GT Academy National Finals - Venues, Dates, Drivers & Discussion Thread

[Dessy182]

GT Academy final Portugal 2010

This is only the first 30sec showing the accident in the 1st corner - check the rear view mirror.
May is in car #1, blue
The screen is from car#3, who won the race

After watching that a few times it looks a genuine motor racing accident. It doesn't seem as if it was intentional crash just to spin him, in my opinion anyway.

Non the less it was very bad luck for MAY 👎

 

[Neal]

After watching that a few times it looks a genuine motor racing accident. It doesn't seem as if it was intentional crash just to spin him, in my opinion anyway.

Non the less it was very bad luck for MAY 👎

I tend to agree with this.

It looks like May left the inside line open and the red car made a block pass, maybe if May had gone round the outside he could have held his position or at least not spun out. It's difficult to know what he saw on his screen though. Bad luck mate.

 

[Gaviao_pt]

Can I ask, what was the format of the Portuguese final?

Was it the same 2 or 3-lap races of Indy oval, Indy F1, Fuji, Tokyo and Daytona Road?

All the best
Maz

We had 4 racing pods and 4 other setups for training / warm-up 👍

1st part -5 groups of 4 pilots did 3 races each group. On each race, 1st-6 points, 2nd-3pts, 3rd-1pt, 4th-0pt. The winner of each group plus the 3 next guys with the fastest laps on each race went to the semi-finals

Indy 3 laps
Tokyo 3 laps
Fuji 3 laps


2nd part (semi-final) - 2 groups of 4 pilots did 3 races each group. On each race, 1st-6 points, 2nd-3pts, 3rd-1pt, 4th-0pt. The 1st and 2nd of each group went to the final.

Nurburgring 1 lap (amazing!)
Daytona 3 laps
Indy 3 laps

Final - 1 single race Indy of 6 laps. Winner takes all


Oh, I was eliminated in the 1st part
But enjoyed the event very much... except for May not winning. Not that hunter_4_6 didn't do good, but there wasn't anyone there really in Bruno's league

 

[Timppaq]

GT Academy final Portugal 2010

This is only the first 30sec showing the accident in the 1st corner - check the rear view mirror.
May is in car #1, blue
The screen is from car#3, who won the race

Can we get the whole final too? 👍

and tbh, looks like a normal incident that could have been avoided ... bad luck..

 

[MeAgainstYou]

First of all, I need to say that i was really impressed about the organization…before we start racing we had a little conversation with the man in charge of the event to set some rules, questions session, etc… that was a good thing because, due that session, everyone stayed alert and knew that the organization was aware about the NZ and AUS finals and prepare every little detail so things could run properly… after that we finally started the event…

There were 5 groups, 3 rounds, 7 races through the final… I was placed in group 1 and polepositon for the 1st race. we had 8 pods (4 for warm-up, 4 to race) and we could warm-up for about 4-7 laps on the warm-up pods and then 1-2 laps on the racing pods everytime before each race.

Round 1
Race 1: Indianapolis, 3 laps
I was on pole… we started and I finished the race with a huge gap (i don’t remember how many seconds but couldn’t see the 2nd guy on the mirror)

Race 2: Tokyo, 3 laps
I was on pole… we started but there was an accident on 1st corner with the other guys (I wasn’t involved and got some gap) but the judge stopped the race and disqualified the 3rd player (stupid decision because it was the 1st corner and the guy said it was unintentional they could put him on the race again but starting from 4th… it was a really bad decision and I felt bad for the guy who was DQ because they had really bad mods with thim). We started again and the 2nd player passed me on the 1st lap, I made some contacts with the wall and lost the race for him.. he was a bit faster than me at Tokyo no doubts.

Race 3: Fugi F, 3 laps
I was in P2 on the grid but I went for the lead right after the 1st corner.. then I pulled another huge gap an finished 1st.
Won the 1st round of my group easily..

Round 2 (semi-final) 370z normal
Race 1: nurburgring, 1 lap
P1:me, P2-chermont, P3:hunter_4_6, P4:Bigkami_GTPT. we were running all together.. after the long straight P2 tapped me a bit on the fast left and he went off right after that on the right hairpin.. after that I got the P1 again but ran wide once and hunter_4_6 passed me.. he got a little gap but on the 2nd half of the circuit I closed up and I was making hard pressure on him.. he made a mistake and I went to the lead and finished 1st with a good gap.

Race 2: Daytona road, 3 laps
I was on pole.. I started to find some gap but not enough to break the stupid awful slipstream (same as prologue.. what are PD minds doing!? They should solve that unreal aspect). P-Chermont and hunter_4_6 passed me on the main straight but I managed to take P1 again on the 1st corner because they went wide. Couldnt break the slipstream again and they got me on the middle straight.. last lap I was P2 and before the chicane I didn’t pass P-Chermont and also left hunter_4_6 pass me too to pass them on the final straight with the slipstream.. I was going to make P1 was side by side with hunter_4_6 but he closed the door so much.. I’ve put 2wheels on the grass and was in need to lift my foot to cross the line in 2nd place. At this point me and hunter_4_6 already were on the final… really bad luck to P-Chermont at that point.. he didn’t deserve that so soon…

Race 3: Indianapolis, 3 laps
I stared in2nd on the grid.. but I was leading after 1st corner.. I found the gap to break the slipstream and got 8 seconds at the finishing line.

Final race: Indianapolis, 370z tuned, 6 laps
I was P1 on the grid… they spot the way I was jumping from the grid and then I didn’t got the same advantage to make the 1st corner easily.. and when I thought to move right to take the inside of the corner it was late so I kept on left until that counting that everyone would respect each other.. because until the final everyone was driving safe a part some little issues not that bad.. but I was wrong… as soon as I started to turn right 4th player (rarnaut) used me has a brake and came from nowhere and bumped me on the right side of my rear (video by gaviao).. I made I perfect 360º spin. I raised my hands to the judge he said.. “it was a clean move”.. I don’t know if it was intentional or not but the thing is, he rushed! I’ve heard the public talking about it and everyone was expecting that the main judge would re-start such important race (he already made it on previous rounds).. even the annoying speaker guy (that was reporting out loud every race) said nothing waiting for something.. but nothing happened. After that odd break the speaker continued to comment the race like nothing happened… then I thought they wont re-start lets fight… I caught the P2 and P3 entering 3rd lap.. got some gap but again the slipstream rulezzzz… I was pushing both behind me to catch the big advantage that hunter_4_6 gained after my crash. On lap 4 I was just for a tenth to catch the slipstream of the P1 but starting 5 lap the annoying speaker made a mistake and said: “here we go for the last lap” in the hot of the moment I didn’t look at the laps counter and trusted the guy.. so I thought its now or never.. P3 passed me using slipstream on the main straight but he went wide turning right so I tried to pass him again but he came again on my line and I tapped him crashing myself (my fault there) the guy I tapped finished P2 anyway and I made last position on the final.

Even before the race ends I saw everyone running to P1 pod making a party… I talked with the judges and the main guy asking for some explanations but in the end he said that he understood me but he couldn’t do nothing at that moment.. I asked for the replay of the race he said the replay wasn’t available too! And that’s it.. the dream went down the river…
Then I talked with some guys on the audience about it and everyone agreed that the race should have been re-started.. I wont forget people’s faces when they found that was it.. that the race wasn’t repeated!

in the end i liked the organization in general... didnt like the annoying speaker (but thats an event all for show) and the people watching my moves on the warm up.. i was always the 1st to warm-up and everyone watched me (gears, braking points..etc ).
finally..im im off on this type of media events. Good luck to Hunter_4_6 (Filipe) who is (as I already said) a very nice person and also a good driver.. so just wish him the best luck on Silverstone and I hope he can represent well my country and I know he’ll do his best.. it’s a dream that he wont waste for sure! A special word also for Mário (I think its Henzu), Nuno (P-Chermont) and Hugo (HMarcos) who were in my point of view the fastest guys around but also the unlucky ones. Thanks also to GTPT guys support.. such brilliant and kind people, im amazed with everyone!

Good luck for the rest of the finalists that didn’t raced yet.. you all will need it a lot!

 

[alexpez]

When people say Nurburgring here do they mean the full Nordschleife or the GP track, or the combination thats run in the nurburgring 24hrs?

As for the racing, i think the key thing will be to allow room inside if someone gets any sort of a look. A nose isnt enough in most racing series (oval racing aside), but there are always two people in a collision.

 

[ripping_silk]

We had 4 racing pods and 4 other setups for training / warm-up 👍

You had training/warm-up rigs ??? How much time were you allowed in these? Could you go on all the tracks that were being used during the day?

Our New Zealand Final had 4 race set-ups, with one lap of practise before each race (although the second race at Tokyo i got maybe 3/4 of a lap, because the gear change failed - I lost about 1min of practise time - of course it had to be the track that I hadn't seen for 2 years.)

 

[Gaviao_pt]

You had training/warm-up rigs ??? How much time were you allowed in these? Could you go on all the tracks that were being used during the day?

Our New Zealand Final had 4 race set-ups, with one lap of practise before each race (although the second race at Tokyo i got maybe 3/4 of a lap, because the gear change failed - I lost about 1min of practise time - of course it had to be the track that I hadn't seen for 2 years.)

Yes, the training pods was something really nice

Each group would train the following race on the training pods while the previous group was racing on the racing pods

When people say Nurburgring here do they mean the full Nordschleife or the GP track, or the combination thats run in the nurburgring 24hrs?

It's the full course, tha't why it was just 1 lap

 

[DustDriver]

From what I can see from the video, P3 braked at the same time for the corner as P1, while maintaining his line going into the first corner.
P4 carries more speed after being in the slipstream of P3, and so his braking takes longer.
The gap between P3 and P1 doesn't get much smaller, but the gap between P4 (which is now actually P3) gets smaller visibly.
So maybe P2 was to cautious going into the first corner to give room for P1 and braked a tad earlier.
This suprised P4 who just outbraked P3. He had nowhere to go than to maintain his line, so crashed into P2.
It's likely P4 could have taken the corner at that speed, even if P2 wasn't in front, so I don't think you can blame him.
Just a racing accident that will happen in real life aswell.

 

[TwinturboCH]

Looks to me like MaY hit the brakes ever so slightly early and everyone else braked slightly later. Just a racing incident unfortunately. There was nothing the other driver could do to avoid him, that was without a doubt 50:50. I feel for MaY, as he was massively fast in the TT and early races from the sound of it, but at the end of the day he made a mistake when it mattered and paid the price.

 

[zocker_16]

Thx guys! I´m so happy now.
I had a great day yesterday, organisation was terrible, i had a broken braking peadal at the semifinal and it took 3 hours to fix it by switching to whole simulator.
The final race at Nordschleife was amazing realy hard to keep the 370Z on the Road. The Race was realy fair and close i overtook Gantenbei at the end of Döttinger Höhe in the final lap.
My fastest laptime was 7.22 with slipstream from Gantenbein.

 

[fasj6418]

It's a shame MAY didn't win... i'm getting mad at the organization of the event.

I think the only thing clear out of this is that the slip stream is a joke and we need to complian a lot so that PD can change it for GT5.

 

[Dessy182]

Heres a cool vid that shows the start of the german final

 

[eSZee]

so im off on these competitions for good!!!! when you know that you do everything right to win and you lose by default there's no point to continue and experience again these bad feelings...

No offense, but if that's your attitude, then maybe you should've never been there in the first place. You missed out on one opportunity and you're quitting already. It shows it just wasn't that important to you.

 

[davissi]

Typical forum response. He dedicated so much time that he can hardly afford to this, he's doing the final year of his degree and he's just been bumped into a spin at a vital time in a competition where he was miles ahead of everyone and that's all you can think of saying dave_sz ?

 

[Synwraith]

Typical forum response.

Come on mate, so is yours

He dedicated so much time that he can hardly afford to this, he's doing the final year of his degree and he's just been bumped into a spin at a vital time in a competition where he was miles ahead of everyone and that's all you can think of saying dave_sz ?

👍


Dave_SZ, to be perfectly honest I think Bruno's experience will have been a heartbreaking one. Such an opportunity that probably had his name written all over it even though he may not admit to feeling that way to be respectful of all deserving competitors. I expect he will feel differently given a day or so, maybe longer and that he will be back next year.

Even competition drivers must have niggling feelings like this, one remembers Damon Hill in 1994 at Adelaide vs Schumacher. Maybe they put the face on for the press and public, but with their mates they may well have shared such negative misgivings. Only their sports-psychology attitude would have pointed them back in the right direction I imagine, but probably not even straight away.

All the best
Maz

 

[MeAgainstYou]

Typical forum response. He dedicated so much time that he can hardly afford to this, he's doing the final year of his degree and he's just been bumped into a spin at a vital time in a competition where he was miles ahead of everyone and that's all you can think of saying dave_sz ?

thanks Dave but let it be.....

for those who said its an accident.. it happens.. yeah sure but.. final race, 6 laps to go... why everyone was rushing on the 1st corner on 1st lap!? are we trying to be good car pilots or kamikaze pilots? 👎 another thing is that in the video you havent the best shot of it.. its so small that its hard to figure out the distances.. and... everyone knows racing rules!? if im in front more than half a car from the guy that tries to overtake im in advantage and if he touchs me he should get at least a penalty (stop and go or something). he didnt crashed because he braked on me and kept his position safe to continue... so dont tell me bad luck and better luck next time because this has no sense.. its not luck but knowledge to analyse well the facts and racing rules...

intentional or not.. its not my fault someone ruined my race and if they re-started races before they should have done the same on the most important race of all...

 

[IsmokeGT]

Turn 1 lap 1 there is no excuse for contact, real life or not.

 

[Timppaq]

I agree that all the races should be done with same rules. These rules should be told beforehand and they should be honoured by all the competitiors & the judges. The greatest mistake from judges / referees in any sports is inconsistency. 👎

Tell us the rules and we'll live by those, but dont go changing those middle way..

 

[MeAgainstYou]

Turn 1 lap 1 there is no excuse for contact, real life or not.

true but i mean... that wasn't necessary even more in that conditions... this behaviour makes me go back to prologue times when everyone wanted to win races on the 1st corner..

 

[Horde_R35]

thanks Dave but let it be.....

for those who said its an accident.. it happens.. yeah sure but.. final race, 6 laps to go... why everyone was rushing on the 1st corner on 1st lap!? are we trying to be good car pilots or kamikaze pilots? 👎 another thing is that in the video you havent the best shot of it.. its so small that its hard to figure out the distances.. and... everyone knows racing rules!? if im in front more than half a car from the guy that tries to overtake im in advantage and if he touchs me he should get at least a penalty (stop and go or something). he didnt crashed because he braked on me and kept his position safe to continue... so dont tell me bad luck and better luck next time because this has no sense.. its not luck but knowledge to analyse well the facts and racing rules...

intentional or not.. its not my fault someone ruined my race and if they re-started races before they should have done the same on the most important race of all...

I would like a hand of aplause please:tup:! Well said mate! You were there, so you and only you can say what really happened. That video didnt convinced me a bit! Its just not possible to really see what happened in that little rear mirror!

Dave, what you mean is - typical forum responseS !

 

[IsmokeGT]

that wasn't necessary even more in that conditions...

Conditions that include only 4 cars on track!
Any driver that can't keep his cool with 3 other guys around him has no chance at being able to keep his cool with 20, or 30 other cars around him.

 

[The Outlaw]

I agree that all the races should be done with same rules. These rules should be told beforehand and they should be honoured by all the competitiors & the judges. The greatest mistake from judges / referees in any sports is inconsistency. 👎

Tell us the rules and we'll live by those, but dont go changing those middle way..

+1

That is the worst part of all

 

[alexpez]

The fact is it happens, all the way up to and including Formula One.

 

[Gaviao_pt]

I have the 1st half of the final race race here, laps 1-3
But my PC or youtube isn't cooperating I've been trying for more than 1 hour to upload the 2nd half and still haven't been able to, sorry...

 

[TiZzla]

I feel your pain MAY, i really do.

To everyone who says "it happens in real racing too" think about this:

It's not real racing, it's a game. Therefore we can just restart the race with the push of a button!! The stakes were so high in this competition that the organisers should have made 100% sure that the winner was decided on fair terms.

Even though i won my final i still didn't feel completely happy because i had come so close to being kicked out in the first round it felt weird.

I don't beleive in things being "meant to be" or "not meant to be", i think MAY just got absolutely ripped off. I hope you got a goodie bag at least??

 

[Horde_R35]

Well said Tizzla! And Timppaq, Davissi and IsmokeGT (or whatever your PSN may be )! It can be similar and near reality, but still is a game and will never be like real life racing!

EDIT: Thanks for the videos Gavião!

EDIT 2: TA i forgot about you!

 

[The Outlaw]

I feel your pain MAY, i really do.

To everyone who says "it happens in real racing too" think about this:

It's not real racing, it's a game. Therefore we can just restart the race with the push of a button!! The stakes were so high in this competition that the organisers should have made 100% sure that the winner was decided on fair terms.

Even though i won my final i still didn't feel completely happy because i had come so close to being kicked out in the first round it felt weird.

I don't beleive in things being "meant to be" or "not meant to be", i think MAY just got absolutely ripped off. I hope you got a goodie bag at least??

I agree. Not only is it a video game where the only thing lost by restarting is a minute or two of time and nothing else, Sony has screwed themselves (and what GT Academy is meant to be) and the person who was clearly (IMO) the best GT driver from Portugal to represent at the Silverstone final.

Basically Sony has shot themselves and GT Academy in the foot out of their own ignorance 👎

 

[Sohvakettu]

It's not real racing, it's a game.

It is a game but isn't their aim in real life? Have to say that they should have restarted there if they did so in earlier stages too though.

Talking about aims: how many of the finalist have already started their fitnes regimen?

 

[Coiler]

I have the 1st half of the final race race here, laps 1-3
But my PC or youtube isn't cooperating I've been trying for more than 1 hour to upload the 2nd half and still haven't been able to, sorry...

Thanks for the video!