This past weekend felt like the most extreme test of patience I have ever dealt with in my life, and I partially failed. TL
R My form in this world tour was the best that i have managed thus far, and I feel confident enough to say that I was in contention for a podium or win in one or both of the series (nations and manufacturers) and heck, maybe even the GR supra GT cup. What ACTUALLY happened was arguably the most unlucky streak of races for anyone in the history of gran Turismo. I will not mention the names of drivers involved in the incidents as this isn't meant to be a hateful post in any way, just a summary of all the things that can go wrong when the stars don't align. (i'll include timestamps whenever possible). Sit tight, cause it's quite a novel.
GR SUPRA GT CUP: I had a good run going, climbing from 6th to 4th position, driving just behind the top 3 when halfway through the last lap, the driver behind me attempted to pass in a gap that didn't exist, causing me to go off and lose grip due to dirty tires. I am then pushed off in the next turn because of the fact that he made my tires dirty and didn't realize, pushing me into the grass and causing me to lose 3 positions. There was not enough time left in the race to catch back up.
MANUFACTURERS SERIES: After I put the Lexus on pole, myself and Kawakami were able to sweep the first 2 races, escaping the midpack fury. It almost seemed surreal, the fact that we were off to such an incredible start. I had this strange gut feeling and in my head I asked myself if it was too good to be true. Spoiler alert: it was.
Cue Monza. My teammate (and good friend) Bruzzis is punted at monza and is sent plummeting from 1st place to last within a matter of seconds in a situation that he had little control over. As Tom Brooks said, he was a sitting duck. This means that we now had to start from last place in the team race worth double points.
Now it was the big one. After the unfortunate Monza incident, we figured it would be nice to at least salvage a podium finish in the last race. After a spectacular recovery to go from 12th to 5th place in the final race, it looked like we had 3rd place in the bag. As I thought this, poor Bruzzi is punted off AGAIN by the car behind at Brunnchen (this is not shown on the livestream, but i could see it from the screen of the Porsche driver)
In summary, we finished the manufacturers series going from a very likely championship victory, to not even being on the podium thanks mostly to the aggression of the other drivers.
NATIONS CUP: Disappointed about our fate in the manufacturers series, I kept my head up and looked forward to the nations cup. This is the first live event where i didn't straight up choke the general qualifying session, and I ended up starting from a respectable 9th/24th. Having never qualified for the final 12 of a live event usually due to either silly mistakes by myself or instances out of my control, i was feeling optimistic this time, and looking forward to Racing alongside Turismo-Windfire and CAR_Lamb to show the strength of the North American region. Windfire is eliminated after semi final A due to a strange incident after the final chicane where he was spun out by the other driver (not shown on stream once again, but could see it from behind the screen) but no penalty was issued.
SEMI FINAL B: In my block race, I worked from 6th place and made what I thought was one of the best passes of the event (once again, not shown on screen) but I will mention J. Wong (Saika159), as he was one of a few drivers that I thought drove incredibly clean and fairly, as we were able to go side by side in sector 1 of goodwood in 50 year old muscle cars without making any contact at all, so kudos to Wong for that. Unfortunately I couldn't say the same about the situation on the penultimate lap. The other driver goes in a little deep for the double apex right hander, so i am able to perform a cutback and (i admit) just barely felt enough room, but still no contact was made. I make sure to leave sufficient room for my opponent to exit the chicane safely, but i guess i was naive to expect the same courtesy in return. I am plowed into the grass as the other driver decides to use all of the road on exit, basically ignoring my presence in desperation to not give up the position. This act of carelessness is deemed a "R A C I N G I N C I D E N T" and no penalty is awarded.
REPECHAGE: Despite all the misfortune, I still had repechage. After an anxiety inducing first few laps, i was in a comfortable 3rd place with only 2 laps left, and I really thought this was the moment. NOPE. Completely out of nowhere, a driver behind me misses his braking point (an honest mistake) and punts me into the dirt with the force of a thousand suns. no penalty is awarded, but in this case I understand because the other driver waited for me out of sympathy. He apologized immediately after, but this is the breaking point for me (no pun intended) and I started to lose my cool. In frustration, i began salvaging some fun out of the whole thing, realizing just how bad fate had treated me in this event so far. I slowed down and started drifting the corners when i knew that there was no chance to catch back up. I slowed down to wait for CAR_Lamb, where I drifted around him, trading paint with him a few times (something we do a lot of together in online practice lobbies for a good time). Feeling completely defeated after crawling over the line to start the last lap, i simply threw the car into the dirt, removed my headset, and immediately walked off of the stage and out of the venue without finishing the race, not making eye contact with a single person. I just barely managed to drag myself back to the venue in time to watch the winners celebrate their victories. I took all of my birthday beatings on the racetrack. In terms of luck, it couldn't get much worse, right?
WRONG.
The after party for the event was held near the mini Karussell towards the end of the course, and the atmosphere was rad. In the midst of the 24 hour race with cars roaring by every few seconds, it was such an amazing venue and it was easily shaping up to be one of the best experiences of the tour. It was a great time for everyone, and I particularly enjoyed the fact that it was allowing me to forget about the bad luck I had during the competition portion of the event, and just enjoy the company of my fellow competitors who are all amazing by the way. About an hour into the partying, I didn't even have the races on my mind. It was at this moment that one of the Japanese stewards of the races and his translator pulled me aside for a few moments in the middle of all of the party madness, I had already had a few drinks at this point. It took me a few moments to realize what they were trying to tell me, but THIS was the moment that gave me a feeling of disappointment that I couldn't shake for the rest of the trip. I was basically told that if I continued to drive the way that I drove towards the end of the repechage race, then I could be disqualified from being invited to future live events. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I wish I was. Just to be clear, I understand that my reaction was unprofessional as it could be considered unfitting for an esports event of this caliber, but there seemed to be no sympathy shown whatsoever for how I was treated in nearly EVERY SINGLE RACE i participated in this weekend, as it was just told to me bluntly. In the moment, i was actually convinced that the whole competition was biased against North Americans (which upon critical reflection i have now realized that this is obviously not the case). I had literally felt cursed after that. In that moment i just wanted to go home, and I contemplated quitting the game altogether.
On a more positive note, the amenities and the rest of the world tour itself were absolutely amazing, and a few of us were able to band together and buy a gift for someone who had become ill and was not able to experience it as we did. After being put through the ringer, it was a great feeling that a group of us (Lamb, Stinkybug, McQueen and myself) were able to pitch in some $ to get a gift and make someone else happy who had even more of a misfortune than I did. At the end of the day, the bad luck i experienced in the races pales in comparison to the heartwarming feeling that we got by being able to help one of our community members feel more accommodated and cared for. To me, that is what the GT family is all about.
PS. Since my plane made it home in one piece, hopefully i'll have better luck in the New York world tour LOL. It will be amazing to see everyone again in a few months <3
Supra cup punt
Monza
Final race
Windfire death (can't confirm who was at fault on this one though, as it is not shown and i couldn't see it) either way, it cost him a repechage spot
https://youtu.be/erCwEGSw9lY?t=3329
Semi final B pass
Repechage death