size and they frame corners that seem tighter and slower. And the straights seem shorter - there's a lot less time to relax and take in the Eiffel Mountain scenery.
The G-forces are unwelcome guests, too, in stark contrast to my calm 1g ironing board environment. Even in the wet, the car is throwing me around in every direction but the inputs to the steering wheel, throttle and brakes are very similar to what I'm used to in the game.
Soon I'm through the first twisty bit, called Hatzenbach, and approaching the hill at Flugplatz. This is much steeper than it looks in GT4, like the steepest hill you've ever driven up, but you do it at 160kmh in the dry. In the wet, as I watch the hill roll toward the car at 100kmh like a giant black wave, I back off. This track is getting serious.
But it's too slippery - the rest of the lap in the wet teaches me nothing, except that the car feels like it's driving on ice, and I'm constantly double-taking on corners. Yes, I've been through this one before but no, I haven't, not for real. So I need to confirm that the real track is the same as the one burned into my head before committing. Invariably it is.
The next day is sunny and in the dry the Nurburgring is transformed. This is a seriously fast circuit and what crystallises your thinking more than anything are the tall barriers standing only a few metres from the track. There is very little run-off anywhere - if you get two metres of grass you're lucky. It's like you're driving in an enclosed metal tube, a tunnel that's taking you where it wants. You can see the barriers in the game and they look imposing but make a mistake and you bounce off them unharmed. One mistake here and your weekend is over.
You soon learn that on a crowded day like this, it's impossible to set a clean lap time. The traffic gets in your way. Bikes are the most difficult to overtake because they're lightning fast on the straights and slow through corners. Then there's the variation in driving standards and vehicle speeds: some people are pottering around in minivans admiring the scenery, others are demonic Wring Wraiths with thousands of laps of experience, hammering Porsche GT2s at up to 280kmh. It's total madness.
The 350Z was in the upper strata of performance, giving BMW M3s and Porsche GT3s a hard time and beating most other cars. It's great, this Nissan: stable, sure-footed and fast.
My best timed lap was a 9min 01sec, held up by slow traffic but still reasonably quick. It would come down by at least 20 seconds given a clear run. But more interesting than the raw lap time is the sense of enormous speed you get through the more difficult sections, especially the five kilometre rollercoaster between the famous Karusell (the 270-degree left hairpin with the banking set into it) and the Mini Karusell (the other left corner with the banking further through the lap).
This is the section you tend to learn last and it's the most technical and difficult. But the steering and throttle inputs in the real car are very similar to those in the game: the section from the hop at Brunchen through to the fast right hander before the Mini Karusell is called Pflanzgarten and it's absolutely flat-out, just as it is in the game. You keep your right foot planted in fourth and fifth gears and trust the car to hold on as you dive down into deep dips and fly over blind crests, touching 200kmh in places. And all the time, the barriers are right there next to the track, watching and waiting.
Did the game help my lap times? Absolutely. I took an experienced Ring Dude from Denmark out in the Z to get his opinion on my speed and he seemed mildly impressed. In his opinion, I'd saved between 20 and 30 laps of practice by learning the track on the game. At 15 euros a lap, that's a saving worth having.
But he was also worried about Gran Turismo 4. Worried that inexperienced drivers would turn up at the Ring thinking they know it all, then end up in the barrier. I saw it happen more than once over the weekend but if you have a degree of self-control, you can avoid getting into trouble - you soon learn to treat the track with the utmost respect, and you go quicker very gradually, building up to high speed rather than committing too early. The game teaches you the line - with incredible accuracy - but it doesn't teach you about the dreadful solidity and proximity of that double-height Armco.
When I erected my trusty ironing board again at home, after the greatest motoring weekend of my life, I reeled off five laps, consistent and quick, marvelling at how brilliantly the game captures the track's atmosphere. And do you know something?
I didn't crash once.
Getting there
If you're planning a driving trip around Europe, the Nurburgring is a must. It's an easy run if you're coming from London. Take the Eurotunnel from Folkestone to Calais and you'll be in Nurburg within five hours, across northern France, Belgium and Germany.
For more information about the track, how to get there and the public day schedule, visit Ben Lovejoy's excellent independent site at
http://www.nurburgring.org
Ironing out the bends
Even taking traffic hold-ups into account, the Nissan 350Z on my ironing board is faster than the real one. Here's how some crucial sections compare, measured by satellite timing gear, with my fastest lap in the game:
The Karussell 71.5kmh virtual speed/66.6kmh real speed
Hatzenbach 154.4kmh/137.8kmh
Flugplatz 197.1kmh/ 178.1kmh
Vmax 244.2kmh/ 218.9kmh
Schwedenkreuz 200kmh/149.9kmh
Fuchsrohre 236.5kmh/202.0kmh
Metzgesfeld 156.0kmh/138.5kmh
Ex-Muhle 111.1kmh/ 88.8kmh
Angst Kurve 171.6kmh/138.9kmh
Pflanzgarten 227.5kmh/192kmh
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on the debate I'll add some more info from the article 
...I see what you're getting at, but.... no.
