Not quite. I get where you're going with this, and it's probably true that you could train for a few weeks or months and be ready for most forms of motorsport. For the purposes of something like GTA, yeah. Being fit at the Academy trials just shows that you gave enough of a 🤬 to actually bother preparing yourself beforehand, which probably counts for a lot.
But F1, LMP and other high downforce categories are something else entirely.
For starters, we have the classic Top Gear episode:
Then we have the actual fitness required.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/30864-formula-1-are-f1-drivers-considered-athletes
The step up from karting to F1 is immense. 5g braking. 80kg load to fully press the brakes. Sufficient strength and reaction time to deal with driving that fast. Simply being able to hold your head and helmet straight with all that going on. Being able to do that for 90 to 120 minutes.
Motorsports drivers at the highest levels of competition are incredible athletes. There's no way someone could do what they do with a couple of months of training unless they were already extremely fit, any more than you could start competing in Olympic triathlons with a couple of months training. I mean, you could do it, but you'd be so uncompetitive that you might as well not bother even showing up.
Without a very high level of physical fitness, you couldn't drive an F1 at a competitive pace for any serious length of time. Modern F1 is less physically demanding than it used to be, but it's still pretty brutal. And it's not even in the same ballpark as a kart.
LMP is the same, see McNish talking about driving his Audi:
These guys are all athletes of the highest calibre, and if you think that you could replicate what they do with just a couple of months training, you're either the world's greatest natural athlete or you completely misunderstand what's required at the top levels of motorsport.
Sorry for the late relpy. Without a doubt F1 (and other high-downforce cars) are an incredibly tough physical sport, I'm not underestimating what they are doing/coping with. I was making the comparison on a purely physical level, ie. a well trained athlete of any sport is really 'almost there' to take that specific abuse. The human body is using all the same muscle groups in one way or another, whatever background they come from. There is no special body build that F1 drivers posess, they all have the classic lean quick twitch muscle fibre build neccessary for sports that require prolonged endurance.
Imo, those videos are perfect examples of overblowing it, they are directed at the average non-athletic person who might be clueless about the heft of g-forces the drivers are undergoing, and making a great story out of it. Although the facts are absolutely true, it all depends on the prespective it's being looked at and the audience it's directed at. You are simply not going to tell a well-rounded athelete.. "man, you could never handle the forces of F1, you would basically die".. cause I guarentee you they'd get pretty angry with you.
HOWEVER, this is motorsport! The mental side accounts for a solid 75% of what they're doing and have done since youngsters, so I fully agree in that sense that no one is going to step into any high-downforce car and handle it, the athlete would already have to have had a lot of interest and prior experience to get anything together obviously. Hammond in that video is just being such a noob, trying to convince the world guys/girls driving Formulas, LMPs etc. are out of this world beings.
IF a very fit person was really given the chance to step into high g-force machines out of the blue (never happens does it?), they will start coping and building muscle where there is strain, and I'm confident that starting with pro karts for a months or two and then taking the natural progression through a couple classes of Formula cars with a team to give some training... that fit person will be physically! ready to take the abuse through a 90min.+ race.
However, again, none of the life long know-how that all the aspiring drivers have will apply though, that's why the physical is only an adaptibility thing. They say the average physical prime for athletes is 25-30, then somebody needs to explain to me how a 15 yr old Verstappen can step onto the F1 scene pulling such perfect and aggressive laps essentially equivilant to the Vetrans. (I know).. it's the understanding of car behaviour and the natural talent of fine inputs making the car coast optimally, only through experience from feeling what a certain car/car setup can do before sliding/spinning.. THIS is what can't be trained in any short amount of time. In other words, I don't think you can trace back a better lapper to 'the driver had the stronger neck' : ) lol
Really though, all sport is measured in the least amount of mistakes made, all sport is mental and usually requires years of doing it over and over, but still, the inflated sense some people want to give to that F1 drivers have beyond imaginable physical strength, is a bit much and slightly disrespectful to other sport.
Well yes,
perhaps an over statement without my newly added context above.
I'm saying that physics and other aspects will be different in GT Sport not because of a technical limitation, but because the game caters to completely different audiences. That focus will allow PD to make the game as 'hardcore' (read as: realistic) as possible in every single aspect, which means changing almost the whole game.
PD just can't use the GT Sport 'hardcore' (accurate) physics copypasted to GT7, because the general audience of that game -kids with a controller- will spin out in one second, as it happens in a realistic simulator when not even remotely trying to modulate the throttle, and will return the game to the store.
Also the physics and other aspects can't just be easily softened or simplified for being used in GT7, as in only adding the usual hidden driving assists GT games have. If GT Sport is simulator focused then the very cars will be different (including having realistic gear ratios), as well as the tire model, mechanical damage model, etc. etc. So, in both games the car will look the same from the outside, but will feel and drive totally differently, including cornering speeds and punishment for small driving mistakes.
Of course this is assuming PD will aim GT Sport to be a proper simulator. If instead PD aims to only create a preview of GT7 just without the driving assists, less cars due to time constraints and a ladder system, then everything I wrote is wrong
. From the announcement I'm assuming PD targets GT Sport to be even more hardcore than iRacing, which already is not approachable by casual gamers of any age, while stepping up their physics engine to be the best in the business instead of not being in the top5 like GT6's.
edit: And most importantly, what happened to the GT6 memes thread?
Imo it would be a very unfortunate thing if GT Sport seprates itself from the long-standing formula that is Gran Turismo, namely "The Real Driving Simulator" where everybody can play and work their way up to 'professional' settings, while yet not being forced to and play however they wish. It would be terrible if all of us long-time sim-racers stoked for the newest upgraded physics engine and other various aspects of authentic racing events, can only do so via GT Sport, effectively leaving GT7 for those looking for a near unchanged version of GT6 on PS4.
I totally agree that without a wheel the updated physics should be unplayable. GT already uses a very cleverly programmed mechanism to counter against 'undrivability'.. I find it very intuetive, although it is still very difficult when you move up to the faster cars and are on the most 'correct' tire, and pretending GT6 did have real world tire grades and characteristics for their respective classes, I doubt many would find the nerves to able to play GT6, because as you say, you spin in 1 second.. the few mm of trigger and stick movements are not nearly enough headroom to be smooth and accurate (not mentioning the missing FFB ques). The controller could in fact be considered cheating when you have someone really good at thumb control, it takes much of the 'work' that you need to do with a wheel out of the equation, the controller physics are constantly making small adjustments to stabablize the steering input/overall car balance. I haven't played GT much with a controller since GT3 days, I'm pretty damn good with anything up to 500pp.. on SH or more, but once I put a more realistic CS or less on it becomes way too tricky, to me personally, since I haven't cared to try and improve my controller skills.. lol. And I assume that's what you're talking about, so ya I believe GT Sport would/should require a wheel to be able to pull laps fast and consistant enough to be 'up there'.
At the moment though I'm not sure anyone has even the mildest realistic understanding of how and what GT Sport will be, so it's speculative at best to call these as two completely different titles. We shall find out what's up on the weekend at PSX. I feel it would be a mistake to seperate the world of GT, it should always be open to all, especially for the reason to teach and push those who want to be on top to be able to progress from the 'all/most aids on' + maybe the infamous GT SRF, to the hardcore lobbies and events with everything off off off where the pros play.. without having to change the disc.
