Greatest player in the history of Gran Turismo?

[MOPARbarrett5]

Who do you think is the greatest player in Gran Turismo history considering all aspects of all games in the series? Of course the first two FIA GT world champions come to mind, but another comparable series, GT Academy had it's fair share of great champions as well.
Though with both of those series came the added pressure of performing in front of massive audiences so it is hard to say if every player was at their full potential. With that taken into consideration other competitions that do not require a crowd are important as well, such as GT Sport weekly races and in game championships plus time and drift trials of past installments in the series.
Given that there are many aspects that can go into deciding who is the best ever, there is no set criteria for judging so any reasoning is valid as long as all aspects of all games in the series are considered.

 

[zzz_pt]

TRL_IMMORTAL comes to mind. Probably the most impressive player I've ever seen.

In the GTSport era, I'd say @TRL LIGHTNING and @Tidgney. Hizal for the absolute insane pace and consistency with pretty much any car you through at him. Tidgney, not only because he's one of the fastest in the world, but above all, the positive impact he's had in the community for years and years (since GT Academy on GT5).

 

[Doodle]

Hard to say who's the greatest of all time when combining every single game, but in my opinion the best from the games that I'm familiar with are:

GT Sport: TRL_LIGHTNING, IOF_RACING17, L-Shooter_RB26
GT6: TRL_IMMORTAL, L-Shooter_RB26
GT5: Amo_Racing87, Ti-tech85, TRL_IMMORTAL

 

[MeechShrykull]

Who do you think is the greatest player in Gran Turismo history?

me

 

[LeGeNd-1]

Each era has its own fastest player so you can't really compare, just like you can't say for sure who is the fastest F1 driver of all time without actually putting them all in the same car and same track and let them have at it. It would also be difficult to know who is the greatest in GT1-3 because comparing online times weren't really widespread back then. GT4 also didn't have online leaderboards but holl01 has numerous record laps on his channel so I'd say he's the best then. GT5P was also his domain. GT5 was dominated by Ti-tech. GT6 we have TRL_IMMORTAL. Now in GTS I would say over one lap raw pace Hizal is head and shoulders above everyone, followed by Igor and Makozi. There are also a lot of Japanese players that have been consistently up there in leaderboards from GT5P-GTS, and although on pure pace they may not be the fastest, to be such consistently fast across many years and many games is also amazing in my book. And finally we can't forget anybody who have managed to qualify for GT Academy over the years, they're all aliens in their own right and they have shown to be complete drivers than just one lap wonders.

You could also look at the question from another perspective in terms of greatest player in terms of contribution to the community, and I would say Jordan definitely for making GTPlanet and making this the home of so many GT fans across the planet. Also shout out to Tidgney of course for making all those tutorial and guides throughout the years, an absolutely invaluable resource and one of the smartest and most articulate fast drivers out there.

 

[GTV0819]

me

Nope, it's Kaz.

 

[Lazybike]

I've only played GTS, but when I first started playing there was a Japanese guy/girl called shooter who was very good, not seen them on the leaderboards for ages though, I'm a big fan of Tidgney, but for omg, how the hell did he do that!... I'd have to go with Lightning, Fraga or Nico.

 

[MatskiMonk]

B-spec Bob

 

[StealthVel]

In terms of world records and general lap times, I'd say holl01 is a great contestant. Since Gran Turismo 4, at least on YouTube, he has been setting great lap times with many of them being world records. I love his driving style in GT4, especially if you look at his video on the RUF "Yellowbird" at Nurburgring.

 

[Rangeraus]

L-Shooter_RB26

He still turns up about half an hour before the Daily races change over just to set the fastest time in Asia for whichever race he chooses.

I haven't seen him race since 2018, not sure what the reason is.

 

[kilesa4568]

I instantly thought Mr no ABS TRL_IMMORTAL but he had a very young Hizal close behind. Based on GT6 and GTS performances, I've got to say Hizal.

 

[Sander 001]

Lewis Hamilton and it's not even close.

 

[Stotty]

Lots of quick drivers have come and gone over the years, but Dan Holland (hollo1) & Shooter are the ones for me. When they bother to enter, they’ve consistently been at the top the boards for well over 10 years.

Honourable mention to Lucas Ordonez for winning the 1st ever Academy and paving the way for those that followed.

 

[zocker_16]

In my opinion this question is hard to answer as it is with real race drivers. You can throw in Schumacher, Senna, Hamilton etc. but they all raced in their own era and it´s hard to compare them as cars and rules changed over the time.
In the history of GT every game had it´s own physic and sometimes it fits perfect to the driving style of a topdriver, who will rule this game.

Another aspect is the competition which got really intense over the years. Back in GT4 there where no online rankings and the only way to compare yourself with others were boards like the GTPlanet and others. A medium skilled player with enough training was able to make fast progress and get into the top tier of a league, just because the competition wasn't that professional and mainly consisted of casuals.
I finished 3rd at the German GT Academy National Final in 2008 and won the National Final in 2010. My preparation for the finals took about an average 1-2 hours a day . In my last Nations Cup Season I was lucky to finish Top 100 of EMEA and Top 10 in Germany with at least 5 hours of training for every combo. Many really good drivers came to GT Sport and now most of the World Tour participants are professional gamers with sponsors that can fully focus on this game.

To get back to the opening question. The names I had in my mind were all mentioned so far. Arnaud Lacombe (Ti-Tech), Dan Holland (holl01) and the GT Sports champions Mikail Hizal and Igor Fraga.

 

[GT_Alex74]

Arnaud Lacombe (ti-tech) and Mikail Hizal, because unlike most of the other names mentionned, they're not doing only time attack, they actually race, and they're incredibly consistent in those. And I'm not talking about lap to lap consistency, I'm talking about inputs consistency, corner to corner. Both have that ability to hit incredible lap times immediately and stick to the pace for a whole race. Now i'll have to put Thibault Lacombe as well (Outburner), as Arnaud himself says his brother is even faster than him (he's also even more busy running his own butcher shop). TRL_IMMORTAL I never seen him actually race, and he vanished from the scene quite early, due to health related issues I think, but all top drivers of that time will acknowledge his incredible skills.

Well, ti-tech is pretty much retired now, focusing on his family. He will allow himself to play during a 30 minutes time frame on the odd occasion he's able to, yet still register top times even if he hasn't touched the game for months. In GT6 you guys may not have seen him much on time attack leaderboards, but he's been doing races, like GT Fusion (he pretty much won every race of the season he did). Then the whole GTNF group moved on Assetto Corsa for a while.
Fun fact : he's been driving iRacing IMSA / Blancpain top splits on a stock G25 and doing great there as well. He also coached Gaetan Paletou into winning GT Academy, convincing him to not take part in 2013 and wait another year to be fully prepared.

Lightning right now is the closest I've seen in terms of driving, and I also see a few similarities in terms of mental approach, although he feels more vulnerable to me right now - which is normal as he's quite younger, and he has evolved a lot during this year already. I still see Arnaud as the very best for now, but I believe Mikail will keep growing further and become even better in the years to come.

 

[Saidur_Ali]

Greatest player considering all aspects has got to be Kazunori Yamauchi. Without him, there is no GT and the Gold times he set back in the day helped me and I am sure others to get better at the game.

Lewis Hamilton being maestro of GTS growing up playing GT to becoming 6 x WDC in F1 is also worthy of that accolade being of the same GoaT breed. His latest Nordschleife time in the 919 is seriously impressive, seems like it would be much harder than the current DLC challenges.

Kazuki Yamada currently is also up there in importance for GT history as he helps improve GT physics. By being very fast in real life and in the GT games should help progress GT to new heights. He has been up there even since GT4 events and even recently showing he still has got it against the top world tour drivers at Gran Turismo year end 2019 party and also on Lewis Hamilton DLC challenge. I like how simple and effortless he makes it look to go so fast.

 

[sturk0167]

@Sven Jurgens, because he does more actual racing than anyone.
I wouldn't even consider those clowns who do super fast Q times, but they only ever race against their own ghosts.

 

[ScottPuss20]

Jann Mardenbrough perhaps? He's been rather successful in real-life racing and he was a GT Academy graduate.

 

[RisingStar]

It's a toss-up between Hizal and Fraga for me

 

[MMRivit]

This boy here:

 

[fisheye]

From 7 years ago...
Gran Turismo players banned from real-life racing because they're too fast.
https://www.carthrottle.com/post/gr...ned-from-real-life-racing-for-being-too-fast/

 

[sirjim73]

That person who is always at the top of your Friends leaderboard when you look. Their name is U Bastard!

 

[Mr P]

Every GT game had different top players, so to chose an overall top player is pretty impossible and throw in the mix of different game physics and compare old wheels and controllers from then until now... nah it's pointless to even compare them imo :tup:

 

[Nuschel01]

He still turns up about half an hour before the Daily races change over just to set the fastest time in Asia for whichever race he chooses.

Isn‘t he working with PD? Maybe that‘s a reason for him not being that active anymore 💡

 

[SAMHAIN85]

Ksharp

 

[GTV0819]

Greatest player considering all aspects has got to be Kazunori Yamauchi. Without him, there is no GT and the Gold times he set back in the day helped me and I am sure others to get better at the game.

I tried mentioning him earlier but nobody seemed to believe me.

 

[Famine]

Jann Mardenbrough perhaps? He's been rather successful in real-life racing and he was a GT Academy graduate.

From 7 years ago...
Gran Turismo players banned from real-life racing because they're too fast.
https://www.carthrottle.com/post/gr...ned-from-real-life-racing-for-being-too-fast/

That was one of ours:
https://www.gtplanet.net/gt-academy-too-fast-for-british-gt/

Jann was never the fastest in Gran Turismo though. I think he qualified 5th or 6th in Europe for GT Academy in 2010 (which is... fast), but his ability in driving real cars - and to learn more about driving - was what won him the competition. He's certainly done the most with GT as the start point though.

 

[Krypton78]

It is not possible to answer such a question, because as mentioned in previous posts, the circumstances changed from year to year and game to game.

But what we can do is to look at the core aspects which can be generally considered as those which marks a competitor as outstanding:

- being succsessfull in a competition to which a very large number of participiants have access
- perfoming under pressure.

Hundreds of thousands participated online on sportmode at home, so the pool was bigger as ever before (a sportmode simply didn't exist before, just hotlap leaderboards and community racing).
Furthermore the most pressure is at live events and not to talk about the world final event. So both aspects are fullfilled in Gran Turismo Sport. Nobody of the previous names has been in such a situation, so we just can't know.
I personally think, that its a very different thing if you hotlap at home with try and error as long as you wish or set a 1 shot qualy time on a live event which decides more or less the whole event- and with the whole community watching you!

So for me its simply Igor Fraga or @TRL LIGHTNING. I tend a bit more to Lightning, because even Igor bottled it in the first corner of first lap because he knows nobody can stop Lightning when he gots away. And besides of that, Lightning proved a lot, that he can battle/ handle slipstream/ adapt his braking points etc. as good as he can keep his raw pace when he is alone.

Btw, I heard a 13 year old is competing in the EMEA- top splits lately? Very interesting...

 

[GT_Alex74]

Yup, he's friends with Giorgio Mangano apaprently and teamed up with him during the latest IGTL event. For such a young kid he is quite impressive indeed.

 

[Sharpie]

Me, Myself & Irene.