GT Academy Finals Coverage!

  • Thread starter grafpt
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Hey guys I'm just posting from my iPhone, so I'll make this rather short before I go back to bed.

First of all, I owe an apology to rackattack for basically taking a spot in the final which he may have been more deserving of. I must say I feel REALLY bad for what has happened, and what my decision has meant in terms of him getting a spot in the final :indiff: At the very least all I can do is explain how I feel about this opportunity after being here for two days.

Yea it is true, I have decided to withdraw. Reason being - I wasn't expecting this competition to have such an annoying (to me) media frenzy around it, which has been a large deterrent for me when it comes to trying to become sony's media/racing puppet (that's way I look at it now after this experience.) Unfortunately it has taken me to come to Orlando (having cameras shoved in your face as soon as you walk out the door and media/producers wanting to get an interview with you every chance they can) to realize that this is just not for me, and something I really have no interest in further pursuing unfortunately. I think after just the two days I have been here I have realized
just how great Lucas' responsibilities are and just how much of his life must be dedicated to doing this job (endless media and PR crap, hectic travel schedule he deals with). In my case I just don't see getting the opportunity to race for Nissan as outweighing all of the negatives (IMO) that come along with it. I've come to the realization that I can have just as much fun racing on my own time with my
own money, without all of the bs and negatives that come along with being a proffesional racing driver (especially one bred from such a large videogame franchise).

Sorry for the rather brief explanation - I just hate typing on my iPhone. Not sure if you guys understand where I'm coming, but at the very least I thought it was at least necessary to explain myself and give an apology to rackattack who could have possibly been better cut out for this opportunity.
 
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The Outlaw
Hey guys I'm just posting from my iPhone, so I'll make this rather short before I go back to bed.

First of all, I owe an apology to rackattack for basically taking a spot in the final which he may have been more deserving of. I must say I feel REALLY bad for what has happened, and what my decision has meant in terms of him getting a spot in the final :indiff: At the very least all I can do is explain how I feel about this opportunity after being here for two days.

Yea it is true, I have decided to withdraw. Reason being - I wasn't expecting this competition to have such an annoying (to me) media frenzy around it, which has been a large deterrent for me when it comes to trying to become sony's media/racing puppet (that's way I look at it now after this experience.) Unfortunately it has taken me to come to Orlando (having cameras shoved in your face as soon as you walk out the door and media/producers wanting to get an interview with you every chance they can) to realize that this is just not for me, and something I really have no interest in further pursuing unfortunately. I think after just the two days I have been here I have realized
just how great Lucas' responsibilities are and just how much of his life must be dedicated to doing this job (endless media and PR crap, hectic travel schedule he deals with). In my case I just don't see getting the opportunity to race for Nissan as outweighing all of the negatives (IMO) that come along with it. I've come to the realization that I can have just as much fun racing on my own time with my own money, without all of the bs and negatives that come along with being a proffesional racing driver (especially one bred from such a large videogame franchise).

Sorry for the rather brief explanation - I just hate typing on my iPhone. Not sure if you guys understand where I'm coming, but at the very least I thought it was at least necessary to explain myself and give an apology to rackattack who could have possibly been better cut out for this opportunity.
u will b doing most of the time) as being worth it, just for the opportunity to race a car (it's A LOT more than just that) for a living.
Click to expand...

Hey man, no hard feelings. That's a pretty legitimate reason to me, and it's something you would never know until you got to Orlando. The fact of the matter is, I wasn't fast enough to make it. I will make it the next time I have an opportunity.

I still have tons of respect for you, mainly for two reasons: You're crazy freakin' fast, and you wrote that much ^^^ on an iPhone. That's seriously impressive.
 
This post is such a amazing thing, to see how people have this team spirit, even tough maybe you guys have never seen in real life rather then in online mode, and you are fighting and arguing about a "friend" of you're is getting 3rd and that stuff, really really good feeling i get of competition even that i'm behind my PC writing this, keep the spirit guys.

Very nice coverage of the event, they should have delivered a livestream for us to see the event live and who knows the races too, nice job though, keep that news coming and thanks for the patience to come here and tell us about the event.

Seeing this is giving me "strength" to be more applied to reach EU regional finals and who knows even getting to silverstone and accomplish a dream of mine.....

Thanks for everything guys, keep 'em coming.
 
The Outlaw
At the very least all I can do is explain how I feel about this opportunity after being here for two days.
Click to expand...

I am glad you are ok buddy. I can understand that all of the media attention could be a bit strange. I was just thinking earlier, how amazed I was that Lucas was so open to everything. Just cruising around the forums and facebook, and see a lot of people talk bad about him, and how they are faster than him. Amazing, from everything I have seen he is extremely nice, and down to earth.
I don't think I would handle all that attention very well. I guess until you pointed all this out, I never really thought about it.
Thank you for posting that you are alright. It is awfully big of you to come here and talk about your reasons. I think if it was me, I might have hid away for a bit. Respect to you sir.


RackAttack
Hey man, no hard feelings. That's a pretty legitimate reason to me, and it's something you would never know until you got to Orlando. The fact of the matter is, I wasn't fast enough to make it. I will make it the next time I have an opportunity.

I still have tons of respect for you, mainly for two reasons: You're crazy freakin' fast, and you wrote that much ^^^ on an iPhone. That's seriously impressive.
Click to expand...
Many thumbs up to you RackAttack. Man, I love this community.
 
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The Outlaw
Sorry for the rather brief explanation - I just hate typing on my iPhone. Not sure if you guys understand where I'm coming, but at the very least I thought it was at least necessary to explain myself and give an apology to rackattack who could have possibly been better cut out for this opportunity.
Click to expand...

Only respect and admiration, dude! That was definitely a tough decision to make and you don't have to justify it to anyone but yourself. Good on you.
 
RackAttack
Hey man, no hard feelings. That's a pretty legitimate reason to me, and it's something you would never know until you got to Orlando. The fact of the matter is, I wasn't fast enough to make it. I will make it the next time I have an opportunity.

I still have tons of respect for you, mainly for two reasons: You're crazy freakin' fast, and you wrote that much ^^^ on an iPhone. That's seriously impressive.
Click to expand...

Thanks for being understanding man...I know it must be extremely frustrating for you, but you are very right in what you said- in that you truly don't know what to expect (in what it will be like and how you feel) until you get here and soak everything in, and even moreso in terms of what it will take in your journey to the top and eventually racing for Nissan/Sony. The fact of matter is, the 16 who move On from here have a long/stressed filled road ahead of them and should should certainly take the time to recognize just how much this oppurtunity will affect their lifestyle, in either a positive or possibly negative way (which is how i feel unfortunately). Now I'm not at all trying to deter people (or future competitors) from continue to pursue their dream of racing cars for a living...rather realize all of the baggage that comes along with it.

If you compete in next years academy I wish you the best of luck to you! And again I'm deeply sorry for the oppurtunity that I have undeservingly taken from you :nervous:
 
grafpt
Well Sony is hush hush about it but It is believed that he did not feel it was something he really wanted to do. Thankfully a driver who would have been dropped replaced him.
Click to expand...

:grumpy: sorry they feel that way.
 
I just wanted to pop in to say hello. It's been an overwhelming, tiring, and emotional day for many of us....needless to say tomorrow will be even worse. The good news is the experience has been unreal and no matter what happens I'll never forget this.

Thanks for all the support....hopefully the Academy folks update the Facebook site a little sooner tomorrow.

Night guys! 👍
 
Choate51
Not choate but choate's girlfriend he doesn't have access with him there and wanted me to check out what everyone was saying.
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Hi future mrs steve :D

You know I'm supporting all you guys 100% and can't wait to hear secondhand what it was like :D

I'm sure meeting each other is drawin you guys even closer so just keep it cool, keep it clean, and race your hearts out. I don't wanna hear any less than that you gave it your all.
TA I don't blame you AT ALL for not liking the media crap. Just watching the video of z06's race made me cringe as the cameras were all up in his face.

Regarding the cameras and other distractions - everyone who's still there, just pretend its my annoying monologues goin on throughout the races :D Or me drivin backwards ;) Keep it up fellas
 
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It's very cool to see all the camaraderie in here, and realize how much of a huge opportunity this is for you US guys. Sad to read your post, timeattack, but I can definitely understand where you're coming from, though on a much smaller scale than what you must've dealt with.

For any of the guys who've been around OLR throughout the series, you'll remember CudaMan as a fast guy from the old GTF. He took part in some Board Challenges during GT3 and GT4, and still races in a smaller community since the GTF closed down. Surreal to see a guy I've raced with "online" all these years is currently sitting in 2nd place in this! One of his finer GT-related videos:



Congrats to all of you already for even making it this far, truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and a big thanks to grafpt for keeping us all in the loop!
 
Saw the video posted on the front page (roof cam of zo6fun?). Two things that I thought they should've implemented from the previous GT Academy Nationals but still weren't taken care of this time around were:

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...

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?
 
SlipZtrEm
It's very cool to see all the camaraderie in here, and realize how much of a huge opportunity this is for you US guys. Sad to read your post, timeattack, but I can definitely understand where you're coming from, though on a much smaller scale than what you must've dealt with.

For any of the guys who've been around OLR throughout the series, you'll remember CudaMan as a fast guy from the old GTF. He took part in some Board Challenges during GT3 and GT4, and still races in a smaller community since the GTF closed down. Surreal to see a guy I've raced with "online" all these years is currently sitting in 2nd place in this! One of his finer GT-related videos:



Congrats to all of you already for even making it this far, truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and a big thanks to grafpt for keeping us all in the loop!
Click to expand...


CudaMan is a very well known and accomplished SCCA Autocross (Solo2) National Champion. A national trophy winner myself, I'm very proud that a Solo-ist is kicking butt in the competition. Good luck Brian!!!

Nick
 
Wow Brock, I respect you a lot more after that explination. I think if I was there instead of you, I would have done a similar thing, however I would have finished the comp. in Orlando, but let the next in line take my place for Silverstone. If things are fine at home and it's not something you want to risk, good for you to recognize that 👍

Now I really want to race these guys online :sly:

Jerome
 
Jump_Ace
Wow Brock, I respect you a lot more after that explination. I think if I was there instead of you, I would have done a similar thing, however I would have finished the comp. in Orlando, but let the next in line take my place for Silverstone. If things are fine at home and it's not something you want to risk, good for you to recognize that 👍

Now I really want to race these guys online :sly:

Jerome
Click to expand...

Jerome friend me up :) GTP_SOHNVONSTIG the guys aren't allowed on psn while in orlando so playin online's been a bit lonely last 2 nights :lol:
 
The Outlaw
Hey guys I'm just posting from my iPhone, so I'll make this rather short before I go back to bed.

First of all, I owe an apology to rackattack for basically taking a spot in the final which he may have been more deserving of. I must say I feel REALLY bad for what has happened, and what my decision has meant in terms of him getting a spot in the final :indiff: At the very least all I can do is explain how I feel about this opportunity after being here for two days.

Yea it is true, I have decided to withdraw. Reason being - I wasn't expecting this competition to have such an annoying (to me) media frenzy around it, which has been a large deterrent for me when it comes to trying to become sony's media/racing puppet (that's way I look at it now after this experience.) Unfortunately it has taken me to come to Orlando (having cameras shoved in your face as soon as you walk out the door and media/producers wanting to get an interview with you every chance they can) to realize that this is just not for me, and something I really have no interest in further pursuing unfortunately. I think after just the two days I have been here I have realized
just how great Lucas' responsibilities are and just how much of his life must be dedicated to doing this job (endless media and PR crap, hectic travel schedule he deals with). In my case I just don't see getting the opportunity to race for Nissan as outweighing all of the negatives (IMO) that come along with it. I've come to the realization that I can have just as much fun racing on my own time with my
own money, without all of the bs and negatives that come along with being a proffesional racing driver (especially one bred from such a large videogame franchise).

Sorry for the rather brief explanation - I just hate typing on my iPhone. Not sure if you guys understand where I'm coming, but at the very least I thought it was at least necessary to explain myself and give an apology to rackattack who could have possibly been better cut out for this opportunity.
Click to expand...

Brock, I was completely shocked to hear about this when talking with Nick and Glenn yesterday afternoon. It is a "curious" thing that the best GT5 driver in the United States respectfully withdraws from a competition of this magnitude. I for one totally understand where you are coming from in your explanation, though I agree that it's no-ones business but your own, but I am thankful that you let us know the reasons. Your speed is unbelievable, and the name carries to the far reaches of the GT community. I completely respect your decision and wish you nothing but the best in the future. You are staying to true to your heart and real love of motorsport. And that's totally cool. I feel sorry for the mere mortals that have to face you in whatever motorsport (sim or real-life) you decide to pursue on your own. Haha!! I do have one thing to ask - please keep racing with me and the rest of the guys online (I need to know what the bar is :) )

Any interesting experience this has been....very interesting.
 
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grafpt
Hello everyone! I wanted to stop in here and post that I have been given the awesome opportunity to attend the Finals today in Orlando! (one of the few times to e proud to live here haha) So I will be tweeting and blogging throughout the day. My twitter is @grafpt if you would like to follow me on there. I will also update this OP for coverage. I will do a post-day roundup which will be posted on the official blog here on GTPlanet too. I will do my very best to keep you all in formed as Live as possible! I've got my iPhone4, iPad and DSLR to give you the best coverage.

Update | 11:58am
- Well Im not sure whats going on but according to the GT Academy NA facebook page, the competition has started? So I am leaving now. I am not sure if this is miscommunication or what.

Update | 12:41
- well I am here and no one can direct me in the right direction :/

Update | 1:01pm
- I am now being accommodated. The people are very and not mean about me being here with no contacts. The Sony PRs I have been in contact with are known by a few and they are just not here yet.

I am currently sitting on one of the white couches they have here with a slew of PlayStation 3's with all of Sonys benchmark games (Killzone 3, LBP2, Move and 3D sets of each) Lucas Ordonez is sitting directly behind me haha. I will now venture and take pictures to show you all what is going on.

Update | 1:18pm. Talk with Chris Morton : gtp/psn z06fun

Update | 2:37pm Photos and videos

I will work out having the thumbnails on here but here are links for now, enjoy.

http://db.tt/02ytcHw

http://db.tt/RqrcEc8

http://db.tt/R5HhiJZ

http://db.tt/N3DgqMx

http://db.tt/vAiH6fr

Update | 3:46pm

Updated video of Lucas, Mike Disser and Chad jacoby racing GT5 and having fun!

http://db.tt/UrYKiiv

Update | 4:32pm
Played some Killzone 3 in 3D with Lucas and Mike Disser (Nissan rep).

Just sat down with Mike Disser and Landon Harrison for a chat. Landon is a driver who made it to the finals here using only his DS3 controller, and came into this without any practice at all. I will touch more on the conversion in the day 1 roundup.

Update | 5:40pm

Video for Day 1 cuts.
http://db.tt/kwY5bHr

Update | 8:09pm
Hello everyone! Sorry for long pause, alot is going on. All the Media for Sony (12 including myself) got to have our own competition. I repped GTP in tying for 1st and I won a DFGT o.O Got to race with Lucas! Who I kept up with haha

I am now out with all of Sony and GT Academy folks for dinner. Our day will start tomorrow at 9am at the Richard Petty track to drive GTRs and 370z's!!!! Im loosing my mind right now lol

I will be working on a Day 1 round up after dinner for you all and Jordan will post it probably around 3am Est time. I let Lucas know that I would get some questions from fellow GTP members and we can have a 1 on 1 tomorrow, so I will open a thread for that later.

Thank you again Jordan for giving me this opportunity to network and have an amazing experience.

Here are photos and Videos!! Enjoy



I will begin Day 2 soon.
Click to expand...


Please use YouTube! It's a "standard" and it's mobile friendly.
 
Hello guys. Sorry for not having anything to report so far. The Media kind of had a fun morning. Nissan took us out to the Disney Speedway to Autocross and Ride around the track in Nissan Juke's, Nismo 370z and GTR Black Edition. We have now arrived to be here for the final round and will be reporting in once they get started. I will get some pictures of the "Morning with Nissan" for you all shortly.
 
grafpt
Hello guys. Sorry for not having anything to report so far. The Media kind of had a fun morning. Nissan took us out to the Disney Speedway to Autocross and Ride around the track in Nissan Juke's, Nismo 370z and GTR Black Edition. We have now arrived to be here for the final round and will be reporting in once they get started. I will get some pictures of the "Morning with Nissan" for you all shortly.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a great morning :D I'm assuming they made cuts this morning?
 
Hellyah the boys are still in it!!! God I'm sittin at worked and I'm pumped up :dopey:

Keep it up! Don't you 🤬 slow down!! :drool:
 

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