GT Academy Finals Coverage!

[Egghead43]

A huge congrats to the top 16

I think I've raced with all but 3 of the finalists at some point, so I can truly say that they are a deserving bunch. These guys aren't just fast, but are consistently fast in every car/track combo. They have just that little bit of extra something that makes all the difference between good and great

 

[blindsidefive0]

Orlando was a once in a lifetime experience for me. That was just awesome. It's truly amazing to see the support this community has - I've enjoyed just reading the 270 posts in this thread alone (I was totally unplugged this week). The members of this community brought this competition to life for me; it would not have been the same without it.

I want to thank all the guys who posted their support for me - truly humbling. Gravy, Red, Stig, Forced...much appreciated.

It should be noted that I wouldn't have made it without practicing with all you great drivers. T/A, Forced, Dolf, Gravy, Red, Stig...the list goes on, and we can't forget our Canadian friends LaPierre4, Trio, and Egghead (I just hope he doesn't blast videos all over youtube of all the times he's beat me in a race... ). We all owe you big. 👍

It's been said before, but I'll say it again - everyone was insanely cool to hang out with. Carl is probably one of the most down to earth nice guys I've ever met. He got a rough seeding, but I'm sure he'll be back again next year. I'm pumped that so many guys from our lobbies made it, and I can't wait to hang out with you all again in Silverstone (maybe a jam sesh with Cheef/GMc?)...

Props to grafpt for making the most out of the competition, and for posting that video of me. I hope your media connections in Orlando serve you well, and maybe you can even swing a trip to Silverstone with us?

I probably won't be online nearly as much anymore - I've basically been non-stop with GT5 since it came out. I need to focus on the gym, getting on the track, and my wife. However, I'll try to stop in and run a bit with you guys.

 

[grafpt]

Props to grafpt for making the most out of the competition, and for posting that video of me. I hope your media connections in Orlando serve you well, and maybe you can even swing a trip to Silverstone with us?

Thx buddy. I am going to pursue it very much. It would be great to hang with you all again and have some planning done to have a great feature for people. I have already spoken to my contacts and it is still a little early. Because it is going to be a reality show the media side is going to be a lot more strict, so we shall see.

 

[PoTtHeD]

Orlando was a once in a lifetime experience for me. That was just awesome. It's truly amazing to see the support this community has - I've enjoyed just reading the 270 posts in this thread alone (I was totally unplugged this week). The members of this community brought this competition to life for me; it would not have been the same without it.

I want to thank all the guys who posted their support for me - truly humbling. Gravy, Red, Stig, Forced...much appreciated.

It should be noted that I wouldn't have made it without practicing with all you great drivers. T/A, Forced, Dolf, Gravy, Red, Stig...the list goes on, and we can't forget our Canadian friends LaPierre4, Trio, and Egghead (I just hope he doesn't blast videos all over youtube of all the times he's beat me in a race... ). We all owe you big. 👍

It's been said before, but I'll say it again - everyone was insanely cool to hang out with. Carl is probably one of the most down to earth nice guys I've ever met. He got a rough seeding, but I'm sure he'll be back again next year. I'm pumped that so many guys from our lobbies made it, and I can't wait to hang out with you all again in Silverstone (maybe a jam sesh with Cheef/GMc?)...

Props to grafpt for making the most out of the competition, and for posting that video of me. I hope your media connections in Orlando serve you well, and maybe you can even swing a trip to Silverstone with us?

I probably won't be online nearly as much anymore - I've basically been non-stop with GT5 since it came out. I need to focus on the gym, getting on the track, and my wife. However, I'll try to stop in and run a bit with you guys.

Hey man, it was my pleasure to be racing with you guys for the last couple months. You guys def all deserve it, and you all have made me a better racer than ever.

What was it I said in the lobby the other day, wasnt it something like "you guys are a sure bet"? lolol

 

[PoTtHeD]

Oh, and I want some vids posted on some of those epic races we've had. someone could put together one hell of a montage....👍

 

[SohnVonStig]

Oh, and I want some vids posted on some of those epic races we've had. someone could put together one hell of a montage....👍

+1 to that I know somebody's got all those replays tucked away

 

[grafpt]

Im sure Sony is on that already for the show

 

[SohnVonStig]

Im sure Sony is on that already for the show

Haha I'm sure, but we were talkin about the tight lobby races we've had

 

[plate88]

Just sitting here reflecting back on the past few days. Like to thank PD, Sony, and Nissan for the top notch accommodations. The competition site was set-up very nicely. Well done. Also the gifts in our rooms upon arrival at the resort was an unexpected touch. Very nice. Thanks again.

I enjoyed the finals thoroughly. I got to race a few of you, but not many as I was knocked out in the early going. It was nice being able to get to know the person behind the psn id. For me, that was worth the trip in itself and the racing was a bonus. Very cool how everyone meshed together. Who would've thought with so much on the line that everyone could give support to the others throughout the entire competition. It definitely speaks volumes for the GT community and I'm proud to be a part of it.

Like to congratulate the top 16 again. Hope you all enjoy Silverstone(Silverstar, lol). You guys are truly a different breed. Like to say I'm a big fan of all of you and wish the best of luck.


Sincerely,

Darryl Sutherland

P.S. Thanks also to the top 16 for the autographs. Very cool.

 

[TheDabbinDave]

Any info on what sort of coverage or presentation SPEED is supposed to have and when?

 

[grafpt]

Well the event is in May, and because its a reality show, Probably July? Depends on how long they make it. If it's as short as the first 1, maybe June.

 

[CodeRedR51]

We were told last night that the show should air sometime in September.

1) Damage. Or a penalty system for making heavy contact with another car. Rubbing is racing but using another car to make the corner like it was done in the video doesn't look too good for their real driving simulator tag line...

While I somewhat agree, if it wasn't your fault and your car gets crippled then it would be really frustrating. I think the judges were really on top of things and did a great job.

2) Cameramen and Media - what on earth were the cameramen thinking when they walked in front of the TV like that? Don't they realise how big of a distraction that would've been?

Didn't bother me any. Once I focused on what I was doing I can usually zone everything else out.

Now I really want to race these guys online

Jerome

Bring it.

Unreal to see this unfold almost right before my eyes. It's almost like I'm there! Maybe next year PD will expand to the rest of North America... we do have some fast guys up here in the North.

Did you talk to a SONY guy there about the possibility of including Canada and Mexico next time?

Many countries are showing interest, so they are definitely looking into it.

Or about the possibility of the academy returning next year.

They're trying their best to make it happen. 👍

 

[redreevos]

But, the sour grapes nonsense has to stop. Get over yourselves and just give the credit where it's due.

Choate, I have no feelings of sour grapes. I give complete props to all of you for your achievements. I actually don't know how I could be a bigger fan of all of you that I have raced with. I am truly excited for each and every one of you to have this experience. I hear what you are saying about having to deal with the cameras, the media etc. I think that has already been covered in this thread how difficult it was.

My only point was the fact that I wished the final 16 players would all be people that played ALL the rounds with integrity. I, by no means, feel that I would have had a chance if things were different(sour grapes). Each and every one of you is extremely fast, and absolutely deserves to be in the finals. It is what it is, and I wish you all a great experience in the UK.

I also look forward to seeing you guys in the lounges, and getting an opportunity to race with the best in the USA.

addition - I can understand, if you have been following the GT Academy facebook wall, that some of the finalists could feel under a bit of attack. Comments from a bunch of posters, about how they were faster than you guys, and how the competition was just for the "cheaters." Myself, and multiple others from this forum stood up for your(competitors) integrity. Explaining that there were some cheating by the minority of players in round 2. But also, explaining that there were no shortcuts available in round 3. Everyone in the finals was legitimately fast.

I also want to say that, what happened in round 2 was a big deal. There was a thread about it that was 24 pages long (473 posts). I don't remember too many people in all 24 pages, thinking that the lines taken at Indy were appropriate. Like I said I heard what you said, and I am willing to chalk up the decision by the person that we referenced, as a bad judgement call. I just don't think we can expect everyone to just accept it. It happened, and the actions aren't simply erased, because the person made it to Silverstone.

These things happened, and I am totally looking forward from here forward in the competition. I am excited for Silverstone, and the experience that all of you will have. I personally, can't wait for the Speed Channel to air it. If there is a thread on here with updates, you bet I will be following every word of it.

Good luck to all of you, and have an absolute blast in Silverstone!

 

[Rated-M3]

While I somewhat agree, if it wasn't your fault and your car gets crippled then it would be really frustrating. I think the judges were really on top of things and did a great job.

According to the driver that was dive bombed, they gave no penalty for that stunt. Posted here. Hope you don't mind Z06.

 

[CodeRedR51]

According to the driver that was dive bombed, they gave no penalty for that stunt. Posted here. Hope you don't mind Z06.

Well I only had once instance where I thought something should have been done about another driver, and I don't know if they penalized him or not. I made the time back anyways so it wasn't that big of a deal afterwords.

 

[toymdngn]

i haven't had a chance to read the whole thread, but i'd like to say congrats to Bryan Heitkotter from me and many others over at www.MR2OC.com

~Beau Corso over there

 

[SohnVonStig]

i haven't had a chance to read the whole thread, but i'd like to say congrats to Bryan Heitkotter from me and many others over at www.MR2OC.com

~Beau Corso over there

I knew I recognized his name from somewhere!!!

 

[toymdngn]

I knew I recognized his name from somewhere!!!

yep, he's a mod over there. what's your board name?

 

[SohnVonStig]

yep, he's a mod over there. what's your board name?

Pdittc I'm a major lurker Came over from the mr2.com forums cuz....well...they weren't helpful Had my mr2 for 6 months now just finally getting warm enough to work on it.

 

[Dr_Watson]

People should stop saying this was good coverage of the event.

 

[grafpt]

People should stop saying this was good coverage of the event.

You werent there. Weren't getting Paid. You don't know. Was it the best? Hell no, I wish I could have done more. This was on my own time and with less than 24 hrs notice. Save your rant.

 

[BrosifDuder]

You werent there. Weren't getting Paid. You don't know. Was it the best? Hell no, I wish I could have done more. This was on my own time and with less than 24 hrs notice. Save your rant.

I loved your coverage!

 

[Choate51]

Hey blindside, heikotter, you made the nytimes!

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/201...video-gamers-into-champion-drivers/?src=twrhp

 

[CudaMan]

Hey everyone. Finally getting caught up with everything here at home after a crazy few days in Orlando. It was a fantastic experience! Everyone I met was super cool and I feel like I made a bunch of new friends. I didn't know anyone going into the event other than Andre (FixByWire) who I'd raced with a couple times in iRacing a few years ago. Despite the intense competition format everyone was chill and seemed genuinely happy to be there, win or lose. We all shared the common interest of being total racing junkies. Of course most of us, myself included, were nervous before the event started but as the event unfolded we became more relaxed and it was great to unwind Wednesday night in Downtown Disney after the competition was over. 👍

No one could be more surprised about the outcome than myself. I had just started practicing in GT5 the Friday before Orlando, and was getting slaughtered online. Sunday morning I found out about Forcednduckshn's lounge where most of you all were doing practice races with each other. Was a bit late though, so I never got any real quality online races in. Just public rooms. I should have gotten involved in that sooner so I could be more prepared!

The driving talent on display in the competition area was immense. All the races were extremely challenging, with four of us often running nose to tail. There were several times where I was bringing up the tail end of the line but with perseverance and a lot of luck I got good points-scoring finishes out of all of them. I want to congratulate everyone who I raced with for the best Gran Turismo racing I've had the pleasure of taking part in. Andre and I were in the same group for one round, and as I said to him after the first race it was just like old times in iRacing - me hounding him all race long unable to get by. Not so easy to pass at Madrid. The second race was even better as we swapped the lead a few times at GVE Reverse.

The media attention was definitely something new for me. It was crazy at the end of the event - I felt like I needed a PR manager as I was being pulled in 5 different directions for interviews. Thrust into a whole new world.

Sony and Nissan really went all out for us and I can't thank them enough for this tremendous opportunity and the great times we had. I hope to have twice as much fun in Silverstone!

 

[redreevos]

Hey everyone. Finally getting caught up with everything here at home after a crazy few days in Orlando. It was a fantastic experience! Everyone I met was super cool and I feel like I made a bunch of new friends. I didn't know anyone going into the event other than Andre (FixByWire) who I'd raced with a couple times in iRacing a few years ago. Despite the intense competition format everyone was chill and seemed genuinely happy to be there, win or lose. We all shared the common interest of being total racing junkies. Of course most of us, myself included, were nervous before the event started but as the event unfolded we became more relaxed and it was great to unwind Wednesday night in Downtown Disney after the competition was over. 👍

No one could be more surprised about the outcome than myself. I had just started practicing in GT5 the Friday before Orlando, and was getting slaughtered online. Sunday morning I found out about Forcednduckshn's lounge where most of you all were doing practice races with each other. Was a bit late though, so I never got any real quality online races in. Just public rooms. I should have gotten involved in that sooner so I could be more prepared!

The driving talent on display in the competition area was immense. All the races were extremely challenging, with four of us often running nose to tail. There were several times where I was bringing up the tail end of the line but with perseverance and a lot of luck I got good points-scoring finishes out of all of them. I want to congratulate everyone who I raced with for the best Gran Turismo racing I've had the pleasure of taking part in. Andre and I were in the same group for one round, and as I said to him after the first race it was just like old times in iRacing - me hounding him all race long unable to get by. Not so easy to pass at Madrid. The second race was even better as we swapped the lead a few times at GVE Reverse.

The media attention was definitely something new for me. It was crazy at the end of the event - I felt like I needed a PR manager as I was being pulled in 5 different directions for interviews. Thrust into a whole new world.

Sony and Nissan really went all out for us and I can't thank them enough for this tremendous opportunity and the great times we had. I hope to have twice as much fun in Silverstone!

Thanks for your writeup CudaMan. I really enjoy getting to hear about the event from the participants. You seem to have a lot of people that have known you for a while, and were really pulling for you. I hope you stick around for some races on Stig's, Forced's and Blindside's lounges. I would enjoy getting to meet you and be on the track with you.

It definitely sounds like the media attention was more than anyone expected. I thought that some of that would start appearing at Silverstone, but didn't think it would show up at Orlando.

Question for those at the event - What kind of media was there? Was it mostly for publications, or where there serious camera crews, where some of us might actually get to see more footage of it later?

Thanks again CudaMan, and everyone else that has shared stories and happenings from the event!

You werent there. Weren't getting Paid. You don't know. Was it the best? Hell no, I wish I could have done more. This was on my own time and with less than 24 hrs notice. Save your rant.

I don't think Dr.Watson meant that solely at you Grafpt. I think you did a good job with what you had, and greatly appreciate you doing it. In a perfect world, I think we would have all liked the coverage to have been shown on a live webcast, or broadcast through the playstation gran tursimo tv. So, in this sense, it wasn't the coverage that we probably most wanted. But without you being willing to go there at the last minute, we would have only had the facebook updates.

Thank you again Grafpt, and I am glad you had a good time. I, also, thank you for the article that appeared at the front of the News forum here. Hopefully for all of us big fans, there will be some strong coverage of Silverstone on both Speed Channel and Gran Tursimo Tv.

 

[z06fun]

There were a few different camera crews, covering for different things I *think*.

Finally getting caught up here, this was an incredible experience. Getting to meet all the guys I had been racing with for the past many years and also in the stig/forced/blindside lounges more recently would have been worth the price of admission alone if I had to go down there on my own dime. These guys are great, and you'd never know just by talking to them how insanely fast each one of them is.
Nissan and SCEA were amazing to us, the hotel and site for the competition was top notch. And their support was pretty amazing, this was very much NOT a little video game competition to them, they literally made us feel like super stars, was not expecting that.

Thanks for all the support from everyone here, very cool:tup:
Thanks to Corbin for covering this for the guys here, on your own time and on your own dime, great talking with you too.

Really looking forward to getting back on to race in the lounges with everyone in more casual state. I'm still in FL till next Tuesday visiting some family.

Can't wait to get back together with you all on the other side of the pond

 

[redreevos]

Christopher, thank you for answering my question about the cameras. Fingers crossed we get to see some more footage.

I agree with you about the experience of getting to meet up with everyone being worth it even if it was on one's on dime. I live in San Diego, and if they would have let me come, I would have seriously considered getting a flight and room. I think Stig may have more than considered it as well.

I am glad to hear the Sony/PD treated you guys so well. The Academy had some "rough patches," during the qualifying stages, and I am glad they showed respect to you guys for the tremendous effort you put in.

Now you guys have finished the virtual competition, and the true driving Academy begins. So happy that Nissan/Sony/PD gave us all a shot at something so amazing. They did a great job of finding the best drivers in the U.S.A. to go to Silverstone. Congrats again to all of you, you deserve it!

 

[alexpez]

Congrats Bryan! Enjoy the UK!

 

[Choate51]

Here is a few photo's that I took of the event.

And this was right outside my room, not too bad eh?

 

[redreevos]

I like the picture of Nick holiding the world of sports globe. A giraffe out your window, ridiculous. Is that a R92CP from the GT5 game? The more you guys post, the more awesome the event seemed to be. Thanks for sharing the pics Steve.

And you guys weren't kidding about the camera men getting up in your face. Intense picture.